Deuteronomy 10

Deuteronomy 10:1 “Yahveh said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.

Deuteronomy 10:2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’

Deuteronomy 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

Deuteronomy 10:4 Then on the day of the collected assembly, Yahveh wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Words that he had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. Yahveh gave them to me,

Deuteronomy 10:5 and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as Yahveh commanded me.”

Deuteronomy 10:6 The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar, his son, became a priest in his place.

Deuteronomy 10:7 They traveled from there to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.

Deuteronomy 10:8 “At that time Yahveh separated the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of Yahveh’s covenant, to stand before Yahveh to minister to[1] him, and to pronounce empowerments in his name, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 10:9 For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; Yahveh is his inheritance, as Yahveh your God told him.

Deuteronomy 10:10 “I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time. Yahveh also listened to me on this occasion; he agreed not to annihilate you.

Deuteronomy 10:11 Then Yahveh said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and take possession of the land I swore to give their fathers.’

Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does Yahveh your God ask of you except to fear Yahveh your God by walking in all his ways, to care about him, and to worship Yahveh your God with all your heart and all your throat?

Deuteronomy 10:13 Watch Yahveh’s commands and prescriptions I am giving you today, for your own good.

Deuteronomy 10:14 Notice the skies, indeed the highest sky, belong to Yahveh your God, as does the land and everything in it.

Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet Yahveh had his heart set on your fathers and cared about them. He chose their descendants after them– he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 10:16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

Deuteronomy 10:17 You see, Yahveh your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no “gift”.[2]

Deuteronomy 10:18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and cares abouts the guest, giving him food and clothing.

Deuteronomy 10:19 You are also to care about the guest, since you were guests in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 10:20 You are to fear Yahveh your God and worship him. Remain faithful to him and take oaths in his name.

Deuteronomy 10:21 He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen.

Deuteronomy 10:22 Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy throats in all, and now Yahveh your God has placed you here – numerous, like the stars of the sky.

[1] שָׁרָת = minister. Deuteronomy 10:8; 17:12; 18:5, 7; 21:5.

[2] שֹׁחַד = gift (bribe).  Deuteronomy 10:17; 16:19; 27:25.

Deuteronomy 10 quotes:

Moses ascended the mountain with the prepared tablets and God wrote upon them the same substance as the original writing,5 namely, the ten words (v. 4). The “ten words” are the Ten Commandments: see 4:13 and commentary. Then the Lord gave them to me (v. 4b)—more is involved than simply that another copy of the law was provided because the first two tablets unfortunately got broken. The shattering of the first tablets symbolized the breaking of the covenant relationship because of Israel’s sin in making the calf. The second writing of the law and the gift of the tablets is indicative of the graciousness of God and the response of God to the intercession of Moses. Moses then returned down the mountain and placed the two newly inscribed tablets in the ark, as he had been commanded (v.5). This recollection of the renewal of the relationship in Horeb emphasized to the Israelites, who were engaged in a further renewing of the covenant in Moab, that the graciousness of God was to be seen in their very survival to that present moment as the covenant family of God.

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. pp. 199-200.

“Will any one presume to say that we have here a mere barien repetition of the facts recorded in Exodus? Certainly no one who reverently believes in the divine inspiration of the Pentateuch.

No, reader, the tenth of Deuteronom}’ fills a niche and does a work entirely its own. In it the lawgiver holds lip to the hearts of the people past scenes and circumstances in such a way as to rivet them upon the very tablets of the soul. He allows them to hear the conversation between Jehovah and himself; he tells them what took place during those mysterious forty days u[)on that cloud-capped mountain ; lie lets them hear Jehovah’s reference to the broken tables — the apt and forcible expression of the utter worthlessness of man’s covenant. For why were those tables broken ? Because they had shamefully failed. Those shattered fragments told the humiliating tale of their hoi)eless ruin on the ground of the law. All was gone. Sucli was the obvious meaning of the fact. It was striking, impressive, unmistakable. Like a broken pillar over a grave, which tells at a glance that the i)rop and stay of the family lies mouldering beneath. There is no need of any inscription, for no human language could speak with such eloquence to the heait as that most expressive emblem. So the broken tables were calculated to convey to the heart of Israel the tremendous fact that, so far as their covenant was concerned, they were utterly ruined — hopelessly undone ; they were complete bankrupts on the score of righteousness.

