exodus 34
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Exodus 34:1-5:
And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.” So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. |
In Exo 34:1-2, God commands Moses to cut two tablets of stone, so that He could write on them the words that were on the first tablets which Moses broke. Taking these new tablets with him, Moses was to present himself to God at the top of Mt Sinai. In replacing the broken tablets, we see a God who is consistent, gracious, and determined. He was determined to be known by His people, even after they turned from Him, breaking the relationship by worshipping the golden calf. It is also interesting to note that unlike the first time, He let Moses participate by cutting the stones this time. This relational and revealing God is the same God we worship today. The Bible is our equivalent of the stone tablets, where God reveals Himself through His words, so that we may know Him. How gracious He is to provide this source of knowledge and relationship with His people!
Israel trusted God to bring them out of Egypt, but they lost patience in the transition from Egypt to the promised land. Though the way we travel may take unfamiliar twists and turns, we need not fret. God is unchanging in His faithfulness, goodness and love. Growing older brings us face to face with changes in family dynamics, health and careers. Just as God could be trusted in our youth and young adulthood, He can be trusted in the golden years of life. We change, but God does not change in His care and love for us. Our response to God’s holy character is to repent and worship Him. (8–9)Moses worshipped God because of His distinct holiness and majesty. Likewise, our proper response is to worship and obey Him. Moses also confessed the sins of God’s children. He knew God is merciful and forgiving. We may go astray, but we can repent and respond in worship to the one and only true and living God. Our character must always align with God’s character. We are created in His image. We are His people. All who confess their sins, confess Christ and repent of their sins can know this Holy God who loves us beyond our deepest faults. May our character align with His. Israel trusted God to bring them out of Egypt, but they lost patience in the transition from Egypt to the promised land. Though the way we travel may take unfamiliar twists and turns, we need not fret. God is unchanging in His faithfulness, goodness and love. Growing older brings us face to face with changes in family dynamics, health and careers. Just as God could be trusted in our youth and young adulthood, He can be trusted in the golden years of life. We change, but God does not change in His care and love for us. Our response to God’s holy character is to repent and worship Him. (8–9)Moses worshipped God because of His distinct holiness and majesty. Likewise, our proper response is to worship and obey Him. Moses also confessed the sins of God’s children. He knew God is merciful and forgiving. We may go astray, but we can repent and respond in worship to the one and only true and living God. Our character must always align with God’s character. We are created in His image. We are His people. All who confess their sins, confess Christ and repent of their sins can know this Holy God who loves us beyond our deepest faults. May our character align with His. -- The Fellowship |
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Exodus 34: 6-7:
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” |
That statement at the end seems unfair, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” This type of generational curse needs to be understood in its proper Old Testament context.
At this time in God’s redemption story, Israel was still a theocracy. God was literally the governing authority at this time. This means that God himself, through his manifest presence with Moses and the priests, was literally ruling over the people. While God still rules over all the earth today, he does not rule over us in this manifest way anymore. God isn’t visibly revealing himself in a theophany like he was then in clouds and fire during this point in history. To disobey God at that time when he was manifestly present would incur immediate social, political, and security issues for the Jews. When God was displeased with their sin, famines occurred, wars occurred, and children literally suffered in tangible ways because of the sins of their fathers. When Jesus returns to earth in a similar manifest way in the future, the earth will again see displays of God’s manifest wrath as described in Revelation. --Mark Ballenger |
Exodus 34:8:
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”