Exodus 34 · The Lantern

New Stone Tablets

And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones; and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered.

And be ready by morning; and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai, and station yourself for me there on the top of the mountain.

And no one shall come up with you, and no one shall even be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and the herds shall graze in front of that mountain.”

And he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. And Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

And the LORD came down in the cloud, and stationed himself with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

And the LORD passed by before his face and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD — a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,

keeping loyal love for thousands, bearing iniquity and rebellion and sin — yet by no means leaving it unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons and on sons’ sons, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

And Moses hurried, and bowed his head to the ground, and worshiped.

And he said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, let my Lord go, please, in our midst — for it is a stiff-necked people — and forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

The LORD Renews the Covenant

And he said, “Look, I am cutting a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders such as have not been created in all the earth, or in any nation; and all the people in whose midst you are shall see the work of the LORD — for it is a fearsome thing that I am doing with you.

Keep what I am commanding you today. Look, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

Watch yourself, that you do not cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, or it will become a snare in your midst.

For you shall tear down their altars, and shatter their standing stones, and cut down their Asherah poles.

For you shall not bow down to another god — for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God —

or you will cut a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they will whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and one will invite you, and you will eat of his sacrifice;

and you will take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters will whore after their gods, and make your sons whore after their gods.

You shall not make for yourself molten gods.

The Festival of Unleavened Bread you shall keep: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib — for in the month of Abib you went out of Egypt.

Everything that first opens the womb is mine — all your livestock that bears a male, the firstling of ox or lamb.

And the firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And no one shall appear before my face empty-handed.

Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

And the Festival of Weeks you shall keep, with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest — and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the face of the Lord, the LORD, the God of Israel.

For I will dispossess nations before you and enlarge your border; and no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the face of the LORD your God three times in the year.

You shall not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened; and the sacrifice of the Festival of the Passover shall not remain overnight until morning.

The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words for yourself — for at the mouth of these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.”

And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; bread he did not eat, and water he did not drink. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

HOW IS IT PROVED THAT THE SAVIOR ROSE FROM THE DEAD AFTER THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS? — In this matter, if you seek the number of days and nights in strict sequence, you will gain no true understanding. For Moses fasted forty days and forty nights (Exod.

The forty-day fast of Lent draws its authority from the Old Testament, from the fasts of Moses and Elijah, and from the gospel, because the Lord fasted that many days, showing that the gospel is not at variance with the Law and the Prophets. The Law is personified by Moses, the Prophets by Elijah, between whom the Lord appeared transfigured on the mountain.

And like this holy man the blessed Moses also was twice deemed worthy to go unto the thick darkness and to receive the law upon the tablets; and he was made pure by fasting like unto this, and then he was deemed worthy of the terrible sight.

And it happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai — with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand as he came down from the mountain — that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone from his speaking with him.

A reading from Exodus has been recited to us, one that may either spur us on to the search for understanding or drive us back from it. It spurs on minds that are studious and free; it drives back those that are idle and preoccupied.

Every soul is beautiful which is considered by the standard of its own virtues. But most beautiful, true and lovely, which can be contemplated by him alone who has purified his mind, is that of the divine and blessed nature.

WHY DID MOSES, COMING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN WITH THE TABLES OF THE LAW, HAVE A FACE SO BRIGHT THAT IT COULD NOT BE FIXED ON HIM? — Having received authority over sinners, he came down from the mountain with honor, his face glorious. For the Law was given against sinners.

And Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and look — the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

And when Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

For so long as a man does not attend to the spiritual meaning "a veil lies upon his heart," in consequence of which veil, in other words his duller understanding, the Scripture itself is said or thought to be veiled. This is the explanation of the veil which is said to have covered the face of Moses when he was speaking to the people, that is, when the law is read in public.

The shadows bring forth the truth, even if they are not at all the truth themselves. Because of this, the divinely inspired Moses placed a veil upon his face and spoke thus to the children of Israel, all but shouting by this act that a person might behold the beauty of the utterances made through him, not in outwardly appearing figures but in meditations hidden within us.

And whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the sons of Israel what he was commanded.

And the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses — that the skin of Moses’ face shone; and Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.

Exodus34

New Stone Tablets

The LORD Renews the Covenant