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I do want to read the whole chapter, 
so beginning in Exodus 34 at verse 1. So be ready in the morning, and 
come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to 
me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with 
you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain. Let neither 
flocks nor herds feed before that mountain. So he cut two 
tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in 
the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded 
him. And he took in his hand the two 
tablets of stone. Now the Lord descended in the 
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the 
Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, 
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding 
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the 
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. 
So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and 
worshiped. Then he said, if now I have found 
grace in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among 
us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity 
and our sin, and take us as your inheritance. And he said, behold, 
I make a covenant, before all your people I will do marvels 
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people among whom 
you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome 
thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this 
day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite, 
and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, 
and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you 
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, 
lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, 
break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images. 
For you shall worship no other god. For the Lord, whose name 
is Jealous, is a jealous God. lest you make a covenant with 
the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with 
their gods, and make sacrifice to their gods. And one of them 
invites you, and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his 
daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot 
with their gods, and make your sons play the harlot with their 
gods. You shall make no molded gods for yourselves. The feast 
of unleavened bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat 
unleavened bread, as I commanded you in the appointed time of 
the month of Abib. For in the month of Abib you 
came out from Egypt. All that open the womb are mine, 
and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or 
sheep. But the firstborn of a donkey 
you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you will not redeem him, 
then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons 
you shall redeem, and none of you shall appear before me empty-handed. 
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall 
rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. And you 
shall observe the feast of weeks, of the first fruits of wheat 
harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Three times 
in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the Lord 
God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations 
before you and enlarge your borders. Neither will any man covet your 
land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three 
times in the year. You shall not offer the blood 
of my sacrifice with leaven, nor shall the sacrifice of the 
feast of the Passover be left until morning. The first of the 
firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the 
Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's 
milk.' Then the Lord said to Moses, Write these words, for 
according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant 
with you and with Israel. So he was there with the Lord 
forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank 
water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 
Ten Commandments. Now it was so, when Moses came 
down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony 
were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain, that 
Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked 
with him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, 
behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to 
come near him. Then Moses called to them, and 
Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, 
and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of 
Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that 
the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses 
had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But 
whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he 
would take the veil off until he came out. And he would come 
out and speak to the children of Israel, whatever he had been 
commanded. And whenever the children of 
Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face 
shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again until 
he went in to speak with him. Amen. Well, as we have been considering, 
we've seen this sort of digression in terms of the narrative. So 
after the giving of the Decalogue in Exodus chapter 20, and then 
the judicial law in chapters 21 to 23, and the ratification 
of the covenant in chapter 24, you then have God give ceremonial 
law, legislation in terms of worship, how the children of 
Israel are supposed to meet with their God. So chapters 25 to 
31 give the instructions concerning the tabernacle. Chapters 32 to 
34 are a bit of a digression, and then we'll return to chapter 
35 and following where they actually build the tabernacle. But what 
happens in chapter 32 is we remember is that the children of Israel 
defect from God, they break the covenant, they depart from Him 
by engaging in idolatry. So here in chapter 34 we have 
first the revelation of God's glory, second the renewal of 
God's covenant, and then thirdly the reflection of God's glory. But in the last time, in verses 
1 to 10, remember that God called Moses up on the mount once again. So in Exodus chapter 19, Moses 
goes up to the mount. And then in Exodus 24 at verses 
12 and following, Moses goes back up to the mount and there 
he is for 40 days. And it's then that he comes back 
down to see the children of Israel engaged in this idolatry before 
the golden calf, and that's when he casts down the two tablets 
of the covenant. So God tells him, come back up 
to Mount Sinai. We learn from the reading of 
the passage here that he's up there for 40 days and 40 nights, 
and he is to take these two tablets, and there is this renewal of 
the covenants. We're going to look at that first 
in terms of verses 10 to 28. So we've got this renewal of 
God's covenant, which is a demonstration of what God has already stated 
concerning His perfections. Remember that chapter 33 ends 
with Moses asking God to show him His glory. Notice in 33.18, 
Please show me your glory. And then God said, I will make 
all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name 
of the Lord before you. So chapter 34 is when that comes 
to pass, when that is realized. Notice in verse 5 of chapter 
34, Now the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him 
there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed 
before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and 
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression 
and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to 
the third and the fourth generation. He doesn't just tell us these 
perfections, he doesn't just describe these attributes, he 
doesn't just say, this is what I am essentially, this is what 
I am by nature. But in verses 10 and following, 
he demonstrates that. The fact that these people who 
had ratified the covenant in chapter 24, and then had broken 
it completely in chapter 32, now have God forgiving them and 
cleansing them and renewing this covenant with them, demonstrates 
the legitimacy of all that you find there in terms of the revelation 
of his perfections. He is merciful, he is gracious, 
he is long-suffering, he does abound in goodness and truth, 
and he does keep mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression 
and sin. That is precisely what the text 
demonstrates in terms of the way that he deals with the children 
of Israel. So notice in the renewal of God's covenant. First that 
covenant renewed in verses 10 to 16. Verse 10, behold I make 
a covenant. This is the language I cut a 
covenant. He's not making a brand new covenant. He is renewing the covenant that 
was extant. The covenant that had been made 
and as I said ratified in chapter 24. So that broken covenant is 
referred to, or I'm sorry. Behold, I make a covenant before 
all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in 
all the earth nor in any nation and all the people among whom 
you are shall see the work of the Lord. So he's renewing that 
which he had previously purposed to carry out. Again, we have 
this digression or we have this interruption in terms of their 
defection and in terms of their sin. But the covenant is renewed 
by God himself. Stuart says this was not merely 
the sort of covenant renewal, it is a covenant renewal, but 
it's not similar to the ones that will come in subsequent 
history. He says this was not merely the sort of covenant renewal 
that would take place at various times in Israel's history either. 
