Earlier, Moses broke the first set of stone tablets, the ones written with the finger of God, Exodus 32:19, which signified the breaking of the covenant between God and His people. After God’s people demonstrated true repentance and returned to God, Exodus 33:4-6, it was time for God to renew the covenant.
You will notice that on this occasion Moses would have to make the tablets, and God would write upon them, Exodus 34:1, whereas on the first occasion God both made the stones and wrote upon them, Exodus 32:16.
Moses is to be ready in the morning and then come up on Mount Sinai to present himself before God on top of the mountain, Exodus 34:2. When God first spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai, He commanded them to stay away, Exodus 19:12-13, and here they were still to stay away from Mount Sinai, Exodus 34:3. So Moses did as God commanded and chiselled out two stone tablets, Exodus 34:4.
Notice again the mention of the cloud, Exodus 34:5; this is no doubt the cloud of glory known as the Shekinah. This is the same cloud of glory which covered Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:16.
The same cloud which went with Israel by day, Exodus 13:21-22, and stood at the tent of Moses, Exodus 33:9-10, and the same cloud of glory which will later fill Solomon’s temple, 2 Chronicles 7:2.
It’s the cloud of glory which overshadowed Mary at the conception of Jesus, Luke 1:35, and was present at the transfiguration of Jesus, Luke 9:34-35, and it will be the same cloud of glory which will be present at the return of Jesus, Revelation 1:7.
When we read these verses, we read about the character and nature of God Himself, He is merciful, gracious, patient, abundant in goodness and truth and forgiving, Exodus 34:6-7.
God longs to show mercy to people, but the people must be repentant towards Him, Hebrews 6:4-6. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God’s prophets quoted these words over and over again: Numbers 14:18 / Nehemiah 9:17 / Psalm 86:15 / Psalm 103:8 / Psalm 145:8 / Joel 2:15 / Jonah 4:2.
Moses bows to the ground, worships, Exodus 34:8, and asks God if he has found favour in His eyes, then let Him go with us, Exodus 34:9. He acknowledges that Israel is a stiff-necked people, but notice he includes himself in asking God for forgiveness, and asks God to take them into His inheritance, Exodus 34:9.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This yearning struggle after assurance is like the often-repeated utterance of the heart, when it receives a blessing beyond its hopes, ‘can this be real?’
We can’t help but notice that God didn’t negotiate any terms and conditions with Israel in this covenant; instead, He dictated the terms to the people of Israel through Moses.
What God is doing here is inspiring some awe into the lives of His people, Exodus 34:10 / 2 Samuel 7:23 / Psalms 77:14. He would do this by driving out the Canaanites before them and giving them the land that He had promised to Abraham. In other words, God was going to use Israel to demonstrate His glory to all the other nations around through Israel, Exodus 34:10.
For God to drive out before the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, they must be obedient to God, Exodus 34:11. Israel needs to be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where they are going, or they will be a snare among them, Exodus 34:12.
Israel must be separate from the Canaanites in worship, Exodus 23:24. Israel was to destroy every image and idol that portrayed the false imaginations of the Canaanites, Exodus 34:13.
The images, or pillars, and the groves, the Asherah, Exodus 34:13, were objects of worship of both male and female gods, 2 Kings 21:3 / 2 Kings 21:7. Israel must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God, Exodus 34:14 / Exodus 20:3.
The Old Testament Hebrew word for jealous ‘quanno’ and its basic meaning is, quite simply, ‘zeal’ and ‘to be jealous’. In the Old Testament sense, with one or two rare exceptions, it means to be ‘zealous or enthusiastic or passionate’.
Notice also, Israel wasn’t to ‘prostitute themselves to their gods,’ Exodus 34:15-16. If anyone marries someone from another faith and who holds different beliefs, all too often they will adopt the faith and beliefs of the person they marry, Numbers 25:1-3. If an Israelite is to marry, they must marry within the faith in order to remain in the faith.
Notice again they are commanded not to make any idols, Exodus 34:17 / Exodus 20:4; this would have been fresh in the minds of the Israelites, especially after the golden calf incident, Exodus 32.
We must remember that the sin isn’t so much in the making of the idol, but in the belief that motivates one to make the idol. Not only were they to refrain from imagining other gods, but they also weren’t to make any image that would bring their imagination into the formation of something that is physical, Exodus 12:14-20 / Exodus 13:3-13 / Exodus 23:15.
Unfortunately, when Israel entered the promised land, they failed to do this, which resulted in them getting involved with idolatry, 2 Kings 21:3 / 2 Kings 21:7. This sinful behaviour eventually led them to become captives in Assyria and Babylon.
