Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 10. Synopsis of the chapter
Moses proceeds to inculcate on the Hebrews the law of God and the fear of it: first, from the tables of the law, which God gave them, and commanded to be shut up in the ark, and the ark to be carried about by the Levites, that by it the Hebrews might always be reminded of the covenant and law of God. Secondly, because our God is the God of gods, and Lord of lords, verse 17.
1. At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an ark of wood, 2. And I will write in the tables the words that were in the tables which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark. 3. I made then an ark of shittim wood. And when I had hewed two tables of stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my hands. 4. And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled, and he gave them to me. 5. And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the tables into the ark which I had made, and they are there hitherto, as the Lord commanded me. 6. And the children of Israel moved their camp from Beroth of the children of Jacan to Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son did the priest’s office in his stead. 7. From thence they came to Gadgad: from which place they pitched their tents in Jetebatha, a land of waters and torrents. 8. At that time he separated the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to stand before him in the ministry, and to bless in his name unto this present day. 9. Wherefore Levi had no part nor possession with his brethren: because the Lord himself is his possession, as the Lord thy God promised him. 10. And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and the Lord heard me this time also, and was unwilling to destroy thee. 11. And he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter and possess the land which I swore to their fathers that I would give to them. 12. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; 13. And keep the commandments of the Lord, and his ceremonies, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee? 14. Behold heaven is the Lord’s thy God, and the heaven of heaven, the earth, and all things that are therein: 15. And yet the Lord hath been closely joined to thy fathers, and loved them, and chose their seed after them, that is, you, of all nations, as this day it is proved. 16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no more: 17. For the Lord your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, and mighty, and terrible, who accepteth no person nor bribe. 18. He doth judgment to the fatherless and the widow, he loveth the stranger, and giveth him food and raiment. 19. Love ye therefore strangers, because you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only: to him shalt thou cleave, and thou shalt swear by his name. 21. He is thy praise, and thy God, who hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thy eyes have seen. 22. In seventy souls did thy fathers go down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.
1. AND THOU SHALT MAKE AN ARK OF WOOD,—namely that ark was to be made, Exodus xxv, 10. Mention is made here of the ark, the making of which is described in Exodus.
Note: The ark was made by Moses, after the second tables of the law were received from God, that it might be their chest and guardian. There is here, therefore, a hysteron proteron, as is plain from Exodus xxxiv, 28, by comparison; for the making of the ark is narrated with Exodus xxxvii, 1; but God commanded it before the tables of the law were given, though it happened after them, here again a hysteron proteron; for the series of the begun discourse is interrupted up to verse 10: there are many such in these books. This is therefore as it were a parenthesis, added on account of the tribe of Levi; for because mention had gone before of the ark, in which were the tables of the law, hence by a parenthesis is subjoined the death of Aaron, who had offended God, and the succession of his son Eleazar, to whom belonged the custody of the laws given by God; then the institution of the tribe of Levi, and the consecration of the Levites, whose office it was to carry the ark before the people, that by it they might perpetually admonish the people of the covenant and of keeping the law of God.
6. TO MOSERA.—This encampment is distinguished from Moseroth, Numbers xxxiii, 31; for Moseroth is not Hor, since between Moseroth and Hor many encampments intervene, Numbers xxxiii. But Mosera is Hor: in Moseroth, therefore, was the twenty-seventh, in Mosera the thirty-fourth encampment of the Hebrews. Similarly “Beroth of the children of Jacan,” or, as it is in Hebrew, Beroth Bene-Jaakan, is another encampment from Bene-Jaakan, of which Numbers xxxiii, 31, as is plain to the reader. Nor is it new for different places to have the same or like names, and conversely for the same place to have several names.
Mosera, therefore, is called Hor in Numbers xxxiii, 37: for there Aaron died; and consequently Beroth of the children of Jacan is Cades, of which Numbers xxxiii, 37. So Abulensis. Which encampments in Numbers xxxiii correspond to Gadgad and Jetebatha, which here follow, is not agreed; Vatablus however thinks Gadgad to be Oboth.
