Exodus 34 commentary

EXODUS 34 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
PETER PETT, "Introduction
The Covenant Re-Established (Exodus 34:1-27).
We can analyse this passage as follows:
a The call by Yahweh to Moses to hew two tablets and be ready to come up
into the mountain and present himself on the top of the mountain where Yahweh
will ‘write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets’ (Exodus 34:1-3).
b Moses’ obedience to His command (Exodus 34:4).
c The Self-Proclamation of Yahweh as the One Who is merciful but does not clear
the guilty (Exodus 34:5-7).
d The response of Moses to His proclamation which includes the thought that
they are a stiffnecked people (Exodus 34:8-9).
e The fact that he is now renewing His covenant, accompanied by promises of the
revelation of His power in achieving the success of His people (Exodus 34:10).
e The command to observe that covenant accompanied by a promise to drive out the
Canaanites (Exodus 34:11).
d A warning against making any covenant with the Canaanites because of the awful
consequences in idolatry and because Yahweh is named ‘Jealous’ and is a jealous
God (Exodus 34:12-16).
c A covenant codicil containing ten ritual requirements as selected from Exodus 20-
23 (Exodus 34:17-26).
b Yahweh’s command to Moses to, “Write these words, for after the tenor of these
words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (Exodus 34:27).
a Moses is with Yahweh in the mount for forty days and forty nights, and neither
eats bread nor drinks water. ‘And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant,
the ten words’ (Exodus 34:28).
We note here in ‘a’ Yahweh’s promise that He will write on the tablets the words of
the previous covenant, and in the parallel the fulfilment of the promise. In ‘b’ we
have the description of Moses’ preparation of the tablets and in the parallel the
commandment to write on them the covenant. ote especially the parallel of the
words in italics confirming that it was Yahweh Who wrote the words of the
covenant, and it is specifically said that they were the same words as written
previously. In ‘c’ Yahweh’s self-proclamation is paralleled by the ritual response
required by His people. In ‘d’ Moses’ response of penitence and admission that
Israel are a stiffnecked people is paralleled by the warning not to make any
covenant with the Canaanites lest they provoke Him to jealousy. In ‘e’ the renewing

of the covenant is accompanied by an exhortation to observe that covenant.
The ew Stone Tablets
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.
BAR ES, "Hew thee - The former tables are called “the work of God;” compare
Exo_32:16.
The words - See Exo_34:28.
CLARKE, "Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first - In Exo_32:16 we
are told that the two first tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of
God; but here Moses is commanded to provide tables of his own workmanship, and God
promises to write on them the words which were on the first. That God wrote the first
tables himself, see proved by different passages of Scripture at the end of Exodus 32
(Exo_32:35 (note)). But here, in Exo_34:27, it seems as if Moses was commanded to
write these words, and in Exo_34:28 it is said, And he wrote upon the tables; but in
Deu_10:1-4 it is expressly said that God wrote the second tables as well as the first.
In order to reconcile these accounts let us suppose that the ten words, or ten
commandments, were written on both tables by the hand of God himself, and that what
Moses wrote, Exo_34:27, was a copy of these to be delivered to the people, while the
tables themselves were laid up in the ark before the testimony, whither the people could
not go to consult them, and therefore a copy was necessary for the use of the
congregation; this copy, being taken off under the direction of God, was authenticated
equally with the original, and the original itself was laid up as a record to which all
succeeding copies might be continually referred, in order to prevent corruption. This
supposition removes the apparent contradiction; and thus both God and Moses may be
said to have written the covenant and the ten commandments: the former, the original;
the latter, the copy. This supposition is rendered still more probable by Exo_34:27 itself:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words (that is, as I understand it, a
copy of the words which God had already written); for After The Tenor (‫פי‬ ‫על‬ al pi
According To The Mouth) of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with
Israel.” Here the original writing is represented by an elegant prosopopoesia, or

personification, as speaking and giving out from its own mouth a copy of itself. It may be
supposed that this mode of interpretation is contradicted by Exo_34:28 : And He wrote
upon the tables the words of the covenant; but that the pronoun He refers to the Lord,
and not to Moses, is sufficiently proved by the parallel place, Deu_10:1-4 : At that time
the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first - and I will write
on the tables the words that were in the first tables - and I hewed two tables of stone as
at the first - And He wrote on the tables according to the first writing. This determines
the business, and proves that God wrote the second as well as the first tables, and that
the pronoun in Exo_34:28 refers to the Lord, and not to Moses. By this mode of
interpretation all contradiction is removed. Houbigant imagines that the difficulty may
be removed by supposing that God wrote the ten commandments, and that Moses wrote
the other parts of the covenant from Exo_34:11 to Exo_34:26, and thus it might be said
that both God and Moses wrote on the same tables. This is not an improbable case, and
is left to the reader’s consideration. See Clarke’s note on Exo_34:27.
There still remains a controversy whether what are called the ten commandments
were at all written on the first tables, those tables containing, according to some, only
the terms of the covenant without the ten words, which are supposed to be added here
for the first time. “The following is a general view of this subject. In Exodus 20 the ten
commandments are given; and at the same time various political and ecclesiastical
statutes, which are detailed in chapters 21, 22, and 23. To receive these, Moses had
drawn near unto the thick darkness where God was, Exo_20:21, and having received
them he came again with them to the people, according to their request before
expressed, Exo_20:19 : Speak thou with us - but let not the Lord speak with us, lest we
die, for they had been terrified by the manner in which God had uttered the ten
commandments; see Exo_20:18. After this Moses, with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and
the seventy elders, went up to the mountain; and on his return he announced all these
laws unto the people, Exo_24:1-3, etc., and they promised obedience. Still there is no
word of the tables of stone. Then he wrote all in a book, Exo_24:4, which was called the
book of the covenant, Exo_24:7. After this there was a second going up of Moses, Aaron,
Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders, Exo_24:9, when that glorious discovery of God
mentioned in Exo_24:10, Exo_24:11 took place. After their coming down Moses is again
commanded to go up; and God promises to give him tables of stone, containing a law
and precepts, Exo_24:12. This is the first place these tables of stone are mentioned; and
thus it appears that the ten commandments, and several other precepts, were given to
and accepted by the people, and the covenant sacrifice offered, Exo_24:5, before the
tables of stone were either written or mentioned.” It is very likely that the
commandments, laws, etc., were first published by the Lord in the hearing of the people;
repeated afterwards by Moses; and the ten words or commandments, containing the
sum and substance of the whole, afterwards written on the first tables of stone, to be
kept for a record in the ark. These being broken, as is related Exo_32:19, Moses is
commanded to hew out two tables like to the first, and bring them up to the mountain,
that God might write upon them what he had written on the former, Exo_34:1. And that
this was accordingly done, see the preceding part of this note.
GILL, "And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Out of the cloudy pillar, at the door of the
tabernacle, where he had been conversing with him in the most friendly manner, as
related in the preceding chapter:
hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; of the same form, and of the same

dimensions, and it may be of the same sort of stone, which perhaps was marble, there
being great plenty of that kind on Mount Sinai. Now Moses being ordered to hew these
tables, whereas the former were the work of God himself, as well as the writing, shows
that the law was to be the ministration of Moses, and be ordained in the hand of him as a
mediator, who had been praying and interceding for the people; and as a token of the
reconciliation made, the tables were to be renewed, yet with some difference, that there
might be some remembrance of their crime, and of their loss by it, not having the law on
tables of stone, which were the work of God, but which were the work of man:
and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables
which thou brakest; the writing of these was by the Lord himself, as the former,
shows that the law itself was of God, though the tables were hewn by Moses, and that he
would have it known and observed as such; and the same being written on these tables,
as on the former, shows the unchangeableness of the law of God, as given to the people
of Israel, that he would have nothing added to it, or taken from it; and the writing of it
over again may have respect to the reinscribing it on the hearts of his people in
regeneration, according to the tenor of the new covenant: the phrase, "which thou
brakest", is not used as expressing any displeasure at Moses for that act of his, but to
describe the former tables; and the breaking of them might not be the effect of passion,
at least of any criminal passion, but of zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of his
law, which was broken by the Israelites, and therefore unworthy of it; and might be
according to the counsel of the divine will, and the secret direction of his providence.
HE RY, "The treaty that was on foot between God and Israel being broken off
abruptly, by their worshipping the golden calf, when peace was made all must be begun
anew, not where they left off, but from the beginning. Thus backsliders must repent, and
do their first works, Rev_2:5.
I. Moses must prepare for the renewing of the tables, Exo_34:1. Before, God himself
provided the tables, and wrote on them; now, Moses mus hew out the tables, and God
would only write upon them. Thus, in the first writing of the law upon the heart of man
in innocency, both the tables and the writing were the work of God; but when those were
broken and defaced by sin, and the divine law was to be preserved in the scriptures, God
therein made use of the ministry of man, and Moses first. But the prophets and apostles
did only hew the tables, as it were; the writing was God's still, for all scripture is given
by inspiration of God. Observe, When God was reconciled to them, he ordered the tables
to be renewed, and wrote his law in them, which plainly intimates to us, 1. That even
under the gospel of peace and reconciliation by Christ (of which the intercession of
Moses was typical) the moral law should continue to bind believers. Though Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law, yet not from the command of it, but still we are
under the law to Christ; when our Saviour, in his sermon on the mount, expounded the
moral law, and vindicated it from the corrupt glosses with which the scribes and
Pharisees had broken it (Mat_5:19), he did in effect renew the tables, and make them
like the first, that is, reduce the law to its primitive sense and intention. 2. That the best
evidence of the pardon of sin and peace with God is the writing of the law in the heart.
The first token God gave of his reconciliation to Israel was the renewing of the tables of
the law; thus the first article of the new covenant is, I will write my law in their heart
(Heb_8:10), and it follows (Heb_8:12), for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. 3.
That, if we would have God to write the law in our hearts, we must prepare our hearts for
the reception of it. The heart of stone must be hewn by conviction and humiliation for
sin (Hos_6:5), the superfluity of naughtiness must be taken off (Jam_1:21), the heart
made smooth, and laboured with, that the word may have a place in it. Moses did