This was rather a divine restoration of a broken covenant, one that 
had been made temporarily null and void by Israel's corporate 
return to idolatry as described in chapter 32. So it is a renewal, 
it is a restoration, it is an exhibition or demonstration of 
God's mercy, God's grace, God's long-suffering, and God's abounding 
in goodness and truth. And then in terms of the plan 
of God, when he says, before all your people, I will do marvels 
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. That's not an understatement. 
You've all read the Pentateuch. You've read from Exodus 34 on. 
You see lots of mighty exploits done by God on behalf of the 
children of Israel in terms of wilderness wanderings, in terms 
of the defeat of their enemies, in terms of God's provision for 
them, God's sustenance of them, God's preservation of them, and 
ultimately God's presence among them. So what he says here again 
is not an understatement. There will be marvels done such 
as have not been done in all the earth nor in any nation, 
and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of 
the Lord." Remember Rahab the harlot, she was not brand new 
to the religion of Yahweh. She knew, she understood, she 
had those spies in light of the fact of what she had heard about 
the God of Israel who delivered his people powerfully from the 
land of Egypt. So the nations around were getting 
wind of what this great God in Israel was all about. So he announces 
the great works of God, and then he describes those works in particular 
in verse 11. And this is reminiscent of chapter 
23, verse 23. As you read here, or as we read 
here, or as we go through this material tonight, we'll see it's 
quite the review. And that makes perfect sense 
because it's a renewal of or a restoration of the covenant 
that they had broken. Those tablets that were destroyed 
that signified their defection and their apostasy. So this emphasis 
on law in terms of the covenant people to separate them from 
the nations that they were going in to dispossess, this is absolutely 
legitimate. So notice what he says in verse 
11. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving 
out from before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, 
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Again, that's 
reminiscent of what's already been announced in chapter 23 
at verse 23. They're going into a land that 
God is giving them based on his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. It's a free gift. It's an inheritance 
for them. They're to go in, they're to 
dispossess the land of the Canaanites, and then they're to carve up 
that land, divide up that land, and allot it to the various tribes 
in Israel. Now, when it comes to God's driving 
out these foreign nations, remember that it wasn't by way of invitation. It wasn't just asking. It was 
rather to tell the children of Israel to go in and dispossess 
the land of Canaan. In other words, conquer them, 
destroy them, and that leads us now to consider the prohibitions 
given by God in verses 12 to 16. They weren't going to just 
go into the land of Canaan and win the people over with their 
wonderful personality and just ask them, will you please leave 
now? Because our God has said that 
he's going to give us this land. No, they're going to have to 
dispossess the land. They're going to have to break things 
and kill people. And that is precisely what God 
says relative to the conquest. It is that. It's a conquest. They were to go in and they were 
to conquer. Notice this prohibition against 
covenants with the heathen. Notice in verse 12. Take heed 
to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land 
where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. It 
would obviously be a snare in their midst if they covenanted 
with the heathen. You covenant with the heathen, 
the next step is that you're going to worship with the heathen. 
So don't covenant with them and don't worship with them because 
God the Lord is your Lord and you're not supposed to defect 
from Him. You're not supposed to depart from Him. And then 
with reference to the destruction of the heathen, notice in verses 
13 to 16. You shall destroy their altars. You see what he says? