Commentary - Exodus 34:1-9

Bird's-eye view

We come now to one of the most glorious sections in all of Scripture. The covenant lies in pieces at the bottom of the mountain, shattered by Moses in a righteous fury that mirrored the holy fury of God. The people of Israel, having prostrated themselves before a golden calf, deserve nothing but utter destruction. They broke the covenant before the ink was dry, so to speak. What happens next is not plan B. What happens next is the gospel. God, in His sovereign mercy, takes the initiative to restore what man has utterly ruined. This chapter is not simply about getting a new set of stone tablets. It is about God revealing the very foundation of His relationship with His people, a relationship grounded not in their obedience, but in His character. Here, God proclaims His own name, His own glory, and in doing so, provides the only possible basis for a continued covenant with a stiff-necked people.

Outline

Commentary

Exodus 34:1

Now Yahweh said to Moses, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.”

The initiative for this covenant renewal comes entirely from God. Moses does not petition for a do-over. Yahweh commands it. Notice the division of labor. Moses is to carve the tablets, but God will do the writing. The first tablets were both carved and written by the finger of God (Exod 31:18). Here, there is a human element introduced in the preparation. This is a beautiful picture of grace. God does not erase our responsibility. He calls us to participate in the work of restoration, but the substance, the authoritative Word, comes from Him alone. The words will be the same as before. God does not lower His standard because of Israel's sin. The law remains the law. What has changed is that the giving of this law is now explicitly wrapped in a stunning revelation of grace for lawbreakers.

Exodus 34:2-3

So be prepared by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain.

This is a holy summons. The meeting is set for the morning, a time of new beginnings. Moses is to come alone. The exclusion is absolute, no man, not even an animal. This is not because the people are an inconvenience, but because the holiness of God is a consuming fire. The people have just demonstrated their profound unfitness to draw near. The buffer zone around the mountain is reestablished, reminding everyone that access to God is not a casual thing. It requires a mediator, and it requires the utmost reverence. We must never forget that the grace we are about to see revealed is the grace of a holy, terrifying, and glorious God.

Exodus 34:4

So he carved out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand.

Moses' obedience is immediate and precise. He gets up early. He does exactly as the Lord commanded. This is the heart of faith. When God speaks, His servant acts. There is no negotiation, no hesitation. Moses, the faithful mediator, carries in his hands the blank slate of the covenant, prepared by his own labor, ready to be inscribed by the finger of God.

Exodus 34:5

Then Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him, and He called upon the name of Yahweh.

Here is the central action. God condescends. He comes down to meet man. The cloud is the regular sign of His glorious, veiled presence. And then a curious phrase: He "called upon the name of Yahweh." This is God proclaiming His own name. He is defining Himself for Moses, and for all His people. This is not an introduction, as though Moses did not know His name. This is an unpacking of the meaning of that name. All that follows is the content, the substance, of what it means that He is Yahweh.

Exodus 34:6-7

Then Yahweh passed by in front of him and called out, “Yahweh, Yahweh God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

This is the gospel according to Yahweh. This is the bedrock of our faith. Let us take it piece by piece. He is compassionate and gracious, full of mercy and unmerited favor. He is slow to anger, which the Israelites had just tested to the absolute limit. His patience is not infinite, but it is vast. He is abounding in lovingkindness and truth. This is the great covenant combination of hesed and emet. His love is a loyal, steadfast, covenant-keeping love, and it is grounded in His absolute faithfulness and reality. He keeps this lovingkindness for thousands of generations, and He forgives every kind of sin. This is grace, piled high. But it is not a cheap grace. It is a holy grace. He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God is not morally flexible. He does not sweep sin under the rug. Justice must be done. This is the tension that only the cross of Christ can resolve. At the cross, God demonstrated His infinite lovingkindness by forgiving our sin, and He demonstrated His inflexible justice by punishing that sin in His Son. The visitation of iniquity to the third and fourth generations is not God punishing innocent children. It is a statement of organic, covenantal reality. Sin has consequences that cascade down through families and cultures. A father's rebellion sets a trajectory for his children. God's justice works within the grain of the universe He created.

Exodus 34:8

And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.

What is the only proper response to such a revelation? Worship. Immediate, hasty, prostrate worship. Moses does not argue. He does not ask for clarification. He falls on his face. When God reveals His glory, the man of God is undone. All true theology must terminate in doxology. If your study of God's character does not lead you to your knees, you have not been studying, you have only been reading.

Exodus 34:9

And he said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though they are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own inheritance.”

Out of the worship flows intercession. Moses immediately applies the theology he has just heard. His prayer is a masterpiece of faith. He appeals not to Israel's merit, but to God's grace, "If now I have found favor." He does not hide the people's sin, he confesses it plainly, "they are a stiff-necked people." And on the basis of God's revealed character as a forgiving God who desires to be with His people, he makes his requests. He asks for God's presence ("let the Lord go along in our midst"), God's pardon ("pardon our iniquity and our sin"), and God's possession ("take us as Your own inheritance"). He is asking God to be the very God He just declared Himself to be, on behalf of the very people who do not deserve it. This is the task of every pastor, and indeed, every Christian.

Application

First, we must see that our relationship with God is grounded entirely in His character, not ours. Like Israel, we have broken covenant. We are stiff-necked. Our only hope is that God is who He says He is in verses 6 and 7. Our confidence is not in our ability to keep the law, but in His compassion, grace, and covenant loyalty.

Second, we must hold mercy and justice together. A sentimental gospel that speaks only of God's love and never of His wrath is a false gospel. A harsh legalism that speaks only of God's law and never of His mercy is also a false gospel. The true God, revealed here and supremely at the cross, is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. He does not clear the guilty, He punishes the guilt in Christ.

Finally, our response to this glorious God must be the same as that of Moses. We are called to worship and to intercede. We bow before the majesty of His name, and then on that basis, we pray boldly for His presence and pardon to be upon His stiff-necked people, the church. We ask Him, on the basis of His own grace, to take us as His inheritance, all for His glory.