Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Deuteronomy 10:1-5
Chapter 10 The Renewing of the Covenant and The Priesthood and the Servants of the Tabernacle.
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 is a miscellany of 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 words' 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 fulfilment which was important. The chronology of when these things took place was irrelevant.
The total disregard for chronology comes out in that in Deuteronomy 10:1 the command to make the ark comes after the entry into the mount while in Deuteronomy 10:3 it comes before, and in Deuteronomy 10:5 Moses returns from the Mount while in Deuteronomy 10:10 he is still there. This is typical of a speech when information from various sources is being briefly amassed because of its content, and commented on, when it is the total picture that matters. This is then followed by an exhortation, which includes a call to prepare their hearts and a description of the greatness of Yahweh.
It will immediately be noted that in Deuteronomy 10:1 certain extracts from Exodus 32:1 are included, some cited exactly, and some paraphrased, with additional comments made as Moses now felt appropriate so as to introduce the fact of the Ark. Exodus 32:1 reads as follows, with the words cited here in Deuteronomy in italics. ‘ Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the first, and I will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you broke --- and come up in the morning into Mount Sinai ---and he cut two tablets of stone like to the first --- and he went up into Mount Sinai --- and he took in his hand two tablets of stone.' (The words in italics are cited exactly in Deuteronomy, but with change of person between he and I in the last phrases).
The Re-establishing of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 10:1).
We may analyse this in the words of Moses as follows:
a At that time Yahweh said to me, “Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the first, and come up to Me into the mount, and make yourself an ark of wood (Deuteronomy 10:1).
b And I will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark (Deuteronomy 10:2).
c So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like to the first,
c And I went up into the mount, having the two tablets in my hand (Deuteronomy 10:3).
b And He wrote on the tablets, in accordance with the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you all in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the gathering, and Yahweh gave them to me (Deuteronomy 10:4).
a And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are as Yahweh commanded me (Deuteronomy 10:5).
Note that in ‘a' he makes two tablets and a wooden chest as Yahweh tells him to, and goes up into the Mount, and in the parallel he comes down from the Mount and puts the tablets in the chest as Yahweh had commanded. In ‘b' Yahweh says that He will write on the tablets what was on the first tablets, and in the parallel He does so. In ‘c' he makes the chest and the two tablets, and in the parallel he takes the two tablets which he has made up into the Mount.
‘ At that time Yahweh said to me, “Cut yourself two tablets of stone like to the first, and come up to me into the mount, and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.'
Moses describes how Yahweh told him (at two different times here conjoined to prevent the need for complicated explanations) 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 words 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. Treaties that were made were always put in a sanctuary, often in a chest, in order that they might be watched over by the gods. Here the covenant was to be watched over by the cherubim.
‘ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like to the first, and I went up into the mount, having the two tablets in my hand.'
He then explains that he had done exactly as Yahweh 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 (note the different order from Deuteronomy 10:2. There is no attempt at chronological exactness. He did not consider that important. It was what happened, not when it happened, that mattered). Then he had gone up into the Mount with the two tablets in his hand.
The Exodus narrative never explains when exactly the Ark was made or how it fitted in with Moses' different visits to the Mount, but we may presumably assume that it commenced on Moses coming down from the Mount the first time, which was when he had received the instructions for it.
There were less than ten months from the first arrival at Sinai (Exodus 19:1) to the erection of the tabernacle with all the furniture completed (on the first day of the first month of the second year - Exodus 40:17) and nearly two months, and possibly more, had passed between the arrival and Moses' first descent from the Mount. Thus that left less than eight months for all the complicated work involved, including the planning. It must therefore have been begun almost immediately.
This rare mention of the Ark in Deuteronomy stresses how much the speeches concentrate on the entry into the land and the keeping of the covenant. Matters peripheral to these are not dealt with, even though they are clearly known about, for there is little emphasis on cultic matters. But here it was important because he wanted the people to be aware that the tablets were still among them in the Ark. All this would be unlikely in a manufactured speech and confirms that here we have actual speeches by Moses which are the products of the urgency of the moment. To some extent he deliberately had tunnel vision.
‘ And he wrote on the tablets, in accordance with the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you (ye all) in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the gathering, and Yahweh gave them to me.'
The covenant was to be renewed on exactly the same terms as the first. Yahweh wrote (He may have done it using Moses as His scribe, Exodus 34:28 c is ambiguous, but the impression is that the inscribing was done by Yahweh Himself) ‘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.
We note here how Moses constantly brings ‘the fire' to mind (Deuteronomy 4:12; Deuteronomy 4:15; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 4:36; Deuteronomy 5:4; Deuteronomy 5:22; Deuteronomy 5:24; Deuteronomy 5:26; Deuteronomy 9:10). It was vivid in his mind and probably connected in his mind with his first call at the burning bush, and it emphasised the unique presence of the living God revealed in glorious display, and His glory and holiness.
‘ And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are as Yahweh commanded me.'
Moses had then turned and come down from the Mount and once the Ark was completed (and it was probably the first thing made as it was of such importance) 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 solemnised.
“And there they are as Yahweh commanded me.” This personal note confirms that this information comes direct from Moses.
There is no necessity for Moses to expand here on the whole significance of the Ark. By this time this was well known to them all. His concern here was to demonstrate the final sealing and guarantee of the second covenant. Whether the tablets were put in the Ark immediately on the Ark being made (which could well have been during the forty days while Moses was in the Mount), being then taken out while it was later moved into the tabernacle when that was erected, and then placed in it again (Exodus 40:20) we do not know, but they must have been kept somewhere suitable for such sacred objects.