accordingly hew out the tables of stone, or slate, for they were so slight and thin that
Moses carried them both in his hand; and, for their dimensions, they must have been
somewhat less, and perhaps not much, than the ark in which they were deposited, which
was a yard and quarter long, and three quarters broad. It should seem there was nothing
particularly curious in the framing of them, for there was no great time taken; Moses had
them ready presently, to take up with him, next morning. They were to receive their
beauty, not from the art of man, but from the finger of God.
JAMISO , "Exo_34:1-35. The Tables are renewed.
the like unto the first — God having been reconciled to repentant Israel, through
the earnest intercession, the successful mediation of Moses, means were to be taken for
the restoration of the broken covenant. Intimation was given, however, in a most
intelligible and expressive manner, that the favor was to be restored with some memento
of the rupture; for at the former time God Himself had provided the materials, as well as
written upon them. Now, Moses was to prepare the stone tables, and God was only to
retrace the characters originally inscribed for the use and guidance of the people.
K&D 1-4, "When Moses had restored the covenant bond through his intercession
(Exo_33:14), he was directed by Jehovah to hew out two stones, like the former ones
which he had broken, and to come with them the next morning up the mountain, and
Jehovah would write upon them the same words as upon the first,
(Note: Namely, the ten words in Ex 20:2-17, not the laws contained in Exo_34:12-
26 of this chapter, as Göthe and Hitzig suppose. See Hengstenberg, Dissertations ii.
p. 319, and Kurtz on the Old Covenant iii. 182ff.)
and thus restore the covenant record. It was also commanded, as in the former case
(Exo_19:12-13), that no one should go up the mountain with him, or be seen upon it,
and that not even cattle should feed against the mountain, i.e., in the immediate
neighbourhood (Exo_34:3). The first tables of the covenant were called “tables of stone”
(Exo_24:12; Exo_31:18); the second, on the other hand, which were hewn by Moses, are
called “tables of stones” (Exo_34:1 and Exo_34:4); and the latter expression is applied
indiscriminately to both of them in Deu_4:13; Deu_5:19; Deu_9:9-11; Deu_10:1-4. This
difference does not indicate a diversity in the records, but may be explained very simply
from the fact, that the tables prepared by Moses were hewn from two stones, and not
both from the same block; whereas all that could be said of the former, which had been
made by God Himself, was that they were of stone, since no one knew whether God had
used one stone or two for the purpose. There is apparently far more importance in the
following distinction, that the second tables were delivered by Moses and only written
upon by God, whereas in the case of the former both the writing and the materials came
from God. This cannot have been intended either as a punishment for the nation
(Hengstenberg), or as “the sign of a higher stage of the covenant, inasmuch as the
further the reciprocity extended, the firmer was the covenant” (Baumgarten). It is much
more natural to seek for the cause, as Rashi does, in the fact, that Moses had broken the
first in pieces; only we must not regard it as a sign that God disapproved of the
manifestation of anger on the part of Moses, but rather as a recognition of his zealous
exertions for the restoration of the covenant which had been broken by the sin of the
nation. As Moses had restored the covenant through his energetic intercession, he
should also provide the materials for the renewal of the covenant record, and bring them
to God, for Him to complete and confirm the record by writing the covenant words upon

the tables.
CALVI , "1.And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone Although
the renewal of the broken covenant was ratified by this pledge or visible symbol,
still, lest His readiness to pardon should produce indifference, God would have some
trace of their punishment remain, like a scar that continues after the wound is
healed. In the first tables there had been no intervention of man’s workmanship; for
God had delivered them to Moses engraven by His own secret power. A part of this
great dignity is now withdrawn, when Moses is commanded to bring tables polished
by the hand of man, on which God might write the Ten Commandments. Thus the
ignominy of their crime was not altogether effaced, whilst nothing was withheld
which might be necessary or profitable for their salvation. For nothing was wanting
which might be a testimony of God’s grace, or a recommendation of the Law, so that
they should receive it with reverence; they were only humbled by this mark, that the
stones to which God entrusted His covenant were not fashioned by His hand, nor
the produce of the sacred mount. The conceit by which some expound it, — that the
Jews were instructed by this sign that the Law was of no effect, unless they should
offer their stony hearts to God for Him to inscribe it upon them, — is frivolous; for
the authority of Paul rather leads us the other way, where he fitly and faithfully
interprets this passage, and compares the Law to a dead and deadly letter, because
it was only engraven on tables of stone, whereas the doctrine of salvation requires
“the fleshy tables of the heart.” (2 Corinthians 3:3.)
BE SO , "Exodus 34:1. Hew thee two tables of stone like the first — Before, God
himself both provided the tables and wrote on them; now, Moses must prepare the
tables, and God would only write upon them. This might be intended partly to
signify God’s displeasure on account of their sin; for though he had pardoned them,
the wound was not, healed without a scar; and partly to show, that although the
covenant of grace was first made without man’s care and counsel, yet it should not
be renewed without man’s repentance. And as the tables of stone were emblematical
of the hardness of their heart, so the hewing of them by Moses, and writing on them
by the Lord, might denote that circumcision and renovation of their hearts by the
ministry of God’s word, and the influence of his Spirit, which were necessary to
prepare them for receiving God’s mercies and the performance of their duties. We
may observe also, that although the first tables were broken, to show that there was
no hope for mankind to be saved by their innocence, yet God would have the law to
be in force still as a rule of obedience, and therefore, as soon as he was reconciled to
them, ordered the tables to be renewed, and wrote his law on them. This plainly
intimates, that even under the gospel (of which the intercession of Moses was
typical) the moral law continues to oblige believers. For though Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, yet not from the command of it, but still we
are under the law to Christ. When our Saviour, in his sermon on the mount,
expounded the moral law, and vindicated it from the corrupt glosses with which the
scribes and Pharisees had obliterated and broken it, he did, in effect, renew the
tables, and make them like the first, that is, reduce the law to its primitive sense and
intention. And by his writing it on our hearts by his Spirit, as he wrote it on the

tables by his finger or power, we may be enabled to conform our lives to it.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
The subject of this chapter is the renewal of the tables of the Decalogue and the
Renewal of God's Covenant with Israel. God provided another Decalogue on stone
tablets, but in this instance, Moses who had broken the first tablets was required to
replace them himself, whereas God had made the first tablets (Exodus 34:1-4). God
fulfilled his promise to show Moses something of his glory, made at the conclusion of
the last chapter (Exodus 34:5-8). God renewed the covenant with Israel (Exodus
34:9-26). And in the final paragraph, we have the final descent of Moses from
mount Sinai (Exodus 34:27-35).
"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and
I will write upon the tables the words which were on the first tables, which thou
brakest. And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount
Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. And no man shall
come up with thee; neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let
the flocks nor herds feed before the mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like
unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount
Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone."
God's renewal of the covenant with Israel was, certainly, upon exactly the same
basis as that of the first giving of it. God said, "I will write upon the tables the same
words which were on the first tables, which thou brakest." This frustrates and
denies all of the scholarly "oompah" about two decalogues - (1) an ethical
decalogue, and (2) a ritual decalogue. Fields called such interpretations of this
chapter, " onsense!"[1] The first person in human history to propose such a
ridiculous understanding of this chapter was the great German poet, Goethe, in
1773, but Goethe himself "in his later and riper years spoke of his alleged
`discovery' of `another decalogue' here as `a freakish notion due to insufficient
knowledge'."[2] It is distressing that critics still quote Goethe who invented such a
lie, ignoring his denial of it. Thus, it ever is with Satan. Satan invented the lie
concerning the disciples of Jesus stealing his body; and despite the truth that such a
falsehood is impossible to believe, Satan still repeats it! Thus, Clements says of these
"decalogues," that they "indicate the existence of two different tradions regarding
the Ten Commandments."[3] Honeycutt, oth, and Rylaarsdam all follow the same
line, and if one reads a hundred critical scholars, he will encounter the same
unproved, in fact disproved, allegations. In the first place, there is no second
decalogue in this chapter. apier even listed it, but how did he find it? He took a
few references to the real Decalogue, mentioned especially here because of their
relation to Israel's very recent apostasy, split them up, and by elevating a few very
minor and incidental clauses into the status of full commandments, presented a list
of "ten."[4] Very definitely, there are not two decalogues in Exodus. Regarding
what God wrote on the second set of tables, Rawlinson's comment is accurate:
"It is true that we have not yet been specifically told what these words were, but it
has been left to our natural intelligence to understand that they must have been the

