New Tablets, Circumcised Hearts, and the God Who Loves the Stranger

Deu 10:6-7 And the Israelites owed to the grace of their God, which was turned towards them once more, through the intercession of Moses, not only the restoration of the tables of the covenant as a pledge that the covenant itself was restored, but also the institution and maintenance of the high-priesthood and priesthood generally for the purpose of mediation between them and the Lord. Moses reminds the people of this gracious gift on the part of their God, by recalling to their memory the time when Aaron died and his son Eleazar was invested with the high-priesthood in his stead.

That he may transport his hearers the more distinctly to the period in question, he lets the history itself speak, and quotes from the account of their journeys the passage which supplied the practical proof of what he desires to say. Instead of saying: And the high-priesthood also, with which Aaron was invested by the grace of God notwithstanding his sin at Sinai, the Lord has still preserved to you; for when Aaron died, He invested his son with the same honour, and also directed you to continue your journey-he proceeds in the following historical style: “ And the children of Israel took their journey from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son became priest in his stead.

And from thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of water-brooks . ” The allusion to these marches, together with the events which had taken place at Mosera, taught in very few words “not only that Aaron was forgiven at the intercession of Moses, and even honoured with the high-priesthood, the medium of grace and blessing to the people of God (e.

g. , at the wells of Bene-jaakan) until the time of his death; but also that through this same intercession the high-priesthood was maintained in perpetuity, so that when Aaron had to die in the wilderness in consequence of a fresh sin (Num 20:12), it continued notwithstanding, and by no means diminished in strength, as might have been feared, since it led the way from the wells to water-brooks, helped on the journey to Canaan, which was now the object of their immediate aim, and still sustained their courage and their faith” ( Schultz ).

The earlier commentators observed the inward connection between the continuation of the high-priesthood and the water-brooks. J. Gerhard , for example, observes: “God generally associates material blessings with spiritual; as long as the ministry of the word and the observance of divine worship flourish among us, God will also provide for our temporal necessities.

” In Deu 10:8, Moses returns to the form of an address again, and refers to the separation of the tribe of Levi for the holy service, as a manifestation of mercy on the part of the Lord towards Israel. The expression “ at that time ” is not to be understood as relating to the time of Aaron’s death in the fortieth year of the march, in which Knobel finds a contradiction to the other books.

It refers quite generally, as in Deu 9:20 and Deu 10:1, to the time of which Moses is speaking here, viz. , the time when the covenant was restored at Sinai. The appointment of the tribe of Levi for service at the sanctuary took place in connection with the election of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood (Ex 28 and 29), although their call to this service, instead of the first-born of Israel, was not carried out till the numbering and mustering of the people (Num 1:49.

, Deu 4:17. , Deu 8:6.) Moses is speaking here of the election of the whole of the tribe of Levi, including the priests (Aaron and his sons), as is very evident from the account of their service. It is true that the carrying of the ark upon the march through the desert was the business of the (non-priestly) Levites, viz. , the Kohathites (Num 4:4.) ; but on solemn occasions the priests had to carry it (cf.

Jos 3:3, Jos 3:6, Jos 3:8; Jos 6:6; 1Ki 8:3.) “Standing before the Lord, to serve Him, and to bless in His name,” was exclusively the business of the priests (cf. Deu 18:5; Deu 21:5, and Num 6:23.) , whereas the Levites were only assistants of the priests in their service (see at Deu 18:7). This tribe therefore received no share and possession with the other tribes, as was already laid down in Num 18:20 with reference to the priests, and in Num 18:24 with regard to all the Levites; to which passages the words “as the Lord thy God promised him” refer.

- Lastly, in Deu 10:10, Deu 10:11, Moses sums up the result of his intercession in the words, “ And I stood upon the mount as the first days, forty days (a resumption of Deu 9:18 and Deu 9:25); and the Lord hearkened to me this time also (word for word, as in Deu 9:19). “ Jehovah would not destroy thee (Israel). ” Therefore He commanded Moses to arise to depart before the people, i.

e. , as leader of the people to command and superintend their removal and march. In form, this command is connected with Exo 34:1; but Moses refers here not only to that word of the Lord with the limitation added there in Exo 34:2, but to the ultimate, full, and unconditional assurance of God, in which the Lord Himself promised to go with His people and bring them to Canaan (Exo 34:14.)

