Deuteronomy 10 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Ch.8 – 11   Maintaining a Right Perspective

Passage: Deut 10:1-11

1 At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden ark. 2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the ark.’

3 So I made the ark out of acacia wood and chiselled out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 4 The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made, as the Lord commanded me, and they are there now.

6 (The Israelites travelled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest. 7 From there they travelled to Gudgodah and on to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water. 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 and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.)

10 Now I had stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. 11 ‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.’

A. Find Out:

1. What had the Lord told Moses to do? v.1,2
2. So what happened? v.3-5
3. What event does he then note? v.6
4. What further did the Lord do? v.8,9
5. What does Moses go back to, to explain what? v.10
6. What was still the Lord’s intention? v.11

B. Think:

1. What could have happened back at Sinai?
2. Yet how would you describe what did happen?
3. What hope does this give us?

C. Comment:

       At first sight this seems a fairly mundane area of Scripture, but on reflection we will see in it great hope and encouragement. Moses has just reminded Israel of one of the worst acts of stupidity in their incredibly short history. At a human level they could have expected only total rejection by God for rejecting Him.

      He could have just abandoned them and left them to their own devices, or He could have destroyed them outright – but He didn’t! He gave them another chance. He persevered with Moses and allowed him to go up the mountain a second time to receive the Ten Commandments. He then took them on through the desert to the Promised Land, on the way setting up the priesthood to maintain a long-term relationship with Himself. Everything He did was saying I want this thing to work!

      He hadn’t even condemned the older generation to die in the wilderness – that only came when they refused to enter the Promised Land. The ‘party-goers’ had been killed but not the rest of the people. The picture is actually of a God of reluctant judgement. Judgement each time is limited to the actual people involved, not to the nation as a whole. Today, when we fail, we have a Saviour who intercedes on our behalf (1 John 2:1,2). Where there is repentance there is ALWAYS forgiveness and cleansing. God does NOT relish death but looks for repentance (Ezek 18:23,32)

D. Application:

1. God does bring judgment but prefers repentance that brings mercy.
2. Forgiveness is always available. It just requires repentance.

Passage: Deut 10:12-22

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations – as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

A. Find Out:

1. What requirement was now being reiterated? v.12,13,
2. What was the first reason given for obedience? v.14,15
3. What also were they told to do? v.16
4. What second reason was given? v.17
5. What further thing were they to do? v.19,20
6. What third reason is given? v.21,22 

B. Think:

1. What is the reasoning of v.12-15
2. Why do you think verse 16 is so important for their future?
3. What is the reasoning of v.19-22

C. Comment:

     There are three instructions given here and three sets of reasons. The first instruction (v.12,13) has four aspects to it: to fear God (have a right reverential attitude towards Him), to love Him (give Him your heart), serve him (be available to Him), and to obey Him (follow His commands). Their future prosperity could be therefore summed up in the four words: perspective, heart, activity & environment (think about those). The reason given for following the Lord like that is that He is the Creator of all things and knows best and He chose them.

     The second instruction (v.16) is to cut away the protective, self-centredness of their hearts and simply obey God, no longer being stubborn. That has been their problem in the past and if they want to prosper in the future, they need to deal with that. The reason given for that is that God is head over all, He knows best, but He doesn’t show favoritism (so won’t wink at their sins).    

Following this, comes the third instruction. Because the Lord, in compassion, also looks after the weak and the stranger, they too need to look after strangers who come to live with them. After all, He reminds them, they were once strangers in an alien land. Finally, he reiterates part of the third instruction to fear the Lord, remembering that He is the Mighty One who delivered them miraculously. 

D. Application:

1. Fear – love – serve – obey. Am I doing these things?
2. Is there still a protective, self-centred layer around my heart?