The Second Book of Moses, called Exodus
Exodus 34
Chapter XXXIV · Vol. I, pp. 353–354
1 The tables are renewed. 4 The name of the LORD proclaimed. 8 Moses entreateth God to go with the people. 10 God maketh a covenant with them, repeating certain duties of the first table. 27 Moses after forty days in the mount cometh down with the tables. 29 His face shineth, and he covereth it with a vail.
1 AND the LORD said unto Moses, a Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the b words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest:
a De. 10.1. ch. 31.18; 32.16, 19.
b Mal. 3.6. Ps. 119.89.
2 And be ready in the morning, and c come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount:
c De. 9.25. ch. 19.20; 24.12. Ec. 9.10. Ps. 119.59, 60. ver. 4.
3 And no man shall d come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.8
d ch. 19.12, 13. He. 12.20. 1 Ti. 2.5. Jn. 14.6. Ac. 4.12.
8 This is the first mention of the flocks and herds since the departure from Egypt. Nothing is said of them at the passage of the Red Sea, nor at the fountain of Marah, nor in the wilderness of Sin, nor at Rephidim, where there was no water. The Israelites travelled like an Arab tribe. The leading men followed a somewhat direct course, making short stages, and often halting for days at a favoured spot; but the flocks roamed over a vast extent of country, taking the best pastures, and passing by the best fountains. Now when the people had established a settlement at the mount of God, and when they had such remarkable manifestations of God's power, the shepherds and flocks were naturally concentrated round Sinai.—P.
4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up e early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
5 And the LORD f descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.9
f ch. 24.16, 17; 19.18; 33.9. Nu. 11.17, 25.
9 God here appears to change his name. His names are descriptive of his attributes, and these are inexhaustible. To Abraham unprotected, he calls himself GOD ALMIGHTY; to Moses, after centuries of unfulfilled promise, I AM; and now, when he is surrounded by the 'thousands of Israel,' he proclaims a new name, with an attribute suited to their every circumstance.—C.
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The g LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth;
7 Keeping h mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that i will by no means clear the guilty;1 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
h Je. 32.18. Ne. 1.5; 9.32. Mi. 7.18.
i ch. 20.5. Ps. 11.5-7. De. 5.9. Je. 32.18; 5.9, 20; 9.9. Jos. 24.19. Mi. 6.11. Nu. 14.18. Na. 1.3. Pr. 11.31. 1 Pe. 4.18. Le. 26.39. Mat. 23.35.
1 The words 'the guilty,' are in italics to show they are not in the original, but are supplied by the translators. As they stand, they would seem to contradict Ro. 4.5, where God is said to 'justify the ungodly.' If we substitute the word impenitent, the difficulty is removed; and the meaning will be, that God, in the very overflowing of his grace, retains and exercises judgment against sin and sinners. So true is the expression 'a God all mercy is a God unjust.'—Note, Newman translates the passage 'But he will not let (them) go wholly unpunished.'—C.
8 And Moses made haste, and k bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
k ch. 4.31. Ge. 17.3. 2 Ch. 20.18. Ps. 89.7. He. 12.28, 29. Ec. 5.1.
9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O LORD, let l my Lord, I pray thee, m go among us, (for it is a n stiff-necked people,) and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine o inheritance.
10 And he said, Behold, p I make a covenant; before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD; for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
11 Observeq thou that which I command thee this day; r Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
q De. 12.32; 4.1, 2, 40; 11.32.
r Ge. 15.18-21. ch. 3.8, 17; 23.23, 28. De. 7.1, 2, 23, 24; 9.1, 3; 11.23, 25. Jos. 1.5; vi.-xii. Nu. 21.21-35.
12 Takes heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.
s ch. 23.32, 33. De. 7.2, 16. Jos. 23.7, 12; 9.6, 7. Ju. 2.2. 2 Co. 6.14.
13 But ye t shall destroy their altars, break their images,2 and cut down their groves.
t See ch. 23.24. De. 12.2, 3. Ju. 6.25. 2 Ki. 18.4; 23.14.
2 Heb. statues.
14 For thou shalt u worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is x Jealous, is a jealous God;
u ch. 20.3-5. De. 5.7, 8; 6.13, 14; 8.19; 11.16; xiii.; 32.16, 17. Ju. 2.12, 13. Mat. 4.10.
x Ex. 20.5. De. 4.24; 6.15. Jos. 24.19. Na. 1.2, 3.
15 Lesty thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a z whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou a eat of his sacrifice;
y ver. 12.
z Le. 17.7; 20.5, 6. Nu. 15.39. De. 31.16. Ju. 2.12, 13, 17. Ps. 106.34-39. Eze. 6.6.
16 And thou b take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
b See Ge. 6.2; 26.34; 28.1. ch. 23.32. De. 7.3, 4. Ps. 106.35-39. 1 Ki. 11.2. Ezr. 9.2. Ne. 13.25. Nu. 25.1, 2.
18 The d feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
d ch. 12.19, 20; 13.4, 6, 7; 23.15. De. 16.1-3. Le. 23.6-8. Nu. 28.15-25. 1 Co. 5.7, 8.
19 Alle that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491.
e ch. 13.2, 12; 22.29. Nu. 18.15-17. Eze. 44.30. Lu. 2.23. Pr. 3.9. He. 12.23. Re. 14.4.
20 But the f firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb:1 and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem; and noneg shall appear before me empty.
21 Sixh days thou shalt work; but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing-time and in harvest thou shalt rest.2
h See Ge. 2.2. ch. 20.9; 23.12; 31.15, 16; 35.2. De. 5.13. Le. 23.3. Is. 56.2, 4, 6; 58.13. Je. 17.21-27. Lu. 13.14.