"ten words" uttered in the ears of the people amid the thunders of Sinai, as
recorded in Exodus 22:1-19, which are the evident basis of all subsequent
legislation. But in Exodus 34:28, and still more plainly in Deuteronomy 10:4, and
verse 22, we have the desired statement. The fiction of a double decalogue, invented
by Goethe, is absolutely without foundation in fact."[5]
"The first tables, which thou brakest ..." Dummelow believed that God's mention of
Moses' breaking the tablets without, any accompanying word of rebuke for it
indicated God's acceptance of Moses' action as an example of one who "became
angry, and sinned not."[6] This may be true, and yet God's requirement that Moses
himself should replace the tables which he had destroyed must be allowed to
indicate some measure of disapproval, at least.
" o man shall come up with thee ..." Aaron, specifically, was left out by this
arrangement, since his making the molten calf must certainly have disqualified him
for any truly spiritual service for an extended period of time.
COKE, "Verses 1-4
Exodus 34:1-4. Hew thee two tables of stone, &c.— See Exodus 34:28. God being
reconciled through Moses's intercession, the covenant is renewed.
REFLECTIO S.—1. Moses is commanded to hew new tables for God to write
upon, instead of those which were broken. ote; (1.) Wherever God through Christ
is reconciled to a soul, there he will anew engrave on the heart the law which sin had
utterly defaced. We shall be under a dangerous delusion, if we promise ourselves
peace with God, and live in the allowed transgression of his commandments. (2.)
Whatever pains ministers may take to hew the table of the heart, it is God alone that
can write his law there.
2. He goes up without delay into the mount of God, while the people with fear and
trembling stand at a distance, and are left to lament for a season their late rebellion
against God. ote; (1.) We can never be in too great haste to make up the breaches
between God and our souls. (2.) Though God forgive our sins, we ought not to forget
them.
CO STABLE, "Verses 1-9
The text does not record what Moses saw of God"s self-revelation ( Exodus 33:18),
but it does tell us what he heard. Moses stressed the mercy of God in this exposition
of God"s name, Yahweh (cf. Exodus 29:5-6).
"There is nothing more terrible than the way in which sin clings to a man and dogs
his footsteps. Let a man once steal, and he is never trusted again, even though he has
made reparation for it. Men look at their fallen brothers through their sin; but God
looks at man through the idealised [sic] life, with a love that imputes to him every
virtue for Christ"s sake." [ ote: Meyer, pp448-49.]
Moses" response to God"s gracious revelation was submission and worship (
Exodus 34:8). [ ote: See J. Carl Laney, "God"s Self-Revelation in Exodus 34:6-8 ,"

Bibliotheca Sacra158:629 (January-March2001):36-51.]
Encouraged by this revelation Moses requested again (cf. Exodus 33:15) that God
would dwell in the midst of Israel and lead His people into the Promised Land (
Exodus 34:9). He besought the Lord again to Revelation -establish His covenant
acknowledging the sinfulness of the Israelites with whom he humbly identified.
ELLICOTT, "(1) Hew thee two tables.—Something is always lost by sin, even when
it is forgiven. The first tables were “the work of God” (Exodus 32:16). the second
were hewn by the hand of Moses.
Of stone.—Literally, of stones—hewn, i.e., out of two separate stones, which could
not be said of the first tables, since none knew how God had fashioned them.
I will write.—It is quite clear, though some have maintained the contrary, that the
second tables, equally with the first, were inscribed “with the finger of God.”
(Comp. Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:2; Deuteronomy 10:4.) It is also quite
clear that exactly the same words were written on each.
Upon these tables.—Heb., upon the tables.
ELLICOTT, "Verses 1-4
XXXIV.
PREPARATIO S FOR A RE EWAL OF THE COVE A T.
(1-4) Before the covenant could be formally reestablished, before Israel could be
replaced in the position forfeited by the idolatry of the golden calf, it was necessary
that the conditions on which God consented to establish His covenant with them
should be set forth afresh. Moses had asked for the return of God’s favour, but had
said nothing of these conditions. It is God who insists on them. “Hew thee two
tables.” The moral law must be delivered afresh—delivered in its completeness—
exactly as at the first (Exodus 34:1), and even the ceremonial law must be reimposed
in its main items (Exodus 34:12-26), or no return to favour is possible. Hence Moses
is summoned once more to the top of Sinai, where the Law is to be delivered afresh
to him, and is ordered to bring with him tables of stone like the former ones, to
receive their written contents from God’s hand.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE VISIO OF GOD.
Exodus 34:1-35
It was when God had most graciously assured Moses of His affection, that he
ventured, in so brief a cry that it is almost a gasp of longing, to ask, "Show me, I
pray Thee, Thy glory" (Exodus 33:18).
We have seen how nobly this petition and the answer condemn all anthropomorphic

misunderstandings of what had already been revealed; and also how it exemplifies
the great law, that they who see most of God, know best how much is still
unrevealed. The elders saw the God of Israel and did eat and drink: Moses was led
from the bush to the flaming top of Sinai, and thence to the tent where the pillar of
cloud was as a sentinel; but the secret remained unseen, the longing unsatisfied, and
the nearest approach to the Beatific Vision reached by him with whom God spake
face to face as with a friend, was to be hidden in a cleft of the rock, to be aware of an
awful Shadow, and to hear the Voice of the Unseen.
It was a fit time for the proclamation which was then made. When the people had
been righteously punished and yet graciously forgiven, the name of the Self-Existent
expanded and grew clearer,--"Jehovah, Jehovah, a God full of compassion and
gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the
children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation." And as Moses
made haste and bowed himself, it is affecting to hear him again pleading for that
beloved Presence which even yet he can scarce believe to be restored, and instead of
claiming any separation through his fidelity and his honours, praying "Pardon our
iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance" (Exodus 34:10).
Thereupon the covenant is given, as if newly, but without requiring its actual re-
enactment; and certain of the former precepts are rehearsed, chiefly such as would
guard against a relapse into idolatry when they entered the good land where God
would bestow on them prosperity and conquest.
As Moses had broken the former tablets, the task was imposed on him of hewing out
the slabs on which God renewed His awful sanction of the Decalogue, the
fundamental statutes of the nation. And they who had failed to endure his former
absence, were required to be patient while he tarried again upon the mountain,
forty days and nights.
With his return a strange incident is connected. Unknown by himself, the "skin of
his face shone by reason of His speaking with him," and Aaron and the people
recoiled until he called to them. And thenceforth he lived a strange and isolated life.
At each new interview the glory of his countenance was renewed, and when he
conveyed his revelation to the people, they beheld the lofty sanction, the light of God
upon his face. Then he veiled his face until next he approached his God, so that none
might see what changes came there, and whether--as St. Paul seems to teach us--the
lustre gradually waned.
His revelation, the apostle argues, was like this occasional and fading gleam, while
the moral glory of the Christian system has no concealments: it uses great
frankness; there is nothing withdrawn, no veil upon the face. or is it given to one
alone to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and to share its lustre. We all,
with face unveiled, share this experience of the deliverer (2 Corinthians 3:12, 2
Corinthians 3:18).

But the incident itself is most instructive. Since he had already spent an equal time
with God, yet no such results had followed, it seems that we receive what we are
adapted to receive, not straitened in Him but in our own capabilities; and as Moses,
after his vehemence of intercession, his sublimity of self-negation, and his knowledge
of the greater name of God, received new lustre from the unchangeable Fountain of
light, so does all true service and earnest aspiration, while it approaches God,
elevate and glorify humanity.
We learn also something of the exaltation of which matter is capable. We who have
seen coarse bulb and soil and rain transmuted by the sunshine into radiance of
bloom and subtlety of perfume, who have seen plain faces illuminated from within
until they were almost angelic,--may we not hope for something great and rare for
ourselves, and the beloved who are gone, as we muse upon the profound word, "It is
raised a spiritual body"?
And again we learn that the best religious attainment is the least self-conscious:
Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.
PETT, "Verses 1-4
Moses Prepares Two Tablets of Stone For The Re-establishment of The Covenant
And Goes Up To Meet God (Exodus 34:1-4).
Exodus 34:1-3
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first,
and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you
broke. And be ready by the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai,
and present yourself to me there on the top of the Mount. And no man shall come up
with you, nor let any man be seen throughout the mount. or let the flocks nor the
herds feed before that mount.”
The first tablets had been fashioned by God (Exodus 32:16; Exodus 24:12; Exodus
31:18). ow it was Moses who was to fashion the tablets. This in fact would bring
out the part that Moses now played in the covenant. Previously the covenant had
come from Yahweh directly to the people (Exodus 20:1-18). It was all of God, for
they were His people. ow it comes through the mediation and intercession of
Moses. They owe to him (as we have seen) the fact that they can once more enter the
covenant.
But it will still be written by God. And it will still be the same covenant as before,
now renewed by this act. We are not told what was written on the tablets, but two
tablets written back and front must surely have contained more than the ten
‘words’, unless they were written in very large letters. (Otherwise why not make the
tablets smaller. For assuming that they followed the pattern of the previous tablets
they were large enough to be able to be thrown down and smashed). But we are told
that the ten words, the basis of the covenant, were the essential basis of what was
written (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 10:4).