Deu 10:6-7 And the Israelites owed to the grace of their God, which was turned towards them once more, through the intercession of Moses, not only the restoration of the tables of the covenant as a pledge that the covenant itself was restored, but also the institution and maintenance of the high-priesthood and priesthood generally for the purpose of mediation between them and the Lord. Moses reminds the people of this gracious gift on the part of their God, by recalling to their memory the time when Aaron died and his son Eleazar was invested with the high-priesthood in his stead.

That he may transport his hearers the more distinctly to the period in question, he lets the history itself speak, and quotes from the account of their journeys the passage which supplied the practical proof of what he desires to say. Instead of saying: And the high-priesthood also, with which Aaron was invested by the grace of God notwithstanding his sin at Sinai, the Lord has still preserved to you; for when Aaron died, He invested his son with the same honour, and also directed you to continue your journey-he proceeds in the following historical style: “ And the children of Israel took their journey from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son became priest in his stead.

And from thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of water-brooks . ” The allusion to these marches, together with the events which had taken place at Mosera, taught in very few words “not only that Aaron was forgiven at the intercession of Moses, and even honoured with the high-priesthood, the medium of grace and blessing to the people of God (e.

g. , at the wells of Bene-jaakan) until the time of his death; but also that through this same intercession the high-priesthood was maintained in perpetuity, so that when Aaron had to die in the wilderness in consequence of a fresh sin (Num 20:12), it continued notwithstanding, and by no means diminished in strength, as might have been feared, since it led the way from the wells to water-brooks, helped on the journey to Canaan, which was now the object of their immediate aim, and still sustained their courage and their faith” ( Schultz ).

The earlier commentators observed the inward connection between the continuation of the high-priesthood and the water-brooks. J. Gerhard , for example, observes: “God generally associates material blessings with spiritual; as long as the ministry of the word and the observance of divine worship flourish among us, God will also provide for our temporal necessities.

” In Deu 10:8, Moses returns to the form of an address again, and refers to the separation of the tribe of Levi for the holy service, as a manifestation of mercy on the part of the Lord towards Israel. The expression “ at that time ” is not to be understood as relating to the time of Aaron’s death in the fortieth year of the march, in which Knobel finds a contradiction to the other books.

It refers quite generally, as in Deu 9:20 and Deu 10:1, to the time of which Moses is speaking here, viz. , the time when the covenant was restored at Sinai. The appointment of the tribe of Levi for service at the sanctuary took place in connection with the election of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood (Ex 28 and 29), although their call to this service, instead of the first-born of Israel, was not carried out till the numbering and mustering of the people (Num 1:49.

, Deu 4:17. , Deu 8:6.) Moses is speaking here of the election of the whole of the tribe of Levi, including the priests (Aaron and his sons), as is very evident from the account of their service. It is true that the carrying of the ark upon the march through the desert was the business of the (non-priestly) Levites, viz. , the Kohathites (Num 4:4.) ; but on solemn occasions the priests had to carry it (cf.

Jos 3:3, Jos 3:6, Jos 3:8; Jos 6:6; 1Ki 8:3.) “Standing before the Lord, to serve Him, and to bless in His name,” was exclusively the business of the priests (cf. Deu 18:5; Deu 21:5, and Num 6:23.) , whereas the Levites were only assistants of the priests in their service (see at Deu 18:7). This tribe therefore received no share and possession with the other tribes, as was already laid down in Num 18:20 with reference to the priests, and in Num 18:24 with regard to all the Levites; to which passages the words “as the Lord thy God promised him” refer.

- Lastly, in Deu 10:10, Deu 10:11, Moses sums up the result of his intercession in the words, “ And I stood upon the mount as the first days, forty days (a resumption of Deu 9:18 and Deu 9:25); and the Lord hearkened to me this time also (word for word, as in Deu 9:19). “ Jehovah would not destroy thee (Israel). ” Therefore He commanded Moses to arise to depart before the people, i.

e. , as leader of the people to command and superintend their removal and march. In form, this command is connected with Exo 34:1; but Moses refers here not only to that word of the Lord with the limitation added there in Exo 34:2, but to the ultimate, full, and unconditional assurance of God, in which the Lord Himself promised to go with His people and bring them to Canaan (Exo 34:14.)

