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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 34:29

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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 knew not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

29. the two tables of the testimony ] as Exo 31:18 a; cf. on Exo 25:16.

shone ] viz. from the reflexion of the Divine glory (Exo 24:16 f.). The Heb. verb is a peculiar one, recurring only vv. 30, 35: it is a denominative from ren, ‘horn,’ in the sense of ray (see Hab 3:4), and means thus, was rayed. Jerome, following Aq., rendered literally in the Vulg. quod cornuta esset; hence the frequent representation of Moses in art with horns rising out of his head. LXX. ; see below.

by reason of ] The marg. is equally possible grammatically; but the context shews that the rend. of the text is right.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29 35 . The shining of Moses’ face when he came down after God’s converse with him on the mountain. The sequel in P to Exo 24:15-18 a, Exo 25:1 to Exo 31:18 a (Di.).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The two tables of testimony – Compare Exo 31:18.

The skin of his face shone – Compare Mat 17:2. The brightness of the Eternal Glory, though Moses had witnessed it only in a modified manner Exo 33:22-23, was so reflected in his face, that Aaron and the people were stricken with awe, and feared to approach him until he gave them words of encouragement.

The word translated shine is closely connected with a word translated horn; and hence, the Latin version and others have rendered the verb to be horned. From this rendering of the word has arisen the popular representation of Moses with horns on his forehead; e. g. in Michaelangelos statue at Rome.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 34:29-35

The skin of his face shone.

Moses transfigured

This was the transfiguration of Moses. Let us consider the narrative as a spiritual parable, and try to read in it some of the conditions and privileges of exalted communion with God. Communion with God is the highest prerogative of spiritual beings. It is the instinctive craving of human souls; it is the supreme privilege and joy of the religious life; it is the inspiration and strength of all great service. God redeems us and saves us by drawing us to Himself. By mysterious voices He solicits us; by irrepressible instincts He impels us; by subtle affinities He holds us; by ineffable satisfactions He makes us feel His nearness and fills us with rest and joy.

I. We are admitted to fellowship with God only through propitiatory sacrifice. Moses builds an altar under the hill, offers sacrifices upon it, and sprinkles the blood thereof before he ascends the holy mount to commune with God. We must seek fellowship with God through the one propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Not only is the sacrifice of Christ the medium through which the forgiving love of God becomes possible; it is the supreme expression of it.

II. We are qualified for our highest intercourse with God by the spiritual grace of our own souls; Moses was qualified for this revelation of the supreme glory of God by his peculiar magnanimity and self-sacrifice. When God admits us to intercourse with Himself, what we see will depend upon our capability of seeing. Only the pure in heart can see God.

III. We are admitted to visions of the higher glory of God only when we seek them for the uses of practical religious duty. If selfishness be a disqualification, so is mere sentiment. A man who seeks God for his own religious gratification merely may see God, but he will not see Gods supreme glory. Our chief reason for desiring to know God must be that we may glorify Him in serving others.

IV. The most spiritual visions of God, the closest communion with God, are to be realized only when we seek Him alone. In our greatest emotions we seek solitude instinctively. Human presence is intolerable to the intensest moods of the soul. No man can be eminent either in holiness or service who does not often ascend to the mountain-top, that he may be alone with God and behold His glory.

V. The supreme revelation of God to which we attain through such fellowship with Him is the revelation of His grace and love. When a man sees this, the glory of God has passed before him.

VI. The revelation of Gods glorious goodness transfigures the man who beholds it. (H. Allon, D. D.)

Unconscious beauty

He wist not that the skin of his face shone. Few and simple as these words are, there could be none grander written to the memory of a hero. The noblest and loftiest character is assuredly that of the man who is so absorbed in the Divine nature of his calling, and so conscious of the need of those for whom he labours, that he becomes forgetful of the beauty in his character which others recognize, and almost unconscious that he is himself the worker.

I. There are many unconscious believers and workers in the world still, who may gather helpful thoughts from this fact concerning Moses. Much time and ability has been devoted to discussing the question of Christian assurance. To say that if we do not feel that we are saved, we are not saved, is to lose sight of what salvation really means. It is nowhere stated in Scripture that an assurance of that salvation which is a gradual matter, a day-by-day struggle and deliverance, is either universal or necessary. God may think it best that some of us should not have assurance, as on that great day He kept Moses unconscious that the skin of his face shone.

II. Perhaps some of us may feel that there were moments of such bright and hopeful experience once, but they are past now, and that seems to us the saddest thought of all. Still we need not despair. We should go back as Moses did to the mount where God had spoken to him, to the source of the old enthusiasm and the former faith. If we go back and stand face to face with the crucified Christ, our life will glow anew with the radiance of His love, even though we ourselves are unconscious of it.

III. This holds good also regarding our work for God. Many a splendid silent work is done on earth, and the doer is perhaps unconscious of it, and may remain unconscious till the great day of the Lord shall reveal it. (T. T. Shore, M. A.)

Moses face shining: a picture of true glory

1. Man has an instinct for glory.

2. Man has sadly perverted this instinct.

3. The Bible rightly directs it.

I. The true glory of man involves fellowship with the Eternal. The human character is formed on the principle of imitation. To get a perfect character implies–

1. The existence of a perfect model.

2. The love of a perfect model.

3. The knowledge of a perfect model.

II. The true glory of man has an external manifestation.

1. True glory will show itself-in the face of our person.

2. Language.

3. Life.

III. True glory is never self-conscious. Moses wist not. There are several things that necessitate self-obliviousness in a truly great soul.

1. His standard of judgment.

2. His circle of life. He who stands before God feels his nothingness.

3. His spirit of life. Love is a passion that drowns the lover in the loved. I live, yet not!.

IV. True glory will command the reverence of society.

1. The law of conscience will ensure universal respect for it.

2. The law of guilt will ensure trembling homage for it. (Homilist.)

The shining face

I. The shining face the result of his long and close communion with God. The heavenly light within will shine out.

II. The shining face was beheld by the people, The good mans walk and conversation are known of all.

III. The shining face awed all who beheld it. The consciousness of sin makes the wicked fear pious friends, whose presence rebukes them.

IV. Moses knew not that his face shone. The more grace we have the less self-consciousness. The more good others see in us, the less do we see ourselves. Application:

1. If you cannot do anything else for God, you can exhibit a shining face.

2. Do not be discouraged because you are not conscious of any good influence you exert. (J. L. Elderdice.)

Communion with God

I. The distinguishing characteristics of communion with God.

1. It is mediatory.

2. It is individual.

3. It is protracted.

4. It is self-denying.

II. The irradiating power of communion with God.

1. Its manifestation.

2. Its unconsciousness.

3. Its effect.

(1) Awe-inspiring.

(2) Heart-attracting. (T. Baron.)

The Divine glory and its effects

We learn here three things with regard to the beauty of a sanctified character.

I. The nature of this beauty,–it is that which shines.

1. Its self-manifestation may be often a passive thing. It was Moses face that was the index of his mood at the time,–not his tongue nor his hands. So with the child of God; the beauty that bathes him is matter that exists independent of any definite words spoken, or any outward deeds done. The beauty of the believer is the beauty of joy; and joy does not always need speech to express itself, or the word to others, I am glad.

2. Then, too, we learn that spiritual beauty is often an unwitnessed thing. It is by no means conditioned by the position a man occupies, or the numbers that are there to see. For the glory on Moses face was not brought there just that others might watch and, admire. His features would have glowed all the same, had there been no one to watch and to marvel in all the plain; and heavens own light would have glanced and flickered from his face among the bare dead sands and unconscious stones where he trod, making the solitude around him luminous. So again with the child of God. His shining does not need the stimulus of spectators.

II. The secret of this beauty. Communion with God,–that is the source it must spring from, lending sanctity to the character, and beauty to the very face. To see Gods face is to, shine; to keep seeing it is to keep shining. It is thus that the marvel of the story is repeated, and Gods praying saints come forth from this privacy with their faces aglow; and the dying grow luminous on their beds, till the watchers wonder. Why, where is there brightness like the brightness of heaven? They are all lustrous there! Uncover yourselves therefore to the light; keep yourselves up where the light is shining. The struggle will be to do that, and will be over when you have done it. So and so only will you shine yourselves. The manner of this shining is reflection and the secret of it is communion with God.

III. The characteristic by which it is marked. That characteristic is unconsciousness. Moses, we are told, wist not that his face shone. It is always most real when it radiates unawares. Is it not the case that many an act which would otherwise have affected us favourably, attracted our admiration, won our esteem, is shorn of its grace and becomes worthless or worse for us, just because vitiated by self-consciousness? For instance, I may be glad to receive a kindness; but if the man who professes to show it me betrays so plainly that he thinks it a kindness, and imposes a debt on myself while he does it, then I refuse to have the favour at his hands, or I grudge the necessity that compels me. Or I may feel that I stand in need of forgiveness; but if the brother at whose door I am suing for it makes it clear, while he gives me his hand, that he counts his act a magnanimous one, his forgiveness is emptied of its grace. Why, there are books one could point to, as well as people, in whose case the principle holds true. In language and in sentiment they are otherwise unexceptional. They treat of moral and religious truth with a freshness of view and a beauty of utterance which in themselves would arrest and stimulate. But you cannot help feeling throughout them the presence of an evil underflavour the while–the taint of the writers self-consciousness in it all, that maims and defiles his message–the traces of a spiritual ostentation through the whole, that makes you recognize while you read that the question is being asked you–not, What think ye of the truth merely? but, What think ye of me who am saying it? Nor is this unconsciousness without its directer proofs. Two at least will invariably be found with it–appreciation of others, depreciation of self. Nor is the reason of all this far to seek. This unconsciousness of grace that we speak of, issuing not only in appreciation of others, but in depreciation of self, may be accounted for by converse with a high ideal. For the greater an artists success, the greater his sense of imperfection. The more that he strives to attain, the further will his standard recede from him, the more unsatisfactory will his attainments appear in the light of it. What, then, must the ease be when the standard is an infinite one, and the mark we reach forth to is the perfection of a God! (W. A. Gray.)

The element of unconsciousness in character

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 29. The skin of his face shone] karan, was horned: having been long in familiar intercourse with his Maker, his flesh, as well as his soul, was penetrated with the effulgence of the Divine glory, and his looks expressed the light and life which dwelt within. Probably Moses appeared now as he did when, in our Lord’s transfiguration, he was seen with Elijah on the mount, Mt 17:2-3. As the original word karan signifies to shine out, to dart forth, as horns on the head of an animal, or rays of light reflected from a polished surface, we may suppose that the heavenly glory which filled the soul of this holy man darted out from his face in coruscations, in that manner in which light is generally represented. The Vulgate renders the passage, et ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua, “and he did not know that his face was horned;” which version, misunderstood, has induced painters in general to represent Moses with two very large horns, one proceeding from each temple. But we might naturally ask, while they were indulging themselves in such fancies, why only two horns? for it is very likely that there were hundreds of these radiations, proceeding at once from the face of Moses. It was no doubt from this very circumstance that almost all the nations of the world who have heard of this transaction, have agreed in representing those men to whom they attributed extraordinary sanctity, and whom they supposed to have had familiar intercourse with the Deity, with a lucid nimbus or glory round their heads. This has prevailed both in the east and in the west; not only the Greek and Roman saints, or eminent persons, are thus represented, but those also among the Mohammedans, Hindoos, and Chinese.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Quest. Why now, and not when he came down from God before?

