1 1 At that time, Yahweh said to me, “Make two slabs of stone like the first ones and come up to me. And make an ark of wood also.
2 I shall write on the slabs the words that were on the first slabs which you broke. Then you shall put them in the ark.”
3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and made two slabs of stone like the first. And I climbed up the mountain carrying these.
4 He wrote on the slabs, just as he had done with the first, the ten sayings that he spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire, on the day of the Assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me.
5 Upon my return, coming down from the mountain, I placed the tables in the ark which I made, and there they are as Yahweh commanded me.
6 The children of Israel left for the wells of Bene-jaakan, going through Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and his son Eleazar succeeded him.
7 From there, they went to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks and springs.
8 It was then that Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant, to become his servants, to stand before the Lord, and to give blessings by calling on his name, as they do until this day.
9 For that reason, Levi has no share in the inheritance with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, as Yahweh, your God, told him.
10 I therefore stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights as I did the first time. Yah weh again listened to my prayer and gave up his plan to destroy you.
11 And Yahweh said to me: “Rise up and lead this people that they may go and take possession of the land which I
swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.”
Serve and Love God
12 So now, Israel, what is it that Yahweh, your God, asks of you but to fear him and follow all his ways? Love him and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
13 Ob serve the commandments of Yahweh and his laws which I command you today, for your good.
14 See: the heavens, those that are seen and those that are unseen, the earth and all that is in it, everything belongs to Yahweh, your God.
15 Ne ver theless, it was on your fathers that Yahweh set his heart. He loved them, and after them, he chose their descendants—you—preferring you to all the peoples, as you can see this day.
16 Purify your hearts, then, and do not be defiant towards Yahweh be cause
17 Yahweh is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great God, the strong and terrible God. When he judges, he treats everyone equally; he does not let himself be bought by gifts.
18 He renders justice to the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him bread and clothing.
19 Love the stranger then, because you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.
20 Fear Yahweh, your God, serve him, follow him and call on his name when you have to make an oath.
21 He is your pride and he is your God, who has done those amazing things for you.
22 When you went down to Egypt, your ancestors were no more than seventy persons, but now, Yahweh, your God, has made you as many as the stars of heaven.
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Comments Deuteronomy, Chapter 10
• 10.12 Here, the two commandments which Jesus combined into one are related.
Love God and serve him with all your heart and all your soul. A love which is the response to God’s love: “Because the Lord bound himself to your fathers. He loved them, and then, he loved you.” Pay attention to the sequence: God loves first and chooses; then we respond to his love and try to express it by our obedience. God’s mercy comes first, and as Paul will remind us, no one can boast of merits and rights before God (Rom 3:20-24).
Purify your hearts. This text says more pre-cisely: “Circumcise your hearts” (see Gen 17).
The widow, the orphan, the stranger. Res-ponding to God’s love means loving those who are helpless. In that period, the needy were individuals in a society without well-defined so cial classes. But, in today’s world, there are en tire classes and nations in the situation of the widow, the orphan and the alien of those days.
Today, this love for the forsaken often re quires being committed to the lower classes of society. God will render justice to them. If we do not know spontaneously how to achieve this justice with the means taught in the Gos pel, God will bring justice in a more radical way.