I am overwhelmed! (A middle English word meaning “turned upside down!”)
Because of one of the truly great chapters of the whole Bible, Deuteronomy 10. (Or am I just ravenously hungry this morning, in a spiritual sense?)
Everything I read in the chapter is thrilling, twenty-two verses of insight!
For example, when Moses came to receive the “Ten Commandments” a second time (his having broken the first set) … God merely wrote the same words yet again on those new slabs of stone! (Verse 2, God speaking: “I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.“ Some things, I think, bear repeating! Word for word!)
And … did you realize that Moses himself “hewed” (in Hebrew “pasal,” meaning “to cut”) the large pieces of rock to be the medium on which God would write the Commandments? What a multi-talented man, Moses! God again: “At that time the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount.” And two verses later … “And I … hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.” Bible history! God may be the very Author of multi-tasking!)
And again this morning I was reminded that GOD HIMSELF wrote the Commandments on those tables of stone! See verse 4 of chapter 10 here. Plus a line from Exodus 31:18 … “two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” God, The Author!
Then we’re reminded that the Tribe of Levi inherited no farm land, but were to be paid from the “tithes” of Israel! And that, since they served God full-time in the things of the tabernacle and worship … “the Lord is His heritage,” verse 9. This thought amazes me because I have been preaching Psalm 16 this week in a revival. There Jesus tells His Father that God is His Inheritance! (Psalm 16:5 … “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.” Wow!) Jesus, as dedicated as a Levite? Jesus, like a Priest? Jesus, totally sold-out to His Father? OH, YES!
And verse 11 is precious, in the King James Version. God told Moses … “Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.” This is Moses leading two million Jews toward the Promised Land! But his commission is personalized! “Take THY journey … BEFORE the people” … and they will follow!
In essence that’s what a Pastor does before his flock! He journeys with his Lord (personally) and they, his people, inherently will follow (publically)!
Goodness!
Folks, there’s too much in chapter 10 to write about in one morning!
So … Deuteronomy chapter 10 will be further discussed tomorrow, the Lord willing.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell