Exodus 34

Chapter 34

34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and ^a proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

(a) This refers to the Lord, and not to Moses proclaiming: as ( Exodus 33:19 ).

34:9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; ^b for it [is] a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

(b) Seeing the people are of this nature, the rulers need to call on God that he would always be present with his Spirit.

34:12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a ^c snare in the midst of thee:

(c) If you follow their wickedness, and pollute yourself with their idolatry.

34:13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their ^d groves:

(d) Which pleasant places they chose for their idols.

34:17 Thou shalt make thee no ^e molten gods.

(e) As gold, silver, brass, or anything that is molten: in this is condemned all types idols, no matter what they are made of.

34:20 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 ^f empty.

(f) Without offering something.

34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering ^g at the years end.

(g) Which was in September, when the days got shorter, that is, the end of their calendar year.

34:24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man ^h desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

(h) God promises to defend them and theirs, who obey his commandment.

34:26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not ⁱ seethe a kid in his mothers milk.

(i) See ( Exodus 23:19 ; Deuteronomy 14:21 ).

34:28 And he was there with the LORD ^k 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.

(k) This miracle was to confirm the authority of the law, and should not be followed any more than other miracles.

34:34 But when Moses went in ^m 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.

(m) Which was in the tabernacle of the congregation.