EXODUS LESSON 58


    We will begin this lesson in Exodus 34:19 "All that openeth the
matrix [is] mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, [whether] ox
or sheep, [that is male]."

    In this verse above "matrix" means womb.  We see by this that all
people belong to God. We are all alive because, of the breath of life
He breathed into our bodies. The firstborn son of people were to be
the Lord's. As we said before, God purchased them with the blood of
the lamb over the doorpost, when the firstborn of Egypt were killed as
the tenth plague. We see, here, that the firstborn of the animals were
to be sacrificed to God.

    Exodus 34:20 "But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a
lamb: and if thou redeem [him] not, then shalt thou break his neck.
All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear
before me empty."

     We will find that the child was to be purchased back from God
with silver (redemption). The amount established later was five
shekels of the sanctuary.  The "ass" was never one of the sacrificial
animals and would not have been suitable for sacrifice, so it had to be
redeemed with a substitute acceptable unto God. The lamb was the
substitute.

    Exodus 34:21  "Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day
thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest."

    This was a further explanation of the "sabbath of rest".  Just
because it was time to harvest, or earing, was no excuse to work on the
sabbath. God established this sabbath of rest for mankind.  "Earing"
means ploughing. So it was forbidden to plough, or harvest on the
sabbath.

    Exodus 34:22  "And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the
firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the
year's end."

    We discussed these celebrations earlier in this series of
lessons. Firstfruits occurs in the early spring around April on our
calendar, and ingathering occurs at the end of the summer somewhere
around October first on our calendar. This did not mean a 365 day
year but rather was speaking of the crop year.

    Exodus 34:23  "Thrice in the year shall all your men children
appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel."

    These were the three celebrations that could not be overlooked by
the men in the family. We dealt with this in chapter 23, verse 17.

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

    We read throughout the Bible, that if we follow the Lord in all
His ways, God will cause even our enemies to be at peace with us.  God
fights our battles for us. We see, here, that not only Canaan would be
theirs as originally promised, but the land between the Nile and the
Euphrates, as well. We see that the people would not try to come
against them and take their land. They knew that God was with them.

    Exodus 34:25 "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with
leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be
left unto the morning." Exodus 34:26 "The first of the firstfruits of
thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou
shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."

    This was just a repetition of what was given and explained in
chapter 23 verses 18 and 19 of this study.  I believe the repeating of
this, here, just shows how very important God felt this was.

    Exodus 34:27 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these
words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with
thee and with Israel."

    Moses was instructed to write these instructions for God's people
 down for all time, just as this statement was made.  The agreement
 with Israel was conditional. It was good, if they followed the ways of the
 Lord. The covenant that God had made sounded like a very good deal but
 was only as good as it sounded, if Israel kept it's part of the bargain.

    Exodus 34:28 "And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty
nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon
the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."

    We see here a very different tables of stones. The first two
stones were provided by God. Moses made these. "Forty", as I have said
so many times in these teachings, is a time of testing. These forty
days that Moses was away from the children of Israel would certainly
test them. The first time that Moses was gone for an extended time,
they fell into idolatry. This time they must not fail this test. This
time they did not decide Moses was not coming back. We see, here, that
Moses went forty days and nights without food and water. Only Moses,
Elijah, and Jesus accomplished this length of fasting. The Lord is the
Bread and Water of life, and Moses was in His presence. We can see
that he (Moses) was miraculously sustained, because he was in His
presence. Jesus had told the disciples "I have bread you know not of".
The Bible (Word of God) is spoken of as Bread, as well. Whatever was
the case, we know that God was fully able to take care of Moses.  This
"he wrote upon the tables" is a little deceiving. In verse 1 earlier,
we read that the Lord said He would write upon them. I believe there
is a definite break between the "he did neither eat" and the "he that
wrote the commandments on the stones". We see a verification that the
Lord wrote on the second stones in Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 2.
The Ten Commandments were, also, called the decalogue, and the covenant.

    Exodus 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."

    Jesus said that He was the Light of the world. In our lessons on
Genesis, we dealt with Jesus being the source of all light. In St.
John chapter 1, we read in verse 9: "That was the true Light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world." You see, Moses had
been in the presence of the source of all Light for forty days and
nights. The belief that Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy makes me believe that Moses' head was filled
with the knowledge to write those books, while he was in the Lord's
presence. We do know that God commanded Moses to come back and write
the instructions for the Israelites in a book. A very great Light had
filled Moses' mind. The very strange thing about this was that Moses
was not aware that his head was shining. Have you ever heard anyone
say, "It was like a light went on inside me, and now I understand"?
This is what I believe happened but on a very magnified scale. Moses
would bring the tables of stone down with him and this time he would not
break them.

    Exodus 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
come nigh him."

    This would certainly be frightening to see. This had to be so
 bright that they, perhaps, thought that this wasn't Moses, but his
 spirit. When a person gets a really good dose of Christianity, you
 can see a shine in his face. This is just a small version of what
 Moses had. Moses had spent a great deal of time in the very near
 presence of God, and the glory of God was shining in Moses' face.

    Exodus 34:31 "And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the
rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with
them."

    When Moses called out to them, they recognized his voice and
realized it was really Moses. He reassured them that they should not
fear him, that he was still a man. Aaron and these rulers had known
before that Moses had something special with God. God had not allowed
them to come as close to Him as He had Moses. It seems as though even
Aaron and the rulers had feared Moses, but after he called out to
them, they came close to him, and Moses talked with them.

    Exodus 34:32 "And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh:
and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him
in mount Sinai."

    This was not just the Ten Commandments, but also, the rules for
living that God expected of them.  Especially about the sabbath and
the three feasts that God expected them to observe each year.  This
certainly was not all that God had given Moses in these forty days,
but was the messages that directly pertained to them.

    Exodus 34:33 "And [till] Moses had done speaking with them, he put
a veil on his face."

    This "veil" was so they would not be so overwhelmed by the light
of Moses' face. There is a Scripture in II Corinthians chapter 3 that
tells us about this veil, II Corinthians 3:13 "And not as Moses,
[which] put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could
not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:"
II Corinthians 3:14 "But their minds were blinded: for until this day
remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old
testament; which [veil] is done away in Christ." II Corinthians 3:15
"But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their
heart." II Corinthians 3:16 "Nevertheless when it shall turn to the
Lord, the veil shall be taken away."

    All of this bears out the fact that the Lord Jesus is the source
of all light, knowledge, and understanding.

    Exodus 34:34 "But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with
him, 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."

    When Moses went back into the presence of the Lord,  God took the
veil off, so that Moses might see and understand clearly everything the
Lord gave him for the people.

    Exodus 34:35 "And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his
face again, until he went in to speak with him."

    The message that God gave Moses was not veiled to Moses, but it
was partly veiled from Moses to the people, until the fullness of the
Lord was revealed at the cross.




















                          Exodus 58 Questions


1.  Which one of the cattle, or ox, or sheep belong to God?
2.  Which people belong to God?
3.  What does "matrix" mean?
4.  What was the firstborn son to be bought back from the Lord with?
5.  What was the price?
6.  The firstling of an ass was to be redeemed with what?
7.  If not redeemed, what was to be done with it?
8.  Why did God specifically mention "earing" and "harvest"?
9.  Who did God establish sabbath for?
10. What does "earring" mean?
11. What feasts did the Lord say specifically not to forget?
12. Who was to appear before the Lord these three times a year?
13. When these three times were observed by the people, what blessings
    were promised?
14. Not only Canaan would belong to the Israelites, but where?
15. What was to be done with the firstfruits of the land?
16. Why did God repeat this here, if He already said the same thing in
    chapter 23?
17. Why was Moses to write these rules for living down?
18. What one word covers the kind of agreement God made with these
    Israelites?
19. How long was Moses with the Lord this time to receive the new
    tablets of stone?
20. What did Moses do then that seems almost impossible for us to do?
21. Who wrote on the stones?
22. What does the number forty mean in Scripture?
23. Did the children fall into idolatry this time while Moses was
    gone?
24. Who is the Bread and the Water of life?
25. What is the Bible?
26. Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 2 verifies what?
27. What had happened to Moses while he was on the mountain, that he
    was unaware of?
28. Why does the author believe that Moses' head shone?
29. What effect did this have on Aaron?
30. What convinced Aaron and the rulers to come back close?
31. What did Moses do when he was near the congregation?
32. When Moses went in to speak with the Lord, what did he do differently
    than when speaking to the people?
33. Where in the New Testament do we read about the veil of Moses?
34. Explain what you think this shining of Moses' face was caused by.