Deu 10:12-13 The proof that Israel had no righteousness before God is followed on the positive side by an expansion of the main law laid down in Deu 6:4. , to love God with all the heart, which is introduced by the words, “and now Israel,” sc. , now that thou hast everything without desert or worthiness, purely from forgiving grace. “ What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?

” Nothing further than that thou fearest Him, “to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and all the soul. ” אם כּי, unless , or except that , presupposes a negative clause (cf. Gen 39:9), which is implied here in the previous question, or else to be supplied as the answer. The demand for fear, love, and reverence towards the Lord, is no doubt very hard for the natural man to fulfil, and all the harder the deeper it goes into the heart; but after such manifestations of the love and grace of God, it only follows as a matter of course.

“Fear, love, and obedience would naturally have taken root of themselves within the heart, if man had not corrupted his own heart. ” Love, which is the only thing demanded in Deu 6:5, is here preceded by fear, which is the only thing mentioned in Deu 5:26 and Deu 6:24. The fear of the Lord, which springs from the knowledge of one’s own unholiness in the presence of the holy God, ought to form the one leading emotion in the heart prompting to walk in all the ways of the Lord, and to maintain morality of conduct in its strictest form.

This fear, which first enables us to comprehend the mercy of God, awakens love, the fruit of which is manifested in serving God with all the heart and all the soul (see Deu 6:5). “ For thy good ,” as in Deu 5:30 and Deu 6:24.

Deu 10:12-13 The proof that Israel had no righteousness before God is followed on the positive side by an expansion of the main law laid down in Deu 6:4. , to love God with all the heart, which is introduced by the words, “and now Israel,” sc. , now that thou hast everything without desert or worthiness, purely from forgiving grace. “ What doth the Lord thy God require of thee?

” Nothing further than that thou fearest Him, “to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and all the soul. ” אם כּי, unless , or except that , presupposes a negative clause (cf. Gen 39:9), which is implied here in the previous question, or else to be supplied as the answer. The demand for fear, love, and reverence towards the Lord, is no doubt very hard for the natural man to fulfil, and all the harder the deeper it goes into the heart; but after such manifestations of the love and grace of God, it only follows as a matter of course.

“Fear, love, and obedience would naturally have taken root of themselves within the heart, if man had not corrupted his own heart. ” Love, which is the only thing demanded in Deu 6:5, is here preceded by fear, which is the only thing mentioned in Deu 5:26 and Deu 6:24. The fear of the Lord, which springs from the knowledge of one’s own unholiness in the presence of the holy God, ought to form the one leading emotion in the heart prompting to walk in all the ways of the Lord, and to maintain morality of conduct in its strictest form.

This fear, which first enables us to comprehend the mercy of God, awakens love, the fruit of which is manifested in serving God with all the heart and all the soul (see Deu 6:5). “ For thy good ,” as in Deu 5:30 and Deu 6:24.

Deu 10:14-15 This obligation the Lord had laid upon Israel by the love with which He, to whom all the heavens and the earth, with everything upon it, belong, had chosen the patriarchs and their seed out of all nations. By “the heavens of the heavens,” the idea of heaven is perfectly exhausted. This God, who might have chosen any other nation as well as Israel, or in fact all nations together, had directed His special love to Israel alone.

Deu 10:14-15 This obligation the Lord had laid upon Israel by the love with which He, to whom all the heavens and the earth, with everything upon it, belong, had chosen the patriarchs and their seed out of all nations. By “the heavens of the heavens,” the idea of heaven is perfectly exhausted. This God, who might have chosen any other nation as well as Israel, or in fact all nations together, had directed His special love to Israel alone.

