Exodus 34: 1 – 35
Friends like to razz each other
34 And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. 2 So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. 3 And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.” 4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” 10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods. 17 “You shall make no molded gods for yourselves. 18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 “All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. 20 But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. “And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 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 first fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 “Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. 25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning. 26 “The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” 27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
I do not know how you interact with others based on your culture or where you live but in Philly if you are friends then you like to constantly razz each other.
When you razz someone it means that you poke fun or tease close associates. It becomes in a way to show that you like each other. Although it seems too simple to be true, research in human interaction has shown time and again that we like people who like us. In a series of clever studies, the power of what’s called “reciprocal liking” has proven itself.
Imagine you meet someone totally new, you have a brief conversation, and you both part ways. At this point, you may not have strong feelings about this person. The next day, you’re talking to a co-worker who says, “Oh, that person who came by yesterday was really impressed with you.” With that simple piece of information, your opinion of that person radically changes. You’re probably ready to call that person a friend!
The idea is as simple as that. When our liking for others becomes clear, people are prone to return the liking.
The bible says In Proverbs 18 verse 24 this, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.So we need to not be afraid to let people know that you’re fond of them. This simple act of expressing your thoughts about another person may prove advantageous for you in the future.
Just be careful not to overstate your liking! You don’t want to insist that you like another person. You might come off as some kind of weirdo. A simple one-time statement should do it. Or better yet—let the other person know of your liking indirectly through another person or subtle compliments.
We have just covered how the Lord God Yahweh really loved Moses. In fact they were friends. This is something I wish I had with our Great and Holy God that is to be that close to Almighty God like Moses was.
We are going to see this banter of ribbing between our Holy King and his servant Moses. He is going to say to Moses ‘come back up the mountain so I can give you again the Commandments that you broke’. I think He could have also teased His servant Moses by saying, ‘Well Moses your record can be tied but never broken. You broke all 10 Commandments at one time.’
34 And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. 2 So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. 3 And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”
The first tablets had been fashioned by God. Now it was Moses who was to fashion the tablets. This in fact would bring out the part that Moses now played in the covenant. Previously the covenant had come from Yahweh directly to the people (20.1-18). It was all of God, for they were His people. Now it comes through the mediation and intercession of Moses. They owe to him the fact that they can once more enter the covenant. Most significantly though, they will still be written by God. And it will still be the same covenant as before, now renewed by this act.
It would take Moses some time to fashion the tablets suitably, so he was given until the next day. But then he was to make suitable preparations, after which he was to present himself alone to Yahweh on top of the mountain. But first he must give instructions that no one else enter the mountain, and that no cattle or flocks even come near the mountain. This was an extension of the provisions in chapter 19. It was clear that some extraordinary appearance of Yahweh was to take place.
4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
Moses did exactly as Yahweh had commanded him. He hewed two tablets of stone similar to the first. According to the book of Deuteronomy 10.1-5 we find out that he also made a wooden chest to contain the tablets when he brought them back, “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me. 5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.”
5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
As ever our Wonderful Holy God Yahweh Is surrounded by cloud. The previous chapter has brought home why this was so as never before. His glory must be hidden or it would strike dead whoever saw it. And He stood there with Moses. Here again He had come to speak with His friend. ‘He stood with him there’. All the glory of the The Lord Most High is manifested, although shielded by the cloud. He declared Who He Was, He revealed What He Is.
To know someone’s name was to know him fully. Moses came to know ‘His name’ as proclaimed by Yahweh Himself. He received a full revelation of what Yahweh’s name meant, of what He Is. He was enabled to appreciate the very nature of God.
6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Moses experienced the full reality of the proclamation, for it was not only communicated in words, it was communicated in spirit. As he stood there in awe the glory and holiness and love of Yahweh swept through him, suffusing his whole being.
Compassion and graciousness, covenant love and truth, come first. Mercy and forgiveness are of the very being and essence of God. And yet the corollary of this must be the awful judgment for those who fail to respond to that mercy and forgiveness. He will by no means clear men who do not respond. Here Yahweh reveals the future for mankind. His offer will come to them, His compassion will reach out to them, but in the end only those who respond from the heart will experience His covenant faithfulness. Those who reject it will be condemned.
