Deuteronomy 10:1

This chapter reports the results of Moses' intercession, the renewal of the sacred covenant, and further instructions and persuasions to obedience.

"At that time Jehovah 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. And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Jehovah spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Jehovah gave them unto me. And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they are as Jehovah commanded me."

"The paramount event in these words is that Moses' intercession prevailed. God gave commandment to hew out other tables and wrote upon them the ten commandments."[1] Since the tabernacle and all of its elaborate furniture had not at this time been erected, some scholars have trouble with the mention here of that ark, into which Moses was to place the tables. Several plausible explanations of this are available, as follows:

(a) Alexander supposed that the placing of the tables in the ark did not occur until LATER, after the tabernacle and its furnishing had been completed. He wrote: "But, as all those things were closely connected, Moses mentions them here together without regard to the chronology."[2] This is indeed a logical and reasonable view, and it could certainly be correct.

(b) Jamieson, however, thought than in anticipation of the event of receiving the new tables, Moses instructed Bezaleel to make the ark and have it ready when he returned from the mount. "Most probably Moses gave these instructions to Bezaleel BEFORE he ascended the mount, that upon his descent the ark might be ready to receive the precious deposit."[3] This also is an adequate and reasonable explanation. No one can prove that this is not exactly what happened.

(c) However, it appears to us that a better explanation is that this ark which Moses individually himself prepared was a TEMPORARY ARK which served until the more elaborate gold-crowned ark could be prepared later. The fact of Moses being commanded directly, not merely to hew the tables, but to make the ark (Deuteronomy 10:1) tells us that Moses himself, not Bezaleel, was to make this one. It will be remembered that Moses' dwelling place, "his tent," was the substitute for the real "tent of meeting" during this period when the covenant was broken and had not been renewed. Significantly, it stood outside the camp of Israel, and not within it. (See Exodus 33:7ff and my comments in Vol. 2 of this series of commentaries). Since the Scriptures declare plainly that Moses made this ark, and that Bezaleel made the other one. This writer believes that there were indeed two arks, this one mentioned here being a SUBSTITUTE until the glorious one might be prepared later. It is mandatory to remember in researching questions of this type that the Word of God gives only a summary of all that was done, and that many of the details are hidden forever. Certainly, we are justified in rejecting the arbitrary conclusions of critics who promptly make a contradiction out of these verses, and from this, declare that "Deuteronomy and Exodus are by `different authors,' Exodus by `P' and Deuteronomy by `JE.'"[4]

"The purpose of these first five verses is, "To state in a comprehensive and general way that God had mercifully reaffirmed the covenant with the rebellious vassals, and Moses included the matter of the ark as a familiar and integral element in the standard ratification procedure."[5] This very important consideration is missed altogether by earlier writers. Wright, for example, could see nothing in this except a purpose "to freshen the peoples' historical memory."[6] The correspondence of this with "contemporary international suzerainty treaties, the same being in accordance with the legal customs of that era, etc."[7] is of very great significance, because it is also the basis of clearing up the mystery of Deuteronomy 10:6,7, which have troubled scholars for a century.