“Be ready by the morning.” It would take Moses some time to fashion the tablets
suitably, so he was given until the next day. But then he was to make suitable
preparations, after which he was to present himself alone to Yahweh on top of the
mountain.
But first he must give instructions that no one else enter the mountain, and that no
cattle or flocks even come near the mountain. This was an extension of the
provisions in Exodus 19:21-24. It was clear that some extraordinary appearance of
Yahweh was to take place.
Exodus 34:4
‘And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and Moses rose up early in the
morning and went up to Mount Sinai as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in
his hand two tablets of stone.’
Moses did strictly as Yahweh had commanded him. He hewed two tablets of stone
similar to the first. He also made a wooden chest to contain the tablets when he
brought them back (Deuteronomy 10:1-5). But he did not take this with him. It was
left in the camp to receive the tablets when he got back, probably in the Tent of
Meeting. (Alternately that may have been a brief description of the Ark of the
covenant, in which case it would be made later). They would be a reminder to the
people that he was returning and that this time he would come with a confirmed
covenant that stood firm.
Then next morning he rose early and went up Mount Sinai alone as Yahweh had
commanded him. And with him he took the two empty tablets of stone.
PULPIT, "THE TWO TABLES RE EWED. The fervent and prolonged
intercession of Moses had brought about the pardon of the people; and that,
together with their repentance and their prayers (Exodus 33:7), had been accepted
as a renewal of the covenant on their part; but it remained for God to renew the
covenant on his part The first step to this was the restoration of the tables, which
were essential to the covenant, as being at once the basis of the law and of the
ordained worship. To mark, however, that something is always forfeited by sin, even
when forgiven, the new tables were made to lose one glory of the first—they were
not shaped by God, as the first were (Exodus 32:16), but by Moses.
Exodus 34:1
Hew thee two tables of stone. Literally, "of stones"—two separate tables, i.e; made
of two separate stones. Moses is required to do this with strict justice, since it was by
his act that the former tables were broken (Exodus 32:19). Upon these tables.
Literally," upon the tables," which has exactly the same force. The words that were
in the first tables. It is quite true that we have not yet been explicitly told what these
words were. (See Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15, Exodus 32:16, Exodus 32:19.) It has
been left to our natural intelligence to understand that they must have been the "ten

words" uttered in the ears of all the people amid the thunders of Sinai, as recorded
in Exodus 20:1-19, which are the evident basis of all the later legislation. We have,
however, in verse 28, and still more plainly in Deuteronomy 10:4, and Deuteronomy
5:22, the desired statement. The fiction of a double decalogue, invented by Goethe
and supported by Hitzig, and even Ewald, is absolutely without foundation in fact.
BI, "Hew thee two tables of stone.
The renewal of the two tables
I. That the moral law is perpetually binding. Having been broken, it must be renewed.
II. That the renewal of the moral law when broken entails duties unknown before. “Hew
thee two tables of stone”; “and he hewed two tables of stone.” This fact is very typical
and suggestive.
1. In the first inscription of the moral law upon man’s heart, the preparation and the
writing were exclusively the work of God. When our first parents awoke to
consciousness, the “fleshy tables” were found covered with the “oracles of God.”
2. When those tables were defaced and those oracles transgressed, the work of
preparation fell largely upon man. Ever afterwards man had to prepare himself by
acts of penitence and faith—not excluding Divine help, of course—but nevertheless
those acts are acts of man.
3. But this renewal of the Divine law is accomplished in such a way as to deprive
man of all ground of glorying, and so as to ascribe all the glory to God. The tables
were of plain stone, all their embellishments were by the Divine hand.
III. That when the moral law is broken, God graciously offers to renew it upon man’s
compliance with the revealed condition. So when man by repentance and faith “puts off
the old man and puts on the new,” he is renewed in the image of Him that created him,
on which the moral law is inscribed (Col_3:9-16).
IV. That these conditions should be complied with—
1. Speedily. “Early in the morning.”
2. Personally. This great work is a transaction between God and the individual
particularly concerned.
3. Patiently. Moses waited again forty days and forty nights.
(1) Do not hurry the work over. What is being done is being done for eternity.
(2) Don’t despond if the work is not progressing as rapidly as you might wish. If
God is writing on your heart, let that be your comfort, and let God use His own
time. Learn—
1. The value of the moral law.
2. The importance of having that law not only on stone or paper, but in the heart.
3. The necessity of a public and practical exhibition and interpretation of that law in
the life. (J. V. Burn.)
God re-writing the law

Can you think of a course more merciful than this? “Bring two tables of stone just like
the first, and I will write it over again; I, God, will write over again the very words that
were on the first tables that thou brakest in pieces.” There is no mercy like the mercy of
the Lord; I never find any tenderness like His tenderness. You remember some years ago
George Peabody gave half a million of money to the London poor; and I think some
eighteen thousand people are sheltered in the houses that have sprung out of that
splendid charity. I remember that when Peabody’s charity had awakened England to a
sense of his goodness, the Queen of England rose equal to the occasion, and she offered
this plain American citizen some title, and he declined the honour. And then she, with a
woman’s delicacy of insight, and with more than queenly dignity, inquired if there was
anything that Peabody would accept; and he said, Yes, there was, if the Queen would
only write him a letter with her own hand; he was going to pay a last visit to his native
land across the Atlantic, and he should like to take it to his birthplace, so that at any
time, if bitterness should arise between these two nations, his countrymen could come
and see that letter, and they would remember that England’s Queen had written it to a
plain American citizen. The Queen of England said she would write him a letter, and she
would do more than that—she would sit for her portrait to be painted, and he should
take that with the letter; and she put on the Marie Stuart cap which, I think, she had only
worn, perhaps, twice since the death of the Prince Consort, and she sat day after day in
her robes of state, and the painter painted one of the finest portraits of the Queen that
has ever been executed. When it was finished she presented it to Mr. Peabody, and he
took it, with the Queen’s letter, away to his birthplace yonder. Now, suppose George
Peabody, in some fit of forgetfulness, had torn the Queen’s letter up, and flung it into the
fire, and dashed the portrait down and broken it to fragments; and suppose that, after
that, somebody had told her Majesty that George Peabody was penitent, do you think
she would have written him the letter over again? do you think she would have sat again
for another portrait to be painted, just like the first one? Who can tell? Yet our Father in
heaven, if you have broken the tables of your covenant with Him, bring your broken
heart back again to His feet, and He will renew the covenant. (T. Guttery.)
2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on
Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top
of the mountain.
GILL, "And be ready in the morning,.... This was, according to the Jewish
chronology (e), on the twenty eighth day of the month Ab or July:

and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai; the same mount where he had
been before:
and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount; where the pillar of
cloud removed and stood, and near it Moses was to stand and wait to hear what would
be said unto him, and to see what would be made to pass before him.
HE RY, " Moses must attend again on the top of mount Sinai, and present himself
to God there, Exo_34:2. Though the absence of Moses, and his continuance so long on
the mount, had lately occasioned their making the golden calf, yet God did not therefore
alter his measures, but he shall come up and tarry as long as he had done, to try whether
they had learned to wait. To strike an awe upon the people, they are directed to keep
their distance, none must come up with him, Exo_34:3. They had said (Exo_32:1), We
know not what has become of him, and God will not let them know. Moses, accordingly,
rose up early (Exo_34:4) to go to the place appointed, to show how forward he was to
present himself before God and loth to lose time. It is good to be early at our devotions.
The morning is perhaps as good a friend to the graces as it is to the muses.
JAMISO , "present thyself ... to me in the top of the mount — Not absolutely
the highest peak; for as the cloud of the Shekinah usually abode on the summit, and yet
(Exo_34:5) it “descended,” the plain inference is that Moses was to station himself at a
point not far distant, but still below the loftiest pinnacle.
PARKER, "Morning on the Mount
Exodus 34:2
God wishes me to be alone with him. How solemn will the meeting be! Father and
child; Sovereign and subject; Creator and creature! The distance between us will be
infinite, unless he shorten it by his mercy! Oh, my poor broken and weary heart,
think of it and be glad; God wants thee to meet him alone! He will heal thy wounds;
he will shed his light upon thy tears, and make them shine like jewels; he will make
thee young again. Oh that I might be on the mountain first, and that praise might be
waiting for God! I will be astir before the sun; I will be far on the road before the
dew rises; and long before the bird sings will I breathe my sweet hymn. Oh, dark
night, flee fast, for I would see God and hear still more of his deep truth! Oh, ye
stars, why stay so long? Ye are the seals of night, but it is for other light I pine, the
light that shows the way to the Mount of God. My Father, I am coming; nothing on
the mean plain shall keep me away from the holy heights: help me to climb fast, and
keep thou my foot, lest it fall upon the hard rock. At thy bidding I come, so thou wilt
not mock my heart. Bring with thee honey from heaven, yea, milk, and wine, and oil
for my soul"s good, and stay the sun in his course, or the time will be too short in
which to look upon thy face, and to hear thy gentle voice. Morning on the mount! It
will make me strong and glad all the rest of the day so well begun!
How shall I go before God? In what robe shall I dress myself? "All the fitness he
requires is to feel my need of him." That I do feel. Without him I am lost. But when

I think of him the thought of my great sin comes at the same time, and it is like a
black cloud spread between me and the sun. When I think of anything else, I am
happy for the moment; but when I think of God, I burn with shame and tremble
with fear. I cannot answer him. His questions are judgments. In his eye there is fire
that burns me. This morning I must meet him on the mount,—meet him alone!
Alone! Alone! Surely he need not have said expressly so; for to be with God is to be
in solitude, though the mountain be alive with countless travellers. But he bids me
come; and is not the bidding itself a promise? Would he take me to the mount to kill
me? Is it that he may bury me in some unknown rock, that he bids me climb the
steep path? Oh, my faithless heart, these very questionings are the beginnings of sin.
Why do I question God? Why do not I arise at once, and flee to him as my soul"s
one delight? It is not my humility that keeps me back, but my pride. I am not
modest, I am guilty; I will speak plainly to myself, and set my shameful fault in a
burning light.
God asks me to meet him in the top of the mount. I am called to climb as far away
from the world as I can. Surely the very place of meeting has meaning in it. For
many a day I have not seen the top of the mount. I have stood on the plain, or I have
gone to the first cleft, or have tried a short way up the steep. I have not risen above
the smoke of my own house, or the noise of my daily business. I have said, "In my
climbing I must not lose sight of my family; I must be within call of my children; I
must not go beyond the line of vegetation; even in religion I must be prudent." Thus
I have not seen the top, nor have I entered into the secret place of the Most High. Oh
that I might urge my way to the very top of the hill chosen of God! "What must it be
to be there?" The wind will be music The clouds will be as the dust of my feet. Earth
and time will be seen as they are, in their littleness and their meanness. My soul,
move up to the top; let no stone be above thee; higher and higher; God awaits thee,
God calls thee, God will give thee rest! God means that the very climbing should do
me good. He could come to me, but he bids me go to him. There is mercy in the
going. There is comfort on the road. The very weariness has a promise. The
mountain is measured; God does not ask me to climb an unknown distance; he
knows my strength, and he fixes the meeting-place within its limits. This day I will
see the sacred top. The enemy will try to turn me back, but I will meet him in the
strength of God, and abash him by the name of Christ Lord, help me this day to see
the very top of the mount, and let my poor soul taste the sweetness of the liberty
which is assured to it in Christ.
The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. What meaning there is in
the time as well as in the place! This very word morning is as a cluster of rich
grapes. Let me crush them, and drink the sacred wine. In the morning—then God
means me to be at my best in strength and hope; I have not to climb in my
weakness; in the night I have buried yesterday"s fatigue, and in the morning I take
a new lease of energy. Give God thy strength—all thy strength; he asks only what he
first gave. In the morning—then he may mean to keep me long that he may make me
rich! In the morning—then it is no endless road he bids me climb, else how could I
reach it ere the sun be set? Sweet morning! There is hope in its music. Blessed is the
day whose morning is sanctified. Successful is the day whose first victory was won in

