Transformed
OPENING PRAYER:
I praise you Lord, for Your extravagant hospitality toward me today and every day.
18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.[a] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.
25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.
26 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
The Radiant Face of Moses
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Exodus 34:18-35
Footnotes
[a] Exodus 34:22 That is, in the autumn
REFLECT:
Take a moment to thank God for saving you through Jesus.
Could there be a better advertisement than this for spending time with God? He makes our faces radiant (v 29)! Even if that isn’t your experience today, you can have confidence that God is transforming you one day at a time (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). Why not invite the Holy Spirit to fill you and change you as you read? Thankfully, unlike the previous occasion when Moses descended from the mountain with God’s law (Exodus 32), Aaron and the people hadn’t been busy in the idol factory. They seemed to have learned the lesson and showed a fear of the Lord and of his glory (v 30).
It isn’t difficult to understand what the instructions in this passage say (vs 18–26), but it is harder to understand the meaning behind some of them, e.g., ‘do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk’ (this was probably because it was part of a Canaanite magic ritual). God was reiterating some of his instructions to his people so that they would honor and obey them (e.g., Exodus 23:14-19).
APPLY:
As you think back through this series on Exodus, what are some of the key things you want to remember and put into practice? Take a few moments to jot them down to remind you of what God has been saying to you through his Word.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Gracious Lord, I want to make it my ambition, wherever I am and whatever I am doing, to please you above all.
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