THE BOOK OF EXODUS - COMMENTARY By Rev. Paul J. Niemann, D.Min. Lesson 18 - Exodus 34:10-35

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1 THE BOOK OF EXODUS - COMMENTARY By Rev. Paul J. Niemann, D.Min. Lesson 18 - Exodus 34:10-35 Exodus 34:10-12 These verses follow Moses adoration of YHWH and his plea for God s continued presence among the people [34:9]. This is YHWH s response: I hereby make a covenant. In a sense this is a new covenant because it looks forward, to the future. Instead of describing YHWH as the one who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, this covenant announces that YHWH will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing The great promised miracle is that YHWH will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites [3:8]. 1 YHWH will clear the Promised Land for his own people Israel and dispossess six other nations. Having conquered the gods of Egypt, YHWH is ready to take on the gods of Canaan. We know from the history of Israel that these nations did not disappear all at once. Israel took possession of the land village by village, kingdom by kingdom [23:27-33]. The conquered people continued to live among the Israelites, sometimes as slaves, but more often as neighbors. The temptation was always there to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going. YHWH insists that Israel remain faithful: observe what I command you today. The religious, social and political customs of the other nations will become a snare among you. Israel, the nomad shepherds, will envy the civilization and culture of the agricultural, settled, even urban people already living in the land. Time and again they will try to be like the other nations to their own disaster [I Samuel 8:1-22; I Kings 1:11-13; I Maccabees 1:11-15 and 12:1-4]. This theme of remaining separate from other nations reflects the idea of holiness as separateness. The holy people of God are not to mix themselves with other nations. Those who do are to be shunned [Ezra 9:1-4 and 10:10-14]. This attitude is familiar to Christians as the animosity between Jews and Samaritans, recorded in the Gospels [Luke 17:11-19; John 4:9 and 8:48]. Samaritans are the descendants of the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom which was conquered by Assyria in 721 B.C. 1 These six nations and the territory they occupied are described in Lesson

2 The Assyrians imported five other nations which intermarried with the surviving Israelites, thus originating the Samaritan community. Ever after the Samaritans were regarded by the Jews as unworthy. Exodus 34:13-16 Here begins the so-called Ritual Decalogue, because these commandments are mostly about religious duties. We are already familiar with their contents; here they are gathered together in a single list. As the Israelites come to live in the land of the other nations, they are commanded: First, to tear down their altars The term altar means a place where a sacrifice is offered: this includes everything from the simple pedestal on which a brazier for incense is placed, to a table-like stone on which the offering is slaughtered, to a high place or platform of stones or earth. The altar symbolized the god to whom it was dedicated; by tearing down altars the Israelites showed their rejection of other deities. Pillars, sacred stones, were monuments to the gods or testimonials to covenants; these too are to be broken down and repudiated. The sacred poles (in Hebrew, asherah) represent the goddess Asherah, Astarte, or Ishtar, who was the consort of Baal, the god of rain. These may have been wooden poles or sacred trees. In short, no vestige of local religion may remain, for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. YHWH will not share his redeemed people with any lesser deity. Second, You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land: such an alliance would normally include the exchange of gifts and religious rites. Israelites are not to bind themselves to other humans just as they are forbidden to worship other gods. The commandment goes on to explain the danger: for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. Notice that the Israelites considered their religion a marriage to YHWH; all other forms of worship are prostitution. Partaking in the sacrificial meal, the communion sacrifice, is much more than a gesture of hospitality. It means adherence to the covenants that exist between the other nation and its god(s). Once the bond is established in ritual, the mixing of nations will follow: you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods. There is no such thing as an innocent act of worship. The same unity of ritual and doctrine, worship and belief, is expressed in Christian churches who have a closed communion. Only those who accept the entire belief system of the community are qualified to celebrate sacramental communion. 2 2 Churches with a closed communion are the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and conservative Lutheran Churches, among others. 116