Answ.

1. Because now he obtained what he did not before, to wit, a glimpse of the Divine glory, which, though but very transient, left its print upon his face.

2. Now it was more necessary than before, to procure the greater honour to Moses, and to the law, 2Co 3:7,8,11, because of the late horrid Violation and contempt of them, which the Israelites had fallen into.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

29. Moses wist not that the skin ofhis face shone while he talked with himIt was an intimation ofthe exalted presence into which he had been admitted and of the gloryhe had witnessed (2Co 3:18);and in that view, it was a badge of his high office as the ambassadorof God. No testimonial needed to be produced. He bore his credentialson his very face; and whether this extraordinary effulgence was apermanent or merely temporary distinction, it cannot be doubted thatthis reflected glory was given him as an honor before all the people.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And it came to pass, when Moses came down Mount Sinai,…. Which was on the day of atonement, according to Jarchi, that is, the tenth of Tisri, or September; and so the Jewish chronologers q fix his descent on this day:

with the two tables of testimony in Moses’s hand; the two tables he carried up, on which God had wrote the law, called “the testimony”, being a testification and declaration of his will to the children of Israel:

when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone, while he talked with him: the Targum of Jonathan is,

“Moses knew not that the splendour of the form of his face was become illustrious, which he had from the brightness of the glory of the Shechinah of the Lord, at the time he talked with him.”

And this the apostle calls “the glory of his countenance”, 2Co 3:7 the glory of the Lord as it passed before him, when in the cleft of the rock, and that degree of it he was admitted to the sight of, while conversing with God, during his stay on the mount forty days and forty nights, left a shining glory on his countenance; which while he was with God he could not be at all sensible of, the glory of God so infinitely surpassing that; and when he came down the mount, as he could not see his own face without a glass, so though the rays of light and glory that darted from his face were so bright and strong, that they might have been observed by him, yet his mind was so intent on what he had seen and heard, that he took no notice of them. The Vulgate Latin version renders it very wrongly, “that his face was horned”, which has given occasion to painters to represent him in a ridiculous manner, as having horns coming out of his forehead; though the word has the signification of an horn, and the meaning of that version, as of others, may only be, that the skin of his face “darted out rays” r like horns, such as the rays of the sun appear to be like to the eye, see Hab 3:4 hence Jupiter Ammon, the same with the sun, is described as having horns s; and so Bacchus, who is supposed to be the same with Moses, is represented as having a horned face t. Now this glory was left on the countenance of Moses, to show that he had had communion with God, and that the law he brought with him was from him; and to signify the glory of it, and to command awe and reverence, and make men afraid to break it.

q Seder Olam Rabba, c. 6. p. 19. r “radios ejacularetur”, Tigurine version; “in modum cornu radiaret”, Munster, Fagius, “[vel] rediasset”, Vatablus; “splendere instar cornu”, Drusius; so Karnon * in the Arabic language signifies the rays of the sun. * Golius, col. 1896. Castel. col. 3455. s Vid. Diodor. Sicul. l. 3. p. 201. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 21. t Diodor. Sicul. l. 4. p. 212. so Orpheus calls Bacchus,

, Hymn. p. 126. and Horace ascribes to him, “cornu decorum”, Carmin. l. 2. Ode 19.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verses 29-35:

Israel was patient during Moses’ second stay of 40 days on Sinai. They did not turn away again to idolatry.

Moses’ meeting with Jehovah on Sinai had a profound effect upon his outward appearance, although he was unaware of this until he came down from the mountain.

“Shone,” qaran is from the root word for “horn.” In one form, the word means “to have horns.” In another form it means “to emit rays.” The Vulgate mistakenly translates this word as “horn,” giving rise to the tradition that pictures Moses as having horns when he brought the tablets of the Law down from Sinai. Paul confirms that the accurate meaning is, “to shine, to emit rays of light,” see 2Co 3:13, 14.

An accurate rendering: “(Moses) was unaware that the skin of his face shined with rays of light by reason of his speaking with Jehovah.”

This teaches that one who is in God’s presence, truly focusing upon His will, may be unaware of the outward reflection of God’s character in his life and the effect this has on others. There is no boasting, “Look how my face shines with God’s glory because I have had an experience with Him!”

Aaron and Israel’s rulers were filled with fear at the glory which shined from Moses’ face. The text implies that they shrank from his presence. Moses called out to them, and they came near to hear him.

Moses put a veil over his face as he spoke to Israel and gave them the commandments God had written on the stone tablets. But when he went into the “tent” where he met with Jehovah, Moses removed this veil.

Paul explains the significance of this event, 2Co 3:13, 14.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

29. And it came to pass when Moses came down Another remarkable honor given to the Law is here narrated, viz., that the brightness of the heavenly glory appeared in the face of Moses; for it is said that his face gave forth rays, or was irradiated. The word is derived from קרן keren, a horn; and therefore it is probable that rays shone forth from his face, which rendered it luminous; and this effulgence God shed upon him, whilst He was speaking to him in the mount. It is not certain what was the reason why Moses himself was ignorant that he was thus illumined by God, except that it seems probable that it was concealed from him for a short time, in order that he might approach the people with more freedom, and thus that the miracle might be more evident from close inspection. When it is said afterwards, that Aaron and the children of Israel were so alarmed at the brightness, that “they were afraid to come nigh him,” I do not understand it, as if they fled from him immediately; for, since they were recalled by his voice, undoubtedly they had not seen the rays from a distance, but when they were in the act of receiving him, and he, on his part, delivering to them the commands of God. Therefore, what follows soon afterwards, that, when he had done speaking, he covered his face with a vail, (389) I refer to his first address, which He was obliged to break off on account of the departure or flight of the people, so that the meaning is, when He knew the cause of their alarm, He left off speaking, and covered his face with a vail; for he could not have known the reason of their flying except by inquiry. Some, in order to avoid the difficulty, separate the second clause from the first, and transpose their order; but this exposition appears to me to be forced. It seems, however, in my opinion, to be perfectly consistent that Moses, after he saw them departing in consternation, ceased from speaking, because they did not listen to him, and, when he discovered the reason, put on the vail. Hence arises a question, viz., How Moses could have borne the brightness of God’s glory, whilst the people could not bear the rays which shone from his face? But this is easily answered: that they were branded with this mark of disgrace, in order that they might confess how far by their ingratitude they had departed from God, since they were terrified at the sight of this servant. They were, therefore, humbled by this difference between them, that, whilst Moses securely advanced to them from his conference with God, although he bore upon him the indications of God’s terrible power, they, in fear and astonishment, recoiled from the sight of a mortal man.

After Paul has shewn the genuine object of this brightness, viz., that the Law should be glorious, he proceeds further, and shews that it was a presage of the future blindness which awaited the Jews. (2Co 3:13.) He begins, therefore, by saying, that although the Law was only a dead letter, and the ministration of death, yet it was graced with its own peculiar glory; and then adds what is accidental, that there was a vail before the face of Moses, because it would be the case that the Jews would not be able to see what is the main thing in the Law, nor to pay attention to its true end; and so it actually is, that since the coming of Christ, their senses have been blinded, and the vail is upon them, until Moses shall be (390) turned by them to Christ, who is the soul of the Law. But, since now in the Gospel God presents Himself with open face, we must take care that the prince of this world does not darken our minds, but rather that we may be transformed from glory to glory.

(389) “Till Moses had done speaking with them, he put,” etc. — A. V. Rosenmuller translates it with C. and the LXX., “and, when,” etc. “We need not (says Willet) with Oleaster to transpose the words, ‘he put a vail upon his face, and so finished to speak unto the people;’ but either we may read with Junius, ’ While he had finished to speak unto the people, he put a vail:’ or rather to read it in the praeter-pluperfect tense, with the Genevan version, ‘So Moses made an end of communing with them, and he had put a covering upon his face.’”

(390) So C. translates the words in his Comment. on 2Co 3:16, ”and when he (i.e., Moses,) shall have turned to the Lord,” and thus defends it: “This passage has hitherto been badly rendered, for both Greek and Latin writers have thought that the word Israel was to be understoon, whereas Paul is speaking of Moses. he had said that a vial is upon the hearts of the Jews when Moses is read. He immediately adds, As soon as he will have turned to the Lord, the vial will be taken away. Who does not that this is said of Moses, that is, of the Law? For as Christ is the end of it, ( Rom 10:4,) to which it ought to be referred, it was turned away in another direction, when the Jews shut out Christ from it.” Calvin Society edition, vol. 2, p. 183. Camerarius, in Poole, remarks on the difficulty of the passage, arising from the fact that the verb ἐπιστρέψὟ may either be the third person singular subjunctive active, or the second person singular of the first future middle; but he concludes, that “it seems somewhat harsh to apply it to Moses.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 34:29-35

THE GLORY OF MAN

The glory of man is harmony with his Maker, likeness to his Maker, consecration to the service of his Maker, and the attestation of his Makers approval in his character and life. In this sense Moses was glorified. In this, and also in other and sublimer senses, was the Son of Man glorified (John 17) Moses glory was external as well as moral, but he belonged to an external dispensation. It is the privilege of every Christian to have this glory, not in the mere lustre of the face, but in the moral and influential sphere of the heart and life (Joh. 17:22-23; Col. 1:27). Notice

I. That this glory was the result of communion with God. For forty days and forty nights Moses had dwelt in the secret place of the Most High and under the shadow of the Almighty. He who would know what glory is must go where that glory is to be obtained. Man usually seeks glory elsewhere; on gory battle-fields, in the arena of political strife, on the broad plains of literature, science, and art. Indeed, in these spheres Moses had whereof to glory. He occupied a high rank among warriors and statesmen and literati; but if we could question him about these matters he would count all these things loss, and tell us that his glory consisted in the manifestation of his Makers favour when on the holy mount. If man would now be glorified, he must approach with boldness the throne of grace, and then he will hear Christ say with reference to him and his fellow-worshippers, The glory thou gavest Me I have given them.

II. That this glory was open to the inspection of others. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold the skin of his face shone. And so now. Not in the same literal way of course, but in a way no less real. One of the great features of Christianity is its publicity. None of its great events were done in a corner. Even the transcendent miracle of the transfiguration was before witnesses. So with Christian life all through the ages. It derives its glory in secret, but it exhibits its glory openly. The Christian is a city set on a hill, a light shining in a dark place. This glory will exhibit itself in the appearance, speech, action of those in whose heart Christ is formed the hope of glory. And that glory, unlike Moses, as we shall see, shines brighter and brighter to the perfect day.

III. That this glory had a due effect on its beholders. What could it mean? It might signify the coming glory which should consume them for their sins. Was it a mute declaration that God had rejected the intercession of the mediator and was coming in flaming fire to have vengeance upon them? They were afraid. They waited. No fire fell. They were assured. Whereupon they talked with Moses.

