Exodus 34:

Renewal of the Tablets:
Moses intercedes yet again for the Israelites: “This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own.” (Ex. 34:9) The Lord promises to work “awe-inspiring deeds” if Israel would but keep His commandments. “I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Take care, therefore, not to make a covenant with these inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; else they will become a snare among you. Tear down their altars; smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles. You shall not worship any other god, for the Lord is ‘the Jealous One; a jealous God is He.” (Ex. 34:11-14) God again commands the Israelites to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and to keep the Sabbath. He tells them to keep the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).

Moses Face is Radiant:
Moses stayed on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights, “without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” (Ex. 24:28) Moses skin and face had become radiant while he conversed with God. When Aaron and the other Israelites saw how radiant his face had become, “they were afraid to come near him.” Then, Moses veiled his face. “When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.” (Ex. 34:33) Only when Moses spoke with the Lord did he unveil his face. St. Paul hints that the veil remained over Moses face because they would later not recognized Christ: ” But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14)

Leave a Reply