Deuteronomy 10

Deuteronomy 10:1

Augustine of Hippo: Then the Lord said to me, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and go up where I am on the mountain, and you will make an ark of wood. And I will write in the tables the words that were in the first tables that you broke. And you will place them in the ark. “And I made an ark of incorruptible wood, and I carved two tables of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tables in my hands. And he wrote on the tablets the same as he had written before, the ten words which the Lord had said to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire. And the Lord gave them to me. We can rightly ask why Moses collects and repeats in Deuteronomy in a different way facts that, when they are narrated in the Exodus as said and realized for the first time, are described as follows: And the Lord said to Moses: “Write these words ; for according to these words I established this alliance with you and with Israel. " And Moses was there before the Lord forty days and forty nights; He did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. Well, if in the Exodus it is said that Moses himself wrote on the tablets the ten commandments of the Law, how is it said here, in Deuteronomy, that God wrote those same commandments on the tablets? Finally, when I incidentally discussed what is said in the Exodus and when I put in writing what I thought about that difference, I said the reason why it is said that the first tablets broken by Moses were written by the finger of God and , on the other hand, the second ones, which were to remain so long in the ark and in the tabernacle, are said to have been written by Moses. I also said there that by this difference the two Testaments had been meaning; in the Old the law is presented as the work of God, in which man did not intervene at all, since the law could not be fulfilled by fear, since when the law is really fulfilled, it is fulfilled by love, not through fear, and this love is the grace of the New Testament (Cf Rm 13,10). Therefore, when speaking of the second tables, it is said that man wrote the words of God, since man can perform the work of the law for the love of justice, which he can not do because of the fear of God. pain. Well, when we speak in Deuteronomy of the second tablets, the following is said: And I carved two tables of stone like the first and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets the same as he had written before, the ten words (Deuteronomy 10,3.4) does not say, “and I wrote,” but wrote and wrote, that is, God, as he had just said the words that God had addressed to him: there will be two tables of stone like the first ones and go up where I am on the mountain, and you will make an ark of wood. And I will write in the tables the words that were in the first tables (Deuteronomy 10,1.2). The question arises, therefore, that it is necessary to discuss, that here it is read that it was God, and not man, who wrote the two tables the first and the second. Now, if in the Exodus the words with which God sends Moses that other tablets are made are read, nothing else is found except that God himself promised that he would write them. The text reads as follows: And the Lord said to Moses, “Make two tables of stone like the first, and go up to where I am on the mountain. And I will write on the tablets the words that were in the first tables, which you broke” (Exodus 34,1). Therefore outside of Deuteronomy, only the Exodus also deals with this question about the way God ordered: And I will write on the tablets the words that were in the first tables. For a little later it is said: Write these words; for according to these words I established this alliance with you and with Israel. And Moses was there before the Lord forty days and forty nights; He did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments (Exodus 34,27.28). Because if what was said before: Write these words; for according to these words I established with you and with Israel this covenant, it belongs to the above, when God commanded these things, that they would not be written on the two tablets of stone, but in that book of the law in which many things are written, then what follows: And Moses was there before the Lord forty days and forty nights; He did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments, it shows clearly that Moses was the one who wrote these ten commandments on the tablets and not God. Unless, when it says: And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments, we are forced to understand in a violent way, but driven by a certain need, that it was not Moses who did it, but the Lord -because it is said before: And Moses was there in the presence of the Lord. in this way we would have to accept that these ten commandments were written on the tablets by the Lord, as he had promised before, in whose presence Moses was forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And if this is so, then in no way can these words imply that difference between the two Testaments, which seemed to me reflected there, since the same as the first tablets would have written them, not man, but God . But that difference offers no doubt, because the first tablets were not only made by God, but also by God. And on that occasion it was not said to Moses: Wash two tablets, but the text says: Moses turned and came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands; stone tablets, written by both parties; they were written by one and the other side; and the tablets were the work of God, and the writing engraved on the tablets was the writing of God (Exodus 32,15.16). It had been said before that these tablets had been written by the finger of God. The text reads as follows: And as soon as he stopped speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he immediately gave him the two tablets of the covenant, tablets of stone written by the finger of God (Exodus 31,18). There, not only were the tablets the work of God, but the writing of the tablets had been drawn by the finger of God. On the other hand, as regards the second tables, Moses is ordered to work them himself. Thus it is naturally understood that they were carved by the hand of man, although God has written them, as he promised when he ordered them to be worked. But if we pay a little more attention, we see that with respect to the second tables both were said, because not only God performs by his grace the work of the law in man, but man, receiving by grace the grace of God, who belongs to the New Testament, is a cooperator of God who gives his help-that is why, in the first tables only the work of God is mentioned, since the law is spiritual and the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and fair and good (Rm 7,12). But no man’s work is mentioned there, since the infidels do not moderate themselves with the help of grace, but, ignoring the justice of God and wanting to establish their own, they did not submit to the justice of God (Rm 10,3). That is why the law serves as a condemnation, and that is what the breaking of tables means. Obviously, we are not obliged to understand, violating the intellection of the text, which God wrote, when the Scripture says that Moses was there in the presence of the Lord forty days and forty nights; He did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant (Exodus 34,28). In this text it is clearly heard that Moses wrote. But God promised to write previously, and in Deuteronomy it is narrated that not only he promised, but he did it, to signify what the Apostle says: For God is the one who works in us not only to will, but also to act according to his place (Philip 2,13). Acts in those who through faith receive grace and do not seek to establish their justice, but are subject to the justice of God, so that they themselves are the righteousness of God in Christ. The Apostle, in that text, says both: that God works and that they work. For if they did not work, how could it be said to them: with fear and trembling work out your own salvation? (Flp 2,12) So, God works; we cooperate; for it does not make the decision of good will disappear, but helps. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 15 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 10:8