But then that second set of tables ! What of them? Thank God, they tell a different tale altogether. Thev vvere not broken, God took care of them.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. Loizeaux Bros 1880. pp. 80-81.

Deuteronomy 10 links:

continue your journey
in retrospect- hinges of mercy
in retrospect- relationship
reverence for his revelation
The sky above – shamayim, the land beneath – erets
the Yahveh difference
throats like the stars
to preserve and protect
unmatched hearts

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 9

Deuteronomy 9:1 “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go into and take possession from nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the sky.

Deuteronomy 9:2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak? ‘

Deuteronomy 9:3 But understand that today Yahveh, your God, will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; he will exterminate them and subdue them before you. You will take possession of them and destroy them rapidly, as Yahveh has told you.

Deuteronomy 9:4 When Yahveh, your God, pushes them away before you, do not say in your heart, and this is what you say: ‘Yahveh brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, Yahveh will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

Deuteronomy 9:5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, Yahveh, your God, will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 9:6 Understand that Yahveh, your God, is not giving you this good land to take possession of because of your righteousness because you are a hard-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:7 “Remember and do not forget how you infuriated Yahveh your God in the open country. You have been rebelling against Yahveh from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

Deuteronomy 9:8 You infuriated Yahveh at Horeb, and he was angry enough with you to exterminate you.

Deuteronomy 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant Yahveh established with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water.

Deuteronomy 9:10 On the day of the collected assembly, Yahveh gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which Yahveh spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:11 Yahveh gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

Deuteronomy 9:12 “Yahveh said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. You see, your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’

Deuteronomy 9:13 Yahveh also said to me, and this is what he said: ‘I have seen this people, and notice, they are a hard-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:14 Leave me alone, and I will exterminate them and blot out their name under the sky. Then I will make you into a nation more robust and more numerous than they.’

Deuteronomy 9:15 “So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

Deuteronomy 9:16 I saw and noticed how you had failed Yahveh your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way Yahveh had commanded for you.

Deuteronomy 9:17 So I took hold of the two tablets and tossed them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

Deuteronomy 9:18 I fell like the first time in the presence of Yahveh for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all your failures, doing what was evil in Yahveh’s sight and angering him.

Deuteronomy 9:19 I was afraid of the fierce anger of Yahveh’s infuriation against you because he was about to exterminate you. But again, Yahveh listened to me on that occasion.

Deuteronomy 9:20 Yahveh was angry enough with Aaron to exterminate him, but I also prayed for Aaron at that time.

Deuteronomy 9:21 I took the calf you had mistakenly made and burned it. I crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust, and tossed its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:22 “You continued to infuriate Yahveh at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

Deuteronomy 9:23 When Yahveh sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, and this is what he said: ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of Yahveh, your God. You did not believe or obey him.

Deuteronomy 9:24 You have been rebelling against Yahveh ever since I have known you.

Deuteronomy 9:25 “I fell in the presence of Yahveh forty days and forty nights because Yahveh had threatened to exterminate you.

Deuteronomy 9:26 I prayed to Yahveh: Lord Yahveh, do not annihilate your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Deuteronomy 9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ignore these people’s stubbornness and their wickedness and failures.

Deuteronomy 9:28 Or else, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because Yahveh wasn’t able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the open country.’

Deuteronomy 9:29 But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.

Deuteronomy 9 quotes:

“The scene is set first by an anticipation of the conquest of the promised land (vv. 1–3). Then Moses reminds the people in advance that the land will come to them from God’s graciousness and judgment, not through any righteousness of their own (vv. 4–6). In the following verses (7–21), the perverse stubbornness of the people becomes the central topic and it is illustrated by reference to past events, particularly the events associated with Horeb/Sinai; that the illustrations could easily be multiplied, however, is made clear by the brief summary statement in vv. 22–24. Finally the chapter concludes with Moses’ prayer on behalf of the people committed to his charge (vv. 25–29).”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 192.

