Exodus Chapter 34

At a Glance

  • Exodus 34 marks a decisive pivot in Israel’s covenant history.
  • Moses’ response this time is marked by humility and worship.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Exodus 34 sits as the climactic recasting of the Sinai covenant.
  • - God’s self-revelation: The proclamation of God’s name personifies God’s nature—merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

EXODUS CHAPTER 34

Chapter Overview

Exodus 34 marks a decisive pivot in Israel’s covenant history. After the calf incident, Moses ascends Sinai again to receive a fresh set of tablets. But more than that, God reveals His name in a foundational way: “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.” This is not merely a repetition of the law; it is the redefinition of God’s character disclosed to Moses and, by extension, to Israel. The moral and relational dimensions of God’s nature—mercy, forgiveness, and justice—are foregrounded as the basis for renewed covenant relationship.

Moses’ response this time is marked by humility and worship. He bows and asks for God to go in the midst with Israel as a people “stiffnecked.” The covenant is renewed with explicit stipulations: the people must observe the commandments, drive out the inhabitants, and avoid forming covenants with other nations. The event culminates in a reaffirmation of the covenant and a dramatic promise of marvelous works among the people, confirming Yahweh’s intent to be present with Israel despite their stubbornness. The chapter ends with Moses' face shining after his encounter with God, signaling an embodied witness to divine glory.

Historical & Literary Context

Exodus 34 sits as the climactic recasting of the Sinai covenant. The dramatic revelation of God’s name and attributes reframes the law within the context of divine character. The chapter belongs to a high point in the narrative where God’s self-disclosure becomes the anchor for community identity and ethical life. The incident is part of the broader exodus narrative’s device to show how God’s mercy enables Israel to live in a holy relationship with God. The motif of God’s presence, justice, and mercy recurs throughout the Pentateuch, with this chapter serving as a theological keystone for later covenants and prophecies.

Key Themes

- God’s self-revelation: The proclamation of God’s name personifies God’s nature—merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

- Covenant renewal: A fresh beginning after sin, with clear conditions and divine assurances.

- Holiness and mercy: God’s holiness requires obedience, yet mercy makes renewal possible.

- Witness and transformation: Moses’ shining face as a sign of encounter with God, inviting the people to behold and respond.

- The ethics of exile and conquest: The call to drive out inhabitants and avoid idolatry shapes Israel’s future identity.

Modern Application

Exodus 34 provides a robust framework for contemporary spirituality: God’s character remains the basis for trust in a world of moral ambiguity. The mercy-laden description of God invites believers to ground them in grace while pursuing holiness. It encourages a faith that does not shrink from hard ethical demands but faces them with reliance on God’s sustaining presence. The renewal of the covenant invites communities to recommit to God’s guidelines, recognizing that obedience is a joyful posture of trust rather than a burdensome rule. The radiant Moses, bearing the glow of encounter, challenges modern believers to bear visible marks of God in daily life—integrity, compassion, and steadfast love that points others to God’s presence.

- Exodus 19-24 (covenant at Sinai)

- Exodus 32-33 (refocusing after idolatry; Moses’ intercession)

- Numbers 14 (the wilderness generation’s response to God’s promises)

- Hebrews 8-10 (reframing the law through Christ)

Recommended Personas

- Moses (median, revealer of God’s name)

- Jesus (fulfillment of the law and embodiment of God’s mercy)

- Aaron (contrast in leadership; cautionary)

Chapter Text

1

And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

2

And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.

3

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 that mount.

4

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 the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5

And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

6

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7

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, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

8

And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

9

And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O LORD, let my LORD, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

10

And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

11

Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12

Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

13

But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

14

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

15

Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

16

And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

18

The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

19

All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

20

But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

21

Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

22

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

23

Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.

24

For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

25

Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

26

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

27

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

28

And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

30

And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

31

And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32

And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.

33

And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.

34

But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35

And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

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