The mystery of the 2 Arcs of Moses; and the 2 different sets of Commandments.

When we read the book of Exodus and Deuteronomy carefully, we find two arcs and two different sets of commandments. We have been programmed and conditioned when reading The Bible to read into the stories what we have been told, and where in the case of the KJV, to subliminally accept the headings appearing before the passages as fact, thereby robbing the average reader of objectivity. The first case in point is the KJV header at the beginning of Ex.20: "The Commandments Given." What follows after are the 10 usual Thou shalt not kill or commit adultery etc. that everyone has come to accept as being the 10 commandments. But the good book actually says differently. The following recounts the puzzle:

Three months after leaving Egypt, Moses’ father-in-law scolds him for listening to every man’s problems and tells him to teach them ordinances and laws, by appointing assistants to do this. Moses then ascends the mountain (ch19) where he speaks with God who declares to Moses that the Israelites are to obey his voice and keep his covenant, (one not disclosed). Moses takes this information back to the elders where they all agree to do as God had instructed. He marches back up the mount to deliver the acceptance to God who then speaks for all of the people to hear what he had to say. After God deliveres (ch.20) the familiar commandments, the people being afraid of God’s voice gives Moses leave to speak with God alone. At this point, God delivers some orders and judgements to Moses alone.(20:22- 23:19), and instructs Moses to come back with his now chosen associates. Moses descends, tells the people everything God said to him and then writes all of God’s words in a book (24:4 &7).

Moses and his elect head back up the mount a third time, where he is told that God will give him “tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written, that thou mayest teach them” (24:12) Moses supposedly has already been given the commandments and laws which he placed into print, so why the need for this trip to receive the tables, unless God himself wants to carve in stone these very words he previously said to Moses and the people? He then sets off to spend his first set of 40 days in the mountain where God (chs25-31) instructs him on the making of the holy and priestly requirements including the elaborate gold strewn “arc of the testimony.” He concludes the meeting and hands over of the tables with writing on both sides of each, “graven upon the tables.” (32:16). Upon coming back to camp, Moses witnesses the idolatry and smashes the tables.

Thus far, we have the first set of laws and regulations which Moses wrote down, as well as this set of requirements void of the 10 commandments, and written by God on the broken tablets.

God then instructs Moses to cut two tables of stone (ch34) and go up onto the mount in the morning where he, God, will “write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest.”

The passage is clear, God has declared he will write exactly what was on the first set of stone tables onto the second set. Moses did as instructed and was given the following instructions (34:12:26) which I will reprint ignoring the verse numbers given and instead isolate each separate order.
“Observe thou that which I command thee this day…: Take heed to thyself”


lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. (nb)All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.


Deut 10:1 expands on this trip up the mountains and adds that God told Moses to make an arc of wood which he could only do overnight based on Ex 34:2, hence it lacked the gold trimmings and cherubs. The elaborate arc was not made until 37:1:9 after the second tables were presented.
Deut 10:3 has Moses returning from the mountain after his second 40 day trip with the second set and placing them in the arc which he himself made, “and there they be..” (De. 10:5). Ex.34:27 has God instructing Moses to write the above words (contrary to God supposedly writing them again) where verse 28 explicitly states: And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

The above compares to Nos.1; 2 and 4 only of the 10 we know. So now we have the book of undisclosed laws which Moses wrote, the broken tables as to the holy trappings and the new intact tables, none of which included the 10 commandments as we know them. Yet, De.10:4 has Moses preaching the 10 we accept as having been written on the second tables. It seems the scribes were more than just confused, and that they are, for it is clear they present Moses after being counseled by his father-in-law, as having concocted his own laws under the guise of being given by God.

We know for a fact that Moses built an arc of wood excluding the ornamentation, and we also know that he placed “the testimony” into same (Ex. 40:20) we know nothing of what happened to Moses’ book or the arc he himself made. There were therefore two arcs. We are led to believe by programming that when Solomon’s temple was destroyed, “the” arc was carried off, however, neither arc is mentioned in the II KI 25:13:17 list of items stolen. Nor does anyone concern themselves with it after the fact save for a prophecy by Jeremiah.

The ornate arc is filled with pagan dressings, could it be that it was never in the hands of the Jews, or perhaps even destroyed by them?

Agreed...That's a good question...when Jesus comes from the east in the second coming we are supposed to see the "arc of the testament" above in heaven revealed. I heard in a recent bible study that is isn't the same arc that was supposed to be hidden or lost-(arc of the covenant)...there are many things that really need to be discussed about what is written that the average person isn't aquainted with. Guess I need to go dig some more...I know I should have put the quote there from where i read it..

[edit on 4/28/2005 by mercury19]

could you be possibly inferring leviticus? i would assume that it is called levitcal law for a reason.
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