신명기 Chapter 10

Translation: ESV

1

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.

Key Message

God renews the covenant that human sin has broken. Divine grace provides a second chance, a new beginning, and restoration of broken relationship.

▸After the shattering of the first tablets due to Israel's rebellion, God commands the renewal of the covenant.

After the shattering of the first tablets due to Israel's rebellion, God commands the renewal of the covenant. Moses is to prepare new tablets and a wooden ark to contain them. The replacement of the broken tablets is a profound act of divine grace—God re-initiates what Israel's sin destroyed. The ark of wood anticipates the Ark of the Covenant that will house God's word at the center of Israel's worship.

Related Verses

The LORD said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'
2

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.'

Key Message

God's word and standards are unchanging. After restoration and forgiveness, the same covenant obligations apply—grace does not eliminate obedience.

▸God's promise to write 'the same words as on the first tablets' demonstrates that the covenant content does not change after forgiveness.

3

So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

Key Message

Faithful response to God's command is immediate and complete. Delayed or partial obedience is a form of disobedience.

▸Moses' immediate obedience is recorded without elaboration—he made the ark, prepared the tablets, and ascended the mountain.

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.

Key Message

God's moral standards and covenant requirements do not change. After failure and restoration, the same calling to obedience remains.

▸The renewed tablets contain 'the Ten Commandments' (עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, aseret haddevarim, literally 'the Ten Words').

5

Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark that I had made. And there they are, as the LORD commanded me.

Key Message

God's word is preserved through history and continues to speak. We are heirs of a covenant testimony that has endured across generations.

▸Moses completes the commanded sequence: descend, place the tablets in the ark.

6

The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place.

Key Message

Individual leaders die, but God's purposes continue. God's work does not depend on any single person's survival or success.

▸Aaron's death is briefly noted.

7

From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water.

Key Message

God guides his people through every stage of their journey and provides what is needed at each point along the way.

▸The wilderness itinerary continues.

8

At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry 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.

Key Message

God calls specific people for specific service. The Levitical vocation—carrying God's word, serving in God's presence, blessing in God's name—models what it means to be set apart for sacred purpose.

▸The Levitical calling is summarized in three functions: carrying the ark, standing before God to minister, and pronouncing blessings in God's name.

9

Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God said to him.

Key Message

When God himself is our inheritance, material deprivations become spiritual richness. True abundance is found in possessing God, not possessing things.

▸The Levites receive no territorial allotment in Canaan.

10

I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the LORD listened to me that time also. The LORD was unwilling to destroy you.

Key Message

Intercessory prayer moves the heart of God. God delights in mercy and is genuinely responsive to the prayers of his servants.

▸Moses confirms the outcome of his second forty-day intercession: God listened and chose not to destroy Israel.

11

Then the LORD said to me, 'Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.'

Key Message

Forgiveness always leads to a fresh commissioning. After restoration, God sends us forward—grace enables mission, not mere relief from guilt.

▸Following the resolution of the golden calf crisis through intercession, God commands a fresh start: 'Arise, go.

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,

Key Message

God's requirements are not impossibly complex: reverence, obedience, love, and wholehearted devotion. These four encompass the whole of covenant faithfulness.

▸This is the theological climax of chapter 10 and one of the most concise summaries of covenant religion in the entire Old Testament.

13

and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

Key Message

God's commandments are for our good, not our burden. Obedience to God is the path to genuine human flourishing, not the obstacle to it.

▸The purpose of the commandments is stated explicitly: 'for your good' (לְטוֹב לָךְ, letov lach).

14

Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.

Key Message

The God who owns everything in the universe chose to love a particular people. This magnifies grace beyond measure—the infinite condescended to the finite in love.

▸Verses 14-15 present a theological paradox of cosmic proportions: the God who owns the entire universe—'the heaven of heavens' (שְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם, shemei hashamayim, the highest heaven) and all that is in the earth—specifically chose Israel.

15

Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

Key Message

God's election is grounded in love, not utility or merit. He set his passionate affection on his people simply because he chose to love them.

▸The paradox is resolved in love: God 'set his heart in love' (חָשַׁק, hashaq—a word of deep affection, longing attachment) on the fathers and their offspring.

16

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Key Message

God desires internal transformation, not merely external compliance. True covenant faithfulness begins in the heart—a transformed inner orientation toward God.

▸'Circumcise the foreskin of your heart' (מַלְתֶּם אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם, maltem et arlat levavkhem) is one of Deuteronomy's most striking and theologically profound images.

17

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

Key Message

The supreme God is also the perfectly impartial God. His greatness does not make him remote from justice; it makes his justice absolute and uncorruptible.

▸Three divine titles are stacked: 'God of gods,' 'Lord of lords,' 'great, mighty, and awesome.

18

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Key Message

God's character is defined by his special care for the vulnerable and marginalized. A community that reflects God's character will share his passion for justice for the powerless.

▸The supremely powerful God specifically champions the most vulnerable: the fatherless (יָתוֹם, yatom), the widow (אַלְמָנָה, almanah), and the sojourner (גֵּר, ger).

19

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Key Message

Past suffering, remembered faithfully, must be converted into present compassion. Our experience of vulnerability becomes the foundation of our care for the vulnerable.

▸The command to love the sojourner is grounded in Israel's own experience as sojourners and slaves in Egypt.

20

You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.

Key Message

Covenant relationship with God encompasses every dimension of life: reverence, service, intimacy, and ultimate loyalty. These four together constitute a wholehearted devotion.

▸Chapter 10 concludes with a fourfold covenant summary: fear, serve, hold fast (דָּבַק, davaq—to cling, cleave, be joined), and swear in his name.

21

He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

Key Message

God is both the object and the content of genuine worship. Authentic praise is rooted in personal encounter with God's mighty acts.

▸'He is your praise' (הוּא תְהִלָּתְךָ, hu tehillatek'ha)—God is not only the object of praise but its content.

22

Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Key Message

God fulfills his promises. Small beginnings do not limit God's purposes; he who promised is faithful to bring it to completion beyond what we can imagine.

▸The chapter closes with a historical testimony to God's promise-keeping: seventy persons who descended to Egypt have become a nation as numerous as the stars of heaven—the exact promise made to Abraham in Genesis 15:5.