Shemot 34:30

30 And when Aharon and kol Bnei Yisroel saw Moshe, hinei, the ohr (skin) of his face was radiant; and they were afraid to come near him.

Shemot 34:30 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:30

And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses,
&c.] Who very probably met him at the bottom of the mount; these Israelites with Aaron were the princes, as Aben Ezra seems rightly to interpret it, and as appears from the following verse; for Moses could not well be seen by the whole body of the people at once, upon his descent from the mount:

behold, the skin of his face shone;
darted out rays of light and glory all around it, much perhaps in the same manner as the glory about our Lord, and others, is painted by the Romanists:

and they were afraid to come nigh him;
there was something so majestic and striking in it; and perhaps they could not tell whether it foreboded good or evil to them; and this may signify, that as by the light of the law sin is discovered, it fills with a sense of wrath and fear of damnation; and being the ministration of condemnation and death, it is terrifying and killing, though it has a glory in it.

Shemot 34:30 In-Context

28 And he was there with Hashem arba’im yom and arba’im lailah; he did neither eat lechem, nor drink mayim. And he wrote upon the Luchot the Divrei HaBrit (Words of the Covenant), the Aseres Hadevarim (Ten Commandments).

29 And it came to pass, when Moshe came down from Mt. Sinai with the two Luchot HaEdut in the yad Moshe, when he came down from HaHar, that Moshe had no da’as that the ohr (skin) of his face had become radiant when he had spoken with Him.

30 And when Aharon and kol Bnei Yisroel saw Moshe, hinei, the ohr (skin) of his face was radiant; and they were afraid to come near him.

31 And Moshe called unto them; and Aharon and kol HaNesi’im of the Edah returned unto him; and Moshe spoke with them.

32 And afterward kol Bnei Yisroel came near; and he gave them in commandment all that Hashem had spoken with him in Mt Sinai.