“There are two ways of looking at difficulties ; we may look at them from a human stand-point, or from a divine one; we may look at them in a spirit of unbelief, or we may look at them iu the calmness and quietness of confidence in the living God. We have Jiu instance of the former in the report of the unbelieving spies in Numbers xiii ; we have an instance of the latter in the opening of our present chapter.

It is not the pro\nnce, nor the path, of faith to deny that there are difficulties to be encountered by the people of God ; it would be the height of folly to do so, inasmuch as there aie difficulties, and it would be but fool-hardiness, fanaticism, or fleshly enthusiasm to deny it. It is always well for people to know what they are about, and not to rush blindly into a path for which they are not prepared. An unbelieving sluggard may say. There is a lion in the way; a blind enthusiast may say, There is no such thing ; the true man of faith will say. Though there were a thousand lions in the waj’, God can soon dispose of them.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. Loizeaux Bros 1880. pp. 65-66.

Deuteronomy 9 links:

acts of defiance
consumed
daring to intercede
duplicate
focused praying
God will cross over ahead
his chosen sword
in retrospect- hinges of mercy
infuriating God
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, June 3, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, June 3, 2021
protective clothing – immortal body
thoughts on radical obedience

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 8

Deuteronomy 8:1 “Carefully do every command I am commanding you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land Yahveh swore to your fathers.

Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember that Yahveh, your God, led you on the entire journey these forty years in the open country so that he might discipline you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would watch his commands.

Deuteronomy 8:3 He disciplined you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known so that you might learn that a human does not stay alive on bread alone but stays alive on everything that comes from[1] the mouth of Yahveh.

Deuteronomy 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.

Deuteronomy 8:5 Keep in mind that Yahveh, your God, has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

Deuteronomy 8:6 So watch the commands of Yahveh your God by walking in his ways and fearing him

Deuteronomy 8:7 because Yahveh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

Deuteronomy 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

Deuteronomy 8:9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

Deuteronomy 8:10 When you eat and are full, you will celebrate Yahveh, your God, for the good land he has given you.

Deuteronomy 8:11 “Be careful or else you will forget Yahveh your God by failing to watch his commands, rules, and prescriptions that I am commanding you today.

Deuteronomy 8:12 When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

Deuteronomy 8:13 and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

Deuteronomy 8:14 be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget Yahveh, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Deuteronomy 8:15 He led you through the great and terrible open country with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you.

Deuteronomy 8:16 He fed you in the open country with manna, which your fathers had not known, in order to discipline and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper.

Deuteronomy 8:17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my ability have gained this wealth for me,’

Deuteronomy 8:18 but remember that Yahveh, your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your fathers, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 8:19 If you ever forget Yahveh, your God, and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will be destroyed.

Deuteronomy 8:20 Like the nations Yahveh is about to destroy before you; you will be destroyed if you do not obey Yahveh, your God.

[1]מוֹצָא = what comes out (possible wordplay with מַצָּה)

Deuteronomy 8 quotes

“The desolation of the wilderness is in stark contrast to the richness of the promised land. God had led his people through the wilderness, however, for a particular purpose; the forty years were to be a time of testing and disciplining, to know what was in your heart,2 whether or not you would keep his commandments (v. 2). The wilderness tested and disciplined the people in various ways. On the one hand, the desolation of the wilderness removed the natural props and supports which man by nature depends on; it cast the people back on God, who alone could provide the strength to survive the wilderness. On the other hand, the severity of the wilderness period undermined the shallow bases of confidence of those who were not truly rooted and grounded in God. The wilderness makes or breaks a man; it provides strength of will and character. The strength provided by the wilderness, however, was not the strength of self-sufficiency, but the strength that comes from a knowledge of the living God.”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 185.

“Why, we may ask, were Israel charged to “remember all the way” by which the Lord their God had k'(l them? Assuredl}’, to draw out their hearts in praise for the past, and to strengthen their confidence in God for the future.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. vol 3. Loizeaux Bros 1880. p. 37.

Deuteronomy 8 links:

a good land
a neglected promise
a promise to avoid
ACST 45- The Tempters
full of themselves
in retrospect- remember the whole way
Maranatha Daily Devotional – August 29, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, August 10, 2018
purpose for prosperity

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.