8. AT THAT TIME THE LORD (as the Hebrew has) SEPARATED THE TRIBE OF LEVI.—It is probable that this is the second separation of the Levites, and different from that which happened on Sinai, in the lifetime of Aaron, Numbers i, 50. For this seems to have happened after the death of Aaron, in Jetebatha, under Eleazar: otherwise the death of Aaron and the succession of Eleazar would be inserted here in vain, verse 7. This was therefore as it were a confirmation, and a repetition of the first separation which was made, Numbers i, under a new pontiff: so Cajetan. Otherwise Abulensis: he holds this to be the same separation of the tribe of Levi as that of Numbers iii; verses 6 and 7 are thrown in by the way, to renew the mention of the death of Aaron, and so this verse 8 is to be connected with verse 5: for then all things cohere best; which opinion is fairly probable: for many such things are thrown into the Pentateuch, as I said in the preface to Genesis.
TO CARRY THE ARK OF THE COVENANT (this belonged to the Levites in common; but what follows), AND TO STAND BEFORE HIM IN THE MINISTRY,—seems to refer only to the priests, who were of the same tribe as the Levites. For these alone stood before the Lord, ministering in the tabernacle and sacrificing, and it was theirs to bless the people.
are given to the Lord, namely offerings, firstfruits, etc., fall to the possession of the Levites; for they have no other in Israel.
10. AND I STOOD IN THE MOUNT, AS BEFORE, FORTY DAYS.—Some think that Moses was thrice for forty days in mount Sinai, and that this is the third time. But it is plain that this is not the third but the second, and the same as that of which in the preceding chapter, verse 18. Wherefore here again is a hysteron proteron; for this verse should in right order be placed before the beginning of the chapter.
12. AND NOW, ISRAEL, WHAT DOTH THE LORD THY GOD REQUIRE OF THEE?—As if to say: Since God has so often forgiven thee thy sins, O Israel, this one thing he asks of thee for all his benefit and clemency, namely that thou henceforth fear him: it is just therefore that thou do this.
Note: The fear of God restrains the soul from concupiscences, and spurs it on to every good. “Happy is the man that is always fearful,” Proverbs xxviii. “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight exceedingly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the righteous shall be blessed. Glory and wealth shall be in his house: and his justice remaineth for ever and ever,” Psalm cxi. “The fear of the Lord is like a paradise of blessing,” Ecclesiasticus xl. “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is all man,” Ecclesiastes xii. “Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling,” Psalm ii. “If I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?” Malachias i, 6.
“Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell,” Matthew x. “Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown,” Ecclesiasticus xxvii. Hence Jonas says: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord the God of heaven.”
Secondly, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and piety, nay is the consummation of the same, says the Wise Man: as much as thou growest, therefore, in the fear of God, so much thou growest in wisdom and piety, and so much thou pleasest God. “They that fear the Lord will seek after the things that are well pleasing to him,” Ecclesiasticus ii. “By thy fear, O Lord, we have conceived, and have been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation,” Isaias xxvi, according to the Septuagint. Hence of his mother St. Monica St. Augustine says in the Confessions: “There was in the heart of thy handmaid a chaste fear,” etc.
Thirdly, filial fear is nothing else than the love of God: for from the fact that we love God as a father, we fear to offend him. “Love and fear of God lead to every good work: love and fear of the world lead to every sin,” says St. Augustine in the Sentences.
Fourthly, the fear of God gives constancy in temptations and adversities. “He that feareth the Lord shall fear nothing, and shall not be afraid: for he is his hope,” Ecclesiasticus xxxiv.
Fifthly, the fear of God obtains the favour of God, and all goods. “His mercy is from generation unto generations to them that fear him,” sings the Blessed Virgin. “We shall have many good things, if we fear God,” Tobias iv. “There is no want to them that fear him,” Psalm xxxiii.
Sixthly, it brings joy of heart. “The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy and gladness,” Ecclesiasticus i.
Note: God is the supreme majesty, goodness, wisdom, power, providence, by which he creates us, preserves, feeds, protects, justifies, glorifies:
Finally it begets confidence in a happy passage out of this life, and is the guardian of chastity, innocence and all virtues, says St. Jerome, epistle 127.
