Ex 34: 28-35, “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. 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. 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. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 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. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.”
While Moses was right to destroy the first set of tablets, containing the Law, that the Lord wrote in His own hand, it was appropriate that they have the tablets of the Law if they were to have an ongoing relationship with the Lord. Moses had to carve the new tablets and then write the Ten Commandments on them with his own hands. In this way, Israel would forever suffer the consequences of that sin, they would never again have access to the tablets that were carved and written by the Lord Himself. Moses remained on that mountain for forty days as he carved the words of the Law and heard what the Lord had to say to him. When Moses came down from the mountain, the reflection of the Lord’s presence was still on his face. This was so bright that the people were afraid to come close to Moses. Moses gave the information that the Lord had given him to the leaders of the people and then he covered his face so that the people would not be afraid of him. When Moses spoke to the Lord he took the facial covering off and when he spoke to the people he covered his face again.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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