◄ Exodus 34:30 ►
Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid to approach him.
Study Bible
Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses,

This phrase highlights the communal aspect of the Israelite experience in the wilderness. Aaron, as the high priest and Moses' brother, represents the leadership of Israel, while "all the Israelites" indicates the entire community. This collective observation underscores the importance of Moses' role as the mediator between God and His people. The Israelites had witnessed Moses' leadership through the Exodus and the giving of the Law, and now they see a physical manifestation of his encounter with God. This moment is pivotal as it reinforces Moses' authority and the divine origin of his leadership.

2Co 3:7 Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved on stone……
2Co 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face…
Deu 34:10 Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel…

and behold, his face was radiant.

The radiance of Moses' face signifies the glory of God reflected through him. This transformation occurs after Moses' direct encounter with God on Mount Sinai, where he received the second set of tablets. The radiance serves as a visible sign of God's presence and approval. In biblical context, light often symbolizes purity, truth, and divine revelation. This event foreshadows the transfiguration of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, where His face also shone with divine glory (Matthew 17:2). The radiance of Moses' face is a type of the greater glory revealed in Christ.

Mat 17:2 There He was transfigured before them. His face shone…
Luk 9:29 And as He was praying, His face changed,…
Dan 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance…

And they were afraid to approach him.

The fear of the Israelites reflects a common biblical theme where humans react with awe and fear in the presence of divine holiness. This fear is not merely terror but a reverent acknowledgment of God's majesty and power. The Israelites' reaction is reminiscent of their earlier fear at Mount Sinai when they heard God's voice (Exodus 20:18-19). It underscores the holiness of God and the seriousness of His covenant with Israel. This fear also points to the need for a mediator, which Moses fulfills, and ultimately foreshadows the perfect mediation of Jesus Christ, who bridges the gap between God and humanity.

Deu 5:25-27 But now, why should we die? For this great fire……
Exo 20:18-21 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning,…
Heb 12:18-21 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The central figure in this passage, Moses is returning from Mount Sinai after speaking with God. His face is radiant, reflecting the glory of God.

2. Aaron
Moses' brother and the high priest of Israel. He is among those who see Moses' radiant face and is initially afraid.

3. The Israelites
The people of Israel, who are witnesses to Moses' transformed appearance. Their fear indicates their recognition of the divine encounter Moses has experienced.

4. Mount Sinai
The mountain where Moses meets with God and receives the Ten Commandments. It is a place of divine revelation and covenant.

5. The Radiance
The visible glory on Moses' face, symbolizing the presence and holiness of God. It serves as a testament to Moses' intimate encounter with the Divine.
Teaching Points
The Transformative Power of God's Presence
Encountering God can lead to a visible transformation in our lives. Just as Moses' face shone with God's glory, our lives should reflect His presence and holiness.

The Fear of the Lord
The Israelites' fear upon seeing Moses' radiant face reminds us of the awe and reverence due to God. We should approach Him with humility and respect.

The Role of a Mediator
Moses serves as a mediator between God and the Israelites, prefiguring Christ as our ultimate mediator. We can approach God with confidence through Jesus.

The Glory of the New Covenant
While Moses' radiance was temporary, the glory of the new covenant in Christ is eternal. We are called to live in the light of this greater glory.

Reflecting God's Glory in Daily Life
As believers, we are called to reflect God's glory in our actions and interactions. Our lives should be a testament to His transformative power.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Moses' radiant face serve as a symbol of his relationship with God, and how can we cultivate a similar relationship in our own lives?

2. In what ways does the fear of the Israelites upon seeing Moses' face reflect a proper understanding of God's holiness?

3. How does the role of Moses as a mediator between God and the Israelites point to the work of Christ in the New Testament?

4. What are some practical ways we can reflect the glory of God in our daily lives, as Moses did after his encounter with God?

5. How does the temporary nature of Moses' radiance compare to the eternal glory we have in Christ, and how should this impact our perspective on the old and new covenants?
Connections to Other Scriptures
2 Corinthians 3:7-18
Paul discusses the glory of the old covenant, represented by Moses' radiant face, and contrasts it with the surpassing glory of the new covenant in Christ.

