ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY EDUCATION NETWORK EXODUS DR. DAVID ADAMS #60 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. 10 E. 22nd Street Suite 304 Lombard, IL 60148 800-825-5234 *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> At the end of Chapter 34, Moses tells all the people the instructions that God has given them but they do not have another covenant ceremony. Was that because they did not need one since they had already done that back in Chapter 24? >> Well, David, I'm glad you noticed that. Because this is another place in the text where the Gospel is really in the details of the text here. That's why when we do exegesis, we look at the details very carefully. The answer is that they didn't have a covenant ceremony here not because they didn't need one because they already had one. But because their understanding of the nature of their relationship with Yahweh has been radically altered as a result of the events of Chapter 32 and 33 and 34. What we learn from this is that the covenant terms that begin in Exodus 20 that we talked about earlier in the course, these are rooted in the notion that Yahweh is the redeemer. Remember the Ten Commandments begins with that notion, that "I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." So this is rooted -- the covenant there in Chapter 24 is really rooted in the notion that Yahweh is the redeemer. Here in Chapter 34 this -- I guess we can call it renewal of the covenant here in Chapter 34 is rooted in the understanding that Yahweh is the one who does kesid or grace or mercy in relation to his people. So let's just look at this detail. You're quite right. After this description of God's name that we encountered early in Chapter 34, there's a long section where the conditions of the covenant are repeated and summarized. And at the end of that, we come to the point where we would expect the people to do what they did before. Namely, to say, "All that God has commanded, we will do." Let's look at what actually happens here. We're starting with Verse 29. "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, as he came down from the mountain Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking to God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and, behold, the skin on his face shone and they were afraid to come near him." That's an interesting detail but it's not quite so theologically important as what follows. Verse 31, "Moses called to them and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them. Afterward all of the people of Israel came near and he commanded them all that Yahweh had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went in and out before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now, as you quite rightly noted, David, what is the response of the people when Moses comes down from the mountain and tells them all of the conditions of the covenant? Yeah, that's it exactly. It's stone cold silence. The people respond not at all. Every other time in the book of Exodus where this has happened where Moses has told the people what God expects of them, they've responded by saying, "Yes, we'll do everything that God commands. We'll do it perfectly." Here as the covenant is renewed after the golden calf, Moses tells the people what God expects of them. And they stand in silence before Moses and before God. Because they realize that there is nothing that they can say. They understand that their relationship with God depends upon God's gracious disposition toward them and not upon their keeping the covenant. What they've learned as a result of this experience is that their redemption is Yahweh's work alone. They didn't contribute anything to being brought out of Egypt. They weren't even all that enthusiastic about it, if you recall. And they are remaining God's people. This is also Yahweh's work alone. They might like to keep the covenant perfectly. They certainly were enthusiastic when they swore they would do so. But they now realize they are unable to keep the covenant perfectly. So their being in that covenant relationship with Yahweh depends not upon their ability to keep God's commands perfectly, but rather solely upon God's kesid. Upon his grace, his mercy, his faithfulness to them rather than their ***piet, their goodness, or their faithfulness to God. So in this way Israel has finally learned what it means to be the people of God. And as a result, they can only stand in silence and receive God's teaching and trust upon his grace when they fail to keep it. *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ***