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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 10

1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 2 I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 4 The Lord then wrote on the tablets the same words, the Ten Commandments, which he had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he gave them to me. 5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made—they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me. 6 During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a place of flowing streams. 8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi⁠ to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings in his name, as they do to this very day. 9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. 10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, 40 days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. 11 Then he said to me, “Get up, set out leading the people so they may go and possess the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” 12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being,⁠ 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 The heavens—indeed the highest heavens—belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 However, only to your ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants, from all peoples—as is apparent today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn!⁠ 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,⁠ the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe,⁠ 18 who justly treats the orphan and widow,⁠ and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.⁠ 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him, and take oaths only in his name.⁠ 21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you⁠ that you have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 10:18 and Zechariah 7:10

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy stresses care for the vulnerable by naming the orphan, widow, and foreigner as those owed justice and support. Zechariah repeats this concern but changes the order, aligning it with the pattern found in the older Covenant Code.

Passages

Deuteronomy 10:18

Hebrew Bible
16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn! 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 18 who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him, and take oaths only in his name.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Zechariah 7:10

Hebrew Bible
8 Again the Lord’s message came to Zechariah: 9 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies said, ‘Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other. 10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the resident foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow citizen.’ 11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 12 Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the law of Moses and the other words the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies poured out great wrath.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... Since these prophetic texts are from the late monarchy and early exilic period, as are the references in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Code, there is no need to tie concern for the ger to this particular historical event of the late eighth century. The combined concerns of Exodus 22:20–21 belong to the same horizon as the exilic prophetic texts and the other two law codes on which it is dependent. In recent traditio-historical discussions on the combination of these three, the stranger, orphan, and widow, much has been made of the order and arrangement of these groups. It has been observed that within the Deuteronomic tradition generally, there is a fairly fixed order of “stranger-orphan-widow”, which is also followed in Jeremiah 7:6; 22:3; Ezekiel 22:7 (but orphan-widow-stranger in Deuteronomy 10:18). The order in the Covenant Code, however, is different, with the sequence of widow-orphan. Lohfink takes from this the view that the Covenant Code does not yet reflect the fixed formula of Deuteronomy, but in Zechariah 7:10 and Malachi 3:5 the order corresponds to that of the Covenant Code ..."
John Van Seters, A Law Book for the Diaspora: Revision in the Study of the Covenant Code (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 131–132.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 10:18 and Zechariah 7:10

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