Deuteronomy 10:2

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) And I will write on the tables.—It is a common error to suppose that Moses wrote the Law the second time. The mistake arises from the change of person in Exodus 34:28, where the same pronoun “he” refers first to Moses, and then to Jehovah. But there is no doubt as to the fact or its spiritual meaning. The tables of stone represent the “fleshy tables of the heart” as St. Paul teaches us in 2Corinthians 3:3. The first pair of tables were like the heart of Adam, which came fresh from the hand of his Maker, with the word of the Law written on them. But this perished by the fall, beneath the mountain of the Law. The humanity which ascended to receive the Spirit for us was prepared by the Mediator on earth. The “second man” receive “the new covenant,” “not the letter, but the Spirit,” which puts God’s laws in men’s minds, and writes them in their hearts, making them God’s temple. Thus the ark and the tabernacle which received the Law are a figure of God’s human temple, and of the renewed heart of man.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 10:2. I will write on the tables — Though the tables were broken because they broke his commandment and made themselves a graven image, they were now renewed in proof that his wrath was turned away. And thus God’s writing his law in our inward parts is the surest proof of our reconciliation to him, Jeremiah 31:33-34. Reader, has God written it on thine? Remember, He that loveth not, knoweth not God, and is not in a state of reconciliation with him, 1 John 4:8.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-11 Moses reminded the Israelites of God's great mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations. There were four things in and by which the Lord showed himself reconciled to Israel. God gave them his law. Thus God has intrusted us with Bibles, sabbaths, and sacraments, as tokens of his presence and favour. God led them forward toward Canaan. He appointed a standing ministry among them for holy things. And now, under the gospel, when the pouring forth of the Spirit is more plentiful and powerful, the succession is kept up by the Spirit's work on men's hearts, qualifying and making some willing for that work in every age. God accepted Moses as an advocate or intercessor for them, and therefore appointed him to be their prince and leader. Moses was a type of Christ, who ever lives, pleading for us, and has all power in heaven and in earth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses are closely connected with the preceding chapter, and state very briefly the results of the intercession of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 9:25-29. The people are reminded that all their blessings and privileges, forfeited by apostasy as soon as bestowed, were only now their own by a new and most unmerited act of grace on the part of God, won from Him by the self-sacrificing mediation of Moses himself Deuteronomy 10:10.

Deuteronomy 10:1-5. The order for making the ark and tabernacle was evidently given before the apostasy of the people (Exodus 25ff); but the tables were not put in the ark until the completion and dedication of the tabernacle Exodus 40. But here as elsewhere (compare the Deuteronomy 9:1 note) Moses connects transactions closely related to each other and to his purpose without regard to the order of occurrence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 10

De 10:1-22. God's Mercy in Restoring the Two Tables.

1. At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first—It was when God had been pacified through the intercessions of Moses with the people who had so greatly offended Him by the worship of the golden calf. The obedient leader executed the orders he had received as to the preparation both of the hewn stones, and the ark or chest in which those sacred archives were to be laid.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest,.... (a) Though they were hewn by Moses, the writing on them was the Lord's; and the very same laws, in the same words, without any alteration or variation, were written by him on these as on the former; partly to show the authenticity of them, that they were of God and not Moses, of a divine original and not human; and partly to show the invariableness of them, that no change had been made in them, though they had been broken by the people; of which Moses's breaking the tables was a representation:

and thou shall put them in the ark; which being a type of Christ may signify the fulfilment of the law by him, who is the end, the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness to every believer; and that as this was in his heart to fulfil it, so it is in his hand as a rule of faith and conversation to his people.

(a) See a Sermon of mine on this text, called, "The Law in the Hand of Christ."

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. And I will write … which thou brakest] So exactly Exodus 34:1 b, E; cp. above Deuteronomy 5:22, and tables of the covenant, Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11.

and thou shalt put them in the ark] Not now in E for the reasons given above. Hence D’s name, the ark of the covenant. See above on p. 64. For the same reason P calls the tables the tables of, and the Ark the Ark of, the testimony.

Deuteronomy 10:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Deuteronomy 10:1-5 Moses briefly relates the success of his earnest intercession. "At that time," of his intercession, God commanded him to hew out new tables, and prepare an ark in which to keep them (cf. Exodus 34:1.). Here again Moses links together such things as were substantially connected, without strictly confining himself to the chronological order, which was already well known from the historical account, inasmuch as this was not required by the general object of his address. God had already given directions for the preparation of the ark of the covenant, before the apostasy of the nation (Exodus 25:10.); but it was not made till after the tabernacle had been built, and the tables were only deposited in the ark when the tabernacle was consecrated (Exodus 40:20).