Deuteronomy 10:3

3 Therefore I made an ark of the wood of shittim, and when I had hewn the two tables of stone, at the likeness of the former tables, I went up into the hill, and I had the tables in mine hands. (And so I made the Ark out of shittim wood, or acacia wood, and when I had cut the two stone tablets, like the first tablets, I went up the mountain, with the tablets in my hands.)

Deuteronomy 10:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 10:3

And I made an ark of shittim wood
That is, ordered it to be made, and it was made by Bezaleel, and that of shittim wood: so the ark that was put into the holy of holies was made of this wood; see (See Gill on Exodus 25:10), (See Gill on Exodus 37:1),

and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first;
two marble ones, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, he ordered them to be hewed, and took care that they should be exactly made as the former were, of which he had perfect knowledge, having received them of the Lord, and brought them with him down the mount:

and went up into the mount, having the two tables in my hand;
in order to have the words of the law, the ten commands, written on them, these being only hewn stones, without anything on them: they were very probably marble, of which great quantities were near at hand.

Deuteronomy 10:3 In-Context

1 In that time the Lord said to me, Hew thou two tables of stone to thee, as the former were; and go thou up to me into the hill. And thou shalt (also) make an ark, either a coffer, of wood, (And at that time the Lord said to me, Cut thou two stone tablets, like the first ones; and then come thou up to me on the mountain. And thou shalt also make an Ark, or a Box, out of wood,)
2 and I shall write in the tables, the words that were in these tables which thou brakest before; and thou shalt put those tables into the ark. (and I shall write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which thou hast broken; and thou shalt put these tablets into the Ark, or the Box.)
3 Therefore I made an ark of the wood of shittim, and when I had hewn the two tables of stone, at the likeness of the former tables, I went up into the hill, and I had the tables in mine hands. (And so I made the Ark out of shittim wood, or acacia wood, and when I had cut the two stone tablets, like the first tablets, I went up the mountain, with the tablets in my hands.)
4 And he wrote in the tables, by that that he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spake to you in the hill, from the midst of the fire, when the people was gathered, and the Lord gave the tables to me. (And he wrote on the tablets, what he had written before, the Ten Words, that is, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spoke to you on the mountain, from the midst of the fire, when the people was gathered there, and then the Lord gave those tablets to me.)
5 And I turned again from the hill, and came down, and I put the tables into the ark that I had made, which tables be there hitherto, as the Lord commanded to me. (And I turned, and came down from the mountain, and I put the tablets into the Ark that I had made, as the Lord commanded to me, and they still be there to this day.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.