Exodus 34 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 34:1-7

1 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.’

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

A. Find Out:

1. What was Moses to do? v.1a
2. What would the Lord do? v.1b
3. Where was Moses to go? v.2
4. How did the Lord identify Himself? v.5
5. List the ways the Lord described Himself. v.6,7a
6. What does He do nevertheless? v.7b

B. Think:

1. How was Moses to go about getting the Ten Commandments a second time?
2. Why do you think he couldn’t write them out himself?
3. How do the characteristics of the Lord in v.6,7a square with what He says He does in v.7b?

C. Comment:

      This passage is all about God’s grace. Moses has destroyed the first two tablets of stone in his anger over the golden calf. The tablets had on them the Ten Commandments (see Deuteronomy 5:22). Our reaction to Moses destroying the tablets might have been, “Well, tough! You’ll just have to do without them!” but the Lord knows they will need them as a constant reminder of His basic requirements for them. Not only that He will write them Himself, perhaps because Moses might have made a mistake. The Lord goes to some trouble, therefore, to ensure that Israel had these basic laws for the future.

      Then the Lord reveals something of Himself, the LORD, the I AM who had revealed Himself at the burning bush at this same place (see Exodus 3:1). He also reveals Himself as the compassionate forgiving God, FOR THOSE WHO REPENT AND TURN BACK TO HIM. For the ungodly who are hard of heart, He punishes and allows the punishment to even go through the family to the fourth generation, no doubt in the hope that they will turn to Him in their distress.

D. Application?

1. God’s grace allows us second chances.
2. God longs to forgive those who will turn to Him, and so brings pressure to turn people to Him!

Passage: Exodus 34:8-17

8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshipped. 9 ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘if I have found favour in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.’

10 Then the Lord said: ‘I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 ‘Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.

17 ‘Do not make any idols.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the Lord say He was making? v.10a
2. What did He say He would do? v.10b,11
3. What were they not to do? v.12a,15a
4. Why? v.12b,15b
5. What were they to do? v.13
6. What else were they not to do? v.14,17 

B. Think:

1. What sort of people were they going to encounter in the Land?
2. What would be the danger to themselves?
3. How were they to counter that danger?

C. Comment:

      On the mountain, in discussion with the Lord, Moses again requests that the Lord goes with them to take the Promised Land. In reply the Lord simply says he will make a covenant (agreement) with Israel. If they will obey Him, He will go ahead and do wonderful things in the way He drives out all the inhabitants of the land. He may not be in their midst, but He will certainly be there working on their behalf in the land. Speaking about the people of Canaan, the Lord warns Moses twice not to enter into any treaty with the inhabitants. That will be the main temptation they will face in the land, to take over the land peacefully and allow the inhabitants to remain by treaty. 

   If Israel do that, the Lord knows that will surely be their downfall, for the people in the land worship idols and if Israel becomes friendly with them and start intermarrying with them, they will soon become idol worshippers as well. This is exactly what happened eventually to Solomon (see 1 Kings 11:1-4) The Lord declares He is a jealous God but there is nothing to worry about in that. Jealousy is a righteous characteristic when there is a committed relationship, such as marriage, and someone threatens that relationship. Jealousy in this context is a protective and right thing. 

D. Application?

1. Temptations come through friendship with the enemy.
2. God’s jealousy for us is highly protective.

Passage: Exodus 34:29-35

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterwards all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

A. Find Out:

1. What was different about Moses? v.29
2. What was the people’s response? v.30
3. What did Moses do? v.31,32
4. How did he ease their fear? v.33
5. When would he remove it? v.34
6. What happened when he continued to meet with the Lord? v.35

B. Think:

1. Why do you think this phenomena should have occurred?
2. Why do you think the people reacted as they did?
3. What does it say about the Lord?

C. Comment:

       As we come to the end of these current studies on Moses, we leave him with the glory of God shining in his face. Having been in the Lord’s presence for forty days, when he rejoins the people, something of the glory of God is still reflected in his face. So unearthly was it that the people were afraid to come near him. All Moses could do was cover it up so it wasn’t so obvious. What is interesting is that thereafter, whenever Moses met with the Lord, presumably in the tent, this same glow appeared and remained as an ongoing evidence of him having been with the Lord. Obviously the glow faded after some time. When we have spent any length of time in the Lord’s presence it shows, AND others can see it!

       In 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 it speaks of this fading glory but says that because WE have the Spirit of God in us today, we also reflect the Lord’s glory and are being changed into His glorious likeness (v.18) What an example and a challenge Moses is to us, a man who spent time with the Lord and showed the evidence of it.

D. Application?

1. Do we take time to be with the Lord? Is it a quick word each day or a conscious pause to come before Him and know Him?
2. Does our private relationship with the Lord show in the rest of our lives?