Deuteronomy 10: 10-22 Analysis

I. Introduction

Deuteronomy 10: 10-22 is Moses’s second sermon to the people of Israel after he makes two more stone tablets to replace the other stone tablets that were broken. In this portion of the text, Moses speaks to Israel about what happened on the mountain with the LORD and then proceeds to tell them what God requires of them as a people. This pericope is trying to teach ancient Israel about the nature of God and the response that they should have to God because God is concerned about the longevity of his people to fulfill his covenant with them. The pericope accomplished this by retelling Israel of the past, reminding them of what they should do, and then telling them how to respond.

II. Pericope and Translation

“10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the LORD listened to me. The LORD was unwilling to destroy you.11 The LORD said to me, “Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their

ancestors to give them.”
12 So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. 14 Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it, 15 yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18 who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. 22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.” (Deuteronomy 10: 10-22, NRSV)
It is important to note that when the word “LORD” is written, it means “Yhwh”, the name of God. The word “God” in Hebrew does not signify the name of God, “Yhwh”, but rather it means “‘Elohim”. So when the text says, “LORD your God” it means Yhwh ‘Elohim. However, when the text says “Lord” it simply means “‘Adonay” and not “Yhwh”. And when the text says “god” the translation is simply “‘el”. It is important to note the meanings of the titles that are placed on God because the Israelites reading the text would have known the differences between each of the titles. The use of different titles also gave a clear distinction and emphasis between the one true God, Yhwh, and the many other “gods” that the surrounding nations would have had. This is also crucial to know when reading Deuteronomy 10:17, for without this knowledge there would not be a well-developed understanding of what the verse is trying to communicate.
III. Form, Structure, and Meaning
The following pericope can be separated into three basic sections: the recapitulation, aide memoire, and responses.

A. Recapitulation
The recapitulation portion, Deuteronomy 10:10-11,first starts to describe specific actions that Moses and God take and then describes what the LORD tells Moes and his people to do. Moses’s and God’s actions found in Deuteronomy 10:10 and describe him staying on the Mountian for forty days and nights as he had done before. First, the pericope describes the location, Mount Sini or Mount Horeb, then the duration, forty days and nights, and then the fact that Moes had done this action before. Then the pericope breaks off and says that Ywhw had an action as well. He first listened to Moses and then he decided not to destroy the Israelites.
The fact that God did not destroy the Israelites illustrated to the Israelites God’s nature. It illustrated that God picked them to be his people and it also showed his merciful nature to them. It exemplifies that he was willing to forgive them even though they made a mistake and that he was willing to work with a nation and a people that were sinners.
In Deuteronomy 10:11, the pericope goes into what the LORD told Moses to say to Israel. The verse starts off by stating that God spoke to Moses, and then it goes into what God said to him. God first gives Moes and instruction and then God gives Moses a reason for that instruction. God tells Moes to first lead the people on the journey so that he can then lead the people to the land that was promised to Isreal’s ancestors.
Ancestor was an important facet of life to the ancient Israelites because it tied into the covenant or promise that God made with Abraham. To Jewish people, ancestors were not meant to be worshiped, but only God alone and the ancestral tribe was tied to a legal understanding between God and his people and this promise transcend generations. There are three types of legal relationships and they are as follows: human to human, God to human, and God’s obligation to sinners. This pericope concerns legal relationship, God’s obligation to sinners because it reminds Isreal about the promise God made with Abraham and it is a way that God will redeem them. God is willing to work with a people that are sinful and not perfect in order to keep his command of making them numerous as well as allowing them to settle in the land that he promised them. This whole pericope is about keeping God’s commandments because God made a covenant and that covenant follows through generation after generation. In order for this to work, it seems that the nation in each generation must learn how to change their hearts. In order to do this God starts by reminding them of the covenant of their ancestors. The longevity of the people in this part of the pericope is emphasized by the acknowledgment of the ancestors and the continuation of the promise for future generations.
B. Aide Memoire
In Deuteronomy 10:12-15, the aide memoire section of the pericope, there are three significant portions of the pericope and that is the questions, answers and reason parts.

In Deuteronomy 10:12a Moses first addresses Israel and then poses a question to the Israelites and asks them what God requires of them. He then moves on to answering his question in Deuteronomy 10:12b-13 by telling the Israelites God’s expectations and then by giving them the reasons why they should follow these rules set before them. The first expectation is to fear God. In this portion, there is the action, to fear, and there is the recipient of that fear, Yhwh. The second expectation is to walk with God, then to love him. The third instruction is to serve God with all of the heart and soul. So first there is an instruction and then there is an explanation on how to fulfill that instruction. The final command in this section is to keep the commandments that God gave

