Exodus 34:3-13

3 And no man shall come up with thee; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the sheep nor the cows feed before the mount.

4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5 And the LORD descended in a cloud and was with him there proclaiming the name of I AM.

6 And as the LORD passed by before him, he proclaimed, I AM, I AM strong, merciful, and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and truth,

7 keeping mercy for thousands, letting go of iniquity and rebellion and sin; and by no means will I absolve the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon the sons’ sons, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

8 Then Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped.

9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for this is a stiffnecked people, and forgive our iniquity and our sin and possess us.

10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant before all thy 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 thou art shall see the work of the LORD; for it shall be a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

11 Keep that which I command thee this day; behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Keep thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where thou must enter lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee;

13 but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves;

Exodus 34:3-13 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.