The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 10) buries an entire civil war inside what the Hebrew Bible treats as a simple travel itinerary. The Hebrew says Israel "journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah; there Aaron died." The Targum tells a very different story.
When Aaron died, the Cloud of Glory—the divine cloud that had protected Israel throughout the wilderness—departed. Amalek, who ruled in Arad, heard that Aaron was dead and the cloud was gone. He attacked immediately. The Israelites who were traumatized by the battle panicked and tried to march back to Egypt. They retreated six full journeys toward slavery.
But the tribe of Levi chased after them and fought them. The Targum gives specific casualties: the Levites killed eight families of fleeing Israelites. Four Levite families died in the fighting. Then both sides stopped and asked each other: "What hath been the cause of this slaughter?" The answer: "Because we have been remiss in the mourning for Aaron the Saint."
The entire disaster—Amalek's attack, Israel's retreat, the civil war between Levi and the other tribes—happened because Israel did not mourn Aaron properly. So they went back and observed a full mourning for Aaron. Eleazar his son took over the priesthood. The crisis ended.
None of this is in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum constructed an entire narrative to explain why the travel itinerary seems disordered and why Aaron's death is mentioned in a list of place names. The answer: Aaron's death nearly destroyed the nation.
The chapter then shifts to the replacement tablets. Moses says he broke the first set "with thy entire strength"—the Targum emphasizing that the breaking was deliberate and forceful, not accidental. The new tablets were marble, like the first. And the Targum specifies that after placing them in the ark, "there are they laid up, hidden"—using language that hints at the eventual concealment of the ark itself.
The theology closes with a striking image: "the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, are the Lord's your God, and the hosts of angels are in them to minister before Him." The Hebrew says the heavens belong to God. The Targum populates them with angelic hosts—layers of heaven, each filled with servants.
At that time did the Lord say to me: Hew thee two tables of marble according to the form of the first; and ascend before Me into the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood.
And I will write upon the tables the words which were upon the former ones, which thou didst break with thy entire strength; and thou shalt put them within the ark.
And I made an ark of sitta wood, and hewed two marble tables according to the form of the first, and went up into the mountain, having the two tables in my hand.
And He wrote upon the tables according to the former writing, the Ten Words which the Lord spake with you from the mount in the midst of the fire on the day that the congregation was gathered together, and the Lord gave them to me.
And I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables into the ark which I had made, and there are they laid up (hidden) as the Lord commanded me.
And the children of Israel journeyed from the villages of the wells of the Beni Jahakan to Mosera. There Amalek, who reigned in Arad, and who had heard that Aharon was dead, and that the Cloud of Glory had gone up, (came and) fought with them. And those of Israel who were distressed by that war sought to go back into Mizraim, and returned (towards it) six journeys; (but) the sons of Levi followed after them, and slew eight families of them, and the remainder returned. Of the sons of Levi also four families were slain. And they said one to another, What hath been the cause of this slaughter? Because we have been remiss in the mourning for Aharon the Saint. Therefore all the children of Israel observed there a mourning for Aharon’s death; and there was he buried, and Elazar his son ministered in his stead.
Thence they journeyed to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Jotbath, a land flowing with streams of water.
At that time the Lord distinguished the tribe of Levi, because they had been zealous (even) to slay for His honour; that they should bear the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and stand before the Lord to minister unto Him and to bless in His Name until this day.
Therefore the tribe of Levi hath not a portion or inheritance with his brethren; the gifts which the Lord giveth him are his inheritance, as the Lord your God hath spoken to him.
But I stood in the mount praying and interceding as in the former days (of the) forty days and nights, and the Lord received my prayer at that time also, and the Lord would not destroy you.
And the Lord said to me, Arise, go, lead forth the people, that they be brought in, and possess the land which I promised to their fathers to give them.
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord your God require of you, but that you fear the Lord your God, to walk in all the ways that are right before Him, and that you love Him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you this day, that it may be well with you?
Behold, the heavens, and the heavens of the heavens, are be Lord’s your God, and the hosts of angels are in them to minister before Him, and the earth, and whatsoever is therein.
Only the Lord had pleasure in your fathers, and because He would love you He hath had favour to their children after them, as you, above all the nations upon the face of the earth, at the time of this day.
Put away folly, therefore, from your heart, and be not stiff-necked any more;
for the Lord thy God is God, the Judge, and the Monarch of kings, a Great God, mighty and terrible, before whom there is no respect of persons, and who taketh no bribe;
He doeth judgment for the orphan and widow, and hath compassion upon the stranger to give him food and raiment.
Have pity then (yourselves) upon the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Mizraim.
Revere the Lord your God, and worship before Him, and cleave closely to His fear, and swear by His Name.
He is your praise, and He is your God, who hath done for thee these great and mighty acts which thou hast beheld with thy eyes.
With seventy souls your fathers went down into Mizraim, and now hath the Lord your God set you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.
