Deuteronomy 10

5. I . . . put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me--Here is another minute, but important circumstance, the public mention of which at the time attests the veracity of the sacred historian.

6-9. the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera--So sudden a change from a spoken discourse to a historical narrative has greatly puzzled the most eminent biblical scholars, some of whom reject the parenthesis as a manifest interpolation. But it is found in the most ancient Hebrew manuscripts, and, believing that all contained in this book was given by inspiration and is entitled to profound respect, we must receive it as it stands, although acknowledging our inability to explain the insertion of these encampment details in this place. There is another difficulty in the narrative itself. The stations which the Israelites are said successively to have occupied are enumerated here in a different order from Numbers 33:31 . That the names of the stations in both passages are the same there can be no doubt; but, in Numbers, they are probably mentioned in reference to the first visit of the Hebrews during the long wandering southwards, before their return to Kadesh the second time; while here they have a reference to the second passage of the Israelites, when they again marched south, in order to compass the land of Edom. It is easy to conceive that Mosera (Hor) and the wells of Jaakan might lie in such a direction that a nomadic horde might, in different years, at one time take the former first in their way, and at another time the latter [ROBINSON].

10-22. Moses here resumes his address, and having made a passing allusion to the principal events in their history, concludes by exhorting them to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully.

16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart--Here he teaches them the true and spiritual meaning of that rite, as was afterwards more strongly urged by Paul ( Romans 2:25 Romans 2:29 ), and should be applied by us to our baptism, which is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God" [ 1 Peter 3:21 ].