1. The glory of a holy Christian life will have its effect upon the wicked. It will arouse conscience. Its awful contrast with the smouldering embers of an ungodly life may perhaps arouse the breath of prayer to fan them into a divine flame.
2. The glory of a holy Christian life will have its effect upon the good. It will encourage the feeble by an exhibition of the grand possibilities of piety. It will stimulate the strong to exhibit their glory more and more.

IV. That while this glory was manifest to all beholders, its subject was unaware of its existence. Moses wist not that his face shone. Self-consciousness is fatal to a glory that is more than tinsel or varnish, at all times and everywhere. It is the one thing against which the Christian should especially guard himself. There are certain facts of which it is necessary that he should be conscious. He should be conscious that he is born of God, that he loves Christ, that he is growing in grace, and that he has a hope of heaven. Of all else of the virtues and graces that flow therefrom, of past achievements, of present attainments, he should be forgetful.

1. Moses had no time to think about it. While it was transfiguring him he was in communion with God. When he ceased communion he was about Gods work.
2. Moses had no inclination to think about it. His ambition and desires were in quite a contrary direction. His one desire was to serve God and guide the people to the Promised Land.
3. He had no warrant to think about it. It was not a consequence of his own services, or virtue, or work. It was the manifestation of the grace of God.

V. That this glory being derived was not self-sustaining. And when (not as A. V. till, in conformity with the fact that Aaron, &c., beheld the glory andwith Exo. 34:35, and LXX. Vulg. Targums and most versions) Moses had done speaking he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord he took the vail off. See 2Co. 3:13-16. (See Alford, in loco). Moses placed a vail on his face in order that the sons of Israel might not look on the termination of the transitory. He had to visit the Lord to renew that glory. It was like the sacred fire which the vestal virgins were to feed continually.

The Christian can only keep up the lustre of his holiness by continually deriving fresh supplies from its fontal source. His life can only be kept fresh, beautiful, and glorious by always being near the Lord of his life.

Application

1. Have you this glory? All other glories are but tinsel in comparison with it. All other glories fade both in themselves and in the recollection of the beholders. This is true glory, eternal glory.
2. This glory is obtainable through Him who is the brightness of Gods glory and the express image of His person, and by fellowship with Him we shall walk in its light here, and afterwards appear with Him in glory.J. W. Burn.

ILLUSTRATIONS

BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON

Law-Lights! Exo. 34:1-35. Pressense says, that whatever opinions men may hold as to the integrity of that primitive witness, all must own that it contains pages in which one beholds, as it were, the reflection of the lustre which caused Mosess face to shine when he held converse with God. It has ever been the pious mind which has through the eyes beheld the chain of revelation and the long series of Divine manifestations gradually unwind themselves. Just as they that watch for the morning gaze out from the height of the tower, longing with inexpressible desire for the approach of dawn; so does religious consciousness cast glances of fire upon the horizon as she looks out for the Divine Sunrise. The whole of the Old Testament pants and throbs with this Divine yearning, and it also shows us the finger of God writing in the heart of man the great preparation for the Gospel. The angels ever

Draw strength from gazing on its glance,
Though none its meaning fathom may;
The Words unwithered countenance
Is bright as at Mount Sinais day.

Gothe.

Sunset-Reflection! Exo. 34:29.

(1.) Looking up into the bright blue sky on a clear summer day, we see far off great masses of white fleecy clouds, piled up against the sky like the snow mountains in Switzerland. We see them sailing quietly and gracefully across the dark blue heavens, bright with the dazzling effulgence of the monarch of the day.
(2.) And at sunset we may see the mighty clouds, kissed by the warm effulgence of the sovereign sun ere he sets behind the western hills, hang around in all their congregated hues of beauty, like the pillars of some grand tabernacle. Even the sky, illuminated to its centre, has caught the radiance, and glows intensely, changing its sapphire majesty to gold.
(3.) Where do the clouds and sky borrow their splendour? From the suns face. And so Moses, from communion with God, caught the reflection of His glorious face. And just as the sun shines on the clouds in the sky and makes them beautiful; and just as God shone on the face of Moses and made it bright; so, by intercourse with Jesusby beholding His facewe are changed into the same image; our souls are made to reflect the brightness of His face.

Sunlight seeking hidden shadow, touchd
The green leaves all a-tremble with gold light.

Massey.

Soul-Excellence! Exo. 34:29. An eminent writer saysTrue Christian excellence shines naturally like the sun, nut for the sake of effect, but because it cannot help shining. It was so with the face of Moses. But whenever a Christian grace becomes, so to speak, self-conscious, it loses its charm. It is like an Alpine flower brought from the lonely mountain peak, where it blushed unseen, and planted in the public garden, where it loses its beauty and fragrance, becoming a mere weed. You cannot handle a butterflys wing without rubbing off its delicate mealy dust, or a ripe grape without destroying the rich purple bloom upon it. And so you cannot handle admiringly your own Christian virtue without impairing its tender loveliness.

Beware of too sublime a sense
Of your own worth and consequence.

If thou wouldst keep thy garments white and holy,
Walk humbly with thy God.

Cowper.

Fellowship-Fruits! Exo. 34:29-35.

(1.) For forty days successively, the great Jewish legislator was concealed on the summit of Mount Sinai, within the thick darkness by which the glory of Jehovah was veiled from the less-favoured eyes of the multitude. In this prophetic seclusion, separated from the world, his mind took deeply and strongly the impress of heaven. By communion with God his soul was saturated with the light of His holiness. His countenance by a spiritual affinity caught the celestial radiance and reflected it with dazzling brightness. On his descent from the mount, this splendour from the Divine Presence continued to shine on his face, that Aaron beheld it while he talked with him, and all the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh.

(2.) Brown says his face was radiant, and dispersing beams like many horns or cones about his head; which is also consonant unto the original signification. Our Saviour and the Virgin Mary are commonly painted with scintillations or radiant halos about their head, which by the French are designated the glory. In some of the ancient Bibles, Moses is described with horns. The same description we find on a silver medal, i.e., upon one side Moses horned, and on the reverse side the commandment against sculptured images. The believers walk and conversation should be thus encircled with horns of glory, rays of the beauties of holiness.

Neer let the glory from my soul remove,
Till perfect with Thy ransomed flock above,
I cease to sin, but never cease to love.

Soul-Shekinah! Exo. 34:30-35.

(1.) In our atmosphere we have noticed the lower strata of clouds have a dark colour, for to them belong the smoke, and the steam, and the fogs, and the malaria, and the earthly exhalations. Above them are those which have left behind much of the earthly exhalations, but which are still not of perfect brightness and hue. But far above them, through the dry air of summer, may be seen other clouds beautiful in array, the white of their drapery pure, having left behind the impurities of earth, and having drawn nearer to the sunlight.
(2.) Here we have a picture of Israel, of Aaron and the elders, and of Moses. The Israelites were like the earth-clouds, with sombre faces dulled. Aaron and the elders were nearer God and so were brighter. But Moses was like the far-up cloud of silver purity, his countenance caught the bright perfections of God in the clear blue scene of communion. He knew it not, was as unconscious as the snow white vapour-vail; yet his face shone.
(3.) There are souls whose lives, spent amid the fogs and malaria and defiling exhalations of worldliness, are dark and ugly. Then there are others whose lives are higher up in the region of morality and so are less dense and repulsive, but still not clear and bright. And there are those who, living far above amid the sapphire-sheen of Gods infinite love, have lives all beautifulcomely with the comeliness which the Sun of Righteousness sheds upon them.

To whose white robes the gleam of bliss is given;
And by the breath of mercy made to roll
Right onward to the golden gates of heaven,
Where to the eye of faith, they peaceful lie,
And tell to man his glorious destiny.

Wilson.

Moral-Transfiguration! Exo. 34:30. (l.) Like the great Jewish lawgiver, the soul that is familiar with God in meditation and prayer cannot fail to contract resemblance to Himcannot fail to catch a portion of His purity and greatness. When our Saviour prayed and held intercourse with His Father on the mount, His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. In like manner every believer on the mount of prayer, during his hearts intercourse with God, is spiritually transfigured.

(2.) It has been beautifully remarked that every face, according as it is more or less turned towards our Sun, must reflect a portion of His brightness. When Arthur returned from church there was a serene happiness expressed in his manner, that strikingly contrasted with the peevish restlessness and fretfulness of those whose thoughts bad not risen above earth. Lina thought that she had never seen her brothers eyes so bright, or his manner more full of the sweet light of courtesy to all around.

As though an angel in his upward flight
Had left his mantle floating in mid-air.

Baillie.

Legal Fears! Exo. 34:30. Contrast the fears of the Israelites at Horeb, as they saw the shining face of Moses, with the joys of the disciples on Hermon as they beheld the countenance of the Mediator shine as the sun. Then the disciples of Moses were reluctant to draw near; but now the disciples of the Mediator exult in their nearness, It is good for us to be here. As Krummacher says, Every glance, every play of look, every word, every majestic act, was radiant with grace and only grace. Streams of peace flowed into the apostles hearts. Sweet and sabbatic rest was breathed around them. Every ray of His countenance that fell upon them was the transporting smile of a God. Here they would gladly have made tabernacles and remainedfor ever remained in this beatific irradiation of the Only-Begotten, full of grace.

Here let us holy tabernacles build,

That we may ever stay

In silent trance, with heavenly visions filled,

Joy that shall neer decay.

Self-Consciousness! Exo. 34:31.

(1.) Character!A beautiful woman who knows that she is beautiful, and prides herself upon its possession, and parades her charms before the world for its admiration and applause, gives evidence of her self-consciousness by a thousand vain and artful ways, studied in order to attract attention. Alas! This is but too common with Christian souls. They know too well that their lives reflect the glory of God. They embrace every opportunity of exhibiting the radiance. They are proud of their spotless character and blameless conduct.

(2.) Consequence!The transparent film of collodion on the photographers plate becomes instantly blackened and unfit for his purpose when placed in the light. And so there are graces so delicate and sensitive in the Christian soul that they are rendered opaque and useless for their object when regarded in the light of self-consciousness. It perverts the motiveslowers the aimscorrupts the affections. And Satan, as has been well remarked, takes full advantage of such self-complacency to tempt us to a grievous fall. There is on earth

A host of prides, some better and some worse,
But of all prides, since Lucifers attaint,
The proudest swells a self-sufficient saint.

Hood.

Vail-Symbolism! Exo. 34:33.

(1.) Type!In 2Co. 3:7-18, Paul says that it typified the blindness of the Jewish mind. The hardness of their hearts brought a vail over their spiritual sight, so that they could not look beyond the letter. They saw the tables of stone, and beheld the letters written upon them; but they could not behold the Divine glory in the face of Moses.

(2.) Token!On the one hand it was a token that under the law man cannot see the face of God and live; and on the other that under the Gospel the natural man cannot behold the glory of God as it is in the face of His Son Jesus Christthe only Mediator between God and man.

(3.) Testimony!It spoke eloquently of the Divine glory in the lawof the spiritual lessons of the moral beauty and effulgence vailed in the Pentateuch from ordinary gaze. Aaron and the rulers might draw nigh and behold; but the giddy world-throng could not perceive.

This is the mount where Christs disciples see
The glory of Incarnate Deity;
Tis here they find it good indeed to be,

And view His face.