2 The busiest seasons of the whole year; to show that no pressure of labour—no alleged temporal necessity—could abrogate the law of Sabbath rest.—P.
22 Andi thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat-harvest, and the feast of in-gathering at the year's end.3
i ch. 23.16. Le. xxiii. De. 16.10. Nu. 28.16-31; 29.13-39.
3 Heb. revolution of the year.
24 For I l will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall anym man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.4
l ver. 11; ch. 23.27-31.
m Ge. 35.5. Pr. 16.7. Eze. 2.5. Ac. 18.10. 2 Ch. 17.10.
4 This is a promise of protection by a divine power from all temporal enemies during a faithful observance of the great national festivals. All excuse was thus taken away.—P.
25 Thoun shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover o be left until the morning.
n ch. 23.18. De. 16.3. 1 Co. 5.7, 8.
o ch. 23.18; 12.10; 16.19; 29.34. Le. 7.15. Nu. 9.12. De. 16.4.
26 Thep first of the first-fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thouq shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.5
p ch. 23.19; 22.29. De. 12.5-7; 26.2. Pr. 3.9; 8.17. Re. 14.4.
q ch. 23.19. De. 14.21. Pr. 12.10. Je. 10.2, 3.
5 See note on ch. 23.19.—C.
27 And the LORD said unto Moses, r Write thou these words:6 for s after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee, and with Israel.
r De. 4.13. ch. 17.14. Is. 30.8. Hab. 2.2. De. 27.8.
6 Write thou in the 'book of the law,' what I will write upon the 'tables of stone.'—C.
s ch. 19.5, 6; 24.3, 8. De. 5.2, 3.
28 Andt he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread nor drink water: and u He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.7
t ch. 24.18. De. 9.9, 18, 25. 1 Ki. 19.8. Mat. 4.2. Ac. 1.3.
u God, ver. 1. De. 10.2, 4; 4.13. ch. 31.18; 34.1.
7 Heb. words.
29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, (when he came down from the mount,) that Moses8 wist not that the x skin of his face shone while He talked with him.
8 The ignorance of Moses beautifully illustrates an important fact in religious experience, viz. that one believer sees more grace in another, than that other sees in himself. The reason of the difference is plain. The one knows his own conflicts, the other sees nothing but the victories; the one feels his own weakness, the other sees nothing but a man 'strong in the Lord;' the one feels the power of temptation, and exclaims, 'O! wretched man that I am,' the other sees nothing but the grace of God (upon him), and is glad, Ac. 11.23.—C.
A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491.
x Mat. 17.2. 2 Co. 3.7, 13. God's glory manifested to him produced this brightness in his face, as an emblem of the bright holiness of his law, which no sinner is able to endure.
30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were y afraid to come nigh him.
y Ro. 3.19, 20; 4.15. 2 Co. 3.7, 9.
31 And Moses z called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
z ch. 3.16; 24.1.
32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he a gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
a Eze. 3.17. Ac. 20.27. Mat. 28.20. 1 Co. 11.23; 4.2. Is. 8.20. Phi. 4.8. Nu. 12.15. He. 3.2. ver. 34.
33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put b a vail on his face.9
b 2 Co. 3.13, 14. ver. 30. This marked the obscurity of the Mosaic dispensation, and the natural darkness that is in men's minds with respect to spiritual things.
9 As Moses was not the first to discover the shining of his own face, so the true Christian is never the first to discover his own graces—nor, when discovered, to exhibit them; and as Moses covered his shining face with a veil, so should the fairest fruits of the Spirit be protected by humility, 1 Pe. 5.5.—C.
34 But when Moses went in before the LORD, to speak with Him, he c took the vail off until he came out. Andd he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
c He. 4.13-16; 10.19-22. 2 Co. 3.18.
d See ver. 32.
Notes
Ver. 1. Thus God left a mark of their rebellion on the tables in their not being hewn by himself; yet nevertheless he made his law to retain the same force; and manifested, that it is not graciously inscribed in our hearts, till once they be hewn and broken by Moses' covenant form of it.
Ver. 7. It is a part of goodness to hate and punish evil.
Ver. 13. For privacy and solemnity, to prevent interruption, and perhaps in imitation of the patriarchs, the heathens planted groves, in which they worshipped their idols.
Reflections.—It is a great mercy to have God's law manifested to us; but especially written on our hearts, when hewn by convictions of sin; and the necessity of reconciliation with God, through Christ, discovered thereby. Ministers must labour to hew men's hearts: but it is only God who can write divine truths in them. The most ready and believing despatch is necessary in making up the breaches between God and our soul. But pleasant and transporting indeed are remarkable discoveries of the glory and grace of God! His new-covenant name is exactly suited to our sinful and destitute condition! Clear and distinct views thereof produce the boldest pleadings of faith at his throne of grace, and we cannot sufficiently admire that God should so often repeat his promises, warnings, and laws to us, who are so ignorant, heedless, and forgetful. How great is their safety who live in close fellowship with him! He takes pleasure to honour such as honour him; and clear views of the glory of God beget in his people the most glorious conformity to him, and elevate above all the fears or hopes of nature.—But it is very becoming when those who are most distinguished with gifts and graces are, through lowliness of mind, scarcely conscious of their own excellences! when others are more sensible of our spiritual beauty than we ourselves are! and when ministers, who have the deepest insight into divine things, accommodate their instructions to their people's capacity!—In the whole of this breach and reconcilement between God and Israel, let me behold how the law entered that the offence might abound: but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that, as sin had reigned unto death, grace might reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord!