Exodus 34 Continued

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.

Now Yehovah commands once again the keeping of the feast or festival of unleavened bread. He first introduced this command in Exodus 12, when He first commanded them to keep the Passover. In that case, however, they were only to keep the single day of Passover. The feast of unleavened bread was commanded as something they were to do when they entered the land they were promised “throughout your generations,” as He said in Exodus 12:14. Moses gave this command to the people in Exodus 13, that “when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month,” Exodus 13:5. In Exodus 23, He commanded three feasts that they were to keep in the land, when they were to “appear before the Lord GOD,” Exodus 23:17, and unleavened bread was the first of these, Exodus 23:15. Now, the feast of unleavened bread is repeated as a part of the covenant or agreement by which He would bring them into the land. This is not a new command, but had already been commanded them before, yet now it is made a part of this agreement.

As given before, the feast is to last seven days, when only unleavened bread is to be eaten. It is in the month of Abib or Barley Harvest that they are to keep this feast, since that is the month when they exited from Egypt.

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

This command is also repeated from Exodus 13. It was first announced in connection with the Passover, since at that time all the firstborn of the land of Egypt died. In light of this, the LORD claimed all the firstborn for Himself, all who are first out of the womb. This is to include the firstborn of the cattle, both of oxen and of lambs and kids, for the word translated “sheep” can mean both. The King James has “that is male,” although the current Hebrew text reads “as a memorial.” That is because the current Hebrew text reads zawkar, but if it read zawkawr, a difference of a tiny mark on the vowel point in Hebrew, it would read “that is male.” The King James obviously took this as an error in the current text, which it could well be, since Exodus 13:12 clearly says “males.” Again, as we discussed in Exodus 13, to be firstborn was to have the preeminence. The firstborn of people were the ones who would take over from the father as the new patriarch, and the firstborn of the animals were the ones who would be used as the breeding stock. That means the LORD was demanding the very best. This was a command in Exodus 13, but now it is made a part of the agreement under which the Israelites are to enter the land.

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.

While the firstborn animals that were appropriate for sacrifice could be given to Jehovah that way, an unclean animal not appropriate for sacrifice like a he-donkey could not be. Therefore, He commands them to ransom the firstborn of the donkeys by offering a lamb in its place. Redeem is the Hebrew padah, indicating a ransom or a redemption. If the donkey was redeemed, then the owner could keep it. If the owner did not think the donkey was worth redeeming, however, he was not forced to pay a lamb for it. Yet he could not keep it either, nor could he offer such an inappropriate animal as a sacrifice. If it was not a good specimen, then it was to be destroyed by breaking its neck or cutting off its head, and that would fulfill the requirement to devote it to Jehovah. Of course, there was no such option regarding their firstborn sons. They could not murder them, and they could not choose not to redeem them. They were commanded to redeem them in the approved way. This is again a repetition of what was written in Exodus 13:13. There it was simply a command. Here it becomes part of the agreement under which they are to enter the land.

They were never to appear before the face of Jehovah empty. Bullinger says this is one of the emendations of the Sopherim, that group of self-appointed Jewish editors of the Word of God. They took up their pens here to alter the text. Originally, instead of reading “None shall appear before My face empty-handed,” the text read “None shall see My face empty-handed.” This is again a repetition of Exodus 23:15, which already commanded that no Israelite, when he came to worship Jehovah at a feast, was to appear before Him empty-handed. When they came to Jerusalem to worship, they must bring some sort of gift for Jehovah. He does not specify what the gift had to be. It could be a rich gift or a poor one. It could be a burnt offering, a meal offering, or a drink offering. It could cost much or little. But it had to be something. This was a command before. Now it is part of the agreement under which they are entering the land, now that the covenant they had first made with Jehovah had been broken at the golden calf incident.

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

They are only allowed to work six days a week. On the seventh day they must rest. This word for rest is the same word in Genesis 2:2, that tells us that Yahweh rested on the seventh day of creation. The word Sabbath itself comes from this word. This command is to have no exceptions, but even at the busiest times of year, at earing time and harvest, they are to rest on the seventh day. Earing meant plowing in old English. Of course, for a farmer these are the two most crucial, busiest times of year. So no matter what the work was, the obligations, or the need, they were to work six days, and on the seventh day to rest. This enforced what we would call a “weekend,” and it was strict simply so no master could try to get around the rules and make his servants work on the day they were supposed to be able to rest.

Notice that the command for the Sabbath day was to rest. It was not a day of worship. They were not to go to the synagogue or the tabernacle. It was to be a day of rest. No one is “keeping the Sabbath” today by going to church or synagogue on that day. That is a childish idea believed by those who have little Biblical knowledge to support their opinions. Religious activity was simply not what the Sabbath was all about. It was a day of rest, not a day of religious activity.

Notice that this command again was given before in Exodus 23:12, and was a part of the broken covenant given in Exodus 20. Now, however, it is also a part of the new agreement under which the people are entering the land. This agreement, again, is bound on them by Yahweh, and they are not allowed to decide whether to agree to it or not, as they did to the broken covenant. It instead is bound on them as an obligation. They must do these things, or else!

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.

They are also to keep two other feasts or religious festivals along with the festival of unleavened bread. The first is the feast of weeks, literally sevens, for they were to count seven days seven times and then celebrate this feast on the fiftieth day. This festival involved offering the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Then came the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. “End” here means a circuit. It was not really the end of the year, but the seventh month, per the calendar Yehovah gave them to observe. Yet it was the last of the cycle of feasts, which did not begin again until the first month, so that is probably what is meant here. These two feasts were already outlined in Exodus 23:16. More information will be given on them later, including the fact that they are to live in tabernacles or booths during the feast of ingathering. Yet for now, they are not yet in the land, and so they cannot yet celebrate harvest, so this is just an outline. Details will be given later. Yet once more, what was before just a command now is a part of the agreement under which Yehovah is bringing them into the land.

23. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

These three times in the year they are to appear before the Lord GOD. The Lord GOD, the God of Israel is in Hebrew Adon Yehovah Elohim. Both Adon and Yehovah are usually translated Lord in English, but they did not want to make this read “the Lord LORD God,” so they translated it this way.

There is a word not represented here in English that means almost a stroke or drumbeat. We might say it means three times in perfect rhythm they are to appear. They are not to break the rhythm. Notice that to keep this rhythm, they would have to live somewhere near the tabernacle, or later the temple. Once Jerusalem was chosen as the place for appearing, they would have to live within reasonable distance from Jerusalem in order to visit it three times a year. As long as they remained in the land, they could do this. Israel was not such a big country as some are in other places in the world. They could travel by foot three or four days, visiting their friends along the way, and then visit the tabernacle.

This was fine until the captivity took place. Yet once an Israelite was out of the land and out of communication with the temple and priesthood and far from Jerusalem, he simply could not keep the law. Once they were scattered far and wide outside the land, there was simply no way they could keep this law. Some few might have been able to if they lived near enough and were rich enough to have the means to travel a longer distance three times a year. Yet for those further away and not so wealthy, this was simply out of the question. They had no choice but to break this command, and yet the law offered no forgiveness for failing to celebrate these feasts. That put the Jews outside the land in an impossible position. It is the same position every single Jew living is in today. Without Jesus Christ, they can find no path to relationship with God through their law. All it can do is condemn them for breaking it.

This rule was for the males. We might say this means the patriarchs of the family, with perhaps the firstborn joining them. Others could come too, of course. Their women might come, and their younger children. But the requirement was for the men, and they were the ones who had to appear.

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.

What He is telling them is that they may fear that, since this is a set time and all the males were to go up before the LORD, their enemies would get wise to it and decide it would be a good time to attack and take over the land, or at least to steal all their goods. Yet He makes a promise that if they do what He tells them to do, He will protect them in doing it. First of all, He will cast out the nations in their presence. They will not be around to cause problems while they are gone. Then, He will make their borders large. This will keep anyone from being nearby to cause trouble while they are gone. Then, He will keep any man from coveting their land during this time when they will go up to appear before the face of the LORD God in this three-fold rhythm 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.

The word offer here means to slay, or, as Bullinger says, to slay and pour out. They are not to do this with any sacrifice with leaven. They are also not to keep any of the Passover sacrifice leftover until daybreak. This is again a repetition of Exodus 23:18, which already gave this command. Now, however, this becomes part of the agreement under which the people are entering the land.

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.

“First of the firstfruits” is a unique phrase in Exodus. It shows us that the term firstfruits is not an absolute. It is well to remember this, as this passage has a definite bearing on the interpretation of I Corinthians 15 and the firstfruits of those who rise from the dead. Christ is said to be the firstfruits in I Corinthians 15:20, and yet then there is an order of resurrection that are also called the Christ the firstfruits order in I Corinthians 15:22. Well, Christ is the first of the firstfruits, and then those who rise as firstfruits in Him are also the firstfruits. Here, the very first of the firstfruits are the be brought into the temple and presented to Jehovah their Creator or Elohim. Again, the very best is to be given to Him.

To seethe is to boil. This prohibition against boiling a kid in his mother’s milk is still effective in Jewish households today. In order to ensure they keep it in our day, when no one knows what farm one’s milk and one’s meat comes from, they will have one set of cooking vessels used only for milk and another used only for meat. They go beyond what is said here, as they so often do by their traditions.

Again, this verse is almost an exact repeat of Exodus 23:19. There, it was simply a command for them to keep. Here, it is part of the agreement under which they are entering the land.

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.

Here we have this important word covenant again. Here the terms of this new agreement are complete. Moses is to write these words down as a record of these terms. This is the agreement by which they are going to be allowed to go on in Yahweh’s presence and travel with Him and eventually to enter the land with His help. Yahweh says He has cut a covenant with Moses and with Israel regarding these things.

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.

Here we have a summary of Moses’ time on Mount Sinai this time. He was again there forty days and forty nights. He was sustained by Yehovah’s presence, and neither ate food nor drank water that whole time. One could not normally do this, and yet I do not believe he felt the lack, for death had no power over him there in the presence of the source of life.

