Chapter 10
Still continuing this same discourse from Moses.
"At that time the Lord said to me, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood.
Deuteronomy 10:1 ESV
And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.'
Deuteronomy 10:2 ESV
I don't remember the ark of wood that the tablets were put into.
God made the first tablets, that Moses broke. Moses made the second tablets. But God did the writing on both.
2023 - This verse:
4 And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me. [Deu 10:4 ESV]. The Ten Words are different than the rest of the Law because the Ten were spoken directly to the people, to all of them, corporately, and at the same time. The people - the whole nation - heard the God of heaven SPEAK to them. And they agreed. There was no filter, no buffer, no amplifier - whatever you want to call it - nothing at all was between them and God at that time. This was before the priesthood.
These verses, which come after Moses recounts leaving Mt. Sinai on the way to Canaan to possess it with that first generation:
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, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Deut. 10:12,13
This is a succinct statement of Israel's duties under the Sinai Covenant. I think the phrase "with all your heart and with all your soul" is quite important. That covenant was not just about ritual or sacrifices or priests. It was about "buying in completely" to the idea that God would only require things that were for their good, and for their benefit, and they needed to believe this unwaveringly, no matter what. Even if they were thirsty and there was no apparent water, their faith was to carry them in the knowledge that God would never abandon them to die of thirst. The New Covenant is almost vs 12 alone. Vs 13 is dropped. All the law goes away, but the fear of the lord, walking in his ways, loving and serving to the core of our being are still required. The law was dropped, and Jesus took its place.
2021 - The ceremonial law is dropped. The things in the law that delayed punishment for sin are gone, because the perfect sacrifice came. The dietary laws are gone, because the NT makes it clear that all things are good to eat. But God's statutes and commandments are still to be obeyed. We still can't go running off and do whatever we want. I think we have established that The 10 are still in full forced and effect, and that if we love as we are supposed to - both God and neighbor - then the "whole law is contained in them". I misspoke in saying the law was dropped.
Then this verse:
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Again, the contrast between the external trappings, the jots and tittles, the do's and don'ts, and the real point of it all. A heart set on God, and complete submission to His will.
2023 - This is the second time I have seen this phrase:
20 You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. [Deu 10:20 ESV]. Here is the other place we saw it:
13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [Deu 6:13 ESV]
Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Deuteronomy 10:22 ESV
From 70 to over 600k men in 400 years. Note that this statement of fact fulfills God's promise to Abraham that his descendants would be this numerous. This part has already been fulfilled.