Exodus 34

            God commands Moses to “…Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first…” (v.1) and to return to the top of Mount Sinai. (v.2). (Exodus 24:12, 31:18, 32:15-16, 19, Deuteronomy 4:13) God will meet with Moses once again to write upon the stone tablets the law of the renewed covenant. (Exodus 19:11, 20, Deuteronomy 10:2, 4) Just as before, no other man except Moses is allowed to come near the mountain, nor are any of the livestock allowed to graze on or near the mountain. (v.3) (Exodus 19:12-13) Moses obeys all of these instructions (v.4), and on the following morning he meets with God. Just as before, God appears in the form of the cloud that covers the top of the mountain, and, as promised in the previous chapter, the Lord proclaims His name before Moses. (v.5) (Exodus 33:19)
           
         Verses 6-7: In chapter 19, when God first appeared to the children of Israel, there was a physical description of his power and glory. (Exodus 19:18) But in these two verses we see instead a list of God’s character attributes: merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth. (v.6) (Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 4:31, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 108:4, Joel 2:13, Romans 2:4) Verse 7 echoes Exodus 20:5. The Believer’s Bible Commentary has this to say: “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 (Romans 3:23).” While God is both forgiving and compassionate (Psalm 103:3-4, Daniel 9:9, Ephesians 4:32, 1 John 1:9), He is also just and holy. (Joshua 24:19, Job 10:14, Micah 6:11, Nahum 1:3) “These attributes reflect the balance of justice and benevolence; He is a God of justice, but He is also very much a God of compassion. Going forward, God’s people were not to presume on the latter by being reminded of the former. They should not think lightly of His wrath, but they should not expect anything less than lovingkindness.” (The Moody Bible Commentary)
           
           Verses 8-28: In response to God’s proclamation Moses bows and worships and pleads once more on behalf of Israel. (v.8-9) He asks for three things: God’s presence among them, forgiveness for their iniquity and sin, and that God would again take the nation of Israel as His chosen people. (Psalm 33:12, 94:14) Verses 10-27 are God’s response to Moses’ intercessory prayer. He begins by reinstating the covenant (v.10), promising once again “…before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation…”. God is going to use His chosen people to display His presence, power and glory for all the other nations of the earth with whom the Israelites come into contact. (Deuteronomy 4:32, Psalm 77:14) “…for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.”
          Verses 11-27 are, in essence, a summary of the whole book of the law that God gave to Moses in chapters 20-23. The Lord starts by reiterating His promise to drive the heathen nations out of the promised land. (v.11) This is followed by a warning for Israel not to make any covenants with those nations and to tear down their idols and the altars to their false gods. To not obey this directive is to leave a snare by which the Israelites could easily fall back into apostasy, as already proven by the incident with the golden calf. Because the Israelites are making a covenant with God first, they cannot be in union with – or serve – any other nations or false deities. God is a jealous God (v.14), and He will not share His glory – or His chosen people – with any other. (Exodus 20:5, Deuteronomy 4:24) This is why God compares Israel’s sin of idolatry to “whoring” in verse 15. To rob God of His rightful worship and glory by turning to false gods is no different than a woman who betrays her husband by behaving as a harlot with other men. (Numbers 25:1-2, Deuteronomy 32:37-38, Judges 2:17) Neither does God want the Israelites to intermarry with the heathen nations for this, too, will cause them to fall away from worshiping and obeying God. (v.16) (Genesis 28:1, Deuteronomy 7:3, Joshua 23:12-13, 1 Kings 11:2, Ezra 9:2, Nehemiah 13:25)
            “Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.” (v.17) (Exodus 20:4, 23, 32:8, Leviticus 19:4, Deuteronomy 5:8) In light of the recent incident with the golden calf, it’s clear why God repeated the second commandment here.
            Verses 18-26 are a review of the laws regarding the feast of unleavened bread (v.18), the dedication of all the firstborn to God (v.19-20), observation of the sabbath (v.21), the feasts of weeks and ingathering (v.22-23), the blood sacrifices (v.25), the tithing of the firstfruits and a reminder about never boiling a young goat in his mother’s milk. (v.26) In light of the emphasis in verses 11-17 on idolatry and the importance of the Israelites separating themselves from the pagan nations around them, that last command in verse 26 seems to indicate that that specific practice is related to either the worship of false gods or some other heathen ritual. Verse 24 contains another reminder that God will cast out the nations before Israel, even changing the desires of their enemy’s hearts so that the Israelites will be able to celebrate their feasts every year in peace. (Exodus 33:2, Joshua 11:23, 1 Kings 4:21, 2 Chronicles 36:14, Psalm 78:55)
 
            Verses 27-28: Moses writes on the tablets all “…all the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” (v.28) He’s up on the mount with God forty days and forty nights. Verse 28 makes a specific mention of Moses not eating bread or drinking water for that entire time. Though it is possible for an adult human to go that long without food or water, it’s also clear from this verse that God supernaturally sustained His faithful servant during their time together on Mount Sinai.
 
            Verses 29-35: When Moses descends the mountain with the two tables of testimony, he’s not aware that his face is shining. (v.29) (Matthew 17:2, 2 Corinthians 3:7-8) As a result of his time alone with God, the skin of Moses’ face radiates a glow that causes fear in Aaron and the other Israelite leaders that are waiting for Moses near the base of the mountain. (v.30) This glow is the direct reflection of the glory of God, the same shekinah glory that was manifested in the form of the cloud when it descended on the tent of meeting. Why exactly Moses’ face did not also shine then after meeting with God is not clear from the text. What is clear, however, is that Moses wears the veil from this time forward whenever he is not alone with God. Paul references this passage in 2 Corinthians 3:13-14.