Matthew 17:1-8
The Transfiguration of Jesus, where His face shines like the sun, parallels Moses' experience, highlighting Jesus' divine nature and fulfillment of the law.

Exodus 33:18-23
Moses' request to see God's glory and God's response, which sets the stage for the radiance of Moses' face in Exodus 34:30.
Sermons
Fellowship with God and its FruitsJ. Urquhart Exodus 34:28-35
A Transfigured SoulJ. Forfar.Exodus 34:29-35
Communion with GodT. Baron.Exodus 34:29-35
Communion with God, and its ResultsJ. Dixon.Exodus 34:29-35
Exhortation to HumilityR. McCheyne.Exodus 34:29-35
Light Reflected from the CrossExodus 34:29-35
Light Through Converse with Spiritual ThingsWeekly PulpitExodus 34:29-35
Moral IlluminationT. G. Selby.Exodus 34:29-35
Moses' Face Shining: a Picture of True GloryHomilistExodus 34:29-35
Moses TransfiguredH. Allon, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
Moses' VailA. Nevin, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
The Absence of Self-ConsciousnessExodus 34:29-35
The After-Glow of DevotionG. Kirkham.Exodus 34:29-35
The Divine Glory and its EffectsW. A. Gray.Exodus 34:29-35
The Element of Unconsciousness in CharacterW. M. Taylor, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
The Highest Excellence is that Which is Least Conscious of ItselfW. M. Taylor, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
The Law a LightOtto von Gerlach, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
The Outshining of a Joyful HeartChristian AgeExodus 34:29-35
The Shining FaceJ. L. Elderdice.Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining FaceJ. Orr Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining of Moses' FaceD. Young Exodus 34:29-35
The Vail on Moses' FaceS. Robinson, D. D.Exodus 34:29-35
The Vailed FaceJ. Vaughan, M. A.Exodus 34:29-35
Unconscious BeautyT. T. Shore, M. A.Exodus 34:29-35
People
Aaron, Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Israelites, Jebusites, Moses, Perizzites
Places
Egypt, Mount Sinai, Sinai
Topics
Aaron, Afraid, Beams, Behold, Face, Fear, Forth, Israelites, Nigh, Radiant, Shining, Shone, Skin, Sons
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 34:30

     5150   face
     8754   fear

Exodus 34:10-35

     4269   Sinai, Mount

Exodus 34:29-30

     4836   light, and people of God

Exodus 34:29-35

     5195   veil

Library
Blessed and Tragic Unconsciousness
'... Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him.'--EXODUS xxxiv. 29. '... And Samson wist not that the Lord had departed from him.'--JUDGES xvi. 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 …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God Proclaiming his Own Name
'The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.'--EXODUS xxxiv. 6. This great event derives additional significance and grandeur from the place in which it stands. It follows the hideous act of idolatry in which the levity and sinfulness of Israel reached their climax. The trumpet of Sinai had hardly ceased to peal, and there in the rocky solitudes, in full view of the mount 'that burned with fire,' …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Jealous God
I. Reverently, let us remember that THE LORD IS EXCEEDINGLY JEALOUS OF HIS DEITY. Our text is coupled with the command--"Thou shalt worship no other God." When the law was thundered from Sinai, the second commandment received force from the divine jealousy--"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

The Knowledge that God Is, Combined with the Knowledge that He is to be Worshipped.
John iv. 24.--"God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." There are two common notions engraven on the hearts of all men by nature,--that God is, and that he must be worshipped, and these two live and die together, they are clear, or blotted together. According as the apprehension of God is clear, and distinct, and more deeply engraven on the soul, so is this notion of man's duty of worshipping God clear and imprinted on the soul, and whenever the actions …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Nature of the Renderings
From the text we now turn to the renderings, and to the general principles that were followed, both in the Old and in the New Testament. The revision of the English text was in each case subject to the same general rule, viz. "To introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorised Version consistently with faithfulness"; but, owing to the great difference between the two languages, the Hebrew and the Greek, the application of the rule was necessarily different, and the results …
C. J. Ellicott—Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy Scripture

