Exodus 34:29, commentary and pictures

After forty days and nights of communion with God on Mount Sinai he came down carrying the two tables of testimony written by God, with his face shining with dazzling light from talking with God, yet he did not know that it shone. That brightness was not his own but the reflected glory of the divine presence and favor resting upon him. Its shining without his knowing shows that communion with God transforms character so His glory shines out to all around while the person remains humble and unconscious of it. Aaron and the people shrank and fled because conscious guilt made the holy light painful and terrifying to them, so in compassion he called them, gave them the Lord's commands, and put a veil on his face when speaking with them, removing it when he went in before the Lord. What shone from him was the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ and His righteousness embodied in the law, which has no saving power apart from Christ and pronounces death on the transgressor apart from the cleansing blood of the atonement.

Coming Down From Sinai

After forty days and nights of communion with God on Mount Sinai, where he was miraculously sustained and received instruction from God, Moses came down carrying the two tables of testimony. They were the covenant tables of the ten commandments, the words of the covenant written by God on the stone Moses had prepared. His face reflected the glory of the divine presence from talking with God and shone with dazzling, heavenly light, yet he did not know that the skin of his face shone.

That shining was the glory God had revealed when He put Moses in a cleft in the rock and passed by him. God had covered him so he could see God and live and behold the heavenly things to be made for the sanctuary. That communion made him ready to give directions for making the sanctuary exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount.

In the mount he had been shown Christ's work and mission to earth, that the Son of God would take humanity, become teacher and guide, and give Himself a ransom for sins, opening a new and living way of salvation through His blood. He had been shown that when the perfect offering for sin was made the sacrificial offerings typifying the Messiah would cease. The Angel at the head of Israel was that great offering and the foundation of the whole typical system, where type reaches its antitype. The second tablets signified that God had answered Moses' plea and was reconciled to His people, so Moses, ignorant at first of the cause of their fear, urged them to come near with the pledge of God's reconciliation and assurance of restored favor.

Face Shining Unawares

While Moses talked with God his face caught and reflected the glory of the divine presence in dazzling, heavenly light. That shining was a sign of God's presence and favor resting upon him, the impress of God left upon the man. The glory was the Lord's, not Moses' own, for he was only a man under the guidance of the Son of God, given light and glory in abundance from above.

The brightness came upon him while he spoke with God on the mount, yet Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone. He had been forty days and nights in God's presence receiving instruction, and the Lord's glory was revealed through him as a human agent when he came down with the tablets of testimony. The heavenly brilliance displayed both the glory of communion with God and the solemn authority of the law given at Sinai.

That he shone without knowing it proves that communion with God transforms character, so that divine glory shines out and is seen and felt by all around while the one changed is not conscious of it. Those with the deepest experience in the things of God are farthest removed from pride and self-exaltation. The more closely one resembles Christ the humbler is his opinion of himself.

To those who had not shared his communion with God that reflected brightness was painful and terrifying. It reflected God's majesty in heavenly glory, and sinful onlookers could not bear it.

Frightened Camp And Veil

Aaron and the rulers with all Israel saw the brightness on his face and shrank from him in fear, afraid to come near and unable to bear to look upon his countenance. They fled from the painful heavenly brilliance and begged that it be covered because they feared it would slay them. The glory was so great that even those closest to him drew back until he urged them forward.

Their terror came from conscious guilt and a lingering sense of being still under divine displeasure. That same heavenly light would have filled them with joy had they been obedient. There is fear in guilt, while the soul free from sin will not wish to hide from the light of heaven.

Compassionating their fear, Moses called them to himself and passed on to them the Lord's commands. When he talked with the people he put a veil upon his face to cover its brightness. He wore the veil while speaking to the people but removed it when he went in before the Lord. After delivering God's commands he covered his face, and continued to do so thereafter whenever he returned to the camp from communion with God.

Gospel Glory In Law

Moses came down from the mount with his face shining with the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ. In the mount he had been shown Christ's work and mission to earth, that the Son of God would take humanity, become teacher and guide, and give Himself a ransom for sins, opening a new and living way of salvation through His blood. He had been shown that when the perfect offering for sin was made the sacrificial offerings typifying the Messiah would cease. The Angel at the head of Israel was that great offering and the foundation of the whole typical system, where type reaches its antitype. Captivated by this view, with praise in his heart, he reflected its divine glory so strikingly that the brightness was painful, and because of their transgressions the people could not bear to look upon his face, but fled and shrank back fearing it would slay them, so he covered it with a veil that he might not terrify them, though he himself did not know that it shone after he had been with God and received the stone tables. That shining reflected Christ's righteousness embodied in the law, for the law has no saving power apart from Christ.

The brightness reflected God's majesty. The scene illustrates the contrast between the law, which pronounces death on the transgressor, and the atoning sacrifice whose cleansing blood removes sin and fear. Through repentance and faith pardon and healing come to the sinner. Had Israel by faith discerned that gospel light and looked steadfastly to the end of that which was abolished, they could have endured the light reflected from his countenance.

Warning Of Final Judgment

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after speaking with God and receiving the two tables of testimony, the skin of his face shone with reflected glory though he himself did not know it. The brightness was so great that guilty Israel could not endure it but feared to come near him and could not look upon his countenance. After delivering God's commands he covered his face with a veil, which he removed whenever he went in before the Lord, and the shining displayed both the glory of communion with God and the solemn authority of the law given at Sinai. If sinful people could not look upon Moses' face after his communion with God, still less can those who disregard God's law face the Son of God when He comes in the glory of His Father with the angels and all the heavenly host to execute judgment upon transgressors of His law and rejecters of His atonement.