Our God Is ‘A God full of compassion, and gracious.’ This is part of His essential being, tender of heart, compassionate of spirit, and self-giving even to the unworthy. No words can really express it. If we add together all the compassion revealed by all the most compassionate of men throughout all history we only come up with a pale reflection of it. John later puts it simply in the terms ‘God is love’ (1 John 4.7-8). But there as here he has to temper it with ‘God is light’ (1 John 1.5). For in Him there is no darkness at all. It proclaims to us all that God wants to forgive and be forgiving. But He can only be so to those who will receive forgiveness.
He Is slow to anger. It is contrary to all that He wants to be. He Is plenteous in covenant love and truth. ‘Plenteous’ indicates an abundant supply. There is no stinting of His love to those within His covenant. There is no restriction of His trueness and faithfulness. But again it can only be in truth. Truth is essential to knowing God. ‘What is truth?’ asked Pilate, failing to recognize that the Truth stood before him. Only those who desire the truth can enjoy fully what He Is.
There is no limit to His desire to show mercy and forgive. ‘Thousands’ is broad in its significance; it indicates a countless multitude, which no man can number. His mercy is preserved for all of them. He wants to forgive, He longs to forgive, and there is no limit to what He will forgive.
The threefold ‘iniquity and transgression and sin’ indicates the totality of sin, sin in all its forms. The One Who was all compassion declared, ‘Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men’, but the caveat was that those who finally failed to respond, those who hardened themselves against the work of the Spirit, would remain un-forgiven (Matthew 12.31). Hell is full of ungrateful, unresponsive people for ‘He will by no means clear those who fail to respond’.
Again in the midst of the light the dark side has to be revealed. He does not automatically clear men. There is no automatic forgiveness. Forgiveness is offered all of His grace but it has to be received and accepted. For those who will not turn to Him and receive that forgiveness the awful power of iniquity will continue on through the generations. Man’s failure to respond to God affects not only himself but also his descendents.
So Yahweh reveals more of His glory to Moses as He had promised, but in what He reveals He makes clear that with the renewing of the covenant He has also forgiven His people for their major lapse. That is the clear implication of His words. But within them is included the warning that if they fail to take advantage of His forgiveness worse will follow.
8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
This new revelation affects Moses deeply. ‘With great haste’ because he is so moved he bows down to the earth and worships. But he recognizes from the revelation that Yahweh has made that He has declared Himself a forgiving God, and under their present circumstances that must specifically refer to the children of Israel. So he once again seeks confirmation that Yahweh will go up in their midst. It is true that they are a stiff necked people, perverse, obstinate, slow in response, but he asks for full pardon for all they have done and that Yahweh will again take them as His inheritance.
It is important to note that although Moses is God’s friend, he does not take advantage of that fact to presume. No one is more aware than he how deeply Israel has sinned. He is finding it difficult to accept that they are truly forgiven. He has cause to know what a stiff necked people they are. This is why God’s revelation has come in this form, because God is aware of his problem. But at last he is coming to terms with it, and is willing to accept that it really is true. It seems that they really can begin again. So for the final time he seeks assurance that all really is well, that their sovereign Lord really will go up amongst them, that He really is pardoning their sin, that He really will again make them His inheritance. It has taken time to be able to accept it but after this wonderful display of the heart of God he can no longer be in doubt.
We may feel that he had had more than enough assurance but we do not have Moses’ awareness of the holiness of God, and we were not there to see the depths and degradation of their sin. He had no doubt accepted Yahweh’s word, but it was only now that the uneasiness in his heart was able to subside. Many of us do understand his position. We too have in the past sinned in such a way that we found it hard to accept forgiveness. Not that we did not seek it. Not that we did not believe that God would do it. But we were so conscious of the awfulness of our sin that it took time to accept forgiveness fully.
God replies by confirming the covenant and guaranteeing the receipt of the inheritance. He has already confirmed that the same information will be written on the new tablets that Moses has brought. Instead He guarantees the fulfillment of the covenant in practical terms by promising the manifestation of His power and that He will do wonders on their behalf.
10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
The fact that these marvels are to be ‘created’ stresses that they will be of Yahweh. He alone is the Creator. The verb for ‘create’ is never used unless Yahweh is involved. He will create marvels such as the world has never known, and no nation has ever experienced. In view of what He did in Egypt these are strong words. What He will do for His people will be awesome and terrible, even more terrible than He did in Egypt.