Elijah's Weakness, and Its Cube
'And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time. 3. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us. "
Rom. viii. 4.--"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." God having a great design to declare unto the world both his justice and mercy towards men, he found out this mean most suitable and proportioned unto it, which is here spoken of in the third verse,--to send his own Son to bear the punishment of sin, that the righteousness of the law might be freely and graciously fulfilled in sinners. And, indeed, it was not imaginable by us, how he could declare both in the salvation …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Moses --Making Haste
"Lord, teach us to pray."--Luke xi. 1. "And Moses made haste . . ."--Ex. xxxiv. 8. THIS passage is by far the greatest passage in the whole of the Old Testament. This passage is the parent passage, so to speak, of all the greatest passages of the Old Testament. This passage now open before us, the text and the context, taken together, should never be printed but in letters of gold a finger deep. There is no other passage to be set beside this passage till we come to the opening passages of the New …
Alexander Whyte—Lord Teach Us To Pray

The Christian's God
Scripture References: Genesis 1:1; 17:1; Exodus 34:6,7; 20:3-7; Deuteronomy 32:4; 33:27; Isaiah 40:28; 45:21; Psalm 90:2; 145:17; 139:1-12; John 1:1-5; 1:18; 4:23,24; 14:6-11; Matthew 28:19,20; Revelation 4:11; 22:13. WHO IS GOD? How Shall We Think of God?--"Upon the conception that is entertained of God will depend the nature and quality of the religion of any soul or race; and in accordance with the view that is held of God, His nature, His character and His relation to other beings, the spirit …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

Jehovah. The "I Am. "
WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii:14). He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Exercise of Mercy Optional with God.
ROMANS ix. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." This is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His own nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I beseech thee show me thy glory." He desired a clear understanding of the character of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

The True Tabernacle, and Its Glory of Grace and Peace
THERE WAS A TIME when God freely communed with men. The voice of the Lord God was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day. With unfallen Adam the great God dwelt in sweet and intimate fellowship; but sin came and not only destroyed the garden, but destroyed the intercourse of God with His creature man. A great gulf opened between man as evil, and God as infinitely pure; and had it not been for the amazing goodness of the most High, we must all of us forever have been banished from His …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 31: 1885

Because of his Importunity
"I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth."--LUKE xi. 8. "And He spake a parable unto them, to the end, they ought always to pray and not to faint.... Hear what the unrighteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry to Him day and night, and He is long-suffering with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."--LUKE xviii. 1-8. Our Lord Jesus …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

The Mercy of God
The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy. Mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness. Psa 33:5. So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy. The most learned of the heathens thought they gave their god Jupiter two golden characters when they styled him good and great. Both these meet in God, goodness and greatness, majesty and mercy. God is essentially good in himself and relatively good to us. They are both put together in Psa 119:98. Thou art good, and doest good.' This …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

That Deep Things Ought not to be Preached at all to Weak Souls.
But the preacher should know how to avoid drawing the mind of his hearer beyond its strength, lest, so to speak, the string of the soul, when stretched more than it can bear, should be broken. For all deep things should be covered up before a multitude of hearers, and scarcely opened to a few. For hence the Truth in person says, Who, thinkest thou, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord has appointed over his household, to give them their measure of wheat in due season? (Luke xii. 42). …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Lord of Glory.
1 Cor. ii:8. OUR ever blessed Lord, who died for us, to whom we belong, with whom we shall be forever, is the Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1 Cor. ii:8, "for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." Eternally He is this because He is "the express image of God, the brightness of His Glory" (Heb. i:3). He possessed Glory with the Father before the world was (John xvii:5). This Glory was beheld by the prophets, for we read that Isaiah "saw His Glory and spake of Him" …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Development of the Earlier Old Testament Laws
[Sidenote: First the principle, and then the detailed laws] If the canon of the New Testament had remained open as long as did that of the Old, there is little doubt that it also would have contained many laws, legal precedents, and ecclesiastical histories. From the writings of the Church Fathers and the records of the Catholic Church it is possible to conjecture what these in general would have been. The early history of Christianity illustrates the universal fact that the broad principles are …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Moses the Type of Christ.
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

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