Exodus 34

Exodus 34

After things were settled between God and the Israelites, God instructed Moses to make two new tablets for Him. He then told Moses to come up on Mount Sinai the following morning, and God promised to rewrite the words on these new tablets. But God also told Moses to make sure that no one or nothing else came up on the mountain with him. Remember that the last time he was on the mountain, God told the Israelites that anyone who came up on the mountain would be killed (except the few that God made an exception for). So Moses did as he was commanded and met with God the next day. It was there that God made His intentions clear. He told Moses that He was indeed a loving God, but when His people sinned against Him, future generations would pay for their mistakes. We saw this in Genesis when children were punished for their parent’s sins (such as Cain or Esau). However, God is also a God of forgiveness, and He promised to renew the covenant that He had made with the Israelites and continue to go with them as they traveled to the Promised Land.

It appears as if most of this chapter is just a summary of what had already been stated throughout this entire book. God summarizes many of the commandments that He already made: the Ten Commandments, the different feasts they were to observe, and some of the laws that He had made about how they were to live. It then says that Moses spent a second set of forty days and nights on the mountain with the Lord. This makes me wonder if this chapter is purely a summary of the commands since they had already been given previously. Maybe Moses actually heard it all again, from the Ten Commandments to the other commands to the instructions for the tabernacle within these forty days. He had not yet had the chance to tell the Israelites all that God had said for he was having to deal with their disobedience. Therefore, it seems possible that God just began anew and went through the entire lists of commands a second time so that Moses would be sure not to forget or mess them up when he went back to speak with the Israelites.

But what might be even more amazing than this is the fact that Moses had the opportunity to spend another 40 days alone in God’s presence, with no distractions. Sure the circumstances were not the best, but it did allow Moses that one-on-one time with God for a second time. Moses returned to the Israelites to share with them all that the Lord had said, and they were all afraid to come near him because of his shining face. After spending so much time with God, Moses’ physical appearance was beginning to reflect God’s glory. We say today that we want to be the “light of God” in a dark world. Moses literally lived out this idea. He thus became an example to all the Israelites of how their lives should appear to others. Moses veiled his face when he was in the presence of others, but whenever he went back to meet with the Lord, he always took the veil off. Moses was God’s messenger to the Israelites, and he continued to deliver God’s messages to Israel.

Matt