John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 10:1

"At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood." — Deuteronomy 10:1 (ASV)

At that time the Lord said to me He had been interacting with the people for some time, before he returned to the mount with the second tablets; and therefore he now begins to relate more fully what he had already mentioned in reverse chronological order, that is, that he stayed in the mount forty days to intercede for them. This is also what the repetition in verse 10 more clearly demonstrates, where he says that he stayed in the mount “according ³⁹³ to the first days.” But, although he says there that he was heard when he interceded in the mount, still he includes the prayers which he had previously offered when he heard of the people’s revolt, and after he had broken the tablets and taken away God’s tabernacle, in which he prayed apart to obtain pardon for their sin.

What is also said here regarding the ark is not in its proper place, for it was a part of the tabernacle, as we have seen elsewhere. It is, therefore, expecting too much to require that the things which are related together should be referred to the same moment in time.

³⁹³ See Margin, A.V.