CHAPTER 10

(1491 B.C.)

THE TABLES OF STONE

¹At 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 (the Ark of the Covenant).

²And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the Ark.

³And 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 my hand.

⁴And He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD spoke 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. (The Ten Commandments, when investigated thoroughly, are found to be the foundation of all sensible law in the world and, in fact, ever have been. When a nation strays from its concepts, sooner or later, that nation begins to pay the price.)

⁵And 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.

⁶And 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 Priests office in his stead (the office of the High Priest).

⁷From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

⁸At 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 (the appointment of the Tribe of Levi for service took place in connection with that of Aaron and his sons to the Priesthood [Num. 3:4]).

⁹Wherefore Levi has no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his Inheritance, according as the LORD your God promised him.

¹⁰And 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 you.

¹¹And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore unto their fathers to give unto them.

THE EXHORTATION

¹²And 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, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

¹³To keep the Commandments of the LORD, and His Statutes, which I command you this day for your good? (God had shown great favor to Israel. What return did He require? Only that they would fear Him, love Him, and obey Him.)

¹⁴Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORDs your God, the Earth also, with all that therein is (the Lord is the Creator of all things).

¹⁵Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day (meaning that Israel was honored more than any other people on the face of the Earth).

¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked (they were to humble their heart before God).

¹⁷For the LORD your God is God of gods, and LORD of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor takes reward (the Lord is the complex and sum of all that is Divine):

¹⁸He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and raiment (the Lord vindicates the right of the defenseless, if they will only look to Him [Ps. 68:6; 146:9]).

¹⁹Love ye therefore the stranger: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Israel knew what it was to be a stranger in a strange land; so they were to reciprocate with strangers, and even at the command of the Lord).

²⁰You shall fear the LORD your God; Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cleave, and swear by His Name (the last phrase refers to praising the Lord).

²¹He is your praise, and He is your God, Who has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen.

²²Your fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons (70 people); and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude (Gen. 15:5).