The Lethal Glory and the Gracious Veil Text: Exodus 34:29-35
Introduction: The Terrifying Holiness of God
We live in a sentimental age, an age that has domesticated God. We have turned the consuming fire of Sinai into a decorative fireplace, something that provides a bit of ambiance but poses no real threat. We want a God who is approachable, manageable, and above all, safe. We want a divine grandfather, not a holy Sovereign. But the God of the Bible, the God who is, is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. And when men encounter Him as He truly is, the universal reaction is not a casual high-five, but terror.
When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he did not say, "Wow, what an experience." He said, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips... for my eyes have seen the King, the Yahweh of hosts!" When the Israelites stood at the base of Sinai and heard the voice of God, they begged Moses that God would not speak to them directly, lest they die. And here, in our text, when Moses comes down from that same mountain after forty days in the immediate presence of God, his very face has become a source of dread. The people see him, and they are afraid to come near.
This passage is about the glory of God, a glory so potent, so pure, so utterly holy, that even a second-hand reflection of it is too much for sinful men to bear. This is not the fading, sentimental glow of a Precious Moments figurine. This is a lethal glory. It is the glory of the law, the ministry of condemnation, and it reveals the vast chasm that sin has fixed between a holy God and unholy man. But this passage is also about the grace of God, a grace that provides a covering, a veil, so that fellowship might be possible. It is a story that shows us why we desperately need a better mediator, a better covenant, and a better glory.
The apostle Paul picks up this very account in 2 Corinthians 3 and uses it as his central illustration to contrast the old covenant with the new. To understand this strange scene with Moses and the veil, we must understand it not only in its immediate context but also in the grand sweep of redemptive history. It is a living parable of law and grace, of death and life, of a glory that kills and a glory that gives life.
The Text
Now it happened when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. Then Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them everything that Yahweh had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. Then Moses finished speaking with them and put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and then he would come out and speak to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would return the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.
(Exodus 34:29-35 LSB)
An Unwitting Radiance (v. 29)
We begin with Moses' descent from the mountain.
"Now it happened when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him." (Exodus 34:29)
Moses has been in the presence of God for forty days and forty nights, receiving the law for a second time after the golden calf debacle. He comes down with the two tablets, the "ministration of death," as Paul calls them, written in stone. And he is transfigured. His face shines with a reflected glory. The Hebrew word for "shone" is qaran, which is related to the word for "horn." It suggests rays of light, beams of glory, emanating from his face. He has been so near the furnace of God's holiness that he has begun to glow.
But notice the crucial detail: "Moses did not know." This is the mark of true holiness. Those who are genuinely close to God are not self-conscious about their own spirituality. They are not taking spiritual selfies. Their gaze is fixed on God, not on their own reflection. Moses is not trying to impress anyone; he is simply saturated with the presence of the one he has been speaking with. Self-awareness of one's own glory is the very thing that extinguishes it. The moment you think, "My, I'm being humble," you are not. The moment Moses would have become aware of his shining face and thought to leverage it for his own reputation, the light would have vanished. True glory is un-self-conscious.
This is a profound lesson for us. We are called to behold the glory of God, and in beholding it, we are changed. But the goal is not to cultivate our own little halo. The goal is to be so captivated by the glory of Christ that we forget ourselves entirely. The holiest saints are not those who are constantly checking their spiritual temperature, but those who are so taken up with the majesty of God that they have no time for such navel-gazing.
Fear of a Reflected Glory (v. 30-32)
The reaction of the people is immediate and telling.
"Then Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them everything that Yahweh had spoken to him on Mount Sinai." (Exodus 34:30-32 LSB)
Their reaction is fear. They were afraid to come near him. Why? Because the glory on Moses' face was a visible manifestation of the terrifying holiness of the God who had just given them the law. Remember the context. They had just committed idolatrous, adulterous treason with the golden calf. Three thousand men had been executed. God had threatened not to go with them lest He consume them on the way. They are a congregation of guilty sinners standing before a holy God, and Moses' face is a billboard advertising that holiness.
The law, in its glory, reveals sin. It exposes our inadequacy. It shines a bright, holy light into the dark corners of our hearts and shows us the filth that is there. And for a sinner, that light is terrifying. It is a lethal glory. The law is good and glorious, but to a sinner, it is a ministry of death and condemnation. It shows us the standard we have failed to meet and the punishment we justly deserve. The Israelites were not afraid of Moses; they were afraid of the God whom Moses' face reflected. They were afraid of the law that Moses' hands carried.
