Moses Makes New Tablets (Exodus 34:1-9)

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. [This is like an employer rehiring a fired worker or a judge saying to a guilty defendant, “You have served your time and may now go free.” This would be just like before except now Moses is responsible for providing the tablets. He held the originals and knows what to provide.] 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” [God’s holiness is a threat to any and all things unholy.] 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him [manifested his glory] there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful [he genuinely cares about people] and gracious [he does things for people they do not deserve], slow to anger [he is patient with people’s failures], and abounding in steadfast [covenant] love [he has long-term, reliable loyalty to his covenant] and faithfulness [whatever he says is correct, reliable, and can be trusted], 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands [of generations who keep his covenant], forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin [this is not a NT concept only but derives from the very nature of God], but [a corrective] who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” [Those who think sin has no consequences are wrong. A new generation cannot “get away” with a sin simply because a previous generation has been punished for that sin.] 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. [Worship precedes appeal.] 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” [Moses asks for two guarantees of God’s grace: 1) to go in Israel’s midst without restriction and 2) forgive the people so that they will no longer be in danger of judgment and covenant rejection. He asks for nothing less than complete acceptance as God’s chosen people (“inheritance”). These two guarantees are based fully on the character of God. Does Moses sound like Jesus?]