Exodus Chapter 34 Deep-Dive: The New Stone Tablets

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Exodus Ch 34

1The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. A REBUKE? MAYBE … BUT THE COVENANT LAW IS STILL THE PLAN … GOD IS OPEN TO REPENTANCE 2Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” MOSES IS GOING ALONE – AARON IS NOT GOING! AARON WAS DISOBEDIENT, MOSES WAS A MEDIATOR 4So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first (GOD HAD PRESENTED THE FIRST COPY, NOW MOSES MUST CUT THE BLANK TABLETS AND CARRY THEM UP THE MOUNTAIN). And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5The Lord descended in the cloud THE HOLY SPIRIT and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. THIS REMINDS US THAT YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN – YAHWEH, I-AM, ANNOUNCES HIMSELF … HE PROCLAIMS, PROTECTS, PRESERVES, RESPECTS AND HONORS HIS OWN NAME. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands (GENERATIONS IS IMPLIED – A THOUSAND GENERATIONS WOULD BE, AT MINIMUM, 20,000 YEARS – WE CAN ONLY TRACK HUMAN HISTORY ABOUT 5,000 YEARS), forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ALL OF THAT IS CONTAINED IN THE “NAME OF THE LORD” - MERCY, GRACE, SLOW TO ANGER, ABOUNDING IN STEADFAST LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS, FORGIVING INIQUITY AND TRANSGRESSION AND SIN, BUT, HOLDING ACCOUNTABLE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO REPENT … JUSTICE … THESE ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD WHICH APPLY TO THE GOLDEN CALF SIN … HOW DO WE MOVE PAST THAT?

FORGIVING SIN, YET ALSO, VISITING/ALLOWING THE CONSEQUENCES OF INIQUITY … NOT A GENERATIONAL CURSE – IT’S A GENERATIONAL CONSEQUENCE OF SIN, BUT, THAT EVENTUALLY ENDS … TO THE 3RD & 4TH GENERATIONS! (FROM THE COMMANDMENT ABOUT IDOLATRY Ex 20:4-6) HOWEVER, MERCY & STEADFAST LOVE IS WHAT CONTINUES FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS

Rom 3:21 APOSTLE PAUL WRITING TO THE ROMAN CHURCH, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his (JESUS’) blood (DEATH ON THE CROSS), to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins (THROUGH THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM). 26It was to show his (YAHWEH’S) righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just (JUDGE) and the justifier (GOD IN THE FLESH WAS THE JUSTIFIER OF THE GUILTY … THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE) of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Rom 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us)

BACK TO MOSES ON MT SINAI WITH YAHWEH – AS YAHWEH IS FILTERING THE GLORY OF HIS PRESENCE BEFORE MOSES Ex 33:8And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance” 10And he YAHWEH said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. (RENEWING IT – ONLY – BECAUSE OF WHO I (YAHWEH) AM!) Before all your people (YAHWEH STILL DISTANCING HIMSELF FROM ISRAEL) I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in an nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. ALL THE PEOPLE AMONG WHOM YOU ARE SHALL SEE THE WORKS OF THE LORD … THE NATIONS.

11“Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (PLURAL OF ASHERA – PORNOGRAPHIC FEMALE IDOLS, TEMPLE PROSTITUTES) 14(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they (THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND) whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. ISRAEL IS GOING INTO TEMPTATION – THE LAND INHABITED BY THESE IDOLATROUS, SINFUL PEOPLE GROUPS … HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM … DESTROY EVERYTHING!!! TWO CLASSIC EXAMPLES – SOLOMON LED ASTRAY BY HIS MANY WIVES OF OTHER NATIONS, AND, AHAB – HIS WIFE, JEZEBEL, WAS FROM SIDON AND WORSHIPPED BAAL. IF YOU’RE IN COVENANT WITH YAHWEH – YOU CAN’T BE IN COVENANT WITH ANYONE ELSE!

REMEMBER … ISRAEL CONSISTED OF PEOPLE FROM MANY DIFFERENT GENETIC GROUPS WHO JOINED ISRAEL WHILE THEY WERE IN EGYPT, THE NATIONS THAT ARE GOING TO BE DESTROYED WHEN ISRAEL ENTERS THE PROMISED LAND EXIST IN THE SAME WAY … IT’S NOT A “GENETIC” THING, IT’S PEOPLES WHO ARE GROUPED BY CULTURE AND COMMITMENT TO A SPECIFIC FALSE GOD/IDOL WHO ARE INVOLVED IN VERY BAD BEHAVIOR, HOWEVER, ANYONE COULD JOIN ISRAEL AND BECOME PART OF THE NATION … CONSIDER CALEB THE KENIZZITE WHO BECAME ONE OF THE ELDERS OF JUDAH, OR RAHAB THE PROSTITUTE IN JERICHO WHO SAVED THE SPIES, OR RUTH, THE MOABITESS … THE LINE OF DAVID & CHRIST PASSED THROUGH BOTH OF THEM!! SO, WHEN GOD SAID THESE EVIL NATIONS NEED TO BE COMPLETELY DESTROYED HE’S TALKING ABOUT THEIR EVIL PRACTICES …