3 Exodus 34:17-20 The third commandment of this Decalogue is: You shall not make cast idols. This repeats what was said in 20:4-6. The fourth commandment is: You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread, that is, the feast of Passover. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first day, that is, from the full moon to the last quarter. This feast is celebrated in the month of Abib, the month of spring, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. The fifth commandment is: All that first opens the womb is mine. God is the source of all life and the owner of everything that exists from the beginning of its life. This includes all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. This was explained in Lesson 12, Exodus 13: All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, since Israel is the firstborn of YHWH. The ceremony of redemption, pidyon ha-ben, was also described in an earlier lesson. Ancient people could not conceive of worship without offering, gift, or sacrifice. This basic concept is stated here and in 23:15 (in the context of Passover): No one shall appear before me empty-handed. Provision was made in the Torah for those who were too poor to bring the usual sacrifice [Leviticus 5:7 and 11]. In later Judaism and Christianity, material sacrifices were considered less important than keeping the covenant, and the term sacrifice of praise or sacrifice of thanksgiving becomes central [Psalms 50:14, 51:17 and 116:17]. Exodus 34:21-22 The Ritual Decalogue continues with a sixth commandment: Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest. This, of course, refers to the Sabbath, the most important religious observance of the Jewish people. The seventh commandment is: You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. This verse commands the keeping of the two feasts of Shavuot ( weeks ) and of Sukkot ( booths, shelters ). Shavuot is observed on the fiftieth day after Passover: seven times seven weeks plus one day. Greek-speaking Jews called Shavuot Pentecost, meaning fiftieth. In later Judaism, this feast commemorated the giving of the Torah to Moses on Sinai. Sukkot begins on the eve of the fifteenth day of the first month of the Jewish civil year, Tishri, and commemorates the autumnal grape harvest. 117

4 Its special custom is the use of temporary shelters for meals and prayers, recalling both the nomadic origin of Israel and the use of such booths during harvest seasons. Exodus 34:23-26 The eighth commandment is: Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. These national religious assemblies were to coincide with Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, the three feasts noted previously. Immediately God responds to the objection, who will protect the land if all the men are in Jerusalem? For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. If Israel keeps its side of the covenant God will certainly keep his. The land which YHWH has given to Israel will remain his gift to them. The ninth commandment is: You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning. As we learned about the Passover, leavening was considered an agent of corruption. Nothing so tainted was to be offered to YHWH, especially with blood, the essence of life. The tenth commandment is: The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. This refers to the practice of tithing, the one-tenth of everything that was to be given to God. Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for being attentive to this commandment even for garden herbs, while ignoring the more important matters of the Torah [Matthew 23:23]. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. This last sentence baffles the modern biblical scholar. Since it is repeated three times in the Torah [Exodus 23:19, here, and Deuteronomy 14:21] the rabbis gave it particular attention. It may refer to a Canaanite ritual or custom. It may simply be the reluctance of the Israelites to use milk, a life-giving food, as a medium for cooking. Whatever its original meaning, a specific Jewish religious has derived from it. To this day, observant Jews do not mix meat and dairy products in the same meal. By custom, dairy products are served for breakfast and meat is served at the evening meal. Foods which are neither dairy nor meat may be taken along with them. For example, breakfast may include eggs, cheese, fruit and fish; dinner may include meat and vegetables, but no butter for the bread or cream for the coffee. Exodus 34:27-28 The so-called Ritual Decalogue ends with the command to preserve the covenant in writing, as in 24:4. The LORD said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Moses remains on the holy mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights, a phrase that means long enough to accomplish the task. 118

