34:29 4 Now when Moses came down 5 from Mount Sinai with 6 the two tablets of the testimony in his hand 7 – when he came down 8 from the mountain, Moses 9 did not know that the skin of his face shone 10 while he talked with him.
10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 20
8:1 You must keep carefully all these commandments 23 I am giving 24 you today so that you may live, increase in number, 25 and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 26 8:2 Remember the whole way by which he 27 has brought you these forty years through the desert 28 so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.
1 sn The “testimony” is the Decalogue (Exod 24:12; 31:18; Deut 4:13; 9:9; 1 Kgs 8:9); the word identifies it as the witness or affirmation of God’s commandments belonging to his covenant with Israel. It expressed God’s will and man’s duty. In other cultures important documents were put at the feet of the gods in the temples.
2 tn The traditional expression is “within the veil,” literally “into the house (or area) of the (special) curtain.”
3 tn Or “the Holy of Holies.”
4 sn Now, at the culmination of the renewing of the covenant, comes the account of Moses’ shining face. It is important to read this in its context first, holding off on the connection to Paul’s discussion in 2 Corinthians. There is a delicate balance here in Exodus. On the one hand Moses’ shining face served to authenticate the message, but on the other hand Moses prevented the people from seeing more than they could handle. The subject matter in the OT, then, is how to authenticate the message. The section again can be subdivided into three points that develop the whole idea: I. The one who spends time with God reflects his glory (29-30). It will not always be as Moses; rather, the glory of the
5 tn The temporal clause is composed of the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), followed by the temporal preposition, infinitive construct, and subjective genitive (“Moses”).
6 tn The second clause begins with “and/now”; it is a circumstantial clause explaining that the tablets were in his hand. It repeats the temporal clause at the end.
7 tn Heb “in the hand of Moses.”
8 tn The temporal clause parallels the first temporal clause; it uses the same infinitive construct, but now with a suffix referring to Moses.
9 tn Heb “and Moses.”
10 tn The word קָרַן (qaran) is derived from the noun קֶרֶן (qeren) in the sense of a “ray of light” (see Hab 3:4). Something of the divine glory remained with Moses. The Greek translation of Aquila and the Latin Vulgate convey the idea that he had horns, the primary meaning of the word from which this word is derived. Some have tried to defend this, saying that the glory appeared like horns or that Moses covered his face with a mask adorned with horns. But in the text the subject of the verb is the skin of Moses’ face (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 449).
11 tn Heb “set up,” if it includes more than the curtain.
12 tn Or “shielding” (NIV); Heb “the veil of the covering” (cf. KJV).
13 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
14 sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
16 tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.
17 tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”
18 tn Heb “the
19 tn Heb “the
20 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
21 tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. NASB, NCV, NLT) or “bread” in particular (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV).
22 sn A land whose stones are iron. Since iron deposits are few and far between in Palestine, the reference here is probably to iron ore found in mines as opposed to the meteorite iron more commonly known in that area.
23 tn The singular term (מִצְוָה, mitsvah) includes the whole corpus of covenant stipulations, certainly the book of Deuteronomy at least (cf. Deut 5:28; 6:1, 25; 7:11; 11:8, 22; 15:5; 17:20; 19:9; 27:1; 30:11; 31:5). The plural (מִצְוֹת, mitsot) refers to individual stipulations (as in vv. 2, 6).
24 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in v. 11).
25 tn Heb “multiply” (so KJV, NASB, NLT); NIV, NRSV “increase.”
26 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 16, 18).
27 tn Heb “the
28 tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.
29 tn This theologically rich term (חֶסֶד, khesed) describes God’s loyalty to those who keep covenant with him. Sometimes it is used synonymously with בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”; Deut 7:9), and sometimes interchangeably with it (Deut 7:12). See H.-J. Zobel, TDOT 5:44-64.
30 tc By a slight emendation (לַאֲלּוּפִים [la’allufim] for לַאֲלָפִים [la’alafim]) “clans” could be read in place of the MT reading “thousands.” However, no
31 tn Heb “love.” See note on the word “reject” in v. 9.