Deuteronomy 10:1-11 comments: two tables of stone remade

 

Deuteronomy 10:1 ¶  At 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. 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. 3  And 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 mine hand. 4  And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake 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. 5  And 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. 6  And 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 priest’s office in his stead. 7  From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters. 8  At 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. 9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him. 10  And 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 thee. 11  And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

 

Notice my comments on Exodus 34.

 

“Exodus 34:1 ¶  And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

 

God will repeat the writing of the commandments on two tables of stone. Moses was to come up early and alone to the summit of Mount Sinai to receive those tables of stone. Everyone else was to stay away from the base of the mountain and no one was to come on the mountain except Moses. Moses is told to be ready in the morning. There is something to be considered about the morning. Will the church be called out, translated in Biblical terms or raptured in popular parlance, in the morning? Do a word search on the morning. Here are two prominent examples.

 

Psalm 30:5  For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

 

Psalm 130:6  My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.”

 

You can see in Exodus 35 where the Ark of the Covenant was commanded to be made and then its making in chapter 37.

 

Aaron’s death is noted.

 

“Numbers 20:22 ¶  And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor. 23  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, 24  Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 25  Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 26  And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 27  And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28  And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 29  And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

 

From the text Mount Hor was on the border of the coast of the land of Edom. Coast means border in other contexts as well, not just the way we have come to mean it as the border with the ocean. In the next chapter coasts and border are defined as synonyms.

Numbers 21:13  From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

 

And also see;

 

Numbers 34:11  And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward:

 

God has determined, as He determines for all people, animals, and living things, that this is where Aaron is going to die. I’ve already discussed what it means to be gathered unto his people.

From its usage the phrase gathered unto his people refers to going to the place where his ancestors went when they died. Jacob is said to have yielded up the ghost. This is a reference to his spirit. Here is a reference to Jesus’s, who was fully man and fully God, human spirit or ghost, lowercase s and g. Here the human spirit belongs to and ascends to God.

Luke 23:46  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

Again, not only the soul leaves the flesh at death but here we see the spirit leaves, as well. Notice Solomon’s question in Ecclesiastes that suggests mankind doesn’t know what he thinks he knows.

Ecclesiastes 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

God uses the spirit of man as one means to examine him from the inside-out.

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

The Godhead consists of a soul (God the Father), the seat of self-identity and will, a Spirit (the Holy Ghost called the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God when referencing acting on physical reality as the very mind of God), and a body, a physical presence, (Christ or the Word by which all things were created and are held together). It is important to understand that only God’s three parts can act independently although guided by one will. If either our soul or spirit leave us as humans we physically die. Jesus, being fully man and fully God, was not only the physical image of the invisible God but, as a human, possessed a lowercase spirit or ghost which He surrendered when He gave up his brief temporal existence before rising from the dead.

Aaron, like Moses, will not enter the Promised Land physically due to his disobedience in the striking of the rock at Meribah.”

            In verses 8 & 9 the separate of the tribe of Levi is recounted.

 

Numbers 1:47 ¶  But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. 48  For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying, 49  Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: 50  But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. 51  And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 52  And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts. 53  But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony. 54  And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

 

Numbers 18:20 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. 21  And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.