Exodus 34

Exodus 34: Another trip up the Mountain

b, “Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai.”

Did Moses mutter to himself, like our kids might have, “In the morning? That’s awfully short notice. I had plans for tonight. It would have been nice if he had asked me if this fits my schedule. Why couldn’t He provide me with the tablets once I got up there. Doesn’t he realize how old I am?”

In Exodus 34:4, our hero Moses came through. “So, Moses chiseled out two stone tablets (willingly, cheerfully and as instructed) and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning (with a good attitude). Carrying the stone tablets in his hands.”

Ah ha, it looks like we might have a clue as to how big these stone tablets were. He didn’t carry them on his back, or in his arms, but in his hands. They might have been no bigger than our smartphones.

Moses heads back up the mountain and meets with God, again. God says, of Himself, Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

This last part sounds as if He punishes the children, not for what they did wrong, but for the sins of the parents. Is this justice? Is God contradicting Himself when in Ezek. 18:20 it says, “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”?

There are no generational curses, where God punishes descendants for what their ancestors do. But a new generation tends to repeat the sins of their parents. How we live will, to a certain extent, determine how our children and grandchildren live. The religion we practice, the foods we eat, our child-rearing practices are usually learned from our parents, and we carry them on from one generation to the next. If what we are doing is wrong, we can expect a bad outcome. God “punishing the children” is simply another way of saying that the children are repeating the fathers’ sins.

At this point, Moses is very impressed, he bows down and says, in Exodus 34:9, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us.” This seems like a good time to ask God to go with them. He had just told Moses how loving and forgiving He is.

Exodus 34:10 is a renewing of the covenant with Israel. “I am making a covenant with you before your people. I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you.” Translation: “You haven’t seen anything yet. All those miracles as we left Egypt was but a warmup act to what you will see in the days to come.”

Pointing to the future God goes on to say, Exodus 34:11, “I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be s snare among you.” We’ve heard this before, haven’t we? “I will drive them out” and “Don’t make a treaty with them.”

He goes on to say that the Israelites are to destroy all of their pagan religious symbols. Verse 13, “Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.”

When an army invades another country, soldiers sometimes bring back home war souvenirs. The Israelites weren’t to keep any of the religious objects. They were to destroy them. One item in particular was the Asherah pole. What is an Asherah pole? Scholars think that the poles were made of wood because in Judges 6:25 Gideon cut one down and used it for a burnt offering. Deuteronomy 16:21 says, “Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the Lord your God."

Verse 15, “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.”

In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 you will find the dietary laws given to the Israelites. They were not to eat any food that was classified as “unclean.” This would include pork and shellfish, among others.

Those religious group that adhere to these laws today will oftentimes cite health reasons for these restrictions. They claim that most of these “unclean” animals are scavengers and are not good for us. If physical health was the main reason for imposing these laws on the Israelites, why wouldn’t God also teach them how to boil water to make it safe to drink or to pasteurize milk? Why wouldn’t He tell them which plants to avoid? Why wouldn’t He give Noah and Abraham the same guidance to protect their health?

I suspect there is another reason behind these dietary laws. When people socialize, there is often food involved. Parties have food, celebrations have food, worship services oftentimes have food. If you were a diabetic vegetarian with celiac disease, your social life might be a bit constricted, to say the least. You wouldn’t feel comfortable being with people who are eating all the things you have to avoid. The dietary restrictions were probably given to reduce contact between the Israelites and the worshippers of pagan gods.

The Church is not required to observe these dietary restrictions. Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). Later, God gave the apostle Peter a vision that implied formerly unclean animals could be eaten: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). We are not to isolate ourselves from the world, but to go into all the world as a witness. 

Much of the rest of the chapter, as God renews his covenant with the Israelites, is repeating what was given earlier. With that in mind, I would like to move ahead to verse 23. “Three times a year all your men are to appear before the sovereign Lord, the God of Israel.” These are the three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in verse 22. Verse 24, “I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory.”

Now the rest of verse 24 shows what Jews call a “hidden miracle.” Have you ever heard of a “hidden miracle”? It is when God prevents something from happening or does something in secret and leaves no evidence of His involvement. Do you suspect that there have been events in your life where, perhaps, His hidden hand was involved? Have you ever thought that in the afterlife we might meet up with some angelic beings who will reveal to us times when they protected us without our knowledge?

While the men are off to Jerusalem to observe the pilgrimage festivals, verse 24 continues, “and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.” Knowing that their families and property were safe would allow the pilgrims to focus on God, rather than worry about their families.

Other than a hidden miracle, how else could you explain how a vast territory can be left undefended without inviting invaders? It wouldn’t take long for the enemies of Israel to learn that the men go off to Jerusalem on an annual schedule, leaving the nation vulnerable to attack.

Israel’s enemies attacked modern Israel in 1973 in what became known as the Yom Kippur War. The enemy attacked Israel on the one day of the year when they were most vulnerable, when many Israelites were home and fasting on the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

Moses made his way back down from the mountain, tablets in hand (or pocket, or backpack). When he arrived back at his base camp, his face was radiant, which scared the Israelites. Moses briefed the Israelites on his visit with God and then covered his face with a veil, so as not to distract them from what he was saying.

I need to find an application for us from this chapter. OK, here goes. When I was teaching newly commissioned officers in the Army, we were advised to eliminate anything from the front of the classroom that might distract the attention of the students. This would include clutter on tables or writing on the boards as well as annoying or distracting speech habits. In the case of Moses, he had to cover his radiating face.

Teachers of all kinds need to eliminate anything that might distract the listeners from the message presented. So, before you speak to a group, check your appearance in the mirror, make sure your zipper is fully zipped, that nothing is on your face that doesn’t belong there and police up the front of the room. And don’t be like the teacher who was described as “breaking every rule of public speaking other than falling off the platform.”