One of the things Yehovah did while he was there was to write on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. Notice that these are called this here. First of all, we are told that they are the terms of the covenant. They were not ten moral laws for all people at all times. Secondly, they are actually given the name “the ten commandments” here. They are not called that earlier in Exodus 20, but this is certainly a Biblical name, as it appears here. It is interesting that these ten were written again, and not the terms he had just specified for them entering the land. (Although, depending on how we divided them, the terms just given could perhaps add up to ten. If these, and not the commandments from Exodus 20, were the ones written, and were what is called “the ten commandments,” this would indeed be much different than what most people believe about this passage! Yet in Deuteronomy 4:13, the terms Yehovah wrote on the first tables are called “ten commandments,” so this makes it seem as if it was the first terms again written on these tables.) Again, this time these ten terms were no longer a free agreement entered into by two parties as a gentleman’s agreement. Instead, this was now a law bound on the Israelites. They must keep these ten terms now, or they would be cursed. They simply had no choice in the matter.

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.

Bullinger says this is the sixth and last descent in Exodus. He teaches that this portion concludes the six ascents and prepares for the other great event of this ending part of the book: the setting up of the Tabernacle, and the command that none of the work was to be done on the Sabbath.

As Moses comes down from the Mount Sinai, carrying the two tables with the agreement written on them, it seems he does not realize that the skin of his face was shining from having been in the presence of and speaking with the LORD. I believe this is a phenomenon seen elsewhere in Scripture: that those who remain long in His presence start to reflect His glory. For example, consider the beings called cherubim. In Isaiah 6, beings who are described as looking just like the cherubim are called seraphim or “burning ones.” Are these different beings? I would suspect not. If so, why are they only mentioned here, and never elsewhere when the presence of the LORD on His throne in heaven is described? No, I believe these beings are the cherubim, but from standing long in His presence they reflect His glory to the extent that they can be called “burning ones.”

In Ezekiel 28, the past of the wicked being called Satan is described. In Ezekiel 28:14, after he is said to have originally been called the anointed cherub that covereth, as God set him to be, the LORD states of him, “Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” Satan walking up and down probably refers to him carrying out his activities, doing what he was required to do. He did this among the stones of fire, which would seem to indicate that he was a stone of fire himself. If he was a cherub, dwelling in God’s presence, and remained there, he would have burned along with them as a seraph, and so he was one of these stones of fire. Thus with these cherubim we see the same phenomenon as we see with Moses here.

So when Moses comes down from the LORD’s presence, he does not realize that the skin of his face actually radiated the very presence of God.

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.

It seems that Aaron and all the other representatives of Israel were overawed by this. This was such a strange phenomenon it made them afraid, and they did not dare to come near to Moses while he shone in this supernatural manner. This was rather cowardly—after all, it was just Moses, after all. If only their fear would have translated into respect for Moses that lasted, and so they would not have complained and rebelled against him later, as they did! Yet it seems their awe was as temporary as his shining face.

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

It sounds like these leaders had actually fled and gotten out of Moses’ presence! Yet now he calls them, and they obey his call and return to his presence. The rulers here are the nasi, meaning princes or chiefs of the congregation. Congregation is edah, the assembly of Israel’s leaders. They come back into his presence, and he talks 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.

After Moses speaks to the princes or rulers of the congregation, he then speaks to all the representative men, the “sons of Israel,” as they are called in the Hebrew. He gives them as a commandment everything the LORD had spoken. Notice that it is a command, not a proposition. These commands form the basis on which God will accompany them as they go forward to the land promised to their fathers. They are the basis of His ongoing relationship with them.

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

The way this is translated, it makes it sound like Moses wore this veil while he was speaking with them, as if it was to not frighten them, as it had done at first. Yet the passage seems to indicate they got over their fear. It is not in the book of Exodus, but in II Corinthians 3:7 and 13 that we learn the true reason for the veil. We read in II Corinthians 3:7 that “the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:” and in verse thirteen, “And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” This tells us that the veil was so that they could not see the light fading away, not so that they could not see the light. So Moses would finish speaking and then put on the veil so that they could not watch the light fade. How discouraging indeed it might be to see the glory of God’s presence fade so quickly from the face of one who had been dwelling long in it! It is sad indeed how quickly we human beings can forget and lose the glory of that presence once we have stepped out of it. The people were not allowed to see the fading of the glory because of this veil.

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.

Where Moses went in now was into the tent of meeting, not up the mount Sinai. When he thus entered Jehovah’s presence, he took the veil off until he came out. When he came out, he talked with the sons of Israel and passed on to them all he was commanded to say.

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.

All the sons or representatives of Israel saw that Moses’ face shone or was radiant, as he spoke with them, freshly come from the presence of Yahweh. Then when Moses finished speaking with them. he returned the veil to his face or kept putting on the veil. He then kept it in place until he again entered the presence of Yahweh to speak with Him. That way, no one saw the glory fading away. Let us live as the sort of people who ever reflect the glory of dwelling in the presence of our mighty and glorious Lord!