Elliott.

Renewed Reflection! Exo. 34:35.

(1.) It has been supposed by some that the vail was put on by Moses after he had delivered the message from God, in order to hide the passing away of the brightness, which he retained on first coming forth from the Divine Presence. There is, however, no just reason for this supposition. Such a proceeding appears very unworthy of Moses, and entirely opposed to his character. He assumed the vail each time he came out from holding communion with God, because each time his face again reflected the glory of the Lords face. The vail was thus put on, in order that the people might not shrink from his presence.
(2.) When our earth turns away its face from holding communion with the sun, then the reflected brightness passes away from its features, and night reigns. No sooner does it again turn towards this dark worlds light, than again her countenance is illumined with the reflection of the suns glory. But again the face is withdrawn by the earths diurnal motion, and the glory fades. Even so, whenever Moses was with God, he came forthhis face resplendent with the bright effulgence; only to lose it, and again to have it restored.

Welcome, dawn that never dies,

Day that needs no stars nor sun,

Where no tear-mists ever rise,

Hiding Thee, Eternal One.

Modestys Vail! Exo. 34:35. Macmillan says a true Christian does not parade his excellencies before the eyes of his fellow-creatures. He covers them with the softening vail of modesty, as Moses covered his shining face with a vail in his intercourse with Israel. The Christian, as the poet rhymes, does good by stealth, and blushes to find it fame. He prefers the shade of retirement to the theatre of display. In short, he does not attest himself in anything that he says or does, but retires behind the vail of modesty, and shows that he is animated by the same mind which was in Christ Jesusthat he has learned of Him who is meek and lowly in heart.

Scarcely revealing,
Scarcely concealing,

Beings sweet mystery

Smiles from the sod:

While on each leaf
Is written this brief

But beautiful history,

We are of God.

Butler.

Spiritual Assimilation! Exo. 34:35. Just as those who live at a royal court acquire courtly manners, and those who associate with refined and educated people acquire refinement insensibly; so those who live by faith in the presence of God, and as it were in the court of heaven, inevitably acquire something of a heavenly tone and spiritual elevation. As Macmillan says, Communion with light imparts light; fellowship with greatness creates greatness; contact with the spiritual produces spirituality. The apostle represents the transforming influence of the contemplative study of the Divine character when he says in allusion to the transfiguration of Moses, We all, with unvailed face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

From glory unto glory! O marvels of the word!
With open face beholding the glory of the Lord,
We, even we (O wondrous grace!) are changed into the same,
The image of our Saviour, to glorify His name.Havergal.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

THE DESCENT OF MOSES FROM MOUNT SINAI WITH THE SECOND TABLES.

(29) The skin of his face shone.That an actual physical phenomenon is intended appears from the entire narrative, as well as from St. Pauls comment upon it in 2Co. 3:7-18. According to some commentators, a radiance like that here described was a part of mans original heritage, a feature of that image of God wherein he was created (Gen. 1:27). The gift was forfeited by the fall, and will not be restored generally until the time of the restitution of all things. But meanwhile, from time to time, it pleases God to restore to certain of His saints the physical glory, which is the symbol of internal purity and holiness, as to Moses on this occasion and afterwards to Elijah on the mount of transfiguration (Luk. 9:31), and to St. Stephen when he pleaded before the Sanhedrin (Act. 6:15). A glory of the kind, but of surpassing brilliancy, belonged to the human nature of our blessed Lord, who concealed it ordinarily, but allowed it to appear temporarily at the transfiguration, and permanently after His ascension (Rev. 1:16; Rev. 10:1; Rev. 21:23; Rev. 22:5). The grant of the privilege to Moses was perhaps necessary to support his authority among a people of such materialistic leanings as the Israelites.

While he talked with him.Rather, through his talking with him. The brightness of Moses face was the reflex of that eternal glory which Moses had been given to witness on this last occasion, though in a veiled and modified manner (Exo. 33:23; Exo. 34:5-6), and which he had not seen previously. It remained henceforth a property of his countenance. Painters represent it by rays, or sometimesbut improperlyby horns, this latter usage originating in a mistaken rendering of the Vulgate (quod cornuta esset facies sua, instead of quod splenderet facies sua).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

29. The skin of his face shone The long communion with Jehovah, and beholding so much of his glory, had set upon the face of the lawgiver a brilliancy that was unearthly . This statement is full of suggestion . It declares the spiritual exaltation of Moses . It shows how God may impart his own glory to those to whom he wills to show great favour. Exo 33:19. It teaches the child of faith that long communion and intimate fellowship with God transfigures into the image of the heavenly. Since the Hebrew word here translated shone ( )is composed of the same letters as the word for horn, the Vulgate has rendered it was horned, and hence the mediaeval notion represented in Angelo’s famous statue, that Moses had horns upon his forehead .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Glory of Yahweh Appears on the Face of Moses ( Exo 34:29-35 ).

This passage may be analysed as follows:

a When Moses comes down the mountain the skin of his face shines, although he is unaware of it (Exo 34:29).

b When Aaron and the children of Israel were aware of it they were afraid to approach him (Exo 34:30).

c Moses calls Aaron and the rulers to him and obediently they return to him and Moses spoke with them (Exo 34:31).

d All the children of Israel come near and he gives them the commands that Yahweh has given him in Mount Sinai (Exo 34:32).

d When he had finished speaking he put on a veil (Exo 34:33).

c When Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out (Exo 34:34 a).

b Then he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what Yahweh had commanded (Exo 34:34 b).

a And the children of Israel then saw that the skin of his face shone, and he put the veil on his face until he again went in to speak with Yahweh (Exo 34:35).

In ‘a’ Moses coming down from the mountain and his face shining is paralleled by Moses’ face shining and going in to speak with Yahweh. In ‘b’ Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to approach him and in the parallel they have learned to bear it while he speaks to them what Yahweh has commanded. In ‘c’ Moses calls Aaron and the rulers to him so that he can speak with them, and they come despite the shining of the skin of his face, and in the parallel when he goes in to speak with Yahweh he takes off the veil so that his face is shining. Thus the two way communication takes place when he is unveiled and the skin of his face is shining. In’ d’ all the children of Israel approach to hear what Yahweh has commanded and hear him with unveiled face, but when he has finished he veils his face.

Exo 34:29

‘And it came about that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the Mount, that Moses did not realise that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with him.’

Note the repeated ‘came down from the Mount’ which is typical of ancient writings. The repetition means that the hearers recognise the emphasis and go along with it. It was because he had been in the Mount with Yahweh that his skin shone. He was carrying in his hands the two Tablets of Testimony. But Moses was unaware of the fact that his face was shining with an unearthly glow.

Note also the use of pronouns. ‘His speaking with him,’ As in Exo 34:28 we have to gather who is who from context. Was it as a result of God speaking with Moses, or of Moses speaking with God? Either is possible.

Exo 34:30

‘And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to approach him.’

The shining of Moses’ face was such that even Aaron was reluctant to approach him. Nor would the children of Israel. There was too much of God about him. The distance that they stood back is shown by the fact that the verb ‘coming near’ is used of all Israel who could hardly all get very near.

Exo 34:31-32

‘And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. And afterwards all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that Yahweh had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.’

But Moses would have none of it, and he called them to him. Whatever God’s purpose was in this it clearly included their facing up to this manifestation of His holiness as they received details of God’s command. Then Aaron and the tribal leaders took their courage in their hands and came to him, followed after a time by the whole of Israel. After that he gave them as commands all that Yahweh had said to him on the mountain. The unearthly glow on his face would bring home his words to them far better that any eloquence. The tablets he presumably deposited in the Tent of Meeting.

“ The rulers of the congregation (the gathering).” Those who were leaders, the ‘elders’. The congregation was a name used to describe the Yahweh-worshipping host of Israel (Exo 12:3; Exo 12:6, and often).

Exo 34:33

‘And when Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil on his face.’

Once he had finished delivering Yahweh’s words he put a veil on his face, no doubt at the request of the people who could no longer stand the glory that they saw, which even then was but a pale reflected glory. Had they endured it and let it speak to their hearts what a difference it might have made. But the people grumbled when they thought that God was not watching over them, and again grumbled when He manifested His presence in such a way that it spoke to their hearts. Like many they preferred God at a distance, but not too great a distance.

Exo 34:34-35

‘But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out, and he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses ,that the skin of Moses’ face shone. And Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.’

From then on when Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to talk with Yahweh he took the veil off, and when he came out he would deliver Yahweh’s message to the people unveiled. But then he would don the veil until he again went in to speak with Yahweh. Thus did Yahweh’s message always come over with the sense of Yahweh’s holiness and glory supporting it, emphasising its unique importance. We are not told at what point this manifestation ceased.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Face of Moses Shines In Exo 34:1-28 God called Moses back up to Mount Sinai to renew His covenant with the children of Israel. Upon his return from the mount, the face of Moses shone bright so that the Israelites feared to look upon him. Therefore, he shielded his face from them.

Paul discusses the symbolic meaning of Moses’ vail in 1Co 3:6-18 when comparing the old covenant with the new one. Paul says the vail represents the blindness of the heart of Israel in rejecting the First Coming of Jesus Christ. The brightness may symbolize the fact that the second covenant is more glorious than the second, since this was the second writing of the Ten Commandments, the first having been broken.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Shining Face of Moses

v. 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 (knew) not that the skin of his face shone while He (God) talked with him. This wonderful brilliancy was caused by the vision of God on Mount Sinai. A reflection of the divine glory lingered in the face of Moses for some time after his return from the mountain.

v. 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. Even the reflection of the glory of the Lord is too much for sinners.

v. 31. And Moses called unto them, encouraged first the leaders of the people to hear the precepts of the Lord; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him. And Moses talked with them.

v. 32. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, having been inspired with some measure of courage by the action of the rulers; and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai, all the people thus hearing Jehovah’s precepts, with which He had again established the covenant.

v. 33. And till Moses had done speaking with them, while he was laying the ordinances of the Lord before them, he put a veil on his face.

v. 34. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, in the tent and afterwards in the Tabernacle, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded; he transmitted to them the Lord’s commandments.

v. 35. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, the splendor being renewed whenever Moses appeared before the Lord. And Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him. This splendor of Moses’ face symbolized the glory of the Mosaic office, 2Co 3:5 if. Since the Law was the Word of God, it also had a glory. But the glory of the New Testament office, that of the Gospel, exceeds it in beauty. For the Law is the letter that killeth, but the Gospel is the spirit that maketh alive. And the glory of the Old Testament passed away, while the glory of the Gospel remains forever. All fear and terror is driven out of the heart by the comforting assurances of the Gospel, by its promises of life and salvation.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Exo 34:29. Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone Moses did not know that the divine glory communicated itself to his face, and caused it to shine or irradiate, while he conversed with God. The word rendered shine, is karan, which signifies primarily to irradiate, shoot forth, or emit rays of light; and so, to shoot forth as horns, whence it signifies a horn; and being rendered horned by the Vulgate, has given rise to that simple representation of ignorant painters, who describe Moses with two horns sprouting out from his forehead. The true meaning is, that the Divine Glory irradiated the face of Moses; from whence an extraordinary effulgence proceeded, so great as to terrify Aaron and the children of Israel, Exo 34:30 and to render it necessary for a vail to be put upon his face while he conversed with them; Exo 34:33-35. We learn from St. Paul, 2Co 3:13; 2Co 3:18 that this was in allusion to the plainness of the Gospel-dispensation, compared with that of the law; which affords us a farther proof, that various actions in the legal, were emblematical and significative of future things in the evangelical dispensation; and consequently serves much to confirm that interpretation which we have given of ch. Exo 33:18, &c. “Moses,” says Stackhouse, “being now to bring down the tables of the covenant from the mount,that the people might not suspect him of any fallacy or collusion, or think that his pretence to a correspondence with the Deity (as that of some subsequent lawgivers proved) was vain and fictitious, God was pleased to send along with him this testimony, as it were, of his having held communion with God: for the miraculous radiancy wherewith he was adorned, shewed in what company he had been during his absence; confirmed his message to the people; and in every respect carried new credentials with it. It was a custom among the ancient heathens, and probably derived from what here befel Moses, to represent the gods with a beamy glory around their heads. Moses was certainly in this, as well as in many other things, an eminent type of our Saviour Christ; and the change of his countenance, an emblem of our Lord’s transfiguration upon the mount; when his face (as the evangelist relates the matter) did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. See Mat 17:2. In both cases it was the same glorious Being within the cloud, who transfused this radiant splendour around his Son and servant.” Some have supposed, that this brightness continued upon the face of Moses till the day of his death; a matter, concerning which we must be content to remain in ignorance. See a dissertation on that subject in Explication de textes dijficiles, p. 71.