Passover began on the tenth, and on the fourteenth, they ate the Passover, which is the first day of unleavened bread. Then, for the next seven days, they would eat only unleavened bread, Exodus 34:17 / Leviticus 23:4-8 / Numbers 28:16-25 / Deuteronomy 16:1-8. For the first Passover, the unleavened bread was a practical necessity; they left Egypt in such a hurry that there was no time to allow for the dough to rise.
Leaven was also a picture of sin and corruption because of the way a little leaven would influence a whole lump of dough, and also because of the way leaven would ‘puff up’ the lump, even as pride and sin make us ‘puffed up.’ Significantly, God called them to walk ‘unleavened’ after their initial deliverance from Egypt; symbolically, they were being called to a pure walk with the Lord.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning the leaven.
‘Paul gave the spiritual application of it in 1 Corinthians 5:7, and Jesus mentioned it in Matthew 16:6-12. The only instance in which leaven might not have been intended to convey this meaning is that in the parable of the leaven hidden in three measures of meal, Matthew 13:33, and even there, if the true meaning is the final and total corruption of God’s church by the forces of evil, it would still retain the unfavourable denotation. In our interpretation of that, we found no way to accept the premise of the final corruption of the whole church, Matthew 16:18, and therefore construed a favourable meaning of leaven there.’
Some suggest there was also a health aspect in getting rid of all the leaven, that since they used a piece of dough from the previous batch to make the bread for that day, and did so repeatedly, harmful bacteria could take hold in the dough, so it was good to remove all leaven and start all over at least once a year.
The day following the Passover was to begin a week of feasting, Leviticus 23:6-14. For this entire week, God’s people were to eat unleavened bread. On each day, an offering was to be presented to the Lord.
Once the Israelites were in the land, they would further celebrate this feast by bringing a sheaf of the first fruits of their harvest. It was to be brought before the priest at the tabernacle.
On the first day of the week, he would take the sheaf and wave it before the Lord. Accompanying the sheaf would be the offering of a lamb and a grain offering with a libation of wine. On the first day of the week, the first fruit sheaf, a sacrificed lamb, flour mixed with oil and wine.
This is a picture of the resurrection of Christ. He is our Firstfruits; His resurrection is a promise of our resurrection, which is to follow. Because of that, we have a continuing observance, which is an observance of bread and wine. It remembers the sacrificed Lamb, and it looks forward to the day when the first fruits will be joined by the rest of the harvest.
Here God repeats the laws regarding the firstborn and their dedication to Him, Exodus 34:19-20 / Exodus 13:11-13 / Exodus 22:29-30. Israel was to resist the temptation of violating the Sabbath by ploughing when it rained or harvesting when the crop was ready on a Sabbath, Exodus 34:21. Their desire to think of the things of this world mustn’t move them to violate the principle of the Sabbath.
The Festival of Weeks, Exodus 34:22, took place seven full weeks, or the fiftieth day, following the Feast of Firstfruits, and it was also known as Pentecost, meaning fifty. The Feast of Weeks commemorated the first fruits of the wheat harvest, which was basically a celebration of God’s provision.
As one of the harvest feasts, God’s people were instructed to present grain offerings to the Lord, Leviticus 23:1-19. They were also to offer several one-year-old lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams, in addition to other offerings, Numbers 28:27-29. We also see God’s care for the poor and the foreigners during this period, Leviticus 23:22.
Because it occurred fifty days following the Feast of First Fruits, the date of the Feast of Weeks varied from late May to early June of each year. As I mentioned, the purpose of this feast was to commemorate the completion of the grain harvest.
Its distinguishing feature was the offering of ‘two leavened loaves’ made from the new corn of the completed harvest, which, with two lambs, were waved before the Lord as a thank offering.
The day of Pentecost is important for Christians as this is the day the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, Acts 2:1-4. It was also the day the church was established when Peter preached the first Gospel message. Acts 2:14-41. The only other times the day is mentioned in the New Testament are in Acts 20:16 / 1 Corinthians 16:8.
Also, notice God commands that at the three feasts each year, each Israelite man should gather before the Lord, Exodus 34:23 / Exodus 23:14-17. We also note that God will protect their land while they are celebrating, Exodus 34:24.
Israel is not permitted to offer the blood of a sacrifice to God along with anything containing yeast, and they are not permitted to let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning, Exodus 34:25.
Esses, in his commentary, says the following.
‘God ordained that Christ’s body (our Passover) would be taken down from the cross before sundown.’
Israel is to bring the best of the firstfruits of the soil to the house of the LORD their God, but they are not permitted to cook a young goat in its mother’s milk, Exodus 34:26. This is a command to not imitate the cruel pagan fertility rituals practised among the Canaanites.
Most of us don’t pay much attention to the agricultural cycles of nature, but Israel was deeply aware of its own food cycles. The festivals of Judaism followed the agricultural cycle, Deuteronomy 8:8. The first fruits of the harvest were collected in baskets and taken to Jerusalem, Deuteronomy 26:1-11.