14. THE HEAVEN OF HEAVEN.—In Hebrew, the heavens of heavens, that is, the vastest and highest heavens, which surround all the lower orbs.
15. THE LORD HATH BEEN CLOSELY JOINED TO THY FATHERS.—The word “closely joined” signifies the vehemence of divine love, in that by it God unites us most closely to himself, which is the highest effect of love, as well as its sign.
So the soul of Sichem is said to be joined fast with Dina, Genesis xxxiv, 3, and the soul of Jacob is said to depend on the soul of Benjamin, or, as the Hebrew has, to be bound to it, Genesis xliv, 30.
16. CIRCUMCISE THEREFORE THE FORESKIN OF YOUR HEART.—The Septuagint, sklerokardian, that is, hardness, and, as the Chaldee, the folly of your heart. For the foreskin is metaphorically attributed to the heart, and signifies the will covered and hardened by depravity, luxury, vanity and blindness. See what was said on Leviticus But St. Gregory, Morals book XXVIII, chapter vii, takes by heart the mind, or reason; for he says: “Circumcise the foreskins of your heart, that is, after you have extinguished luxury in the flesh, cut away also the superfluous thoughts.”
18 and 19. HE (GOD) LOVETH THE STRANGER: LOVE YE THEREFORE STRANGERS,—God here commends mercy to the Hebrews, that they help the wretched, such as strangers, orphans and widows are, as God peculiarly loves and helps them; for, as the Psalmist says: “To thee is the poor man left; thou wilt be a helper to the orphan.”
21. HE (GOD) IS THY PRAISE,—that is, he is the object of thy praise, either material, whom namely thou oughtest continually to praise; or formal, on account of whom thou art praised, and who makes thee praiseworthy among all nations. Secondly, God is thy “praise,” that is, thy strength and power, who makes thee praiseworthy to all peoples. The effect is put for the cause by metonymy. So the Poet says: “Their own rewards belong to praise,” that is, to virtue; and Psalm viii: “Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”: that is, hast founded strength; and Psalm civ: “Be ye praised (that is, strengthened, take courage) in his holy name.”
Hence he is by us supremely to be praised, and this alone can we render him. “Offer to God the sacrifice of praise,” Psalm xlix, 14. “A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion,” Psalm lxiv, 2. It is the work of angels to praise God, says St. Basil on Psalm xxviii. For the angels cry continually: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts,” Isaias vi. The Blessed in heaven have no other business: for their voice is, Apocalypse iv: “Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honour, and power, and divinity; because thou hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and have been created.” Magicians and sorcerers testify that there is among them a certain hierarchical order, that is, a diabolical one, namely that the highest among them do nothing else than blaspheme God, the middle poison men and animals, the lowest co-operate with the middle. So on the contrary the highest in this life are the Saints, who with the Blessed Virgin sing continually: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”; the middle, who in the active life help their neighbours to salvation; the lowest, who serve the middle by their riches and external works.
Secondly, the sun, moon and all creatures with a dumb voice praise God; for they cry: “He made us, and not we ourselves. The Lord is great and exceedingly to be praised, and of his greatness there is no end. Glorify him as much as you can: for he is above all praise,” Ecclesiasticus xliii, 32. So did David, Psalm xxxiii: “I will bless the Lord at all times (as well in adverse as in prosperous): his praise shall be always in my mouth. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us extol his name together. Let all flesh bless his holy name.”
Thirdly, hence we ought to invite all angels, men and creatures, with David, and the three children in the furnace, to the praise of God, saying: Bless the Lord, all ye his angels, heaven, stars, fishes, birds, praise and exalt him above all for ever.
Hence again we ought to praise God not only with the mouth, but with the whole heart and work, that our life may be a continual praise of God; and especially that we convert sinners, who by their sins blaspheme God, so that by their penance and pious life they may praise God. Would that I could praise thee, O Lord, with a thousand hearts, a thousand tongues, nay with the voice of all men and angels!