Deuteronomy 10: 1 – 22
Try not to break these
10 “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’ 3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.” 6 (Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died, and where he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead. 7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water. 8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God promised him.) 10 “As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; the LORD also heard me at that time, and the LORD chose not to destroy you. 11 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’ 12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
With a warped humor I have heard some bible teachers try to be funny by saying that the Israelites broke the first two commandments when they made the molten image but when Moses came down from the mountain he broke all of the Ten Commandments at one time (He threw the stone tablets down when he saw the Israelites worshiping the golden calf).
I think from our last study in chapter 9 after hearing Moses further description of what took place that day there was nothing funny which could be taken from this sad event. In fact if it wasn’t for Moses intervention with prayer and fasting to our Holy God Yahweh all the Israelites would have been killed including Aaron for their sin.
A very important fact for us to solidify in our minds is that we need to be aware that when we break one of the Ten Commandments we have done worse than the Israelites for we in truth have broken or violated all of the Ten Commandments.
You are probably wondering how you can break them all. We do so in two ways; first by our actions we break them all and secondly, by God’s standards we break them all. If you are sincere in regards to understanding the importance of this fact then I want you to be honest and take your own inventory. I want you to think about a time that you committed a certain sin. What is interesting is that it does not become a factor on what sin you did. Sin is sin. Now I am going to go over each Commandment and how you broke it.
1. “No other gods…”—In submitting to sin you allowed your lust to be the god to which he bowed in obedience. You saw or did something that you conscience said ‘no’ to.
2. “Not take the Name…”—When you sin you take the Holy Name of God in vain. Are you God’s son or daughter? Have you ever proclaimed to Him that you are God’s man or woman yet by your sin you have lived in the devil’s camp?
3. “Not make a graven image…”—In sinning you have allowed your desire for something not yours that you gave in to to be engraved in your mind. Sadly when we sin we forgot even the God you loved for that moment of sin. Sin blinds us. We forget thatHe even knows our thoughts.
4. “Remember the Sabbath…”—By sinning you didn’t keep the Sabbath or any other day holy for God once you allowed lust to rule. I do not know about you but when I sin the whole day is ruined.
5. Honor thy father and mother…”—We may think that sin is a personal issue but in truth we dishonor our parents and all our family as we sink into such wicked and possibly premeditated sin.
6. “Not kill…”—Sin kills our relationship with our Holy God. Stop and think again about a time when you sinned. How was your relationship with our Holy God? Like Adam and Eve we go and hide from Him.
7. “Not commit adultery…”—we spiritually are referred to as the bride of Christ Jesus our Lord. How do you think a bridegroom feels if he finds out his future bride is not faithful to him?
8. “Not steal…”—Sin in some way always steals from you. In the book of Galatians we learn about the fruit of our Holy Spirit which He produces in our lives. Which one of these fruits was stolen from you when you had sinned? (Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, Kindness, Meekness, or Self-control?
9. “Not lie…”—When you sin you have lied to yourself to our Holy God and most likely to others.
10. “Not covet…”—coveting something that God has not given us is a sin. It ultimately causes us to act on wanting whatever we covet.
So I think I can say that we all are guilty sinners. We broke them all. We all by God’s standards have become guilty of breaking them all. Listen to the very first New Testament letter, written by the very first New Testament church leader named James.
James 2:10 “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”
The good news is that The Holy Precious Unblemished Lamb of God our Lord Jesus Christ died for all of us who are guilty sinners. Let me list how we can understand our lapses of following our Master and King Jesus Christ and fall into sin.
First Step Downward—
We desensitize our conscience by incomplete obedience. Sometimes I look at this and describe it as compromise.
At this point we let ourselves become involved in socially acceptable things that are unacceptable to God. Initially, it was just carelessness—a slight wandering, a tiny loosening in a socially acceptable area. But I believe sin was sparked by small disobediences back in the earlier days as we relaxed our grip on the way God asked us to live.
Lesson: Stay sensitive to God by obeying Him! How do we do this? Psalm 119 says “How can a young man (or woman) cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Second Step Downward—
You relax your grip on personal purity.
We fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we are not diligent then we can allow little things to slide into our lives. Beware of allowing any unguarded moments in your life, thinking you’re safe from sin’s reach and it will not bother you anymore. For at that very moment the ravenous devourer himself is crouching and preparing to spring. You and I need to be doing whatever it takes to maintain purity in our lives!
Lesson: Keep Christ Jesus our Lord in your life daily as your number one priority.
Third Step Downward—
Stop the stinking thinking. Do not allow your heart to focus on physical desires.
What is that old saying, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s playground.’ Keep your mind on the Lord Jesus in all things and in all spare moments. If you realize that your mind begins to wander catch it and think and talk to the Lord instead. Try it. It works.
All of these temptations are part of downward steps toward life-crippling habits which can destroy your testimony and usefulness for Christ! It is impossible to flirt innocently with lust!