Deu 10:16-17 Above all, therefore, they were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, i. e. , to lay aside all insensibility of heart to impressions from the love of God (cf. Lev 26:41; and on the spiritual signification of circumcision, see Gen 17:15-21), and not stiffen their necks any more, i. e. , not persist in their obstinacy, or obstinate resistance to God (cf.

Deu 9:6, Deu 9:13). Without circumcision of heart, true fear of God and true love of God are both impossible. As a reason for this admonition, Moses adduces in Deu 10:17. the nature and acts of God. Jehovah as the absolute God and Lord is mighty and terrible towards all, without respect of person, and at the same time a just Judge and loving Protector of the helpless and oppressed.

From this it follows that the true God will not tolerate haughtiness and stiffness of neck either towards Himself or towards other men, but will punish it without reserve. To set forth emphatically the infinite greatness and might of God, Moses describes Jehovah the God of Israel as the “ God of gods ,” i. e. , the supreme God, the essence of all that is divine, of all divine power and might (cf.

Psa 136:2), - and as the “ Lord of lords ,” i. e. , the supreme, unrestricted Ruler (“the only Potentate,” 1Ti 6:15), above all powers in heaven and on earth, “ a great King above all gods ” (Psa 95:3). Compare Rev 17:14 and Rev 19:16, where these predicates are transferred to the exalted Son of God, as the Judge and Conqueror of all dominions and powers that are hostile to God.

The predicates which follow describe the unfolding of the omnipotence of God in the government of the world, in which Jehovah manifests Himself as the great, mighty, and terrible God (Psa 89:8), who does not regard the person (cf. Lev 19:15), or accept presents (cf. Deu 16:19), like a human judge.

Deu 10:16-17 Above all, therefore, they were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, i. e. , to lay aside all insensibility of heart to impressions from the love of God (cf. Lev 26:41; and on the spiritual signification of circumcision, see Gen 17:15-21), and not stiffen their necks any more, i. e. , not persist in their obstinacy, or obstinate resistance to God (cf.

Deu 9:6, Deu 9:13). Without circumcision of heart, true fear of God and true love of God are both impossible. As a reason for this admonition, Moses adduces in Deu 10:17. the nature and acts of God. Jehovah as the absolute God and Lord is mighty and terrible towards all, without respect of person, and at the same time a just Judge and loving Protector of the helpless and oppressed.

From this it follows that the true God will not tolerate haughtiness and stiffness of neck either towards Himself or towards other men, but will punish it without reserve. To set forth emphatically the infinite greatness and might of God, Moses describes Jehovah the God of Israel as the “ God of gods ,” i. e. , the supreme God, the essence of all that is divine, of all divine power and might (cf.

Psa 136:2), - and as the “ Lord of lords ,” i. e. , the supreme, unrestricted Ruler (“the only Potentate,” 1Ti 6:15), above all powers in heaven and on earth, “ a great King above all gods ” (Psa 95:3). Compare Rev 17:14 and Rev 19:16, where these predicates are transferred to the exalted Son of God, as the Judge and Conqueror of all dominions and powers that are hostile to God.

The predicates which follow describe the unfolding of the omnipotence of God in the government of the world, in which Jehovah manifests Himself as the great, mighty, and terrible God (Psa 89:8), who does not regard the person (cf. Lev 19:15), or accept presents (cf. Deu 16:19), like a human judge.

Deu 10:18-19 As such, Jehovah does justice to the defenceless (orphan and widow), and exercises a loving care towards the stranger in his oppression. For this reason the Israelites were not to close their hearts egotistically against the stranger (cf. Exo 22:20). This would show whether they possessed any love to God, and had circumcised their hearts (cf. 1Jo 3:10, 1Jo 3:17).

Deu 10:18-19 As such, Jehovah does justice to the defenceless (orphan and widow), and exercises a loving care towards the stranger in his oppression. For this reason the Israelites were not to close their hearts egotistically against the stranger (cf. Exo 22:20). This would show whether they possessed any love to God, and had circumcised their hearts (cf. 1Jo 3:10, 1Jo 3:17).

