Deuteronomy Chapter 10

At a Glance

  • DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 10.
  • Deuteronomy 10 returns to the moment of Moses’s ascent to the mountain and the re-engraving of the tables of the Law.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Placed within Moses’s farewell speeches, Deuteronomy 10 continues the covenantal instruction that began in earlier chapters.
  • - Covenant Renewal Through Repentance: After sin, God’s mercy invites re-commitment.

DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 10

Chapter Overview

Deuteronomy 10 returns to the moment of Moses’s ascent to the mountain and the re-engraving of the tables of the Law. The chapter emphasizes repentance, covenant renewal, and the proper response to divine liberation. Moses describes God’s command to hew two new tablets after breaking the first, followed by the renewal of the ark’s keeping and the assignment of the Levites to bear the ark of the covenant (verses 1–5). The narrative then shifts to a pastoral exhortation: what the Lord requires of the people is to fear Him, to walk in His ways, to love Him, and to serve Him with all their heart and soul (verses 12–13). It foregrounds a holistic devotion—intellectual assent, emotional commitment, and volitional service.

Verses 14–22 broaden the vision: the heavens, the earth, and all that fills them belong to the Lord, yet He loves the aged and the vulnerable, such as the fatherless and the widow, and requires justice and care for the sojourner. The chapter ends with a call to obedience that flows from grateful remembrance of deliverance and provision. The scene is both ceremonial and ethical: the Law is not a relic but a living guide for communal life in a land where all nations tempt faithfulness away from the Lord.

Historical & Literary Context

Placed within Moses’s farewell speeches, Deuteronomy 10 continues the covenantal instruction that began in earlier chapters. The act of renewing the tablets after the sin of the golden calf mirrors the theme of renewal after failure. The Levites’ role adds a liturgical dimension, underscoring the centrality of proper worship and the movement of the Ark as the visible sign of God’s presence. The ethical injunctions toward care for the vulnerable align with the broader Deuteronomic emphasis on justice within covenant life. This chapter ties ritual fidelity to social ethics, showing that true worship encompasses care for the outsider, the fatherless, and the widow. It fits as a bridge between the Rehearsal of the Law and the later exhortations to covenant obedience in daily life.

Key Themes

- Covenant Renewal Through Repentance: After sin, God’s mercy invites re-commitment.

- Total Commitment: Fear, love, and service to God are all-encompassing.

- Divine Ownership and Human Responsibility: God’s sovereignty over all creation and His call to justice and mercy.

- Care for the Marginalized: The Lord’s heart for outsiders and the vulnerable shapes ethical conduct.

- Liturgical Significance: The Ark’s movement and Levitical role highlight worship as central to life with God.

Modern Application

Deuteronomy 10 challenges contemporary communities to integrate worship with justice. It calls believers to a worship that translates into care for the vulnerable—immigrants, the poor, widows, and orphans. The steering question is: does religious life translate into ethical action that protects and dignifies others? The command to fear, love, and serve God with all heart and soul invites holistic spirituality—emotional devotion, intellectual engagement, and practical obedience. In church and family life, this chapter can guide reflections on how worship spaces serve the marginalized and how leaders model humble, servant-hearted leadership. It also offers a corrective against legalism: the Law is about relationship, not mere rule-keeping. Finally, the acknowledgment that God’s presence is portable through the Ark invites a modern imagination: where is God’s presence among us today, and how do we steward that presence in our communities?

- Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (Love and obedience in daily life)

- Deuteronomy 12 (Centralizing worship and feasts)

- Exodus 25–40 (The Ark and the Tabernacle)

- Psalm 68:5–6 (Widows and orphans cherished by God)

Recommended Personas

- Moses (detail-oriented covenant teacher)

- Jesus (fulfillment of the Law and heart of compassion)

- Levitical priests (liturgical guardianship)

Chapter Text

1

At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

2

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

3

And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

4

And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

5

And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

6

And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest’s office in his stead.

7

From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

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 unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

9

Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

10

And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

11

And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

12

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

21

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

22

Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

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