Temptations abound all around us as well. Because temptation to sin is so powerful, we need help. Before you might think this message isn’t for you, look at James 1:13-15: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death”.
Please take special note that James (doesn’t say “if” but “when.”
God's Word says temptation is inevitable; temptation is inescapable; and temptation is going to follow us all through our earthly lives. In other words, this chapter’s message is for ALL of us. And this message hinges on one word—Lust.
Now fast forward in your mind to the next time you face a surge of temptation to fear, to lust, to be embittered, or to lie. Know that at that instant, in even greater measure, the God of the Universe Is near! He Is available to you 24/7. He is with us! So then, look for God! He Is always faithful!
So, let’s take some time now and see what more our Precious Holy Teacher wants us to learn from this chapter
The covenant having been broken we come now to the renewing of the broken covenant, followed by the renewal of the priesthood and the replacing of the firstborn sons of failed Israel with the Levites who had proved their worth. The first part of the chapter we see different activities importantly involved in the renewing of the broken covenant and the provision for its protection once renewed. It includes the renewing of the priesthood and the appointment of the Levites, put together in no particular chronological order in a typical speech approach. The purpose was to indicate that the renewed covenant was finally prepared, sealed, delivered and put under the direct protection of Yahweh with the priesthood renewed and new servants appointed for the Tabernacle. he is concerned with what happened, not the order in which it happened.
These activities had involved the command to cut two tablets of stone like the first which had been broken; the command to make the Ark for the purpose of receiving the covenant so that it was under Yahweh’s watchful eye; the fulfilling of these commands; Moses’ entry into ‘the Mount’ (which was how Mount Sinai was now spoken of); Yahweh rewriting ‘the ten commandments’ of the covenant; and Moses return to Israel and the placing of the tablets in the Ark. This was then followed by the dedication of Eliezer to minister before it and the appointment of the Levites as its protectors. As a result of these things all would now be secure for the future. It was the factual fulfillment which was important. The chronology of when these things took place was irrelevant.
10 “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’
Moses describes how Yahweh told him to cut two tablets of stone (Exodus 32.1) and to make an ark (chest) of wood (Exodus 25.10). This was so that He might rewrite the ten Commandments on the tablets, and so that Moses might put them in the ark. In response to Moses’ intercession Yahweh was re-establishing the covenant, and was writing it Himself as a personal assurance to both Moses and Israel.
3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.
He then explains that he had done exactly as Yahweh had commanded. He had made the Ark (that is, arranged for it to be made by Bezalel while he was in the Mount the second time - Exodus 37.1), and had cut the two tablets of stone similar to the first. Then he had gone up into the Mount with the two tablets in his hand.
4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me.
The covenant was to be renewed on exactly the same terms as the first. Yahweh wrote ‘in accordance with the first writing’ and in accordance with all that Yahweh had spoken from the Mount out of the midst of the fire on the day of the gathering. Yahweh then solemnly handed the finished covenant to Moses to indicate the renewal of the covenant.
5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.”
Moses had then turned and come down from the Mount and once the Ark was completed had put the tablets in it, which, as he points out, is where they still were, just as Yahweh had commanded. The covenant had been finally solemnized.
6 (Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died, and where he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead. 7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water.
With the renewal of the covenant came the requirement for a new representative for Israel before Yahweh. Aaron was replaced as High Priest by his son Eleaazar.
It is indeed probable that the progress from ‘the wells of the sons of Jaakan’, through Moserah (chastisement) to the ‘land of brooks of water’ is intended to be seen as an indication of the extra blessing that would follow on the consecration of Eleazar. Wells are replaced by rivers. We can compare this with Numbers where the death of Aaron (20.22-29) also leads on to abundance of water (21.13-18). The point was that while Aaron had been a well to the people, even though he had needed to be chastised, Eliezer would be a flowing water source. This would further explain why this itinerary is mentioned here. Along with the renewed covenant it was a new beginning. Aaron’s death had been a punishment for his failures as all well knew. But Eleazar was unblemished in any serious way.
8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD Is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God promised him.
The action here comes third in importance of the three renewals: the renewal of the covenant, the renewal of Aaron and the people, and now in a sense the renewal of the priesthood and the Levites.
It was at that time that Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi ‘to bear the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to Him, and to bless in His name’. The first description fits the Levites as such, for the Levites bore the Ark and the Tabernacle with its furniture in the ordinary course of events (Numbers 1.47-53). The second, ‘standing before Yahweh to serve Him’ could fit both, for ‘standing before Yahweh’ only necessarily includes entering the court of the Tabernacle, which both could do. The third fits only the levitical priests who alone could give an official blessing (Numbers 6.23-24).
10 “As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; the LORD also heard me at that time, and the LORD chose not to destroy you.