Deu 10:20-21 After laying down the fundamental condition of a proper relation towards God, Moses describes the fear of God, i. e. , true reverence of God, in its threefold manifestation, in deed (serving God), in heart (cleaving to Him; cf. Deu 4:4), and with the mouth (swearing by His name; cf. Deu 6:13). Such reverence as this Israel owed to its God; for “ He is thy praise, and He is thy God ” (Deu 10:21).

He has given thee strong inducements to praise. By the great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen, He has manifested Himself as God to thee. “ Terrible things ” are those acts of divine omnipotence, which fill men with fear and trembling at the majesty of the Almighty (cf. Exo 15:11). אתּך עשׂה, “done with thee,” i. e. , shown to thee (את in the sense of practical help).

Deu 10:20-21 After laying down the fundamental condition of a proper relation towards God, Moses describes the fear of God, i. e. , true reverence of God, in its threefold manifestation, in deed (serving God), in heart (cleaving to Him; cf. Deu 4:4), and with the mouth (swearing by His name; cf. Deu 6:13). Such reverence as this Israel owed to its God; for “ He is thy praise, and He is thy God ” (Deu 10:21).

He has given thee strong inducements to praise. By the great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen, He has manifested Himself as God to thee. “ Terrible things ” are those acts of divine omnipotence, which fill men with fear and trembling at the majesty of the Almighty (cf. Exo 15:11). אתּך עשׂה, “done with thee,” i. e. , shown to thee (את in the sense of practical help).

Deu 10:22 One marvel among these great and terrible acts of the Lord as to be seen in Israel itself, which had gone down to Egypt in the persons of its fathers as a family consisting of seventy souls, and now, notwithstanding the oppression it suffered there, had grown into an innumerable nation. So marvellously had the Lord fulfilled His promise in Gen 15:5.

By referring to this promise, Moses intended no doubt to recall to the recollection of the people the fact that the bondage of Israel in a foreign land for 400 years had also been foretold (Gen 15:13.) On the seventy souls, see at Gen 46:26-27.

In Deu 11:1-12 the other feature in the divine requirements (Deu 10:12), viz. , love to the Lord their God, is still more fully developed. Love was to show itself in the distinct perception of what had to be observed towards Jehovah (to “ keep His charge ,” see at Lev 8:35), i. e. , in the perpetual observance of His commandments and rights. The words, “ and His statutes ,” etc.

, serve to explain the general notion, “His charge. ” “ All days ,” as in Deu 4:10. To awaken this love they were now to know, i. e. , to ponder and lay to heart, the discipline of the Lord their God. The words from “ for (I speak) not ” to “ have not seen ” are a parenthetical clause, by which Moses would impress his words most strongly upon the hearts of the older generation, which had witnessed the acts of the Lord.

The clause is without any verb or predicate, but this can easily be supplied from the sense. The best suggestion is that of Schultz , viz. , ההוּא הדּבר, “for it is not with your children that I have to do,” not to them that this admonition applies. Moses refers to the children who had been born in the desert, as distinguished from those who, though not twenty years old when the Israelites came out of Egypt, had nevertheless seen with their own eyes the plagues inflicted upon Egypt, and who were now of mature age, viz.

, between forty and sixty years old, and formed, as the older and more experienced generation, the stock and kernel of the congregation assembled round him now. To the words, “ which have not known and have not seen ,” it is easy to supply from the context, “what ye have known and seen. ” The accusatives from “the chastisement” onwards belong to the verb of the principal sentence, “know ye this day.

” The accusatives which follow show what we are to understand by “the chastisement of the Lord,” viz. , the mighty acts of the Lord to Egypt and to Israel in the desert. The object of them all was to educate Israel in the fear and love of God. In this sense Moses calls them מוּסר ( Eng. Ver. chastisement ), παιδεία, i. e. , not punishment only, but education by the manifestation of love as well as punishment (like יסּר in Deu 4:36; cf.

Pro 1:2, Pro 1:8; Pro 4:1, etc.) “ His greatness ,” etc. , as in Deu 3:24 and Deu 4:34. On the signs and acts in Egypt, see at Deu 4:34; Deu 6:22; and on those at the Red Sea, at Ex 14. פּניהם - הצּיף אשׁר, “ over whose face He made the waters of the Red Sea to flow; ” cf. Exo 14:26. - By the acts of God in the desert (Deu 11:5) we are not to understand the chastenings in Num 11-15 either solely or pre-eminently, but all the manifestations of the omnipotence of God in the guidance of Israel, proofs of love as well as the penal wonders.