REFLECTIONS.Moses now spends forty days more with God, nor needed other refreshment than what was drawn from the presence of and communion with the Fountain of his life: no doubt he could say, “It is good to be here.” They who know the blessing of communion with God, will never count the time long that they spend with him; but for the sake of it, will sometimes choose to rob their bodies of the refreshments of meat and sleep. His work being finished,

1. He descends with the tables in his hands, and bearing in his countenance a divine impression of the glory he had beheld. Thus God put upon him a distinguishing badge of honour. They who converse often with God, carry the impression on their countenances, and shew it in their conversation. A real Christian may be known by the brightness and glory of his daily walk, shining as a light in a dark world.
2. He knew not that such a glory was upon him; but the people were struck and terrified with it. Note; (1.) The saint who is most distinguished by God’s gifts and graces, will have the lowliest opinion of himself, and be least conscious of his own excellencies. (2.) Others often see more grace in us, than we can see in ourselves; jealousy over their hearts sometimes leading believers to doubt more or less concerning the work of grace within them, or at least concerning the degrees of it. (3.) Guilt makes us afraid even of our best friends, when sent with messages of kindness to us, from the consciousness of our own demerits.

3. He vailed his face before the people that they might talk with him; but when he appeared before the Lord, he uncovered himself. True humility will lead us rather to conceal, than to make a shew of our excellencies; and as ministers, to seek rather to be useful, than to be admired. The vail on Moses’s face was an emblem of the darkness of that dispensation. In Christ that vail is done away: only there is the vail of sense still around us; but when death takes away this body of flesh, then shall we with open face assuredly behold the glory of the Lord.

Reflections on the vail of Moses.

The lawgiver of the Jews, having ascended the second time to mount Sinai, where he obtained a sight of the Divine Glory, and had the second tables inscribed anew with the finger of God after the first were broken, now descends to the camp with the tables in his hands, but is greatly surprised to see his brother Aaron and other Israelites filled with perturbation at his approach, and afraid to look him in the face. Such horror might indeed have well become them the first time he descended; for they had, during his absence, been guilty of that almost unpardonable crime, the making of the golden calf, which they could not but suspect would be highly resented both by God and Moses. But now that their peace was made, and their prophet comes with the pledges of reconciliation in his hand, what can be the reason (might he say to himself) of my brethren’s running away from me, as if I were still their enemy? The face of Moses was equally meek as before; but though the features were the same, it shone with a glory visible to every body but himself. This strange phenomenon was the cause of the awful distance which they kept. But perceiving that his voice was the same, though his face was altered, they resume their courage, and venture to approach him, though still they dare not come to any close interview with their shining Lawgiver, till, in condescension to their weakness, he put a vail upon his glorious face. Such honour it pleased God to confer upon his faithful servant, not only to inspire the minds of the Israelites with greater reverence for him, but chiefly to dignify that dispensation of which he was the minister.
Moses himself, perhaps, intended no more by vailing his face, than is expressed in the history. The wisdom of the Holy Spirit, however, having given us an allegorical interpretation of this action by the mouth of St. Paul, let us dwell upon it a little.
The vail upon the face of Moses, according to that eminent apostle, signified that, partly through the obscurity of their law, and partly through the blindness of their hearts, the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which was abolished. Now that which was abolished, is their legal dispensation; and the end of that which was abolished, is Jesus Christ himself, who is the end of the law for righteousness, as having fulfilled its meaning, cancelled its authority, and introduced in its room a far more excellent economy.
What! may some reply, did Israel not know the meaning of their own law? Was it the intention of the Almighty to conceal from them a thing in which they were so highly interested? Had they no sufficient intimations, that their ritual institutions pointed at better things, and were in future time capable of repeal, and would actually receive an end?
In answer to this, it is not at all denied that there were many things in the writings and law of Moses, which not obscurely hinted its true design. The vail of Moses was not so thick and broad, but some rays of his light did actually transpire: even as the darkness and blackness which involved the frighted summit of mount Sinai, was interspersed with flashes of lightening and gleams of fire. The attentive Israelite, who meditated upon the law of the Lord day and night, might know that more was meant than was plainly expressed. The constant expectation of a Messias, which universally obtained in all ages of the Jewish church, might fully convince them of the weakness of their rites to do what they seemed to promise, and that the ceremonial law was far from being the whole of their religion. They had it hinted to them in the dying benediction of their great forefather, that their judicial law should not be always observed, but that a period should arrive, when the sceptre should depart from the royal tribe. A small measure of acquaintance with their own hearts, might have easily persuaded them, that the demands of the moral law could not procure for them justification. How can the proudest legalist plume himself with the foolish conceit of being able to conform himself in all respects to the very letter of the law, when the very letter of the law says, “thou shalt not covet?”If then there were many Israelites who rested in their law without looking any further, and fondly imagined that it was able to give them eternal life, this fatal mistake was not owing to the obscurity of their dispensation, but to the blindness of their hearts, which were as hard as the stones on which their law was written, and vailed as their lawgiver’s face.
But, after all, it must be confessed, that the law and holy books of Moses have much obscurity in them, when compared with the great plainness of speech used by the apostles in the New Testament. They may be compared to a fine picture placed in a dark corner; though its principal figures may be discerned by a penetrating eye, it is, however, impossible that the delicate touches of the pencil, the distributions of light and shade, the beauty of the tints, the elegancy of the designs, can be thoroughly perceived by the most vigorous sight, till the finished piece is translated from its obscure situation, and set in an advantageous light.
One who reads the writings of Moses, and throws but a cursory glance over the moral, ceremonial, and judicial law, without remembering that, like Moses, they put a vail upon their face, would be very apt to mistake the true design of the whole system, and to entertain many erroneous opinions, which are really inconsistent with its original intention, though they seemed to be founded upon it. One might think that the ceremonial worship, prescribed so minutely by Moses, must certainly have been very acceptable to God for its own sake, or he would never have been at the pains to adjust, by his express authority, the smallest circumstances relative to it. One might almost imagine, that the Deity took pleasure to eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats; that the beauty of his worship consisted in outward rites; that the blood of slaughtered beasts was able to take away sin; that man had by nature a power to obey the moral law; that righteousness could come by the law; that the natural seed of Abraham could never have been rejected from being the people of God; that their civil state would never have been unhinged, and their ceremonies never abolished. These and many such false opinions might have been suggested by the terms in which the law is uttered; and many a carnal Jew was taken in this snare. “Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.” 2Co 3:15.

In vain did the prophets endeavour to pull this vail aside, and reclaim from these vain imaginations that stiff-necked people; the bulk of whom persevere in their absurd prejudices and presumptuous expectations to this very day.
If any should enquire, why the revelation of the Divine will was not equally plain in the past as in the present age? Why the God with whom light dwells would deliver a law to his people, of which the true design and genuine scope was not obvious at the first view? It is not for us to dive into the eternal counsels: it was the will of God that it should be so; and who dares say to him “What dost thou?” Let us rather observe how the vail was gradually removed till Moses stands confessed, and the design of his economy is no longer a mystery since the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Much is said in the prophetic Scriptures which might have undeceived the blind Jews, and taught them to abate their vain confidence in their national privileges, their ceremonial observances, and their moral righteousnesses. The grand doctrines of Christianity, relating to the person, the character, and mediation of Jesus Christ, are laid down in these venerable writings with greater perspicuity than in the books of Moses. But though the prophets harmoniously conspire in giving their suffrage to every Christian doctrine, yet still they put upon their face the vail of poetical figures and ceremonial phrases. They describe spiritual blessings by images of civil peace and plenty. With them, the victory of Jesus Christ is the treading of a wine-press, in which the wine is the blood of slaughtered enemies; prayer is incense, and a pure offering; conversion is going up to Jerusalem; gospel-worship is the celebration of the festivals of the Jews.

But now comes John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ, who talks still plainer than Moses or the prophets; and, instead of commending the Levitical sacrifices, he invites his hearers to regard that unknown Person, to whom he pointed as the complement of them all. “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.” Joh 1:29.

But by the ministry of Christ and his blessed apostles the law is wholly unmasked, and the vail on Moses’s face entirely done away. The lowly birth, indigent life, and ignominious death of the Messias himself, was an incontestible proof that his kingdom is not of this world, as the Jews expected. Though he was the great High-Priest, he gave no attendance at the altar; and his fore-runner, though born a Levite, never officiated in the temple. This was a plain declaration, that he was come to abrogate these ancient rites. But if we attend to the strain of his doctrine, it will appear how it was calculated to remove the vail, and cure the prejudices of the mistaken Jews. He taught, that a man is not defiled by what enters in at the mouth; foretold, that their city and temple, the centre of their worship, should be razed, and that a spiritual worship should be established over all the world, and might be presented to God in every place. That he might pave the way for explaining the grand doctrine of justification, he expatiated on the vast extent of the moral law, and frequently inculcated the sad depravity of human nature. He spoke of himself as the fulfiller of all righteousness, the heavenly manna, and the antitype of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
But after his ascension he inspired his apostles to finish what he had only begun, and completely to remove that vail which Moses had put upon his face. By their apostolic decree they instructed the Christian Gentiles in their New-Testament liberty; and by their epistles, addressed to the primitive churches, they entirely dissipated the obscurity of the Old-Testament shadows. Now it appears, that the kingdom of God is not meats and drinks, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; that the Mosaic law was only a schoolmaster to tutor the church in her childish state, and train her up for a more perfect institution. Now we plainly see, that righteousness cannot possibly come by the law, nor pardon by the sacrifices. If the vail is not still upon our hearts, may behold with open face the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the same image from glory into glory. Now the face of the covering spread over all people, and the vail cast over all nations, is entirely destroyed; and therefore, O house of Israel, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Was not Moses here also in his shining countenance a type of the Lord Jesus? See Mat 17:2 . And was not this also intended to show that by communion with God, a brightness and splendour is communicated to believers? 2Co 3:18 . Reader! may the Lord grant that the frequency and fervency of our communion with the Lord, may indicate to all around, that we have been much with Jesus. Act 4:13 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 34:29 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.

