Exodus 34

Exodus 34:1

E. The Covenant Renewed (34:135:3)34:1-9 Again Moses alone was called up . . . to Mount Sinai, this time with two tablets of stone which he himself had prepared. There the Lord revealed Himself as a merciful and gracious God, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth (vv. 6, 7). Three different words are used in verse 7 for wrongdoing. Iniquity has to do with perverting the ways of the Lord. Transgression means rebellion against God. Sin is literally “offense,” primarily by missing the mark which God has set. They all convey the idea of falling short of the glory of God (Rom_3:23). The Israelites should all have died for having broken the law of God, but God spared them in mercy. Moses worshiped the Lord and pled for His presence and grace on the basis of His people’s unworthiness (vv. 8, 9). 34:10-17 God then renewed the covenant, promising to do marvels for Israel in driving out the inhabitants of Canaan. He cautioned them against intermingling with the heathen or adopting their idolatrous practices. Asherim were obscene images, or phallic idols, symbols of fertility. Because God had made a covenant with His people, they were not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. It is impossible to be joined to God and to idols at the same time (see 1Co_10:21). 34:18-27 God then repeated instructions concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v. 18); the consecration of the firstborn (vv. 19, 20); the Sabbath (v. 21); the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Ingathering (v. 22). All males were to appear before the LORD for the three annual feasts mentioned in Exo_23:14-17 (vv. 23, 24). Note in verse 24 that God promised to control the wills of the Canaanites so that they would not try to seize the property of the Jewish men when the latter went to Jerusalem three times a year. After repeating other rules (vv. 25, 26), the LORD ordered Moses to write down the words He had just spoken in verses 11-26 (v. 27). Then the Lord Himself wrote . . . the Ten Commandments . . . on the tablets of stone (v. 28; cf. v. 1 and Deu_10:1-4). 34:28-35 After forty days and forty nights on the mountain, Moses came down with the two tablets in his hand (vv. 28, 29a). He was unaware that his face was shining as a result of being in the Lord’s presence (vv. 29b, 30). People were afraid to come near him. After delivering the commandments of the Lord to Israel, he put a veil on his face (vv. 31-33). Verse 33 (NKJV) reads “And when Moses had finished speaking . . .” instead of “Till . . .” (KJV). Paul explains in 2Co_3:13 that Moses veiled his face so the people would not see the fading glory of the law, the legal dispensation.