Augustine of Hippo: At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to be in the presence of the Lord, to serve and pray in his name to this day. That is why the Levites have no part or inheritance with their brothers; the Lord is his part, as he told you. If this tribe did not mean the entire royal priesthood, which belongs to the New Testament, no one who was not from that tribe would have dared to say: My part is the Lord, (Ps. 72,26) and in another psalm: The Lord is the part of my inheritance (Ps. 15,5). — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 16 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 10:12

Origen of Alexandria: God demands us back. What does he demand back? Read Moses: “and now what does the Lord your God demand back from you?” and the rest that follows. God therefore requires of us and beseeches us, not because he has need of anything that we might bestow upon him, but so that, after we have given it to him, he may bestow that very thing upon us for salvation. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 39

Deuteronomy 10:17

Justin Martyr: [Trypho the Jew said,] “But now, return to the original topic and prove to us that the prophetic Spirit ever admits the existence of another God, besides the Creator of all things; and do be careful not the mention the sun and moon, which, Scripture tells us, God permitted the Gentiles to worship as gods. Even prophets often misuse the word in this sense when they say, ‘Your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,’ often adding, ’the great and mighty and terrible.’ Such words are used not as if they were really gods but because the word is instructing us that the true God, the Creator of all, is the sole Lord of all those who are falsely regarded as gods and lords. To convince us of this the Holy Spirit said through David: ‘The gods of the Gentiles (although reputed as gods) are idols of demons, and not gods.‘3 And he places a curse upon those who make or worship such idols.““Trypho,” I answered, “… They who worship these idols and similar objects are justly condemned.” — Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LV

Deuteronomy 10:22

Gregory of Nyssa: It is customary for Holy Scripture to imply the whole by the part. For He that said, “Unto Thee shall all flesh come,” does not mean that the flesh will be presented before the Judge apart from the souls: and when we read in sacred History that Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy-five souls, we understand the flesh also to be intended together with the souls. So, then, the Word, when He became flesh, took with the flesh the whole of human nature; and hence it was possible that hunger and thirst, fear and dread, desire and sleep, tears and trouble of spirit, and all such things, were in Him. For the Godhead, in its proper nature, admits no such affections, nor is the flesh by itself involved in them, if the soul is not affected co-ordinately with the body. — AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.13