(REFLECTIONS ON Deuteronomy 10:1-11)

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.

Deuteronomy is the second law. No, not a law different from the first one, but a repetition of the law. The Law needed to be repeated, because a new generation of Israel had be raised and were being prepared to enter into the land promised to their ancestors. The Law that was with their ancestors, now needed to be their Law as well.

It is symbolic that Moses broke the first tablets containing the Ten Commandments and needed to repeat the process again, just like Israel did not trust in the Lord, and a new generation needed to be raised up to enter into the Promised Land.

According to Deuteronomy 9, the first time, Moses received the tablets of stone after he stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. In today’s Scripture, the Lord tells Moses to “chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain.” In addition, the Lord instructs Moses to “make a wooden ark.” The Lord said,

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.”

Moses broke the tablets, because of his anger against Israel for making and worshiping the golden calf while he was away. Now, Moses had to carry that burden by making his own stone tablets and carrying them up to the mountain. Moses also could not be trusted with carrying them any longer, and so an ark needed to be made to house the tablets after the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on them as He did before.

Moses broke the tablets, like Israel broke the covenant, like we as the church continue to break the Lord’s heart. Yet, Deuteronomy, the new generation of Israelites, the second set of tablets, also symbolize grace, mercy, and a second chance with the Lord.

The Lord had mercy on Israel without a Christ. What more do we have as the church because of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Yes, we have much more. We stumble forward, we need to carry the broken pieces of our past mistakes, but we are on the move. That is what Christ means to us as His church.

Moses broke the tablets, we break God’s heart, but we are on the move, by the grace and mercy allotted to us through Jesus Christ. As Israel are the people of Deuteronomy, so are we a people of a second chance.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy 10