Yet, Moses, the mediator, calls to them. He bridges the gap. He calls Aaron and the rulers, and then all the people, and he delivers the commands of God. He is functioning as the go-between, standing in the breach between a holy God and a sinful people.
The Purpose of the Veil (v. 33-35)
This brings us to the veil, and we must be very precise here.
"Then Moses finished speaking with them and put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out... and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would return the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him." (Genesis 34:33-35 LSB)
Now, a common misunderstanding, based on a misreading of Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, is that Moses put the veil on so the Israelites would not see the glory fading. The idea is that he was trying to preserve his authority by hiding the transient nature of his power. But the text in Exodus gives no hint of this. In fact, it says the opposite. He speaks to them, they see the glory, and then he puts on the veil. He puts the veil on because of the glory, not because of its absence.
Why? He wore the veil because his radiance was frightening to them. He was veiling a glory that was lethal to sinners. It was an act of mercy. He was tempering the full blast of that reflected holiness so that they could bear to be around him in their day-to-day lives. He put the veil on, not to encourage their false hopes, but to allay their legitimate fears. The law condemns, and the glory associated with it is a terrifying thing for those who are under its condemnation.
The pattern is this: Moses goes into the tabernacle to meet with God, unveiled. He comes out, his face super-charged with glory. He delivers the word of God to the people, unveiled, so they can see the divine authority behind the words. They see the shining. Then, having delivered the message, he puts the veil back on so he can live among them without terrifying them. The veil was for their sake, a concession to their weakness and sinfulness.
From a Fading Glory to an Abiding One
This is where the apostle Paul provides the divine commentary. He tells us that the glory of the old covenant, represented by the shining on Moses' face, was a real glory. "But if 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..." (2 Cor. 3:7). It was glorious, but it was a glory that was temporary and external.
Paul's point is not that Moses was hiding a fading light, but that the entire system he represented was designed to be temporary, to be made obsolete by a greater glory. The veil, for Paul, becomes a symbol of the spiritual blindness of those who remain under the old covenant. They read the law, but a veil lies over their hearts, preventing them from seeing that the law points to Christ (2 Cor. 3:14-15).
The old covenant was glorious, but it is outshone by the new covenant in the same way a candle is outshone by the sun. The glory of Moses was reflected and temporary. The glory of Christ is inherent and eternal. Moses' face shone; Jesus is the radiance of God's glory (Hebrews 1:3). The law was written on stone; the gospel is written on our hearts by the Spirit. The old covenant brought death; the new covenant brings life.
And here is the magnificent conclusion that Paul draws. Because we are in the new covenant, we approach God differently.
"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18 LSB)
Under the old covenant, the people could not bear to look at the reflected glory, and so it was veiled. Under the new covenant, we are commanded to look steadfastly at the true glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We come with unveiled faces. The veil is removed in Christ. And as we look at Him, as we behold Him in the gospel, we are changed. We do not just reflect the glory; we are transformed into His image. It is not a temporary charge that fades. It is a progressive transformation, "from glory to glory."
The Christian life is a process of ever-increasing glorification that comes from fixing our gaze on Jesus. We become what we behold. If you behold the trivialities of this world, you will become trivial. If you behold bitterness and political outrage, you will become bitter and outraged. But if you behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, you will be transformed into that same image. The goal is not for your face to shine, but for your whole life to shine with the character, the love, the holiness, and the grace of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: Come and Behold Him
The Israelites fled from the glory on Moses' face because it was the glory of the law which condemned them. But we are invited to run toward the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, because it is the glory of grace which saves us. In Christ, the lethal glory of God's holiness has been satisfied. The cross absorbed the full, terrifying blast of God's wrath against our sin, so that we, through faith, can now approach Him not with fear, but with boldness.
The veil is torn, from top to bottom. Access has been granted. We do not need a mediator who covers his face. We have a mediator who reveals His face, and in that face, we see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:6).
So the application is simple, and profound. Look to Christ. Behold Him in His Word. Sing to Him in your worship. Commune with Him at His Table. Fix your eyes on Him. Do not be distracted by lesser glories. Do not be content with a second-hand, reflected, fading experience. Come, with unveiled face, and gaze upon the glory of the Lord. For in that gaze, and only in that gaze, is our transformation, our hope, and our everlasting life.