Exodus 34

Two stone tablets like the first 1
The Lord came down and declared His character 5
Covenant - drive out inhabitants; make no covenant with them; destroy idols 10
Feast of unleavened bread 18
Moses wrote out covenant for 40 days; came down; face shone 28
He gave them the commandments 32
Text
Comments
.1 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
 2  And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
 3  And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
.4  And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up 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.
   1 - Two tables ... like the first Moses broke the stones because the people had broken their covenant ex32. This time God provided less. Compare ex3118. In fact the first time, He spoke the commands. In the Garden of Eden God spoke face to face with Adam and Eve. Sin then put more distance between man and God is5902
.5 ¶ And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
.6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
 7  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
 8  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
 9  And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
God's goodness
.10 ¶ And he said, Behold, 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  Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
.12  Take 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:
  12 - That you not make a covenant Note the context beginning with verse 10. This requirement they disobeyed.
.13  But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
 14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
 15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
.16  And thou 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.
.17  Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
  13 - Images Or "pillars" representing male fertility.
  13 - Groves "Wooden symbols of a female deity," (NASB).
  15 - Lest thou make Making treaties with heathen nations were a snare v12, ex2332,33. They should not join in idol feasts nor marry unbelievers. jg0202,11. Because the Lord's people were His bride, unfaithfulness was spiritual adultery. je0301, eze16; 2co1102. Molten images (The golden calf had been a recent failure).
  16 - Take of their daughters See the story of Samson jg1403.
.18 ¶ The 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.
.19 All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.
 20  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
 21  Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
.22  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
  21 - Work ... but ... earing It would be a temptation to break the Sabbath during planting time and when the crops needed to come in. We today may also be tempted.
  21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
  22 And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. (NKJV).
 23  Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
 24  For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
 25  Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
.26  The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
.27  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
  23 - Thrice ... appear See on ex2314-17.
  26 - Seethe a kid A pagan practice de1421.
.28 ¶ And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
.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 Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
 30  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
 31  And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
   28 - Ten commandments The commandments were first spoken by God from Mt. Sinai ex20. These are the "words of the covenant." By comparing other uses of the number ten, we find also ten warnings ne0412 or ten reproaches job1903. On "ten" see nu1422.
.32  And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
 33  And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
 34  But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
 35  And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
  33 - Till This word is not in the original. "When" would be a good replacement.
  35 - Paul uses the veil idea to contrast the old and new covenants 2co0307ff.
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