11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Israel is to take care that they observe all that Yahweh has commanded them. This renewal of His promise to drive out the Canaanites is an assurance that their previous failure has been forgiven. But they must beware that it does not happen again.
12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
Conscious of their ways and how they have failed in the past the main command here is that they should not to enter into covenant relationship with any in the land as depicted by the six previously mentioned groups. The alternative to making a covenant with them is to destroy or displace them, and this is emphasized by the command to destroy their gods, which no nation would allow unless utterly defeated.
Please take note the emphasis on how surely they must avoid idolatry by vigorously destroying all trace of it. They are to destroy their altars, dash in pieces the pillars that represent Baal, and cut down their wooden Asherah images. It is not enough to turn from sin. They must destroy all traces of it.
15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.
Our Holy Lord God’s concern is that they might make treaties with the inhabitants of the land so that they become neighbors, and then get caught up in their idolatry, either by eating of their sacrifices, and thus participating in their orgies, or by the sons of Israelites marrying Canaanite women and being caught up in their idolatrous and sexually perverted practices (which is precisely what did happen). The only way they can remain pure is by driving the idolaters from the land.
The Canaanite religion was debased and encouraged sexual impropriety. But the words here also contain the thought of being unfaithful to the One to Whom they should be looking. To seek other gods was to behave like as a harlot.
In counteracting the temptation to idolatry Yahweh now pronounces what are seemingly ten reminders of what His ritual requirements concerning Himself and what He has revealed. The thought is that temptation is best fought by positive action rather than simply by rejection of the sin. The one who is busy about the Lord’s work will not have the time to be busy with sin.
17 “You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.19 “All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. 20 But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. “And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 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 first fruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 “Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. 25 “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning. 26 “The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
So you are aware of the Ten Commandments. Now we see our Holy Lord God give His Ten Requirements;
• 1). “You shall make yourself no molten gods.” The making of molten images is forbidden and pagan practices with regard to idolatry are forbidden.
• 2). “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib. For in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.”
• 3). “All that opens the womb is mine, and all your cattle which are male, the firstlings of ox and sheep. And the firstling of an ass you will redeem with a lamb, and if you will not redeem it then you shall break its neck.
• 4). “All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, and none shall appear before me empty.”
• 5). “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In ploughing time and in harvest you shall rest.”
• 6). “And you shall observe the feast of sevens, even of the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year end.”
• 7). “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. Nor will any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in the year.”
• 8). “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with unleavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.”
• 9). “The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God.
• 10). “you shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”
So all these provisions are extracted from earlier enactments and repeated so as to re-establish the covenant.
27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Moses is now told to write down the words spoken to him before Yahweh, as a symbol of the re-established covenant. The words ‘After the tenor of -’ looks back to a previous explanation, something that has been said or written previously.
28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Moses again remained in the mountain for over a month being sustained solely by God. Going without food and water for so long a period was a recipe for disaster, but Moses came out from the experience unharmed.
29 Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.
Because he had been in the Mountain with The Father Yahweh his skin shone. He was carrying in his hands the two Tablets of Testimony. But Moses was unaware of the fact that his face was shining with an unearthly glow.
30 So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
The shining of Moses’ face was so startling that even Aaron was reluctant to approach him nor would the children of Israel. There was too much of God about him. The distance that they stood back is shown by the fact that the verb ‘coming near’ is used of all Israel who would hardly all try to get near him.
31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
Moses would have none of it, and he called them to him. Whatever God’s purpose was in this it clearly included their facing up to this manifestation of His holiness as they received details of God’s command. Then Aaron and the tribal leaders took their courage in their hands and came to him, followed after a time by the whole of Israel. After that he gave them as commands all that Yahweh had said to him on the mountain. The unearthly glow on his face would bring home his words to them far better that any eloquence.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
Once he had finished delivering Yahweh’s words he put a veil on his face, no doubt at the request of the people who could no longer stand the glory that they saw, which even then was but a pale reflected glory.
34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. 35 And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
From then on when Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to talk with Yahweh he took the veil off, and when he came out he would deliver Yahweh’s message to the people unveiled. But then he would don the veil until he again went in to speak with Yahweh. Thus did Yahweh’s message always come over with the sense of Yahweh’s holiness and glory supporting it, emphasizing its unique importance?
I want you to look around at people now at church. Look and you will find some people who by the glow on their faces they also seem to spend a good amount of time with the Lord.