BACK TO YAHWEH SPEAKING WITH MOSES IN EX CH 34:

17 “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal. (YUP – A REMINDER – THE GOLDEN CALF)

18 “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (PASSOVER). Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. Lk 2:22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him JESUS up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. YAHWEH WILL PROTECT THE HOMESTEADS WHILE THE MEN ARE AWAY APPEARING BEFORE THE LORD

25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” PAGAN FERTILITY RITE

THINK ABOUT IDOLATRY AS HEDGING YOUR BETS SPIRITUALLY … YES, I BELIEVE IN YAHWEH AND PARTICIPATE IN THE TORAH … BUT … WHAT IF THERE ARE OTHER GODS … ? SUPERSTITIONS

27And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28So he MOSES was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he (YAHWEH) wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments AKA THE 10 WORDS. THIS TIME AARON AND THE PEOPLE MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THEMSELVES WHILE MOSES WAS ON THE MOUNTAIN WITH GOD FOR 40 DAYS … AND THE COVENANT BETWEEN YAHWEH AND ISRAEL IS RENEWED.

The Shining Face of Moses

29When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know (HE COULDN’T FEEL IT – DIDN’T NOTICE IT) that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. (AFTERGLOW OF THE RADIANCE OF GOD’S GLORY) 30Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him YAHWEH.

CONSIDER THE EXAMPLE OF WILD WOLVES AND DOMESTICATED DOGS … THEY CAN INTER-BREED, THEY’RE VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL GENETICALLY, BUT, THEY BEHAVE VERY DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE DOGS INTERACT WITH HUMANS … IT’S THE HUMAN INTERACTION WHICH DOMESTICATES THEM … AS THEY INTERACT WITH HUMANS THEY TAKE ON HUMAN TRAITS … ALTHOUGH THEY NEVER BECOME HUMAN. IT’S THE SAME THING WITH THOSE WHO INTERACT WITH GOD ON A REGULAR BASIS … AS WE DO THAT OUR CHARACTER IS CHANGED AND WE BECOME LIKE JESUS ...

THE APOSTLE PAUL USES THIS SCENE FROM EXODUS WHEN WRITING TO THE CORINTHIONS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRACE AND LAW

2 Cor 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. DIRECT COMPARISON BETWEEN THE STONE TABLETS OF THE LAW COMPARED TO THE HUMAN HEARTS OF BELIEVERS TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD.

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter (OF THE LAW) but of the Spirit. For the letter (LAW) kills (BRINGS TO REPENTANCE), but the Spirit gives life.

7Now if the ministry of death (THE LAW), carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation (THE LAW – WHICH BRINGS REPENTANCE), the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10Indeed, in this case, what once had glory (THE LAW) has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it (LIVES TRANSFORMED BY JESUS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT). 11For if what was being brought to an end came with glory (MOSES DESCENDING SINAI WITH THE TABLETS OF THE LAW), much more will what is permanent have glory. (LIVES TRANSFORMED THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS THROUGH THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT).

12Since we have such a hope (IN JESUS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT), we are very bold, 13not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end (EVENTUALLY THE GLOW ON MOSES’ FACE FADED). 14But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant (THE LAW), that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15Yes, to this day whenever Moses (THE LAW) is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit THE HOLY SPIRIT, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

THE SURPASSING GLORY OF CHRIST AND THE NEW COVENANT – APPLIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN EVERY BELIEVER’S LIFE.

THE LAW BRINGS DEATH/REPENTANCE – THE SPIRIT BRINGS LIFE. THE LAW WAS A MINISTRY BY GOD – OF CONDEMNATION, SHOWING US OUR SIN, BRINGING EVERY BELIEVER TO THE POINT OF REPENTANCE.

EVEN WHEN ISRAEL READS THE LAW TODAY – THEY FAIL TO SEE THAT IT HAS COME TO AN END AND THAT THERE IS A NEW COVENANT PROVIDED BY FAITH IN JESUS AND APPLIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

AN UNVEILING – BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF GOD – OUR EYES HAVE BEEN OPENED BY GOD AND WE ALL WITH UNVEILED FACES (NO LAW SEPARATING US FROM GOD) ARE BEING TRANSFORMED FROM ONE DEGREE OF GLORY TO ANOTHER INTO THE IMAGE OF JESUS … GROWING IN GRACE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. A LIFE TRANSFORMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

ISRAEL RECOILED FROM THE HOLINESS OF GOD REFLECTED IN MOSES’ GLOWING FACE … EVEN THAT REFLECTION OF GOD’S HOLINESS WAS TOO MUCH FOR THEM, HOWEVER, CHRISTIANS DON’T RECOIL – WE’RE DRAWN TO EACH OTHER AS WE SEE GOD WORK IN OUR LIVES.

THE WORLD SEES THIS SAME GLORY AND THIS TIES TO WHAT PAUL SAID TO THE CORINTHIANS JUST BEFORE THIS PASSAGE. 2 Cor 2:14But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

THIS SCENE OF MOSES DESCENDING SINAI, WITH HIS FACE SHINING, AFTER SEEING GOD’S GLORY, IS THE CLIMAX OF THE EXODUS.

AND THAT WILL WRAP UP EX CH 34

 

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