The second tablets signified that God had answered Moses' plea and was reconciled to His people, yet even then the people were frightened and could not bear to look at his radiant face. That reflected glory also points forward to the glory of God's saints just before Christ's return. The wicked will shrink from seeing them because that glory will be painful to them.

Saints Shine At Deliverance

The same shining seen on Moses when he came down from Sinai after talking with God will appear on the living saints, the Israel of God, the 144,000 living saints, when God speaks the day and hour of Jesus' coming and pours the Holy Spirit upon them, so that their faces begin to light up and shine with the glory of God just as his did. That shining was visible after he had been in God's presence, and it stands as the pattern for what will be repeated in them at the end of time. When that voice is heard from heaven declaring the day and hour and delivering the everlasting covenant, they stand with eyes fixed upward listening in solemn awe. The covenant comes with one solemn sentence at a time rolling through the earth like peals of loudest thunder, which the saints know and understand while the wicked hear as thunder and earthquake, and at the end of every sentence the saints shout Glory Alleluia.

This glorified shining comes at the moment of deliverance in the time of trouble. It comes as they hear His voice proclaim the everlasting covenant and the day and hour of Jesus' coming, just before the blessing is pronounced on those who honored God by keeping His Sabbath holy, followed by a mighty shout of victory over the beast and his image. The brightness is so great that the wicked cannot look upon them for the glory. Strengthened by the latter rain for the final conflict and the time of trouble, God's faithful people share in the Spirit and glory attending the closing work. As the third angel's message swells to a loud cry they share in the glory attending that work, so their faces shine with its light and reflect Jesus' image as God's glory rests upon them.

When the law was given the face of Moses and the faces of those who were with him shone with glory, and that shining will be repeated when the commandment-keepers who honor the law are glorified. Then their countenances are lighted up with glory and beam upon those around them, the same divine presence that made his face radiant filling them through the Holy Spirit. That filling prepares them to stand before Jesus at His appearing. Amid signs acted over again, with the sea boiling like a pot, Christ appears in splendor with His sword girded to bring perfect and entire deliverance, and they are translated to heaven without seeing death to enter through the gates into the city, into the land of Eden.

Echoes In Other Lives

Stephen's face before the council shone with the same holy light that rested on Moses after speaking with God, like the face of an angel. It was the shekinah sign of God's presence, which those who honored Moses could have recognized in Stephen as recalling Moses' experience. Its appearance recalled a glory that had departed from the temple and would not again be seen there. Even those who trembled and covered their faces remained opposed when prejudice hardened them against the truth.

The revealing of God's presence on the mount was so glorious it could not be borne by mortal man, so that even highly favored Moses exceedingly feared and quaked before it. God strengthened Moses to endure that excellent glory, so that when he came down he brought a reflection of it upon his face. That reflected brightness was so great the people could not look steadfastly upon him but were obliged to withdraw from him. This wonderful manifestation of divine power in the Jewish economy proves that age was not Christless or without mercy and grace. Moses coming from God's presence enclosed in divine glory and sustained by God was an experience beyond ordinary human strength, unlike Christ's later hunger and suffering during temptation.

Communion with God can make a person's face radiant with holy light, as Moses' face shone with a radiance he did not know was there after speaking with God on Sinai. Enoch likewise grew more heavenly through communion with God and carried a holy light that remained while he taught those willing to hear him. Nathaniel's face shone and looked happy while he praised God and prayed, reflecting the glory and joy of communion with God. A man's face shone with heavenly light after experiencing the power of God, linking such a shining countenance with God's presence and work. A similar shining countenance accompanies a person's experience of God's power and the Holy Spirit.

When God reveals His glory to a person the face shines with that glory. The very faces of believers will shine with that same revealing when cold Phariseeism is broken. That will be when souls put on Christ and are clothed with humility and a contrite spirit and God manifests His glory to them.

Transformed Life And Ministry

Moses' close intercourse with God was of more value to him for bearing responsibility as a leader than all his former education in the learning of the Egyptians. His face shone after he had been with God and seen the divine glory, with a heavenly luster so bright that Israel could not look upon him and he appeared like a bright angel from heaven, proving that God condescends to talk face to face even with feeble mortals. This proves that all who hold responsible positions and all who devise and execute plans must first have power with God in order to have power with the people. They must connect with heaven for wisdom, foresight, discernment and keen perception, for his communion with God and assurance of God's presence were more valuable to his work as leader than worldly learning or skill. The most brilliant intellect, the most earnest study and the highest eloquence can never be substituted for the wisdom and power of God and for the grace of Christ and the knowledge of God's will.

His face was glorified through communion with God when he came down from the holy mount, and his changed, glorified appearance illustrates the sacred work of bearing God's truth to the people. It illustrates a messenger who has been with God carrying God's truth to the people. The message to be proclaimed is the doctrine of the cross and Christ's imputed righteousness, which comes not in word only but in God's power to everyone who believes.

Practical communion with God and rest in Him cause His peace in the heart to shine forth from the countenance. That communion adds persuasiveness to words, gives persuasive power of influence, imparts moral elevation, and fits believers to minister to the needs of others as they should. The light and glory reflected on Moses' face had been imparted to him in abundance by the Lord, for the glory came from the Lord and not from Moses himself, who was only a man under the guidance of the Son of God. The privileges and light so given also meant that he would be judged according to what he had received.