Exodus 34:1-30

The New Stone Tablets

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

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

3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.

5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD.

6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,

7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

10 Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you.

11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.

13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.^[a]

14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.

16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

17 “Do not make any idols.

18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock.

20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.^[b]

23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel.

24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.

25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.

26 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

The Radiant Face of Moses

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.

30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.

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Exodus 34:1-30 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 34

In this chapter Moses has orders to hew two tables of stone, that God might write on them the ten commands, and bring them up with him to the mount, Ex 34:1-4 where the Lord proclaimed his name, and caused his glory and his goodness to pass before him, Ex 34:5-7 when Moses took this favourable opportunity that offered to pray for the people, that God would forgive their sin, and go along with them, Ex 34:8,9 upon which he made a covenant with them, which on his part was to do wonders for them, and drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before them; and on their part, that they should have no confederacy and communion with these nations, and shun their idolatry, and everything that might lead unto it, Ex 34:10-17 and he repeated several laws before given, and urged the observance of them, which Moses was to acquaint the people with, Ex 34:18-27 and after a stay of forty days and forty nights on the mount, he came down with the two tables of the law; and the skin of his face shone so bright, that the people of Israel were afraid to come nigh him, and therefore he put a vail over his face while he conversed with them, Ex 34:28-35.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 66

1. S Exodus 24:12
2. Deuteronomy 10:2,4
3. S Exodus 32:19
4. S Exodus 19:11
5. S Exodus 19:13; Ex 19:12-13,21
6. Deuteronomy 10:3
7. S Exodus 32:15
8. S Exodus 13:21; S Exodus 19:9
9. Exodus 6:3; Exodus 33:19
10. S Exodus 22:27; S Numbers 14:20; S Psalms 86:15
11. Numbers 14:18; Psalms 78:38; Jeremiah 15:15; Romans 2:4
12. S Genesis 19:16; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 103:8; Joel 2:13
13. Psalms 61:7; Psalms 108:4; Psalms 115:1; Psalms 138:2; Psalms 143:1; Lamentations 3:23; James 5:11
14. S Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10
15. 1 Kings 8:30; Psalms 86:5; Psalms 103:3; Psalms 130:4,8; Isaiah 43:25; Daniel 9:9; 1 John 1:9
16. Exodus 23:7; Joshua 24:19; Job 7:20-21; Job 9:28; Job 10:14; Micah 6:1-16; Nahum 1:3
17. S Exodus 20:5
18. Exodus 33:13; Numbers 11:15
19. S Exodus 33:15
20. Exodus 32:9
21. Numbers 14:19; 1 Kings 8:30; 2 Chronicles 6:21; Psalms 19:12; Psalms 25:11; Jeremiah 33:8; Hosea 14:2
22. S Exodus 6:7; Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 9:26,29; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Deuteronomy 32:9; 1 Samuel 10:1; 2 Samuel 14:16; 1 Kings 8:51,53; Psalms 28:9; Psalms 33:12; Psalms 74:2; Psalms 79:1; Psalms 94:14; Psalms 106:5,40; Isaiah 19:25; Isaiah 63:17; Jeremiah 10:16; Jeremiah 51:19; Micah 7:18; Zechariah 2:12
23. S Genesis 6:18; S Genesis 9:15; S Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 5:2-3
24. S Exodus 3:20
25. S Exodus 33:16; Deuteronomy 4:32
26. Deuteronomy 6:25; Joshua 11:15
27. S Exodus 23:28; Exodus 33:2
28. Judges 2:2
29. S Exodus 10:7; Exodus 23:32-33
30. S Exodus 23:24; Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; Judges 6:26; 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16; 2 Chronicles 17:6; 2 Chronicles 34:3-4; Micah 5:14; 2 Kings 18:4
31. S Exodus 20:3
32. Isaiah 9:6
33. S Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 4:24
34. ver 12; Deuteronomy 23:6; Ezra 9:12
35. Exodus 22:20; Exodus 32:8; Deuteronomy 31:16; Judges 2:17; 2 Kings 17:8; 1 Chronicles 5:25; 2 Chronicles 11:15; Amos 2:4
36. S Exodus 32:6; Numbers 25:2; 1 Corinthians 8:4
37. Deuteronomy 7:3; Deuteronomy 17:17; Joshua 23:12; Judges 3:6; Judges 14:3; 1 Kings 11:1,2; 1 Kings 16:31; Ezra 9:2; Ezra 10:3; Ne Ezra 10:30; Nehemiah 13:25,26
38. Deuteronomy 7:4; Deuteronomy 12:31; Deuteronomy 20:18; 1 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 21:3-15; Psalms 106:34-41; Malachi 2:11
39. S Exodus 20:4; Exodus 32:8
40. S Exodus 12:17; Matthew 26:17; Luke 22:1; Acts 12:3
41. S Exodus 12:15
42. S Exodus 12:2
43. Exodus 13:2
44. S Exodus 13:13; Exodus 13:13,15
45. S Exodus 13:2
46. S Exodus 22:29; Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16; Ezekiel 46:9
47. Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:9; Luke 13:14
48. Nehemiah 13:15; Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 58:13
49. ver 26; Exodus 23:19; Leviticus 2:12,14; Leviticus 7:13; Leviticus 23:10,17; Numbers 28:26
50. S Exodus 23:16
51. S Exodus 23:14
52. S Exodus 23:28; Exodus 33:2; Psalms 78:55
53. Deuteronomy 12:20; Deuteronomy 19:8; Job 12:23
54. S Exodus 23:18
55. S Exodus 12:8; Exodus 12:8,10
56. S Exodus 22:29; S Numbers 18:12
57. S Exodus 23:19
58. S Exodus 17:14; Exodus 24:4
59. S Genesis 6:18; S Genesis 15:18
60. S Genesis 7:4; Exodus 24:18; Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2
61. Deuteronomy 9:9,18; Ezra 10:6
62. ver 1; Exodus 31:18
63. Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4
64. S Exodus 19:11
65. S Exodus 32:15
66. ver 35; Psalms 34:5; Isaiah 60:5; Matthew 17:2; 2 Corinthians 3:7,13

Footnotes 2

[a]. That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
[b]. That is, in the autumn