Exodus 34:8-18

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;

14 for thou shalt worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 Therefore thou shalt not make a covenant with the inhabitants of that land because they shall fornicate after their gods and do sacrifice unto their gods, and they shall call thee, and thou shalt eat of their sacrifices

16 or take of their daughters unto thy sons, and when their daughters go fornicating after their gods they shall make thy sons also fornicate after their gods.

17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou didst come out from Egypt.

Exodus 34:8-18 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.