them.
When the pericope says to fear God, it is talking about a “Godly fear”. Often times another word used for “Godly fear” is awesome, or awful. To fear God simply means to give god reverence and “acceptable worship” because he is the creator of all things. Fearing God “is the prerequisite to true wisdom” . This part of the pericope is stating that only Yhwh is deserving of fear, or acceptable worship. This reveals another aspect of His nature to the Israelites. It shows them that their God, Yhwh, is not like the other Gods and that he is a jealous God. He wants His people to only worship Him. God does not want the Israelites to stray from him or his ways because if they do there can be no hope for God fulfilling his promise to them. God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants and it was that they would be as numerous as the stars. God also made a covenant to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt and allow them to settle in the land that he set out for them. In order to keep this promise God required his people to worship him alone as well as requiring them to have a reverence and a respect for Yhwh.
In Deuteronomy 10:13b God gives the reason why Israel should keep the commands that God gave them, he says that it is for their own good.
God commands his people to keep his commandments, referring to the “ten words”, the climax of the Torah. It is considered the climax because it is the “will and wisdom” of the creator and they were literally spoken by God. When God says to keep his commands in this pericope he is referring to the Torah as well as the ten words. There are also lots of laws that correspond with covenants and promises. Many of them go something like this, “If you obey me then I will bless you”. This also ties in later in the pericope with the circumcision of the heart and stubbornness. In order to be blessed by God, the Israelites must follow his commands and get rid of the nature of fallen humans. In order to do that, they must not be stubborn. God also commands this because his promise continues throughout the generations and he knows that if his people keep his commands they will become blessed by being able to live in the land he wanted them to live in. This also describes the nature of God to the Israelites by showing them that Yhwh is faithful to them, even if they do not stay faithful, God will always keep his promise, as long as they ask for forgiveness.
In Deuteronomy 10:14-15, the pericope then describes the reasons why this pericope should be kept by first explaining that Yhwh possesses creation and then by explaining Yhwh’s choice. In Deuteronomy 10:14, God has ownership of heaven, the earth, and everything that is in the earth. Deuteronomy 10:15 then explains that God chose their ancestors as well as their descendants. He chose their past as well as their present.
C. Responses
The response portion is Deuteronomy 10:16-22 and it discusses first how a change would need to be made, then the reasoning for that change then it describes certain actions and the reasoning for taking those actions.
The first part of the change portion of the text, Deuteronomy 10:16, is first a metaphorical change that talks about circumcising the foreskin of the heart and the second portion is the literal meaning, not being stubborn.
Circumcision of the heart is a spiritual and physical ritual because it was a way that the community outwardly showed their change of heart and devotion to God. The Hebrews even thought that other peoples who practiced circumcision, like the Egyptians, Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, were not circumcised because they did not have a change of heart. The heart was an organ that was thought to have been related to listening, thinking, and processing. So when the text says to circumcise your heart, it means to change and obey God’s command. God is not telling them to literally circumcise their hearts. He is telling them that they need to obey him and not be stubborn. They need to change their sinful hearts to a heart that fears God. God’s nature is revealed to them through this as well. It tells the Israelites that in order to receive God’s promise they must change their ways. God, while merciful, is also just, and requires His people to hold up their end of the promise even if they are flawed.
The next part, Deuteronomy 10: 17-18, are the reasons why Isreal should not be stubborn. The first reason found in Deuteronomy 10: 17a, describes who Yhwh is. The first description is an affirmation of God being the most powerful, the second description is a description of God being great, the third description describes God as being strong and awesome, and the final description describes and attribute of God, God takes no bribe. The second reason found in Deuteronomy 10:17b-18 describes what God does, he wants justice for the oppressed and he wants love for the stranger.
Next Deuteronomy 10: 19-20 describes what actions should be taken regarding strangers and the regarding Yhwh. In Deuteronomy 10:19, the pericope first instructs to love the stranger and then the reasoning behind why Isreal should care for the stranger.
Stranger means someone that is not assimilated into Israelite society and is somehow connected to another person’s household. They enjoyed somewhat (with exceptions) similar rights (with some different rules) as an Israelite would. Moreover, Israelites were taught to not oppress foreigners because they were oppressed in Egypt in this pericope. They were taught to love the stranger and treat them as their own because God loves them and watches over them too. God’s nature is to be loving, so God expects them to love even the stranger in their land. This is also so that he can fulfill his promised to them by making them numerous and by allowing them to settle in the land he promised.
In Deuteronomy 10:20, the pericope gives actions that the Israelites should follow regarding God by saying that they should fear God and then the pericope gives examples of allegiance.
In Deuteronomy 10:21-22 there are reasons presented as to why God’s people should follow these commands. The first reason is the present work that God had done by explaining what who God is and what he did. The second reason what a reminder regarding the ancestors of God’s people and then how God remained faithful to his promises.
It is important that the Israelites are reminded that God is faithful to his promises. It illustrates that God kept his promises and will continue to keep them for generations to come. In response to this Israel should give him praise, so that way God can fulfill the promise of giving them the land.
IV. Overall Meaning
Overall, the meaning of this pericope is the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Israelites. His promise is that he will give them land to settle in and that also ties into the covenant that God gave Abraham. Isreal must keep their end of the promise in order to receive the land that God had promised them. They must follow God and make sure to not be stubborn against God and follow his commands that he gave them. It then ends with the reminder that God kept his promise and delivered them from Egypt.
God also reveals parts of his nature to the Israelites. He reveals that He alone is deserving of their praise and that God wants them to care for those that are oppressed and people that are not like the Israelites. God also reveals that he cares for the wellbeing of his people and that is why he commands them to do things.
V. Conclusion
In Deuteronomy 10: 10-22 Moses speaks to Israel about what happened with the LORD on Mount Sini and then proceeds to tell them what God requires of them as a people. By retelling Israel of the past, reminding them of what they should do, and then telling them how to respond, ancient Israel learns about the nature of God and the response that they should have to God. God is concerned about the longevity of his people to fulfill his covenant with them.