Exodus 34
McGeeCHAPTER 34THEME: The tables of the Law renewed; Moses’ commission is renewed; Moses’ face shines
Exodus 34:1
THE TABLES OF THE LAW RENEWEDThese are the second tables of the Law. The first tables were broken by Moses when he descended Mount Sinai and found that the children of Israel had made a golden calf and were worshiping it. He now comes back to the mount with blank tables of stone.
Exodus 34:5
The Lord is now proclaiming His name. This is a tremendous advance for both Moses and the children of Israel. A name has meaning. When you hear the name Caesar, what do you think of? When you hear the name Abraham Lincoln, what do you think of? You conjure up certain images in your mind. God is now proclaiming His name and He wants the Israelites to remember their experiences with Him since they left the land of Egypt.
Exodus 34:6
God does not extend mercy by shutting His eyes to the guilty or by saying, “I will just forget that sin.” Sin must be punished and a penalty must be paid. God by no means clears the guilty. What happens then? How does He keep His mercy and take care of iniquity at the same time? A sacrifice has been provided. The sacrifices Israel made in that day did not take away sin but they pointed to that “Perfect Sacrifice,” the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when He did come, put away sin by His death on the Cross. It is a good thing to remember that today you can commit a sin that will affect your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, and your great-great-grandchildren. I took a certain course in abnormal psychology in collegepsychology was my second major. I almost accepted a scholarship to go on with my studies in this field. One day we went on a tour of a mental hospital in Bolivar, Tennessee. We were shown different forms of abnormality. All of the patients were suffering from one mental disease or another. After we had seen one particular group, a member of our class asked the doctor what caused these diseases. The doctor simply replied, “It was either the sins of the father or the grandfather, or it could have been the sins of the great-grandfather.” A doctor in Nashville took me to the hospital one morning where he was going to operate on some blind children, although it would give them only partial sight. “What made them blind?” I asked. He replied, “It was the sins of their fathers.” Believe me, friend, you cannot break His laws with impunity. God is always the same. His laws do not change. But thank God “He keeps mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity.” If we only turn to Him, we will find mercy.
Exodus 34:8
This is about the fourth time these people have been called stiff-necked. I hope by this time that you realize God never saved the nation Israel because they were superior, or because they were doing so well, or because they promised to do good. They are a stiff-necked people.
Exodus 34:10
MOSES’ COMMISSION IS RENEWEDThe word terrible means “to incite terror.” This word does not have the same meaning as we give to terrible. It was part of the shield of God that He was putting around His people. They would have been devoured by the enemy if He had not done this.
Exodus 34:11
God says that He will drive out all of their enemies, and this is the third time He has mentioned this.
Exodus 34:12
God warned them not to make a covenant with any of the people of the land. When the Gibeonites came to Joshua (in the Book of Joshua), they tricked the Israelites. They pretended that they had come from afar and had old stale bread to prove itto Joshua, at least. Why didn’t God want Israel to make covenants with the people in the land of Canaan? If they made any covenants with these people, it would become a snare to them and lead them back into idolatry.
Exodus 34:13
He is a jealous God and does not want to share His honor and glory with false gods. There is no reason to apologize for God’s being jealous either. I once heard a wife say, “My husband is not jealous of me.” She was boasting of that fact. But I could have told her that if her husband was not jealous, he did not love her. Anything or any person you love, you are jealous of, and do not like to share with others. You can be jealous in an evil way, but this is not what we are talking about. When you love a person, you have a concern and you care for them.
Exodus 34:15
The land of Canaan was covered with idolatry just like a dog is covered with fleas. The land was filled with gross immorality, and God is warning Israel to keep herself separate from people engaged in these activities and make no covenant with them at all. Israel was to either destroy them or drive them out of the land. The critics down through the years have decried this. Apparently they have not investigated the reason for this extreme measure. Of course the obvious reason is that God was protecting His own from the horror of idolatry.
But there is another reason. It is known today that venereal disease was in epidemic proportions among the inhabitants of Canaan. God was attempting to protect His people from the ravages of disease. Israel disobeyed God and did not completely clear the land of these people and suffered the sad consequences. Finally God sent Israel, disobedient and corrupt, into Babylonian captivity.
Exodus 34:18
God is preparing Israel to enter the land by reestablishing the feasts and sabbaths.
Exodus 34:23
God then goes on and gives many details concerning different things that the children of Israel were to do and were not to do.
Exodus 34:25
The Israelites were to put God first! To “seethe a kid” means, of course, to boil it. It is not to be boiled in its mother’s milk. That is, they were to avoid doing the unnatural thing.
Exodus 34:29
MOSES’ FACE SHINES