prayer. Holy is the day whose dawn finds thee on the top of the mount! Health is
established in the morning. Wealth is won in the morning. The light is brightest in
the morning. "Wake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early."
"Come up in the morning." A tender morning light shines upon the life of the elder
saints and gives it the freshness of youth. The Bible is full of morning. "Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." The dew of thy sorrow
shall be taken up by the sun, and God shall set it in his light like a bow of hope. "My
voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, and in the morning will I direct my
prayer unto thee, and will look up." "The Lord"s mercies are new every morning."
May we "pass over Jordan by morning light"! Of old "the morning stars sang
together." "I, Jesus, am the bright and morning star." The Holy Book is full of the
spirit of morning. o evening shadows darken it. Truly the day declines, but "at
eventide there is light" where in the morning there has been converse with God. My
soul, I would charge thee to be as those who watch for the morning. The morning
makes the day. The Sabbath of the day is in the morning. Oh, may this morning
bring me near to God! May it be the time of resurrection; an hour of immortality; a
gleam of the upper light, a breath of the holy world! A morning misspent is a day
ruined. A morning saved is a day completed. Lord, awake me at sunrise, and by the
beauty of the coming light give hope for the whole day.
"Be ready in the morning." This is my Lord"s command. On my part there is to be
preparation. As the ground is tilled to receive the seed, so must my heart be made
ready to receive the good word of God. I may not rush into my Lord"s presence in
violent haste; I must be calm, knowing well myself, feeling my unworthiness, and
taking with me words of humility and reverence. He bids me come. That is my plea
for going. Alas, what making "ready" I require! My thoughts are so worldly; my
plans are so mean; my motives are so selfish; my affections are so entwined around
unworthy objects. "Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" God himself must make me ready, for "the preparation of the
heart" is from heaven. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in
my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." Lord, make me ready. Truly all is
from the Lord. My awaking and my preparation, my desire to go, and my ability to
move—these, Lord, are thine, and these show the might and the gentleness of thy
holy hand. Being thus made ready, may I have grace to go forth and climb the
appointed hill. Doth the bridegroom hide himself in the chamber of his preparation?
Doth he not rather go forth that he may find his heart"s desire and his heart"s
delight? So would I be made ready, and go out to the hill, and scale its utmost
height. "Arise, let us go hence."
"Come up in the morning." "I will arise and go to my Father." It is not to Lebanon
that he calls me, nor to the top of Shenir and Hermon, nor to "the mountains of the
leopards"; it is to "mournful Calvary"—it is to the holy, tender, mighty Cross!
othing shall keep me back. The orchard of pomegranates shall not detain me, nor
will I tarry by the streams of Lebanon; I will bend my steps towards the Cross, for

all my salvation is there. We shall meet where the sacred blood flows for sin. o
tainted wind of earth blows through that solemn sanctuary. There I will speak of my
guilt, and keep back nothing that I have done. The Lord shall see my heart of
hearts, and my Saviour"s blood shall cleanse my secret thoughts. To see his holiness
will be to see my own corruption; then shall I tremble with fear, and my strength
shall be as water poured forth, but my weakness will not be despised by the Lord.
"To them that have no might he increaseth strength." He is gentle with his weary
sheep. In the green pastures he leads them, and by the still waters is their quiet lot.
He carrieth the lambs in his bosom, and he maketh his flock to rest at noon. My
Lord calls me, and I will go. When I see him I will say, How beautiful upon the
mountain are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings! And when he bids me climb
the still higher heights, I will be "like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of
spices." Lord, help me; Lord, pity me!
The mountain on whose top I have to meet the Lord is very high. Sometimes,
because of the poverty and feebleness of my faith, it seems as if I could never reach
the far-away height. There are places upon the steep where I would gladly sit down,
saying, It is enough: but a still small voice comes to me asking, What doest thou
here? The Lord is on the top of the mount, and wilt thou keep him waiting as if he
were thy servant? He hath bowed the heavens and come down; shame on thee, my
soul, not to be there before thy Lord"s chariot! Oh, the seducing spirits, how they
beguile me! Oh, the cold winds, how they strike me and urge me down! Saviour!
give thine angels charge concerning me, for thou hast made them all ministering
spirits, and by their help I shall this day see the top of the sacred mount! "Keep me
this day without sin." Let me have one day"s rest from evil works. Give me a sweet
Sabbath of pure love and unbroken rest. One such day will make me young again.
One such day shall make me forget my polluted yesterdays, and cause me by sweet
foretaste to enjoy the heaven that has begun to come. Blessed are they that breathe
the mountain air! Theirs is enduring health, and the keenest joys are theirs. Bear me
beyond the cold and killing fogs of earth and time, and let me breathe the pure air
of liberty and heaven. I give myself to thee this day. This day I bid farewell to all
that is unworthy of the Blood by which I am redeemed. Henceforward I would
climb the mount of God every morning, that afterwards I may return to do the work
of earth as a citizen of Holy Zion. My Father, I start for the mount this day; may I
not fail to reach the top, where thy glory rests like a tabernacle of light!
BI 2-3, "Come up in the morning.
Be ready in the morning: an address for New Year’s eve
I. Be ready for a conscious contact with God in the future.
1. As a duty.
2. As a privilege. “In Thy presence is fulness of joy.”
3. As a calamity. The hell of the guilty.
II. Be ready for a conscious isolation of your being in the future. “No man shall come up
with thee.”

1. There are events which will give us a profound consciousness of isolation.
(1) Bereavements.
(2) Personal affliction.
(3) Death.
2. There are mental operations that will give us a profound consciousness of
isolation. Remembranee of past sins, etc. (Homilist.)
Morning on the mount
I. God wishes me to be alone with Him. How solemn will the meeting be! Father and
child; Sovereign and subject; Creator and creature! The distance between us will be
infinite, unless He shorten it by His mercy! Oh, my poor broken and weary heart, think
of it and be glad. He will shed His light upon thy tears, and make them shine like jewels;
He will make thee young again.
II. How shall i go before God? In what robe shall I dress myself?” All the fitness He
requires is to feel my need of Him.” But when I think of Him the thought of my great sin
comes at the same time, and it is like a black cloud spread between me and the sun.
When I think of anything else, I am happy for the moment; but when I think of God, I
burn with shame and tremble with fear. This morning I must meet Him on the mount—
meet Him alone! Alone! Surely He need not have said expressly so; for to be with God is
to be in solitude, though the mountain be alive with countless travellers.
III. God asks me to meet Him in the top of the mount. I am called to climb as far away
from the world as I can. For many a day I have not seen the top of the mount. I have
stood on the plain, or I have gone to the first cleft, or have tried a short way up the steep.
I have not risen above the smoke of my own house, or the noise of my daily business. Oh,
that I might urge my way to the very top of the hill chosen of God! “What must it be to be
there?” The wind will be music. Earth and time will be seen as they are, in their littleness
and their meanness.
IV. The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. What meaning there is in the
time as well as in the place! This very word morning is as a cluster of rich grapes. Let me
crush them, and drink the sacred wine. In the morning—then God means me to be at my
best in strength and hope; I have not to climb in my weakness; in the night I have buried
yesterday’s fatigue, and in the morning I take a new lease of energy. Give God thy
strength—all thy strength; He asks only what He first gave. In the morning—then He
may mean to keep me long that He may make me rich! Blessed is the day whose morning
is sanctified. Successful is the day whose first victory was won in prayer. Health is
established in the morning. Wealth is won in the morning. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Rising early for prayer
We have a saying among us, that “the morning is a friend to the muses”; that is, the
morning is a good studying time. I am sure it is as true that the morning is a great friend
to the graces; the morning is the best praying time. (J. Caryl.)

