Exodus 34
Moses meets with God to replace stone slabs
Then the Existing One told Moses,
“Cut out two stone slabs like the ones you shattered, and I’ll write the same thing on the new ones. In the morning get ready and climb up Mount Sinai. Stand there on the mountain top and face me. Don’t let anyone else come with you or be seen anywhere else on the mountain. Don’t even let your livestock graze at the foot of the mountain while you’re on it.”
So Moses cut out two stone slabs like the first ones, woke up early in the morning, and climbed Mount Sinai with them just like the Existing One had instructed.
God is both kind & just
When Moses called God, the Existing One descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses. The Existing One passed in front of him and said,
“God, The Existing One, is sympathetic and forgiving. He doesn’t get angry easily, and he’s very kind and dependable. He stores up kindness for thousands of people, and he forgives corruption (both rebellion and mistakes). Yet he won’t spare the guilty. He’ll deal with a father’s corruption through his children and grandchildren to the 3rd and 4th generations.”
Moses asks God to accompany Israel
Moses immediately bowed down and exalted God. He said,
“If you favor me, Your Majesty, then please come with us despite our stubbornness. Please pardon our corruption and shortcomings. Take us and possess us as your own.”
God’s alliance with Israel
Then God said,
“Okay, I’ll make an alliance with you. I’ll perform miracles in front of your people like the world has never seen before. Everyone around you will see the Existing One’s doings and be astonished. Pay close attention to the orders I give you today. I’ll drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites right in front of you.
“Don’t make any alliances with the locals at your destination, or else those alliances will become a trap for you. Instead, you should tear down their altars, shatter their sacred monuments, and destroy their Asherahs (the Babylonian-Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness).
“Don’t worship any other god, because the Existing One is jealous (his name is even “Jealous”). If you worship other gods, you might end up making alliances with the locals and they would fornicate with their gods and sacrifice to them. The locals then might invite you to eat the sacrificed food. Your sons might marry some of the local women who fornicate with their gods, causing your sons to also fornicate with their gods. Don’t make any molten gods for yourselves.
“Celebrate the Yeast-Free Feast like I instructed you. Eat yeast-free bread for 7 days at the designated time in the month of Abib (March or April), because that’s when you came out of Egypt.
“Whenever an Israelite has their first child, that child will belong to me. Whenever your cows or sheep give birth, the first male offspring will also belong to me. Whenever a donkey has its first offspring, you’ll need to buy it back from me with a lamb. If you don’t buy it back, you’ll need to break its neck. You’ll need to buy back your first sons too. No one should appear before me empty-handed.
“You should work for 6 days, but on the 7th day you should rest (even if it’s planting season or harvest season).
“Celebrate the Feast of Weeks (as you harvest the first crops during wheat season), and celebrate the Harvest Feast at the turn of the year.
“All your males should appear before King Existing One three times a year. When you do that, I’ll push back the other nations and expand your borders so that they don’t go after your land while you are appearing before me.
“When you sacrifice to me, don’t defile the blood with any yeast products. Also, when you celebrate the Passover Feast, don’t leave the sacrificed food out until morning.
“Take the first crops your land produces and bring them into your God, the Existing One’s house.
“Don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
The Existing One told Moses,
“Write down these words, because they outline the alliance I’ve made with you and Israel.”
Moses stayed on the mountain with the Existing One for 40 days and nights without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote down the 10 words of the alliance on the stone slabs.
Moses’s face shines
As Moses was climbing down Mount Sinai with the 2 slabs, he didn’t realize that the skin on his face was shining because he had been speaking with God. When Aaron and the Israelites saw him, they were scared to come near him. Moses called to them, and Aaron and the other leaders came and talked with him. After they spoke, the rest of the Israelites gathered around and Moses told them to do everything the Existing One had told him on Mount Sinai.
After Moses finished telling them everything, he started wearing a veil over his face, that he would only remove whenever he went to speak with the Existing One. Whenever Moses would meet with God and tell the Israelites about it afterward, the skin on Moses’s face would shine which is why he would always wear a veil over his face unless he was speaking with God.
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