At sundown, the Jewish festival of Sukkot will begin, the Feast of Ingathering, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. By October, the harvest season came to an end when grapes, olives, pomegranates, figs, and dates were gathered.
The feast was officially scheduled for the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, five days after the Day of Atonement, and it lasted for seven days. One more festival day was added, Leviticus 23:33-36. According to the law, all Jews were to live in booths or huts during the celebration.
These were outdoor shelters made from wild branches of olive, myrtle, palm, and other leaf trees, Nehemiah 8:15. A booth or tabernacle was a temporary dwelling.
Since this was the formal end of the harvest year, it was a time of celebration. The people joined parades of pilgrims at the Temple, and as they marched holding the lulav, they sang the Hallel Psalms, Psalms 113-118.
Ceremonies around the Temple were extensive, and celebrations were full. Sacrifice was another way they praised God during this feast. But agriculture was not the only interest at Sukkoth or any of the other festivals. The Passover tells the story of Israel fleeing Egypt. Pentecost reminds them of their coming to Mount Sinai to receive the covenant.
Tabernacles reminded them of the forty years in the wilderness, when they lived in the desert, they worshipped God at His Tabernacle and built shelters for themselves as well, Leviticus 23:42-43.
The Feast of Tabernacles took place at the end of the dry season in Israel. In Israel, the rainy season begins in mid-October and ends in mid-April. In mid-April, the dry season begins, and sometimes there is absolutely no rain for six months straight! The Feast of Tabernacles began at the end of the dry season, and this festival lasted for seven days, plus the added eighth day of rest.
The Feast of Tabernacles is a helpful reminder that thanksgiving is an important part of our daily lives. A thoughtful person knows that the capacities and opportunities we enjoy often should be credited less to ourselves and more to God. Tabernacles says, bring samples of what God has given you to the Temple and with them in hand, wrapped in your personal lulav, thank Him.
The writing of the words was the renewal of the covenant that God had made with Israel, Exodus 34:27. During the forty days that Moses was on the mountain, he wrote the remainder of the words of the covenant, though it was God who wrote the words of the ten commandments on the two stone tablets, Exodus 34:28.
Moses is one of only three people who fasted without eating or drinking for forty days, Exodus 34:28; the other two being Elijah, 1 Kings 19:8, and Jesus, Matthew 4:2.
It’s clear that God was giving Moses the strength to do what he was doing because no one can survive without food or water for forty days and expect to live.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Deuteronomy 10:1-5 tells us that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he made an ark of acacia wood in which to place them. This simple ark was the predecessor of the ark of the covenant described in Exodus 25:10-22. It was altogether a temporary device to serve until the Tabernacle and all of its equipment should be built’.
Because Moses had spent so much with God, his face was radiant, Exodus 34:29 / Matthew 17:2. His face was so radiant that the leaders and the people of Israel noticed it and were afraid to go anywhere near him, Exodus 34:30. Notice that Moses, just like Stephen in the Book of Acts, Acts 6:15, was totally unaware of his radiant face, Numbers 12:3.
While he spoke with the people, his face glowed, but after he spoke, he put a veil on his face, Exodus 34:33. The glowing of Moses’ face was visual evidence to the people that He had been with God on the mountain, Luke 9:29-31 / Acts 6:15 / 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.
In the presence of God, Moses removed the veil from his face, but when he was among the people, he put the veil back on his face, Exodus 34:34-35. We would be forgiven for thinking that he only wore a veil so the people wouldn’t be afraid to come near him. However, in the New Testament, Paul revealed the real purpose of the veil.
In 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, Paul says that though the Mosaic Law’s design was to bring men to Christ, that end was veiled to the hard-hearted Judaizing teachers of Paul’s day, Galatians 3:24. So Paul said, “Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts, 2 Corinthians 3:15.
Merrill, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The physical nature of this phenomenon must remain a mystery, but its theological meaning is crystal clear. Moses, as covenant mediator, was authenticated as such by his resemblance to the God of glory whom he represented. It is precisely for this reason that Moses and Elijah shared the radiance of the transfigured Jesus, Luke 9:31-32.’
The Old Covenant had a glory, but it was a fading glory. God didn’t want people to see the fading glory of the Old Covenant and lose confidence in Moses. The Jews in Paul’s day were still not able to see the glory of God.
Instead of pointing out their sin and driving them to seek forgiveness through Jesus, they placed a voluntary veil of ignorance upon their hearts against Christ. Simply put, they rejected the Lord of glory. They missed the point and purpose of the Mosaic Law altogether, Galatians 3:19.
The veil that kept the end or fulfilment of the Mosaic Law unknown would be removed by those who wanted truth. When a man seeks and knocks, he will surely find, Matthew 7:7. Those who don’t want the veil of Moses removed will voluntarily remain ignorant of Jesus and the New Covenant.