Rising early for devotional exercises
It is told in Sir Henry Havelock’s “Life,” how he always secured two hours for devotion
before the business of the day began, even in his busiest time, by rising at five or four, as
required . . . Colonel Gardiner had the same habit. Early rising for the objects of this
world is usual enough, and much to be commended; but the same industry that will
advance a man’s temporal interests will make him spiritually rich, and give him great
treasure in heaven, if it be used towards God . . . On the contrary, late rising in the
morning, rapid dressing, curtailing even the few moments allotted to thanksgiving and
prayer, before the plunge into the world’s affairs, deafens our ears and hearts to things
spiritual; we exchange an interview with our God, who can give us all good, for the
miserable gratification of our indolence.
Meriting prayer
Let the day have a blessed baptism by giving your first waking thoughts into the bosom
of God. The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day. (H. W. Beecher.)
3 o 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.”
GILL, "And no man shall come up with thee,.... Before, Aaron and his two sons,
and the seventy elders of Israel, went up with Moses, though they did not go so near the
Lord as he did; but now having sinned in the matter of the golden calf, though a
reconciliation was made, they were not allowed to go with him, nor even Joshua his
servant, though he had no concern in the sin; Moses must be alone, that the ministration
of the law might be by him only, and in order to receive a peculiar favour in answer to his
request:
neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; in any part of it, as
Joshua was before in some part of it, even all the while that Moses was there; but now
not a single person must be seen anywhere, not only because of the giving of the law to
Moses, but because of the display of the divine glory, which was to be made particularly
to him:
neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount; or over against it, or
rather "near" it (f); which was ordered, not so much on the account of the flocks

themselves, who were not capable of any moral guilt; nor that they might not come to
any hurt, since they were to be stoned or thrust through with a dart if they touched it,
which order it is highly probable was in force as before; but on the account of their
keepers, that there might be none of them on the spot, or near, to observe what passed;
and chiefly this was said to command fear and reverence in the minds of the people,
while this solemn affair was transacting between God and Moses, and to check all
curiosity in them.
(f) ‫ההוא‬ ‫ההר‬ ‫מול‬ ‫אל‬ πλησιον του ορους, Sept. "prope montem illum", Noldius, p. 80.
JAMISO , "no man shall come up with thee ... neither ... flocks nor herds —
All these enactments were made in order that the law might be a second time renewed
with the solemnity and sanctity that marked its first delivery. The whole transaction was
ordered so as to impress the people with an awful sense of the holiness of God; and that
it was a matter of no trifling moment to have subjected Him, so to speak, to the necessity
of re-delivering the law of the ten commandments.
CALVI , "3.And no man shall come up with thee Again men as well as beasts are
prohibited from access to the mount, as had been the case at the first promulgation
of the Law, in order that the people might obediently receive the Law as if come
down from heaven. Why God admitted no witness, is a question the answer to which
must remain with God Himself. The miracle indeed would have been illustrious if
the writing had appeared in a moment on the empty tables; but God would leave
some room for faith, when He employed the intermediate agency of man. But still
He amply provided what was sufficient to establish the dignity of the Law, when
Moses brought the Ten Commandments written upon two tables which the people
had lately seen taken up void and empty, whereas He could not have found in the
mount a chisel or graving-tool. For (376) God so administers the dispensation of His
heavenly doctrine as to prove the obedience and teachableness of believers, whilst
He leaves no room for doubting.
ELLICOTT, "(3) o man shall come up with thee . . . —These stringent commands
were new. On the previous occasion, Aaron, Hur, and the elders had ascended the
mount part of the way (Exodus 24:9-11); and Joshua had accompanied his master
almost to the summit (Exodus 24:13), and had apparently remained in some part of
the mountain during the whole time of Moses’ stay (Exodus 32:17). ow Moses was
to be quite alone, and no one was to be seen in any part of the mount. The
stringency of the new orders must be connected with the promised revelation to
Moses of God’s glory (Exodus 33:21-23).
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.
GILL, "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first,.... Which may be
an emblem of the ministry of men, which God makes use of in hewing of his people, and
bringing them to a sense of their sins, the breach of his law, and repentance for them,
Hos_6:5,
and Moses rose up early in the morning: which, according to the Jews (g), was the
twenty ninth of Ab or July, which showed his ready and cheerful obedience to the divine
will, and the quick dispatch he had made in hewing the tables; which whether he did
with his own hands only, or made use of others whom he directed, is not very material;
though the phrase "hew thee", or "hew unto thee", seems as if he were to do it himself,
and not another:
and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; which was
the third time of his going there, and every time he continued forty days and forty nights,
as Aben Ezra observes, see Deu_9:18,
and took in his hand the two tables of stone; which could not be very thick and
heavy to carry in one hand up a mountain, but must be a sort of marble slab or slate: at
this same time an ark was ordered to be made, and was made, to put the tables into,
which was a type of Christ, the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness, Deu_10:1.
JAMISO , "Moses ... took in his hand the two tables of stone — As Moses had
no attendant to divide the labor of carrying them, it is evident that they must have been
light, and of no great dimensions - probably flat slabs of shale or slate, such as abound in
the mountainous region of Horeb. An additional proof of their comparatively small size
appears in the circumstance of their being deposited in the ark of the most holy place
(Exo_25:10).
PULPIT, "Moses obeys all the directions given him to the letter—hews, or causes to
be hewn, the two tables, making them as like as he can to the former ones—rises
early, and ascends the mountain to the appointed spot—and takes with him the
tables, for God to perform his promise (Exodus 34:1)of writing the commandments
upon them. It has been questioned whether God did actually write the words upon
the second tables; but Kurtz's arguments upon the point are unanswerable.

5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and
stood there with him and proclaimed his name,
the Lord.
GILL, "And the Lord descended in the cloud,.... The same with the cloudy pillar,
which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over
the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before, Exo_19:9,
and stood with him there; not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin
version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:
and proclaimed the name of the Lord: Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of
the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,"and Moses called on or in
the name of the Word of the Lord;''and so the Vulgate Latin version refers it to Moses,
and renders the words, "calling on the name of the Lord"; but the following verse clearly
shows that it must be understood of the Lord, and not of Moses.
HE RY, "No sooner had Moses got to the top of the mount than God gave him the
meeting (Exo_34:5): The Lord descended, by some sensible token of his presence, and
manifestation of his glory. His descending bespeaks his condescension; he humbles
himself to take cognizance of those that humble themselves to walk with him. Psa_113:6,
Lord, what is man, that he should be thus visited? He descended in the cloud, probably
that pillar of cloud which had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met
Moses at the door of the tabernacle. This cloud was to strike an awe upon Moses, that
the familiarity he was admitted to might not breed contempt. The disciples feared, when
they entered the cloud. His making a cloud his pavilion intimated that, though he made
known much of himself, yet there was much more concealed. Now observe,
JAMISO , "the Lord descended in the cloud — After graciously hovering over the
tabernacle, it seems to have resumed its usual position on the summit of the mount. It
was the shadow of God manifest to the outward senses; and, at the same time, of God
manifest in the flesh. The emblem of a cloud seems to have been chosen to signify that,
although He was pleased to make known much about himself, there was more veiled
from mortal view. It was to check presumption and engender awe and give a humble
sense of human attainments in divine knowledge, as now man sees, but darkly.
K&D 5-8, "On the following morning, when Moses ascended the mountain, Jehovah
granted him the promised manifestation of His glory (Exo_34:5.). The description of
this unparalleled occurrence is in perfect harmony with the mysterious and majestic
character of the revelation. “Jehovah descended (from heaven) in the cloud, and stood
by him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah; and Jehovah passed by in his sight,

and proclaimed Jehovah, Jehovah God, merciful and gracious,” etc. What Moses saw
we are not told, but simply the words in which Jehovah proclaimed all the glory of His
being; whilst it is recorded of Moses, that he bowed his head toward the earth and
worshipped. This “sermon on the name of the Lord,” as Luther calls it, disclosed to
Moses the most hidden nature of Jehovah. It proclaimed that God is love, but that kind
of love in which mercy, grace, long-suffering, goodness, and truth are united with
holiness and justice. As the merciful One, who is great in goodness and truth, Jehovah
shows mercy to the thousandth, forgiving sin and iniquity in long-suffering and grace;
but He does not leave sin altogether unpunished, and in His justice visits the sin of the
fathers upon the children and the children's children even unto the fourth generation.
The Lord had already revealed Himself to the whole nation from Mount Sinai as visiting
sin and showing mercy (Exo_20:5.). But whereas on that occasion the burning zeal of
Jehovah which visits sin stood in the foreground, and mercy only followed afterwards,
here grace, mercy, and goodness are placed in the front. And accordingly all the words
which the language contained to express the idea of grace in its varied manifestations to
the sinner, are crowded together here, to reveal the fact that in His inmost being God is
love. But in order that grace may not be perverted by sinners into a ground of
wantonness, justice is not wanting even here with its solemn threatenings, although it
only follows mercy, to show that mercy is mightier than wrath, and that holy love does
not punish til sinners despise the riches of the goodness, patience, and long-suffering of
God. As Jehovah here proclaimed His name, so did He continue to bear witness of it to
the Israelites, from their departure from Sinai till their entrance into Canaan, and from
that time forward till their dispersion among the heathen, and even now in their exile
showing mercy to the thousandth, when they turn to the Redeemer who has come out of
Zion.
CALVI , "5.And the Lord descended in the cloud It is by no means to be doubted
but that the cloud received Moses into it in the sight of the people, so that, after
having been separated from the common life of men for forty days, he should again
come forth like a new man. Thus did this visible demonstration of God’s glory avail
to awaken faith in the commandments.
The descent of God, which is here recorded, indicates no change of place, as if God,
who fills heaven and earth, and whose immensity is universally diffused, altered His
position, but it has reference to the perceptions of men, because under the
appearance of the cloud God testified that He met Moses. Therefore, according to
the usual phrase of Scripture, the sacred name of God is applied to the visible
symbol; not that the empty cloud was a figure of the absent Deity, but because it
testified His presence according to the comprehension of men.
At the end of the verse, “to call in the name of the Lord,” is equivalent to
proclaiming His name, or promulgating what God would make known to His
servant. This expression, indeed, frequently occurs with reference to prayers. Some,
(377) therefore, understand it of Moses, that he called on the name of the Lord. In
this opinion there is no absurdity; let us be at liberty, then, to take it as applying
either to Moses or to God Himself, i.e., either that God Himself proclaimed in a loud
voice His power, and righteousness, and goodness, or that Moses himself professed