5 So enraptured was Moses in this covenant-conversation that he neither ate bread nor drank water: a total fast, without even the basic necessities for physical survival. Jews, Christians and Muslims continue the practice of fasting as a spiritual discipline, 3 as do other religions of the world. Fasting in all its forms is meant to bring the human will under control, so as to open it more completely to that of God. Moses celebrates an exemplary fast because he will be the unique messenger of God s word, indeed, of God s heart. And he, that is, Moses, wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. The original tablets inscribed by God were broken; the renewed covenant is entrusted to the hand of Moses. We will now return to chapter 35. The chapter opens with a reminder that even in the important task of constructing the holy Dwelling for YHWH, work may only be done six days a week. Moses especially points out that no fire may be kindled on the Sabbath, in other words, not even a preparation for work may be done. This instruction is still observed by Jews who light candles before sunset on Fridays; observant Jews do not smoke, drive cars, or operate anything that produces an electric spark all forms of lighting a fire. Even electric light switches are not to be touched. In modern times, these household needs are provided by mechanical timers. Exodus 34:29-35 The encounter of Moses and YHWH on Mount Sinai comes to an end but their profound friendship does not. Two symbols of their relationship are given. First, Moses brings a renewed covenant, the two tablets in his hand. Second, Moses has changed in appearance: the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. We sometimes notice a person s face being radiant in times of happiness; to make one s face shine is a Biblical way of saying to smile with approval [Numbers 6:25]. Moses face, however, must have shone with a distinctive light, for Aaron and all the Israelites were afraid to come near him. Moses has an aura of holiness which inspires awe in the people. This event is sometimes called the transfiguration of Moses. 3 Jews observe a total fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the 10 th of Tishri. Orthodox Christians refrain from meat and dairy products, as well as oil and wine, during Lent; there are also less strict fasts before Christmas, Sts. Peter and Paul, and the Assumption of Mary. Roman Catholics fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday; this means one full meal and two smaller meals which together do not equal the main meal. The Ash Wednesday fast is penitential; the Good Friday fast is meant as purification for the feast of Easter. Muslims do not eat or drink anything during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan, when the holy Quran, or scripture, was revealed to the prophet Mohammed. They are permitted to eat after sunset and before sunrise. 119

6 The Hebrew word describing the radiant face of Moses is qaran; this is related to qeren, a word which means horn (of an animal). In his Latin translation of the Bible, St. Jerome took it in this latter sense and wrote that Moses face was horned (cornuta). This is why the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo depicts Moses with horns on his head. It does not take much to imagine how this image was later used by enemies of the Old Covenant and of the Jewish people. Moses knows full well that his wonderful conversation with YHWH is not for himself; the grace of transforming union with God is not a private possession. Moses takes the occasion to bring the people closer to God. He spoke with them and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. Even with the engraved tablets in his hand, Moses speaks, because the word of YHWH is a living and personal word. Why does Moses hide his glowing face? In some ancient religions, the priest would wear a mask or headdress representing the deity, so as to speak to the believers in the name of the god rather than in his own name. It is possible that some of the prophets of Israel veiled themselves while prophesying for the same reason. It is customary among some Jews to cover their eyes when reciting their profession of faith Shema, Yisroel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad ( Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone ), symbolizing that faith is by hearing and obeying God s word, not by seeing [John 20:29; Romans 10:17]. Orthodox Jewish priests (the kohanim) 4 cover their hands and faces with their tallit (fringed prayer shawl) while pronouncing the Blessing of Aaron; it the LORD who gives the blessing, not the individual priest. In this story, Moses unveils his face whenever he goes in before the LORD to speak with him, and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, so that it is actually Moses shining face, not the veil, that represents the authority of God. Moses, the great prophet and intermediary between YHWH and Israel, covers himself when he is not serving in this capacity. It is as though Moses the man means nothing; Moses the prophet and teacher is everything. In 2 Corinthians 3:12-18, St. Paul refers to the veil of Moses. He says that Moses covered his face so that the Israelites would not see the fading of the light in his face. The fact that the light faded means that the Old Testament was a temporary covenant, to be replaced by the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. Paul also says that the veil denotes the lack of understanding on the part of the Israelites; in Christ all things are made plain and the veil is finally removed. Copyright The Cornerstone Catholic Scripture Study thecornerstonescripturestudy.org 4 See note in Lesson