Ver. 29. The skin of his face shone. ] God hereby assuring the people that he had inwardly enlightened him for their better instruction.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exodus

BLESSED AND TRAGIC UNCONSCIOUSNESS

Exo 34:29 . – Jdg 16:20 .

The recurrence of the same phrase in two such opposite connections is very striking. Moses, fresh from the mountain of vision, where he had gazed on as much of the glory of God as was accessible to man, caught some gleam of the light which he adoringly beheld; and a strange radiance sat on his face, unseen by himself, but visible to all others. So, supreme beauty of character comes from beholding God and talking with Him; and the bearer of it is unconscious of it.

Samson, fresh from his coarse debauch, and shorn of the locks which he had vowed to keep, strides out into the air, and tries his former feats; but his strength has left him because the Lord has left him; and the Lord has left him because, in his fleshly animalism, he has left the Lord. Like, but most unlike, Moses, he knows not his weakness. So strength, like beauty, is dependent upon contact with God, and may ebb away when that is broken, and the man may be all unaware of his weakness till he tries his power, and ignominiously fails.

These two contrasted pictures, the one so mysteriously grand and the other so tragic, may well help to illustrate for us truths that should be burned into our minds and our memories.

I. Note, then, the first thought which they both teach us, that beauty and strength come from communion with God.

In both the cases with which we are dealing these were of a merely material sort. The light on Moses’ face and the strength in Samson’s arm were, at the highest, but types of something far higher and nobler than themselves. But still, the presence of the one and the departure of the other alike teach us the conditions on which we may possess both in nobler form, and the certainty of losing them if we lose hold of God.

Moses’ experience teaches us that the loftiest beauty of character comes from communion with God. That is the use that the Apostle makes of this remarkable incident in 2 Cor. iii, where he takes the light that shone from Moses’ face as being the symbol of the better lustre that gleams from all those who ‘behold or reflect the glory of the Lord’ with unveiled faces, and, by beholding, are ‘changed into the likeness’ of that on which they gaze with adoration and longing. The great law to which, almost exclusively, Christianity commits the perfecting of individual character is this: Look at Him till you become like Him, and in beholding, be changed. ‘Tell me the company a man keeps, and I will tell you his character,’ says the old proverb. And what is true on the lower levels of daily life, that most men become assimilated to the complexion of those around them, especially if they admire or love them, is the great principle whereby worship, which is desire and longing and admiration in the superlative degree, stamps the image of the worshipped upon the character of the worshipper. ‘They followed after vanity, and have become vain,’ says one of the prophets, gathering up into a sentence the whole philosophy of the degradation of humanity by reason of idolatry and the worship of false gods. ‘They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.’ The law works upwards as well as downwards, for whom we worship we declare to be infinitely good; whom we worship we long to be like; whom we worship we shall certainly imitate.

Thus, brethren, the practical, plain lesson that comes from this thought is simply this: If you want to be pure and good, noble and gentle, sweet and tender; if you desire to be delivered from your own weaknesses and selfish, sinful idiosyncrasies, the way to secure your desire is, ‘Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.’ Contemplation, which is love and longing, is the parent of all effort that succeeds. Contemplation of God in Christ is the master-key that opens this door, and makes it possible for the lowliest and the foulest amongst us to cherish unpresumptuous hopes of being like Him’ if we see Him as He is revealed here, and perfectly like Him when yonder we see Him ‘as He is .’

There have been in the past, and there are today, thousands of simple souls, shut out by lowliness of position and other circumstances from all the refining and ennobling influences of which the world makes so much, who yet in character and bearing, ay, and sometimes in the very look of their meek faces, are living witnesses how mighty to transform a nature is the power of loving gazing upon Jesus Christ. All of us who have had much to do with Christians of the humbler classes know that. There is no influence to refine and beautify men like that of living near Jesus Christ, and walking in the light of that Beauty which is ‘the effulgence of the divine glory and the express image of His Person.’

And in like manner as beauty so strength comes from communion with God and laying hold on Him. We can only think of Samson as a ‘saint’ in a very modified fashion, and present him as an example in a very limited degree. His dependence upon divine power was rude, and divorced from elevation of character and morality, but howsoever imperfect, fragmentary, and I might almost say to our more trained eyes, grotesque, it looks, yet there was a reality in it; and when the man was faithless to his vow, and allowed the crafty harlot’s scissors to shear from his head the token of his consecration, it was because the reality of the consecration, rude and external as that consecration was, both in itself and in its consequences, had passed away from him.

And so we may learn the lesson, taught at once by the flashing face of the lawgiver and the enfeebled force of the hero, that the two poles of perfectness in humanity, so often divorced from one another-beauty and strength-have one common source, and depend for their loftiest position upon the same thing. God possesses both in supremest degree, being the Almighty and the All-fair; and we possess them in limited, but yet possibly progressive, measure, through dependence upon Him. The true force of character, and the true power for work, and every real strength which is not disguised weakness, ‘a lath painted to look like iron,’ come on condition of our keeping close by God. The Fountain is open for you all; see to it that you resort thither.

II. And now the second thought of my text is that the bearer of the radiance is unconscious of it.

‘Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.’ In all regions of life, the consummate apex and crowning charm of excellence is unconsciousness of excellence. Whenever a man begins to imagine that he is good, he begins to be bad; and every virtue and beauty of character is robbed of some portion of its attractive fairness when the man who bears it knows, or fancies, that he possesses it. The charm of childhood is its perfect unconsciousness, and the man has to win back the child’s heritage, and become ‘as a little child,’ if he would enter into and dwell in the ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’ And so in the loftiest region of all, that of the religious life, you may be sure that the more a man is like Christ, the less he knows it; and the better he is, the less he suspects it. The reasons why that is so, point, at the same time, to the ways by which we may attain to this blessed self-oblivion. So let me put just in a word or two some simple, practical thoughts.

Let us, then, try to lose ourselves in Jesus Christ. That way of self-oblivion is emancipation and blessedness and power. It is safe for us to leave all thoughts of our miserable selves behind us, if instead of them we have the thought of that great, sweet, dear Lord, filling mind and heart. A man walking on a tight-rope will be far more likely to fall, if he is looking at his toes, than if he is looking at the point to which he is going. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, then we can safely look, neither to our feet nor to the gulfs; but straight at Him gazing, we shall straight to Him advance. ‘Looking off’ from ourselves ‘unto Jesus’ is safe; looking off anywhere else is peril. Seek that self-oblivion which comes from self being swallowed up in the thought of the Lord.

And again, I would say, think constantly and longingly of the unattained. ‘Brethren! I count not myself to have apprehended.’ Endless aspiration and a stinging consciousness of present imperfection are the loftiest states of man here below. The beholders down in the valley, when they look up, may see our figures against the skyline, and fancy us at the summit, but our loftier elevation reveals untrodden heights beyond; and we have only risen so high in order to discern more clearly how much higher we have to rise. Dissatisfaction with the present is the condition of excellence in all pursuits of life, and in the Christian life even more eminently than in all others, because the goal to be attained is in its very nature infinite; and therefore ensures the blessed certainty of continual progress, accompanied here, indeed, with the sting and bite of a sense of imperfection, but one day to be only sweetness, as we think of how much there is yet to be won in addition to the perfection of the present.

So, dear friends, the best way to keep ourselves unconscious of present attainments is to set our faces forward, and to make ‘all experience’ as ‘an arch wherethro’ gleams that untraveiled world to which we move.’ ‘Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.’

The third practical suggestion that I would make is, cultivate a clear sense of your own imperfections. We do not need to try to learn our goodness. That will suggest itself to us only too clearly; but what we do need is to have a very clear sense of our shortcomings and failures, our faults of temper, our faults of desire, our faults in our relations to our fellows, and all the other evils that still buzz and sting and poison our blood. Has not the best of us enough of these to knock all the conceit out of us? A true man will never be so much ashamed of himself as when he is praised, for it will always send him to look into the deep places of his heart, and there will be a swarm of ugly, creeping things under the stones there, if he will only turn them up and look beneath. So let us lose ourselves in Christ, let us set our faces to the unattained future, let us clearly understand our own faults and sins.

III. Thirdly, the strong man made weak is unconscious of his weakness.

I do not mean here to touch at all upon the general thought that, by its very nature, all evil tends to make us insensitive to its presence. Conscience becomes dull by practice of sin and by neglect of conscience, until that which at first was as sensitive as the palm of a little child’s hand becomes as if it were ‘seared with a hot iron.’ The foulness of the atmosphere of a crowded hall is not perceived by the people in it. It needs a man to come in from the outer air to detect it. We can accustom ourselves to any mephitic and poisonous atmosphere, and many of us live in one all our days, and do not know that there is any need of ventilation or that the air is not perfectly sweet. The ‘deceitfulness’ of sin is its great weapon.

But what I desire to point out is an even sadder thing than that-namely, that Christian people may lose their strength because they let go their hold upon God, and know nothing about it. Spiritual declension, all unconscious of its own existence, is the very history of hundreds of nominal Christians amongst us, and, I dare say, of some of us. The very fact that you do not suppose the statement to have the least application to yourself is perhaps the very sign that it does apply. When the lifeblood is pouring out of a man, he faints before he dies. The swoon of unconsciousness is the condition of some professing Christians. Frost-bitten limbs are quite comfortable, and only tingle when circulation is coming back. I remember a great elm-tree, the pride of an avenue in the south, that had spread its branches for more years than the oldest man could count, and stood, leafy and green. Not until a winter storm came one night and laid it low with a crash did anybody suspect what everybody saw in the morning-that the heart was eaten out of it, and nothing left but a shell of bark. Some Christian people are like that; they manage to grow leaves, and even some fruit, but when the storm comes they will go down, because the heart has been out of their religion for years. ‘Samson wist not that the Lord was departed from him.’

And so, brother, because there are so many things that mask the ebbing away of a Christian life, and because our own self-love and habits come in to hide declension, let me earnestly exhort you and myself to watch ourselves very narrowly. Unconsciousness does not mean ignorant presumption or presumptuous ignorance. It is difficult to make an estimate of ourselves by poking into our own sentiments and supposed feelings and convictions, and the estimate is likely to be wrong. There is a better way than that. Two things tell what a man is-one, what he wants, and the other, what he does. As the will is, the man is. Where do the currents of your desires set? If you watch their flow, you may be pretty sure whether your religious life is an ebbing or a rising tide. The other way to ascertain what we are is rigidly to examine and judge what we do. ‘Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.’ Actions are the true test of a man. Conduct is the best revelation of character, especially in regard to ourselves. So let us ‘watch and be sober’-sober in our estimate of ourselves, and determined to find every lurking evil, and to drag it forth into the light.