his piety before God. But what immediately follows must necessarily be referred to
God, when He passed by, to cry out and to dignify Himself with His true titles. First
of all, the name of Jehovah is uttered twice by way of emphasis, in order that Moses
might be rendered more attentive. The name ‫אל‬ el, is added, which, originally
derived from strength, is often used for God, and is one of His names. By these
words, therefore, His eternity and boundless power are expressed. ext, He
proclaims His clemency and mercy; nor is He contented with a single word, but,
after having called Himself “merciful,” He claims the praise of clemency, inasmuch
as He has no more peculiar attribute than His goodness and gratuitous beneficence.
The nature also of His goodness and clemency is specified, viz., that He is not only
placable, and ready, and disposed, to pardon, but that He patiently waits for those
who have sinned, and invites them to repentance by His long-suffering. For this
reason He is called “slow (378) to anger,” as if He would abstain from severity did
not man’s wickedness compel Him to execute punishment on his sins. Afterwards
He proclaims the greatness of His mercy and truth, and on these two supports the
confidence of the pious is based, whilst they embrace the mercy offered to them, and
securely repose on the faithfulness and certainty of the promises. Everywhere,
therefore, in the Psalms, where mention is made of God’s goodness, His truth is
connected with it as its inseparable companion. Another reason also is because
God’s mercy cannot be comprehended, except upon the testimony of His word, the
certainty of which must needs be well assured lest our salvation should be wavering
and insecure. What follows, that God keeps mercy to a thousand generations, we
have expounded in chapter 20; whilst, on the other hand, the punishments which He
requires for men’s sins are only extended to the third and fourth generation,
because His clemency surpasses His judgment, as is said in Psalms 30:5, (379)
“There is only a moment in his anger, but life in his favor;” and although this only
relates properly to believers, yet it flows from a general principle. To the same effect
is the next clause, “forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;” for thus the greatness
of His clemency is set forth, inasmuch as He not only pardons light offenses, but the
very grossest sins; and again, remits not only sin in one case, but is propitious to
sinners by whom He has been a hundred times offended. Hence, therefore, appears
the extent of His goodness, since He blots out an infinite mass of iniquities. Lest,
however, this indulgence should be perverted into a license for sin, it is afterwards
added, by way of correction, “with (380) cleansing He will not cleanse,” which, with
the Chaldee interpreter and others, I understand as applying to His severe
judgment against the reprobate and obstinate; for I do not like their opinion who
say that, although God indeed pardons sins, yet He still moderately chastises those
who have sinned; since this is a poor conjecture, that punishment is required though
the guilt is remitted; and besides, it is altogether untrue, inasmuch as it is manifest,
from experience that God passes over many sins without punishment. But what I
have stated is very suitable, that, lest impunity should beget audaciousness, after
God has spoken of His mercy, He adds an exception, viz., that the iniquity is by no
means pardoned, which is accompanied by obstinacy. And hence the Prophets seem
to have quoted from this passage, (381) “Clearing should ye be cleared?” ( Jeremiah
25:29,) when they address the reprobate, to whom pardon is denied. The words,
therefore, may be properly paraphrased thus: Although God is pitiful and even
ready to pardon, yet He does not therefore spare the despisers, but is a severe

avenger of their impiety. evertheless, the opposite meaning would not be
inappropriate here, “With cutting off He will not cut off;” for this is sometimes the
sense of the verb ‫,נקה‬ nakah; and it would thus be read conneetedly, that God
pardons iniquities because He does not wish entirely to cut off the human race; for
who shall escape if God should choose to call to judgment the sins even of believers?
And perhaps Jeremiah alluded to this passage, where (382) he mitigates the severity
of the vengeance of which he had been speaking by this same expression, for there it
can only be translated, “With cutting off I will not cut thee off.” If this be preferred,
it will be the assignment of the reason why God pardons sins, viz., because He is
unwilling to cut off men, which would be the case if He insisted on the utmost rigor
of the Law. Some (383) thus explain it, That God pardons sins, because no one is
innocent in His sight; as if it were said, that all are destitute of the glory of
righteousness, and thence their only refuge is in the mercy of God. This is true
indeed, but not so nmch an exposition as a plausible conceit.
Bush gives a very careful note on this clause, which he says is “of exceedingly
difficult interpretation,” and declares himself satisfied that the sense which C.
condemns is the true one, viz., “‘who will not wholly, entirely, altogether clear,’ i.e.,
who, although merciful and gracious in his dispositions, strongly inclined to forgive,
and actually forgiving in countless cases and abundant measure, is yet not
unmindful of the claims of justice. He will not always suffer even the pardoned
sinner to escape with entire impunity. He will mingle so much of the penal in his
dealings as to evince that his clemency is not to be presumed upon.”
BE SO , "Exodus 34:5. The Lord descended — By some sensible token of his
presence, and manifestation of his glory. He descended in the cloud — Probably that
pillar of cloud which had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met
Moses at the door of the tabernacle.
COFFMA , "Verses 5-8
"And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed
the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah,
Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving
kindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and the children's children, upon the third
and upon the fourth generation And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward
the earth, and worshipped."
These words must be viewed as a fulfillment on God's part of the revelation which
he had promised Moses at the end of the preceding chapter. Scholars of all shades of
belief have extolled and praised the revelation here concerning the nature, or
attributes, of God Himself. This sacred glimpse of God's loving mercy lies behind
the .T. revelation that "God is love." The O.T. prophets returned to these words
again and again. They are quoted in ehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8;
Joel 2:15; Jonah 4:2; and also umbers 14:18. It is an inexcusable error, however,

to suppose that God will finally accommodate to human wickedness. He will "by no
means clear the guilty"; and despite some efforts to distort the meaning of that
promise by reading it, "He will not even completely destroy the guilty," no such
rendition is honest. These very same words in Exodus 20:7 "are rendered `will not
hold him guiltless,' and in Jeremiah 30:11, `will not leave unpunished.'"[7]
"Thousands ..."; "Lovingkindness for thousands ..." Thousands of what? The
understanding of this comes in the antithesis in the word "generation" at the end of
Exodus 34:7. Thus, it means thousands of generations!
The attributes of God mentioned in this passage are usually cited as follows:
(1) merciful;
(2) gracious;
(3) long-suffering;
(4) abundant in lovingkindness;
(5) showing mercy for thousands; and
(6) forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin (a summary of all wickedness).
However, the Jews find in this same passage what they are pleased to call "The
Thirteen Attributes of God."[8] These, however, are not nearly so well defined as
the six just listed.
COKE, "Verse 5-6
Exodus 34:5-6. Proclaimed the name of the Lord— Moses desired to see the glory of
the Lord, ch. Exodus 33:18. The Lord promises to shew him his goodness; and,
accordingly, he passes by before him, proclaiming his ame, the Deliverer and
Covenant-God of the Hebrews; and also his attributes, at once of mercy and of
terror; those attributes which were displayed in their most glorious light in the
redemption of the world by the death of JESUS CHRIST: God thus shewing himself
merciful, that is, abounding in tender mercy and pardoning goodness: gracious, i.e.
free and disinterested in his love: long-suffering, patiently bearing with sinners, not
willing that any one should perish: yet though thus exquisite in mercy, and ready to
forgive sins, at the same time just; not clearing or suffering the obstinately guilty to
escape; but visiting, &c. for which see the note on ch. Exodus 20:5.
ELLICOTT, "Verse 5
(5) The Lord descended in the cloud.—When Moses ceased to commune with God,
the cloud removed from the door of the “Tent of Meeting,” and, as it would seem,
disappeared. On Moses reaching the summit of Sinai it once more became visible,
“descended” on the spot where Moses was, and “stood with him there.”

And proclaimed the name of the Lord.—Comp. Exodus 33:19; and for the terms of
the proclamation see Exodus 34:6-7.
Verses 5-8
MOSES ALLOWED TO SEE GOD’S GLORY.
(5-8) The present ascent of Moses to the top of Sinai had two objects:—(1) The
repair of the loss occasioned by his breaking the first tables; and (2) the
accomplishment of the promise made to him that (under certain restrictions) he
should “see God’s glory.” Combined with this promise were two minor ones—that
God would make His “goodness” pass before him, and that He would reveal to him
afresh His name. The revelation of the name is recorded in Exodus 34:6-7, the
manifestation of the glory in Exodus 34:5. How Moses was enabled to see God’s
goodness pass before him is not stated. (Comp. ote on Exodus 33:19.)
PETT, "Verses 5-7
Yahweh Makes A Proclamation Concerning Himself To His People’s Representative
(Exodus 34:5-7).
Exodus 34:5
‘And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name of Yahweh.’
As ever Yahweh is surrounded by cloud. The previous chapter has brought home
why this was so as never before. His glory must be hidden or it would devastate
whoever saw it. And He stood there with Moses. Here again He had come to speak
with His friend. ‘He stood with him there’.
“And proclaimed the name of Yahweh.” Compare Exodus 33:19. Thus all the glory
of the previous appearance is manifested, although shielded by the cloud. He
declared Who He was, He revealed What He is. The proclamation was mainly by a
manifestation of Himself in the heart of Moses, a bringing home to him something of
His very being.
To know someone’s name was to know him fully. Moses came to know ‘His name’ as
proclaimed by Yahweh Himself. He received a full revelation of what Yahweh’s
name meant, of what He is. He was enabled to appreciate the very nature of God .
(We may compare the idea here with the revealing work of the Holy Spirit, only
active in those who are His - 1 Corinthians 2:9-16).
Exodus 34:6-7
‘And Yahweh passed before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God full of
compassion, and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth.
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who
will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

