Old Testament Commentary - Exodus 34

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 34 Moses hews new tables of stone—He goes up into mount Sinai for forty days—The Lord proclaims his name and attributes and reveals his law—He makes another covenant with Israel—The skin of Moses' face shines and he wears a vail.
1 ^aAND the LORD said unto Moses, ^bHew thee two ^ctables of stone like unto the first: and I will ^dwrite upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou ^ebrakest. 2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the ^atop of the mount. 3 And no man shall ^acome up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
4 ¶ And he hewed two ^atables 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 the cloud, and stood with him there, and ^aproclaimed the name of the LORD.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, ^amerciful and ^bgracious, ^clongsuffering, and abundant in ^bgoodness and truth^a, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, ^aforgiving iniquity and transgression and ^bsin, ^cand that will by no means ^dclear the ^eguilty; visiting the ^finiquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.	6^a merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth This is a proclamation of the character, nature, traits and attributes of God. Such traits of the character of God are we to strive to obtain unto ourselves, being most merciful and gracious unto all, being longsuffering in our afflictions, being full and abundant in goodness and in all truth.	3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
8 And Moses made haste, and ^abowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9 And he said, If now I have found ^agrace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a ^bstiffnecked people; and ^cpardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for ^dthine ^einheritance.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
10 ¶ And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do ^amarvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a ^bterrible thing that I will do with thee. 11 ^aObserve thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I ^bdrive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a ^acovenant with the ^binhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it ^cbe for a snare in the midst of thee: 13 But ye shall ^adestroy their ^baltars, break their images, and cut down their ^cgroves: 14 For thou shalt worship ^ano other ^bgod: for the LORD, whose name is ^cJealous, is a ^djealous God:
15 Lest thou make a ^acovenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a ^bwhoring after their ^cgods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and ^done ^ecall thee, and thou ^feat of his sacrifice; 16 And thou ^atake of their ^bdaughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. 17 Thou shalt make thee no molten ^agods.
18 ¶ The ^afeast of ^bunleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the ^ctime of the month ^dAbib: for in the ^emonth Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19 All that ^aopeneth the ^bmatrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 20 But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb^a: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the ^afirstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.	20^a the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb Zechariah 9:9 speaks of 'thy King cometh ... lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.' All the covenant performances of the Law of Moses were a shadow which did point to and were a type of the coming Messiah. Considering this 'male firstling of an ass being redeemed with a lamb', the lamb being the Lamb of God; could not this also be a type and shadown of that triumpant entry of the saving Messiah upon the ass and her firstling colt?
21 ¶ Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt ^arest: in ^bearing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22 ¶ And thou shalt observe the ^afeast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. 23 ¶ ^aThrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
24 For I will ^acast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man ^bdesire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. 25 Thou shalt not offer the ^ablood of my sacrifice with ^bleaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be ^cleft unto the morning. 26 The first of the ^afirstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not ^bseethe a kid in his mother's milk.
27 And the LORD said unto Moses, ^aWrite thou these words: for ^bafter the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 28 And he was there with the LORD ^aforty days and forty nights; he did neither ^beat bread, nor drink water. And he ^cwrote upon the tables the words of the ^dcovenant, the ^eten ^fcommandments.
29 ¶ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the ^atwo ^btables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses ^cwist not that the skin of his face ^dshone while he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the ^arulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a ^avail on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.