Exodus34

God commands Moses to hew new stone tables, promising to re-inscribe the covenant words upon them. The LORD descends, proclaiming His merciful yet just character, and renews the covenant with Israel, reiterating laws concerning idolatry, feasts, and firstborn. Moses descends from Sinai after forty days, his face shining from God's presence, necessitating a veil when speaking to the people.

Preparation for Covenant Renewal

The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”

He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.

The LORD Proclaims His Name

The LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the LORD’s name.

The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The LORD! the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Renewal of the Covenant Stipulations

He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.

Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in your midst:

but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

for you shall worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

“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 Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before the LORD, your God, three times in the year.

“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.

“You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Moses’ Shining Face and the Veil

He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

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.

Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Study Notes for Exodus 34

Verse 1

God commands Moses to prepare new stone tablets, emphasizing that the covenant relationship is being restored despite Israel's recent failure (the Golden Calf incident).

Verse 5

This is a pivotal moment (a theophany) where God reveals His character, not just His power. The cloud signifies God's majestic presence and mystery.

Verse 6

This passage (v. 6-7), often called the 'Creed of Yahweh,' is the most quoted theological self-description of God in the Old Testament, emphasizing mercy, grace, and faithfulness.

Verse 7

The tension between forgiving sin and judging the unrepentant highlights God's perfect justice and holiness balanced with his love. The visitation of iniquity across generations refers to the societal consequences of persistent corporate sin, not individual eternal damnation.

Verse 8

Moses’ immediate response to God’s self-revelation is humble worship, demonstrating the appropriate reverence when encountering divine holiness.

Verse 9

Moses intercedes again, basing his plea for forgiveness not on Israel’s worthiness, but on God’s revealed character (v. 6-7) and the recognition that Israel is indeed a 'stiffnecked people.'

Verse 10

The covenant renewal is marked by a promise of divine intervention ('marvels') in the land conquest, confirming the LORD’s commitment to Israel despite their rebellion.

Verse 12

The prohibition against making covenants with the inhabitants of Canaan is central to maintaining Israel's distinct religious identity and holiness in the Promised Land.

Verse 13

The requirement to destroy foreign religious objects (altars, pillars, Asherah poles) emphasizes that Yahweh worship must be exclusive and intolerant of syncretism.

Verse 14

The name 'Jealous' (Hebrew: *qanna*) describes God's righteous demand for exclusive loyalty from His covenant people, not personal envy.

Verse 16

The prohibition against intermarriage is tied specifically to the danger of religious assimilation and apostasy, stressing the priority of theological separation over cultural integration.

Verse 17

This reiterates the second commandment, essential immediately following the recent sin of the Golden Calf (Exod 32).

Verse 18

This section (v. 18-26) restates several key laws and festival requirements often referred to by scholars as the 'Ritual Decalogue,' focusing on proper worship practice.

Verse 20

The redemption of the firstborn (human and animal) commemorates God sparing the Israelite firstborn during the final plague in Egypt (Exod 13).

Verse 21

The command for Sabbath rest is so absolute that it applies even during crucial agricultural periods ('earing time and in harvest'), underscoring its theological importance over economic urgency.

Verse 22

The three annual pilgrimage festivals—Unleavened Bread/Passover, Weeks (Pentecost), and Ingathering (Tabernacles)—structure the religious calendar and connect worship to the agricultural cycle.

Verse 24

This verse contains a remarkable promise of divine protection: God assures Israel that their land will not be coveted or seized by enemies while all the men are away performing their required pilgrimage duties.

Verse 26

The final dietary law, 'Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk,' likely prohibits an ancient Canaanite fertility rite, emphasizing humane treatment and separation from pagan practices.

Verse 27

God instructs Moses to write down these specific stipulations, confirming they form the binding terms of the renewed covenant.

Verse 28

Moses spends another forty days fasting in God's presence. The text clarifies that the Ten Commandments were written on the tablets, either by God directly or by Moses under divine command.

Verse 29

Moses was unaware that his face was radiating glory (*qaran*), a physical manifestation of having been intimately in the presence of God (the *Kavod*).

Verse 30

The fear of the Israelites demonstrates the awe and distance between divine holiness and human sinfulness that Moses’ reflected glory represented.

Verse 33

The veil served as an intermediary, protecting the people from the intense divine glory reflected on Moses' face, which was temporary and faded over time (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:13).

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Exodus34

Preparation for Covenant Renewal

The LORD Proclaims His Name

Renewal of the Covenant Stipulations

Moses’ Shining Face and the Veil

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