Deuteronomy · chapter 10 of 34
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Deuteronomy 10 tells how the Lord wrote the ten commandments again on tablets Moses placed in the ark, and how he set apart the tribe of Levi. Then it sums up what the Lord asks of Israel: to fear him, walk in his ways, love and serve him with all the heart, circumcise the heart and love the sojourner.
In chapter 9 Moses recalled the golden calf and his intercession. Chapter 10 completes that account with the renewal of the covenant: the Lord forgives and writes the tablets again. Then Moses moves from history to the central question of the book: what does God really ask of his people. The answer, in 10:12-13, is one of the clearest in the whole law.
The Lord orders Moses to cut two tablets of stone like the first and go up the mountain, and to make an ark of wood. Moses makes the ark of acacia wood, cuts the tablets and goes up with them. The Lord writes on them the same ten words he had spoken from the fire. Moses comes down and puts the tablets in the ark, where they remain.
Brief notes recall journeys: from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place. At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant, to stand before the Lord, to serve him and to bless in his name. That is why Levi has no portion with his brothers: the Lord is his inheritance. Moses adds that he again stayed forty days and forty nights on the mountain, that the Lord listened to him and did not wish to destroy the people, and told him to lead them so that they might enter the land.
Then Moses asks what the Lord requires of Israel, and answers: to fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all the heart and soul, and keep his commandments for their good. The heavens and the earth belong to the Lord, yet he set his affection on the fathers and chose their descendants. So they must circumcise their hearts and no longer be stiff-necked.
The Lord is God of gods and Lord of lords, great, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Israel must love the sojourner, because they were sojourners in Egypt. The chapter ends with the call to fear the Lord, serve him and swear by his name. He is their praise and their God: their fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord has made them as numerous as the stars of heaven.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Moses asks what the Lord requires of Israel and answers: to fear him, walk in his ways, love him, serve him with all the heart and keep his commandments. It is a summary of the life of God's people, all given for their good.
The Lord asks them to circumcise the heart and no longer be stiff-necked. The outward sign of the covenant must have its inner counterpart: God seeks real devotion and not only a ritual.
The Lord, God of gods, shows no partiality and takes no bribe; he does justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner. His power shows itself in caring for the weakest, and his people must imitate him.
Israel must fear, serve and hold fast to the Lord, who is their praise. Moses recalls that the seventy who went down to Egypt are now like the stars of heaven: the promise to Abraham is already being fulfilled.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Acacia wood. — Deuteronomy 10:3
Answer: The same words that were on the first tablets, the ten commandments. — Deuteronomy 10:4
Answer: To carry the ark of the covenant, to stand before the Lord, to serve him and to bless in his name. — Deuteronomy 10:8
Answer: The Lord himself, not a portion of land among his brothers. — Deuteronomy 10:9
Answer: To fear him, walk in his ways, love him, serve him with all the heart and soul and keep his commandments. — Deuteronomy 10:12-13
Answer: Because they themselves were sojourners in the land of Egypt. — Deuteronomy 10:19
Deuteronomy 10 sums up the life of faith in a few words: fear, walk, love, serve. In a Bible class we can ask each person to think which of those verbs is hardest for them today, and what concrete step they could take.
The chapter also joins faith with justice. The same God who is Lord of lords cares for the fatherless, the widow and the sojourner, and asks his people to do the same. Asking who the stranger is in our surroundings, the newcomer or the one who has no one, is a practical way of obeying this text.
Deuteronomy 10 shows that the Lord renews his covenant with a rebellious people and tells them what he wants from them. In chapter 11, Moses will insist that this loyalty is lived by remembering what God did and choosing the blessing.
Circumcision was the physical sign of the covenant. Moses asks that this sign have an inner reality: a willing heart, without hardness, that obeys God. The New Testament takes up the image to speak of God's work in the believer's heart.
While the other tribes received territory, the Levites received the service of the Lord and lived from the people's offerings and from cities scattered among the tribes. Their inheritance is the privilege of serving God, not a property.
Verses 6 and 7 are a travel note that connects with the account of the priesthood of Levi. It shows that priestly service continues from one generation to the next, with Eleazar in place of his father.