Deuteronomy 10:1

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,)

Deuteronomy 10:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 10:1

At that time the Lord said unto me
On the fortieth day, mentioned in the preceding chapter, as Aben Ezra, or at the end of forty days, as Jarchi; not of the first forty, for then were given him the first two tables of stone, with the law written on them, which he broke when he came down; but at the end of the second forty days, as some think, when he had fallen before the Lord, and entreated him for the people, and, as a token of his reconciliation to them, gave the following order:

hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first
Of the same sort of stone, of the same size and form with those God gave him in the mount the first time he was there, and which he broke in his descent from thence; they were the work of God, but these were to be hewed by Moses: the order seems to be given between the request Moses made to see the glory of the Lord, and the proclamation made of it, see ( Exodus 34:1 ) , and come up unto me into the mount; Mount Sinai; this was certainly the third time of his going up there, and where he continued forty days and nights; but whether he continued there so long the second time may be a matter of question, though he certainly did the third time; see ( Exodus 32:30 Exodus 32:31 ) ( Exodus 34:1 Exodus 34:4 Exodus 34:28 )

and make thee an ark of wood;
Jarchi thinks this was not the ark Bezaleel made, but made after, and is that which went out to battle; and some take it to be a temporary ark, made for the present purpose till that was finished; but Aben Ezra is of opinion it is the same that Bezaleel made: and it may be said to be made by Moses, because he was not only ordered to make it, but it was by his orders and the direction he gave to Bezaleel that it was made; and this seems the more probable, because there the tables remained, ( Deuteronomy 10:5 ) .

Deuteronomy 10:1 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.)