Of the latter, the miraculous destruction of the company of Korah is specially mentioned in Deu 11:6 (cf. Num 16:31-33). Here Moses only mentions Dathan and Abiram, the followers of Korah, and not Korah himself, probably from regard to his sons, who were not swallowed up by the earth along with their father, but had lived to perpetuate the family of Korah. “ Everything existing, which was in their following ” (see Exo 11:8), does not mean their possessions, but their servants, and corresponds to “all the men who belonged to Korah” in Num 16:32, whereas the possessions mentioned there are included here in the “tents.

” היקוּם is only applied to living beings, as in Gen 7:4 and Gen 7:23. - In Deu 11:7 the reason is given for the admonition in Deu 11:2 : the elders were to know (discern) the educational purpose of God in those mighty acts of the Lord, because they had seen them with their own eyes. And this knowledge was to impel them to keep the law, that they might be strong, i.

e. , spiritually strong (Deu 1:38), and not only go into the promised land, but also live long therein (cf. Deu 4:26; Deu 6:3). - In Deu 11:10-12 Moses adduces a fresh motive for his admonition to keep the law with fidelity, founded upon the peculiar nature of the land. Canaan was a land the fertility of which was not dependent, like that of Egypt, upon its being watered by the hand of man, but was kept up by the rain of heaven which was sent down by God the Lord, so that it depended entirely upon the Lord how long its inhabitants should live therein.

Egypt is described by Moses as a land which Israel sowed with seed, and watered with its foot like a garden of herbs. In Egypt there is hardly any rain at all (cf. Herod . ii. 4, Diod. Sic. i. 41, and other evidence in Hengstenberg’s Egypt and the Books of Moses , pp. 217ff.) The watering of the land, which produces its fertility, is dependent upon the annual overflowing of the Nile, and, as this only lasts for about 100 days, upon the way in which this is made available for the whole year, namely, by the construction of canals and ponds throughout the land, to which the water is conducted from the Nile by forcing machines, or by actually carrying it in vessels up to the fields and plantations.

The expression, “with thy foot,” probably refers to the large pumping wheels still in use there, which are worked by the feet, and over which a long endless rope passes with pails attached, for drawing up the water (cf. Niebuhr, Reise, i. 149), the identity of which with the ἕλιξ described by Philo as ὑδρηλὸν ὄργανον ( de confus. ling. i. 410) cannot possibly be called in question; provided, that is to say, we do not confound this ἕλιξ with the Archimedean water-screw mentioned by Diod.

Sic. i. 34, and described more minutely at v. 37, the construction of which was entirely different (see my Archaeology, ii. pp. 111-2). - The Egyptians, as genuine heathen, were so thoroughly conscious of this peculiar characteristic of their land, which made its fertility far more dependent upon the labour of human hands than upon the rain of heaven or divine providence, that Herodotus (ii.

13) represents them as saying, “The Greeks, with their dependence upon the gods, might be disappointed in their brightest hopes and suffer dreadfully from famine. ” The land of Canaan yielded no support to such godless self-exaltation, for it was “a land of mountains and valleys, and drank water of the rain of heaven” (ל before מטר, to denote the external cause; see Ewald , §217, d .)

; i. e. , it received its watering, the main condition of all fertility, from the rain, by the way of the rain, and therefore through the providential care of God. It was a land which Jehovah inquired after, i. e. , for which He cared (דּרשׁ, as in Pro 31:13; Job 3:4); His eyes were always directed towards it from the beginning of the year to the end; a land, therefore, which was dependent upon God, and in this dependence upon God peculiarly adapted to Israel, which was to live entirely to its God, and upon His grace alone.

This peculiarity in the land of Canaan led Moses to close the first part of his discourse on the law, his exhortation to fear and love the Lord, with a reference to the blessing that would follow the faithful fulfilment of the law, and a threat of the curse which would attend apostasy to idolatry.