“And Yahweh passed before him.” We cannot even begin to appreciate what Moses
experienced here (compare Exodus 33:22). His whole being was taken up with God.
And then Yahweh proclaimed Himself in His fullness.
We read the proclamation, Moses experienced the full reality of the proclamation,
for it was not only communicated in words, it was communicated in spirit. As he
stood there in awe the glory and holiness and love of Yahweh swept through him,
suffusing his whole being. Words cannot even begin to describe what he must have
experienced.
ote the order of the words. Compassion and graciousness, covenant love and truth,
come first. Mercy and forgiveness are of the very being and essence of God. And yet
the corollary of this must be the awful judgment for those who fail to respond to
that mercy and forgiveness. He will by no means clear men who do not respond.
Here Yahweh reveals the future for mankind. His offer will come to them, His
compassion will reach out to them, but in the end only those who respond from the
heart will experience His covenant faithfulness. Those who reject it will be
condemned.
“Yahweh, Yahweh.” The duality is the duality of witness. This was a full
manifestation of Yahweh witnessed in the very innermost being of Moses. As the
words were spoken they would illuminate Moses’ heart and mind. This is a unique
ascription to God. Yah Yahweh, while coming close, is not quite comparable with it
(Isaiah 12:2).
“A God full of compassion, and gracious.” This is part of His essential being, tender
of heart, compassionate of spirit, and self-giving even to the unworthy. o words
can really express it. If we add together all the compassion revealed by all the most
compassionate of men throughout all history we only come up with a pale reflection
of it. John later puts it simply in the terms ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:7-8). But there as
here he has to temper it with ‘God is light’ (1 John 1:5). For in Him there is no
darkness at all. It proclaims to us all that God wants to forgive and be forgiving. But
He can only be so to those who will receive forgiveness.
“Slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth.” The positive note
continues, but with a slight hint of warning. He is slow to anger, anger is contrary to
all that He wants to be, (but the hint is that angry He will be in the end towards the
continually stubborn heart). He is plenteous in covenant love and truth. ‘Plenteous’
indicates an abundant supply. There is no stinting of His love to those within His
covenant (chesed indicates Scripturally love within the covenant). There is no
stinting of His trueness and faithfulness. But again it can only be in truth. Truth is
essential to knowing God. ‘What is truth?’ asked Pilate, failing to recognise that the
Truth stood before him. Only those who desire the truth can enjoy fully what He is.
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” There
is no limit to His desire to show mercy and forgive. ‘Thousands’ is broad in its
significance, it indicates a countless multitude, which no man can number

(Revelation 7:9). His mercy is preserved for all of them. He wants to forgive, He
longs to forgive, and there is no limit to what He will forgive. The threefold ‘iniquity
and transgression and sin’ indicates the totality of sin, sin in all its forms. The One
Who was all compassion declared, ‘Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men’,
but the caveat was that those who finally failed to respond, those who hardened
themselves against the work of the Spirit, would remain unforgiven (Matthew
12:31). Hell is full of ungrateful, unresponsive people. For ‘He will by no means
clear those who fail to respond’.
“And who will by no means clear the guilty (leave unpunished, exempt from
punishment), visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the
children”s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Again in the midst
of the light the dark side has to be revealed. He does not automatically clear men.
There is no automatic forgiveness. Forgiveness is offered all of His grace but it has
to be received and accepted. For those who will not turn to Him and receive that
forgiveness the awful power of iniquity will continue on through the generations.
Man’s failure to respond to God affects not only himself but also his progeny.
So Yahweh reveals more of His glory to Moses as He had promised, but in what He
reveals He makes clear that with the renewing of the covenant He has also forgiven
His people for their major lapse. That is the clear implication of His words. But
within them is included the warning that if they fail to take advantage of His
forgiveness worse will follow.
PULPIT, "THE FULFILME T BY GOD OF HIS PROMISE TO MOSES. This
section coheres closely with the last section of the preceding chapter, and must be
regarded, as the historical account of how God fulfilled the promises there made by
him to Moses (Exodus 33:19-23). The promises were mainly two—
1. That he would proclaim his name to him afresh; and
2. That he would pass by him, and let him see, after he had passed, what man might
see of his glory. The fulfilment of the first promise appears in the long enumeration
of attributes contained in Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7; the fulfilment of the second is
expressed with extreme brevity in the words—,' And the Lord passed by before
him" (Exodus 34:6). Probably no further description could be given of that
marvellous manifestation beyond those words in which it was promised (Exodus
33:21-23). Its effects were seen in that permanent reflection of God's glory on the
face of Moses, which thenceforth compelled him to wear a veil mostly when he
showed himself to the people (Exodus 34:33-35).
Exodus 34:5
The Lord descended in the cloud. The cloudy pillar, which had stood at the door of
the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:10), was withdrawn while Moses ascended Sinai,
and probably disappeared from men's sight. When Moses reached the top, it
descended once more from the sky, and stood with him there. Then a voice from the

cloud proclaimed the name of the Lord in the manner more fully stated in the
ensuing verses.
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,
BAR ES, "This was the second revelation of the name of the God of Israel to Moses.
The first revelation was of Yahweh as the self-existent One, who purposed to deliver His
people with a mighty hand Exo_3:14; this was of the same Yahweh as a loving Saviour
who was now forgiving their sins. The two ideas that mark these revelations are found
combined, apart from their historical development, in the second commandment, where
the divine unity is shown on its practical side, in its relation to human obligations
(compare Exo_34:14; Exo_20:4). Both in the commandment and in this passage, the
divine love is associated with the divine justice; but in the former there is a transposition
to serve the proper purpose of the commandments, and the justice stands before the
love. This is strictly the legal arrangement, brought out in the completed system of the
ceremonial law, in which the sin-offering, in acknowledgment of the sentence of justice
against sin, was offered before the burnt-offering and the peace-offering. But in this
place the truth appears in its essential order; the retributive justice of Yahweh is
subordinated to, rather it is made a part of, His forgiving Love (see Exo_32:14 note).
The visitation of God, whatever form it may wear, is in all ages the working out purposes
of Love toward His children. The diverse aspects of the divine nature, to separate which
is the tendency of the unregenerate mind of man and of all paganism, are united in
perfect harmony in the Lord Yahweh, of whom the saying is true in all its length and
breadth, “God is love” 1Jo_4:8. It was the sense of this, in the degree to which it was
now revealed to him, that caused Moses to bow his head and worship Exo_34:8. But the
perfect revelation of the harmony was reserved for the fulness of time when “the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world” Rev_13:8 was made known to us in the flesh as
both our Saviour and our Judge.
CLARKE, "And the Lord passed by - and proclaimed, The Lord, etc. - It
would be much better to read this verse thus: “And the Lord passed by before him, and
proclaimed Jehovah,” that is, showed Moses fully what was implied in this august name.
Moses had requested God to show him his glory, (see the preceding chapter, Exo_33:18
(note)), and God promised to proclaim or fully declare the name Jehovah, (Exo_33:19);
by which proclamation or interpretation Moses should see how God would “be gracious

to whom he would be gracious,” and how he would “be merciful to those to whom he
would show mercy. Here therefore God fulfils that promise by proclaiming this name. It
has long been a question, what is the meaning of the word ‫יהוה‬ Jehovah, Yehovah, Yehue,
Yehveh, or Yeve, Jeue, Jao, Iao, Jhueh, and Jove; for it has been as variously
pronounced as it has been differently interpreted. Some have maintained that it is
utterly inexplicable; these of course have offered no mode of interpretation. Others say
that it implies the essence of the Divine nature. Others, that it expresses the doctrine of
the Trinity connected with the incarnation; the letter ‫י‬ yod standing for the Father, ‫ה‬ he
for the Son, and ‫ו‬ vau (the connecting particle) for the Holy Spirit: and they add that the
‫ה‬ he being repeated in the word, signifies the human nature united to the Divine in the
incarnation. These speculations are calculated to give very little satisfaction. How
strange is it that none of these learned men have discovered that God himself interprets
this name in Exo_34:6,! “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed ‫יהוה‬
Yehovah the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty.” These words contain the proper
interpretation of the venerable and glorious name Jehovah. But it will be necessary to
consider them in detail.
The different names in this and the following verse have been considered as so many
attributes of the Divine nature. Commentators divide them into eleven, thus: -
1. ‫יהוה‬ Jehovah.
2. ‫אל‬ EL, the strong or mighty God.
3. ‫רחום‬ Rachum, the merciful Being, who is full of tenderness and compassion.
4. ‫חנון‬ Channun, the gracious One; he whose nature is goodness itself; the loving God.
5. ‫אפים‬ ‫ארך‬ Erech Appayim, long-suffering; the Being who, because of his goodness
and tenderness, is not easily irritated, but suffers long and is kind.
6. ‫רב‬ Rab, the great or mighty One.
7. ‫חסד‬ Chesed, the bountiful Being; he who is exuberant in his beneficence.
8. ‫אמת‬ Emeth, the truth or true One; he alone who can neither deceive nor be
deceived, who is the fountain of truth, and from whom all wisdom and knowledge
must be derived.
9. ‫חסד‬ ‫נצר‬ Notser Chesed, the preserver of bountifulness; he whose beneficence never
ends, keeping mercy for thousands of generations, showing compassion and mercy
while the world endures.
10. ‫וחטאה‬ ‫ופשע‬ ‫עון‬ ‫נשא‬ Nose avon vaphesha vechattaah, he who bears away iniquity and
transgression and sin: properly, the Redeemer, the Pardoner, the Forgiver; the
Being whose prerogative alone it is to forgive sin and save the soul. ‫)לו(ינקה‬ ‫לא‬ ‫נקה‬
Nakkeh lo yenakkeh, the righteous Judge, who distributes justice with an impartial

Exodus 34 commentary

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