Exodus 34:30

30 Forsooth Aaron and the sons of Israel saw (that) Moses? face (was) horned, and they dreaded to nigh nigh, (And Aaron and the Israelites saw that Moses? face shone, and they were afraid to come near,)

Exodus 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.

Exodus 34:30 In-Context

28 Therefore Moses was there with the Lord by forty days and forty nights, and he ate not bread, and drank not water; and he wrote in [the] tables the ten words of the bond of peace. (And so Moses was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, and he ate no bread, and drank no water; and he wrote on the tablets the Ten Commandments of the covenant.)

29 And when Moses came down from the hill of Sinai, he held in his hand(s) two tables of witnessing, and he wist not that his face was horned with wonderful shining beams, of the fellowship of God's word. (And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he held in his hands the two tablets of the Witnessing, and he did not know that his face shone with wonderful shining beams, from his time of fellowship and of speaking with the Lord.)

30 Forsooth Aaron and the sons of Israel saw (that) Moses? face (was) horned, and they dreaded to nigh nigh, (And Aaron and the Israelites saw that Moses? face shone, and they were afraid to come near,)

31 and they were called of him, and they turned again, as well Aaron as the princes of the synagogue; and after that Moses spake, (but he called to them, and they came over to him, Aaron as well as the leaders of the congregation; and after that Moses had spoken with these men,)

32 they came to him, yea all the sons of Israel; to which he commanded all things, which he had heard of the Lord in the hill of Sinai. (then all the other Israelites came over to him; to whom he commanded all the things, which he had heard from the Lord on Mount Sinai.)