The reference to forty days and forty nights was obviously important to Moses for this is the fifth time that he has stressed it. He clearly saw it as a complete period which was necessary in His dealings with our Holy God Yahweh. It stressed that His dealings with Yahweh had been lengthy. If we experienced 40 days and nights of interrupted time with our Lord God wouldn’t that consume your thoughts?
11 Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’
Thus it was as a result of Moses’ intercession that they had been spared to begin their journey and now that they had been commanded to continue their journey. Here also, if you were Moses, under the judgment that you were not going to be allowed to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, would the thought come to you that maybe our Merciful God might re-consider His decision? After all, He instructs him now to begin the journey to go in and possess the land. Perhaps this is why he petitions the Lord to let him do so which as you know the Lord tells him to stop asking?
12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Moses has reached the point of summing up the first part of his speech, and has come to the point of decision. They must now face up to what God has demanded of them. Moses informed them that they should fear Yahweh their God, walk in all His ways, love Him, and serve Him with all their heart and soul, keeping His commandments and the statutes that he was about to set before them.
14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it.
For it was necessary for them to recognize Him for what He Is. They must recognize His greatness, the greatness of Yahweh, their God. He Is the One Who not only possesses the heavens that they can see, the heavens that declare the glory of God, but also the heaven of heavens, that which is beyond all that they can see and know, the Great Unknown. Nothing is outside His scope. He alone Is Lord in the heavens and He owns the earth also. He owns and controls all that is in them. He Is supreme and over all things. In addition, He Is their praise and their God for He has done great and terrible things on their behalf.
15 The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.
In spite of this greatness, or possibly because of it, this is the remarkable fact that He had delighted in their fathers, so that He had loved them. Here Is a remarkable Holy One indeed. In this was love, not that they loved Him, but that He loved them, with the kind of love that was possible only to such a God.
So it was because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He had ‘chosen’ their seed after them with His elective love. They must think of that! They too stood there, having been chosen by Yahweh, for their fathers’ sakes, even them. They had been chosen above all peoples to be His, so that they stood there this very day as the chosen of Yahweh.
We also are loved by Him not for our own sakes but for the sake of Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2.20), and we too therefore in the same way have our full part in Him, and should fear Him, serve Him, cleave to Him and swear by His name (because He Is our God)..
16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.
In lieu of this, therefore, they, as a gathering of people, were all to circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, putting aside their obstinacy and stubbornness. They had to cast it from them. In other words just as the covering of their foreskin was removed in circumcision, so their obstinacy was to be seen as a covering that had to be cut out and removed, so that they no more hid behind it. All barriers that separated their hearts from God and from their fellowmen must be incisively removed.
17 For the LORD your God Is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
They must recognize Who they were dealing with. They must acknowledge Who Yahweh Is, that He Is their God but not only is He their God, they must recognize that He Is more than that. They must recognize that He Is the God of all gods, and He Is the Lord of all lords. All gods and all lords, whether superhuman or human, are therefore under His rule and judgment. He Is the great God, the mighty, the terrible..
18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
A great attribute of our Magnificent God is that He especially ensures that justice is found for those who are the least important in society, those who are unable to help themselves and have no one to defend them, those who have no fathers, those who are widows and those who are resident aliens, those who have no one to protect them.
19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Since by these wonderful acts He then exhorts His people to do as He does and be the same as He Is. Let them bring to mind in this regard that they had been foreigners in Egypt, and remember how it was then, how they had been treated as strangers, and subjected to forced labor, and how they had groaned. And they must remember how He had loved them and delivered them
20 You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.
The book of Job 28.28 teaches us ‘for the fear of Yahweh, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil that is understanding’. They were also to fear Yahweh their God. And as a result of fearing Him with a godly fear and love they must serve Him, must cleave to Him faithfully, and swear by His name. It is how men respond that reveals what they see to be real.
Please notice again the threefold instruction – ‘serve -- cleave -- swear’. Serving includes both worship and obedience. Cleaving involves loyalty, commitment and integrity. Swearing by His name means acknowledging Him above all.
21 He Is your praise, and He Is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.
Our Holy Adoni Yahweh Is also the One fitted for praise. He Is totally praiseworthy, and Is to be the object of their worship for the reason that they should praise Him is because He Is their God, the very God Who has done great and terrible things for them which their eyes have seen. Many of the oldest had been in Egypt as small children and had seen His power revealed there, and the great and terrible things that He had done, and even more of them had seen what He had done since in the wilderness, including especially the defeat of the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, and their territories.
Their fathers had gone down into Egypt few in number, and here they now are as the result of His watch over them, as the stars of heaven for multitude, just as Yahweh had promised. It is hard to believe, he says, that when they went down into Egypt they had been comparatively few, seventy males with their households. It demonstrated how Yahweh had blessed them in spite of all attempts to decimate them. And it was mind-boggling to consider that they had all almost been destroyed.