Again, let me say, let us ask God to help us. ‘Search me, O God! and try me.’ We shall never rightly understand what we are, unless we spread ourselves out before Him and crave that Divine Spirit, who is ‘the candle of the Lord,’ to be carried ever in our hands into the secret recesses of our sinful hearts. ‘Anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see,’ and get the eye salve by communion with God, who will supply thee a standard by which to try thy poor, stained, ragged righteousness. The collyrium , the eye salve, may be, will be, painful when it is rubbed into the lids, but it will clear the sight; and the first work of Him, whose dearest name is Comforter , is to convince of sin.

And, last of all, let us keep near to Jesus Christ, near enough to Him to feel His touch, to hear His voice, to see His face, and to carry down with us into the valley some radiance on our countenances which may tell even the world, that we have been up where the Light lives and reigns.

‘Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

came down. Moses’ sixth and last descent. Compare Exo 19:3.

wist not = knew not. Compare Moses: unconscious moral strength for testimony.

Samson: unconscious weakness for unfaithfulness (Jdg 16:20).

Peter: unconscious deliverance for service (Act 12:9).

shone = radiated, or was glorious, i.e. reflected as a mirror the Divine glory, see 2Co 3:7; and compare 1Co 15:41. Rev 18:1. Mat 17:2. Act 6:15.

The Vulgate mistook the Hebrew word karan = to radiate, for keren, a beam or horn of light (see Hab 3:4 and note on the subscription to Psa 21). Hence the traditional paintings of Moses with two horns.

while, &c. = through his having spoken with him. This interprets 1Jn 3:2. Compare Mat 17:2, and the “till ” of Exo 34:33, and the “until” of Exo 34:35.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Unconscious Glory

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.Exo 34:29.

Whatever view we take of the manner in which God communicated to Moses those moral truths which are contained in the Ten Commandments, we cannot fail to recognize the grandeur and the importance of the event. The lawgiver ascending in sublime solitude the mountain, from whose base the multitude and their flocks were far removedthe forty days of intimate colloquy with Godthe cloud of the Divine Presence surrounding the hilltopthe power of a Divine illumination glowing with such splendour that the people shrank from the lawgivers pure bright gazethese are, as it were, the solemn surroundings of an event which marks an epoch in the worlds history. To this day, those Ten Commandments are the basis of our national jurisprudence, and the tests and guides of our personal morality.

In the Mount

1. Mountains.It is perhaps impossible to estimate the influence which mountains have on the thought and imagination of a religious mind. There is a solemn grandeur about mountain scenery which projects an impress upon life and character. The summit of a mountain is instinctively connected in the human mind with thoughts of God and an approach to the Infinite. Throughout the Bible there is abundant illustration of this mountain influence. The ancient Hebrew poets dwelt among the mountains. Mountains filled their imagination and inspired their songs. Nature taught them to love the mountains and to find in them a meeting-place with God.

Both in the life of Moses and in the life of Christ, mountains were the scene of many of the most signal events of their histories. Like two rivers, the secrets of their power are up among the silent hills. Horeb, with its flaming bush, Sinais rugged peaks, invested with dark clouds of the Divine glory, Pisgah, commanding the extended landscape of Canaans fertile valleys and fruitful slopes, and Nebo, where he went up to die, are mountains that correspond in the life of Moses to Hattin and Hermon, the lowly Calvary and beautiful Olivet, in the life of Christ. It was on those meeting-places of earth and heaven, far above all noise and din of men, that Moses so often spoke with God, and received strength for his arduous mission, and it was in the solitude of the hillsnot rugged, fire-coloured, beetling cliffs like those of the desert, but hills mantled with foliage, around whose breast the vine threw her tendrils, and on whose brow the olive and the pine held the harp of their branches to the windsit was in the solitude of such hills that the Son of Man wrestled in His nightly prayer, and held those deep communings with His Father which renewed His strength. God has dignified those grand temples, eloquent in silence, with events far more sublime than their own majesty, and far more awe-inspiring than their own stupendous forms.

We lingered long, for dearer

Than home were the mountain places

Where God from the stars dropt nearer

Our pale, dreamy faces.

Our very hearts from beating

We stilled in awed delight,

For spirit and children were meeting

In the purple, ample night.1 [Note: A. E., The Divine Vision, 56.]

2. Moses a man of prayer.To a man who trusts in God responsibility must always be an impetus to prayer. And so it was in the life of Moses. We cannot read the story in the early books of the Bible without having the truth brought very closely home that Moses was a man of prayer. He never forgot the need of supplication, of asking God to help him in every hour of his difficulties as he led the children of Israel through the many trials of the wilderness. He never forgot that he was in Gods hands. He did not think of how he himself could gain honour, but he remembered that we must seek first the honour and glory of God. And so throughout his life he was one who spent much time in Gods presence, and all this had an effect upon his character.

3. Moses in communion with God.Prayer, in its most perfect form, is communion with God. It is in communion with God that every soul finds satisfaction for its highest needs, and there is also a sense in which all who are called upon to lead Christs flock must experience a greater need than those who are led. How keenly this need is sometimes felt by us may be fitly expressed in the words of Longfellow

O blessed Lord! how much I need

Thy light to guide me on my way!

So many hands, that, without heed,

Still touch thy wounds, and make them bleed!

So many feet, that, day by day,

Still wander from thy fold astray!

Unless thou fill me with thy light,

I cannot lead thy flock aright;

Nor, without thy support, can bear

The burden of so great a care,

But am myself a castaway.

4. Having come down from the Mount, Moses stands before us in the glory of a spiritual transfiguration. What transfigured him? In the answer to this question lies the grand secret of his life. Communion with God: that was what transfigured him, and gave him power. As Moses stands before us with his shining face, he is a spiritual and refined image of the highest dream of aspiring humanity.

When Michael Angelo had finished his famous colossal statue of David, the giant, many of his friends who had not seen him during the years when he was working upon it in Florence declared with great surprise that he was changed; his face was changed. And as they looked at the statue, and then at the skilful chiseller, it was seen that he had carved his conception of David, not only into the beautiful white stone, but also, all unconsciously, into the lines of his own beautified, ennobled face.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Home Ideals, 25.]

He wist not

1. When Moses came down from the Mount, he wist not that the skin of his face shone by reason of Gods speaking with him. It is strange that while the multitude recognized the intense spiritual emotion which shone through his flesha reflex of the radiance of the face of GodMoses himself was unconscious of it. He wist not that the skin of his face shone. Few and simple as those words are, there could be none grander written to the memory of a hero. The noblest and loftiest character is assuredly that of the man who is so absorbed in the divine nature of his calling, and so conscious of the need of those for whom he labours, that he becomes forgetful of the beauty in his character which others recognize, and almost unconscious that he is himself the worker. And so we picture Moses, descending from the Mount into the midst of the people, beautiful with the divine beauty of holinessthe glory of God shining through his featuresyet all unconscious of his beauty.

I think the story of the radiance upon the face of Moses may remind us profitably that to forget ourselves is often the most effective way of impressing others. Moses went up to the mountain with a burdened mind, the thought of his nation lying on his heart, and following him even in his moments of devotion. It was for their sake he prayed. He came down with a fresh zeal and insight to that people, but in the noble simplicity of his nature he was unconscious of how radiant and impressive his personality had become. He was not thinking about impressiveness or popularity. What occupied him was a sheer sense of duty to God and man. He wist not that the skin of his face shone.1 [Note: J. Moffatt.]

The change, says Sister Agatha, was so remarkable that she could scarcely believe her eyes. She heard what the man said, but her mind was dazed by the look in his face. It was not the same man. The very features were changed. I shall never forget that moment, and neither will you, Mr. Taylor! she exclaims, turning to him with loving remembrance. We prayed together, and we were very happy, were we not? It was a true case of Once I was blind, now I see. The light came suddenly, in a moment, and all was changed. She turns to me. His face was transfigured. It was shining.1 [Note: Harold Begbie, In the Hand of the Potter, 266.]

2. We learn three things from Moses with regard to the beauty of holiness. First, it shines; secondly, it shines by reflection; and thirdly, it shines in a way of which the subject himself is unconscious.

(1) The beauty of holiness is a beauty which shines.The truth is, of course, a familiar one. Over and over again we meet with the same thought in Scripture as denoting a fact which is at once the believers high privilege and his bounden duty. Arise, shine, for thy light is comeso runs the herald message in Old Testament prophecy. Let your light shine before men, said He who Himself was the worlds light. Among whom, says St. Paul, ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. In consistency with the same idea, ministers are called stars, and the churches candlesticks: so plain is it that this special aspect of the saints life is never lost sight ofits power of self-evidence, its capacity to betray and diffuse itself, so that its existence may somehow be felt, and its influence be somehow recognized.

The science of physiognomy tells us how the various qualities of intellect and the different dispositions and emotions of the soul are expressed in the facial features; so that you can, to some extent at least, read a mans temperament in his complexion and measure his intelligence by the gleam in his eye. And the spiritual nature infallibly expresses itself by signs and symbols not less legible. A rapture always bewrays itself. Faith is written upon the brow. Hope beams in every eye-glance. Patience is registered in the lips placid repose. All happy people are beautiful while they are happy. The effect is unconscious to the subject of it, but it is not imperceptible to the observer. Sanctity can never be a secret. The holy life is a perpetual evangel, and a perennial benediction.2 [Note: J. Halsey.]

Lady Westmoreland thus writes of Jenny Linds singing: When the time came for her songI do not know what it wasmy mother used to say it was the most extraordinary appearance she ever remembered. The wonderful notes came ringing out, but over and above that was the wonderful transfiguration, no other word could apply, which came over her entire face and figure, lighting them up with the whole fire and dignity of her genius. The effect on the audience was simply marvellous, and to the last day of her life my mother used to recall it vividly and its effect upon her. When she reached home my father asked her, Well, what do you think of Meyerbeers wonder? She answered, She is simply an angel. Is she so very handsome? I saw a plain girl when I went in; but when she began to sing her face literally shone like that of an angel. I never saw anything or heard anything the least like it. 1 [Note: W. W. Tulloch, Picture Point and Parable, in Sunday School, iii. 307.]

You have seen those porcelain transparencies which, when the light is on them, are only roughnesses and wrinkles, unmeaning ridges and deep dusty shadows. But when the light is through them, what a transformation! Now, it is some human face divine, or an exquisite landscape, or a group of lovely flowers. So there are faces which, when the light shines only on them, are what is called plain. But when the light shines through them, it is as though it had been the face of an angel.

(2) It is a beauty which shines by reflection.Pass from the nature of this beauty to the secret of it. Once and again this phenomenon of a physical change is met with in Scripture, and nowhere is it mentioned save in connexion with one and the same fact as its reasonimmediate communion with God. Take the case of the Saviour on the Mount. The fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistering, till the glory dazzled the disciples above, and attracted the multitudes below. What had His occupation been? He had been holding fellowship with His Father in prayer. So, too, in Gethsemane. There was a transfiguration there, and a brightness all over His face; for when He stepped from the shadow to confront the mob, the vision was such that they all reeled backward, and fell to the ground. This was just when He had wrestled with God and attained, amid strong crying and tears, the blessing of a peace passing all understanding. So, too, with Stephen, whose face in the council chamber, and doubtless also in death, was to them that beheld as the face of an angel. The transfiguration took place while God gave him grace to look up and behold an open heaven and a waiting Christ. And so it was with Moses. He attained this beauty by looking on God; his countenance was such that the Children of Israel could not steadfastly behold it, because it was the reflected glory of God. The radiance had been caught by him during the forty days and forty nights in the lonely mountain where the Lord spoke to him face to face as a man speaketh to his friend. The secret of all Christian shining is the same. Communion with Godthat is the source it must spring from, lending sanctity to the character, and beauty to the very face. To see Gods face is to shine; to keep seeing it is to keep shining. It is thus that the marvel of the story is repeated, and Gods praying saints come forth from this privacy with their faces aglow; and the dying grow luminous on their beds, till the watchers wonder. And where is there brightness like the brightness of heaven? They are all lustrous there. Then shall the righteous, it is said, shine forth in their heavenly Fathers kingdom.

How lovely seems the sun to us,at night,

When his soft light dawns on us from the moon!

Tis the suns light and not the moons, although

She is so near, and he has dropped from sight.

Hast thou done some good deed, and therefore now

A human face smiles on thee through its tears,

Then see there, too, the Godheads mediate face,

Soft-beaming as the solar-lunar light.1 [Note: A Laymans Breviary.]

(3) It is an unconscious beauty.Moses wist not that his face shone. That is the supreme height of spiritual loveliness: to be lovely, and not to know it. Surely this is a lesson we all need to learn. Virtue is so apt to become self-conscious, and thus to lose its glow. Take the grace of humility. Humility is very beautiful when we see it unimpaired. It is exquisite with the loveliness of Christ. But there is a self-conscious humility which is only a very subtle species of pride. It is possible to boast of our humility. There are men and women whose only source of pride appears to be their modesty. How often we meet with men who, when requested to do some service, immediately hoist the flag of their humility, and declare that they are of the humble sort, and prefer to keep in the shade! Humility takes the lowest place, and does not know that her face shines. Pride can take the lowest place, and find her delight in the thought of her presumably shining face. Self-consciousness always tends to sour humility, and pervert it into pride. Moses wist not that his face shone.

In all regions of life, the consummate apex and crowning charm of excellence is unconsciousness of excellence. Whenever a man begins to suspect that he is good he begins to be bad; and every virtue and beauty of character is robbed of some portion of its attractive fairness when the man who bears it knows, or fancies that he knows, it. The charm of childhood is its perfect unconsciousness, and the man has to win back the childs heritage, and become as a little child, if he would enter into and dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven. And so in the loftiest region of all, that of the religious life, you may be sure that the more a man is like Christ, the less he knows it; and the better he is, the less lie suspects it. The reasons why that is so point, at the same time, to the ways by which we may attain to this blessed self-oblivion. Let us, then, try to lose ourselves in Jesus Christ. That way of self-oblivion is emancipation and blessedness and power.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]

We are told in the Life of Peter Thompson of the East London Mission that a lady who had worked most successfully for many years with him was going to the Foreign Field, and it was on the paucity of results in her work amongst East London girls that she turned her eyes. She was depressed, and as a send-off the superintendent suggested a supper for a very large number of girls of the class amongst whom she had moveda supper such as the one with which she had inaugurated her work. He was prepared to spend a goodly sum to make the evening a success. In a week or so she returned in perplexity. The number he had mentioned of such girls was not forthcoming. He said not a word until the worker realized the position. She, in company with others, had been instrumental in altering the character of that particular neighbourhood, and slowly but with insistence, the truth took hold of her that her work had not been in vain.2 [Note: R. B. Thompson, Peter Thompson, 135.]

The Man that went the cloud within

Is gone and vanished quite;

He cometh not, the people cries,

Nor bringeth God to sight:

Lo these thy gods, that safety give,

Adore and keep the feast!

Deluding and deluded cries

The Prophets brother-Priest:

And Israel all bows down to fall

Before the gilded beast.

Devout, indeed! that priestly creed,

O Man, reject as sin;

The clouded hill attend thou still,

And him that went within.

He yet shall bring some worthy thing

For waiting souls to see;

Some sacred word that he hath heard

Their light and life shall be;

Some lofty part, than which the heart

Adopt no nobler can,

Thou shalt receive, thou shalt believe,

And thou shalt do, O Man!1 [Note: Clough, Poems, 19.]

Literature

Back (W. J.), in A Book of Lay Sermons, 247.

Christopherson (H.), Sermons, 148.

Dinwoodie (J.), Outline Studies, 3.

Gray (W. A.), The Shadow of the Hand, 177.

Gregg (D.), Our Best Moods, 239.

Halsey (J.), The Beauty of the Lord, 18.

Jowett (J. H.), Meditations for Quiet Moments, 22.

Maclaren (A.), The God of the Amen, 259.

McFadyen (J. E.), Thoughts for Silent Hours, 95.

Shore (T. T.), The Life of the World to Come, 159.

Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 115 (Wonnacott); lxxvii. 180 (Moffatt).

Church Pulpit Year Book, vii. 194.

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

am 2513, bc 1491, An, Ex, Is, 1, Elul

Two tables: Exo 32:15

wist: Exo 16:15, Jos 2:4, Jos 8:14, Jdg 16:20, Mar 9:6, Mar 14:40, Luk 2:49, Joh 5:13, Act 12:9, Act 23:5

the skin: Mat 17:2, Luk 9:29, Act 6:15, 2Co 3:7-9, 2Co 3:13, Rev 1:16, Rev 10:1

face shone: As the original word karan, signifies to shine out, or dart forth, as horns on the head of an animal, or rays of light reflected from a polished surface, we may suppose that the heavenly glory which filled the soul of this holy man, darted out from his face in coruscations, in the manner in which light is generally represented. The Vulgate renders it, et ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua, “and he did not know that his face was horned;” which version, misunderstood, has induced painters to represent Moses with two very large horns, one proceeding from each temple!

Reciprocal: Exo 25:16 – General Exo 31:18 – gave Exo 34:35 – General Deu 10:5 – I turned Ecc 8:1 – a man’s Mar 9:2 – transfigured Heb 9:4 – and the

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

MOSES TRANSFIGURATION

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.

Exo 34:29

He wist not that the skin of his face shone. Few and simple as these words are, there could be none grander written to the memory of a hero. The noblest and loftiest character is assuredly that of the man who is so absorbed in the Divine nature of his calling, and so conscious of the need of those for whom he labours, that he becomes forgetful of the beauty in his character which others recognise, and almost unconscious that he is himself the worker.

I. There are many unconscious believers and workers in the world still, who may gather helpful thoughts from this fact concerning Moses.Much time and ability have been devoted to discussing the question of Christian assurance. To say that if we do not feel that we are saved, we are not saved, is to lose sight of what salvation really means. It is nowhere stated in Scripture that an assurance of that salvation which is a gradual matter, a day-by-day struggle and deliverance, is either universal or necessary. God may think it best that some of us should not have assurance, as on that great day He kept Moses unconscious that the skin of his face shone.

II. Perhaps some of us may feel that there were moments of such bright and hopeful experience once, but they are past now, and that seems to us the saddest thought of all.Still we need not despair. We should go back as Moses did to the mount where God had spoken to him, to the source of the old enthusiasm and the former faith. If we go back and stand face to face with the crucified Christ, our life will glow anew with the radiance of His love, even though we ourselves are unconscious of it.

III. This holds good also regarding our work for God. Many a splendid silent work is done on earth, and the doer is perhaps unconscious of it, and may remain unconscious till the great day of the Lord shall reveal it.

Canon Teignmouth Shore.

Illustrations

(1) Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone. I would fain refuse as emphatically to magnify myself.

For what have I which I have not received? If I am endowed with the spirit of power and love and discipline, if I am growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Saviour, I owe it to nothing of my ownI owe it altogether to the undeserved kindness of God my Redeemer and Keeper and Friend.

And am I not far removed still from the perfect character? Habitually and deeply I am impressed with the conviction of my shortcoming and sin. There are dark spots on the whiteness of my robe. There are unholy thoughts in the secret of my heart.

And is not my sanctification a gradual process? The precious stone does not gleam rainbows the moment it touches the lapidarys wheel, and the growth of my soul in spiritual lustre is quiet and progressive. I do not see it readily. I cannot boast of it yet.

And am I not in the company of a peerless Lord? Christ is my Exemplar, Master, End. The American singer says of his mother, I read her face, as one who reads a true and holy book. So, while Jesus inspires me, He compels me to confess, I am a sinful man, O Lord; He makes me conscious of inferiority.

Thus I do not know that my face is shining.

(2) The man whose face really shines is unconscious of it. In all regions of life this is the crowning charm. Whenever a man begins to think himself perfect, he begins to deteriorate. The beauty of childhood is its perfect unconsciousness; and if we would be born again and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become as little children in this also. I always thought that you were perfect until I heard you say that you were! was the shrewd comment which a practical man made upon the credentials of one who was boasting of himself. When climbing the ladder never look down, or your head will become giddy, and your feet will slip; keep looking up, and you will hardly realise how high you have climbed.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Exo 34:29. The skin of his face shone At this time of his being in the mount, he heard only the same he had heard before. But he saw more of the glory of God, which having with open face beheld, he was, in some measure, changed into the same image. This was a great honour done to Moses, that the people might never again question his mission, or think or speak slightly of him. He carried his credentials in his very countenance; some think, as long as he lived he retained some remainders of this glory, which perhaps contributed to the vigour of his old age; that eye could not wax dim which had seen God, nor that face wrinkle which had shone with his glory.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The transformation that Moses experienced as a result of his close fellowship with God showed in his physical appearance, particularly on his face (cf. Mat 17:1-3). This change made the other Israelites uncomfortable around him. The evidence of his close relationship with God convicted them. Evidently Moses’ shining face was evidence to the Israelites that he had been in the Lord’s presence and that what he told them was an oracle from God. The purpose of the veil that Moses wore over his face while speaking with the Israelites at other times was to hide the fact that the glory was fading (2Co 3:13).

"The physical nature of this phenomenon must remain a mystery, but its theological meaning is crystal clear. Moses, as covenant mediator, was authenticated as such by his resemblance to the God of glory whom he represented. It is precisely for this reason that Moses and Elijah shared the radiance of the transfigured Jesus (Luk 9:31-32)." [Note: Merrill, "A Theology . . .," p. 56. Cf. Durham, p. 468.]

The Hebrew word translated "shone" is unusual and is related to the word translated "horn," meaning "rayed." In the Latin Vulgate, Jerome translated the clause in light of the basic meaning of the root word: "horned." This led some ancient painters to represent Moses in art with horns coming out of his head.

"Henceforth, the covenant that God makes with Israel will focus on the role of the mediator. Through him God will display his glory to his people." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 317.]

The covenant as renewed rested on the separation of the people from the nations that God would drive out. The realization of the blessings that God promised depended on the Israelites’ obedience to this command.

The blessing of God’s people rests on the faithful lovingkindness of God and the intercession of their leaders, Jesus Christ and human leaders. We cannot stress too much the importance of the kind of intercession that Moses modeled on this occasion. If God has given you a ministry of leadership, your intercession for those you lead or your lack of it will directly affect their welfare.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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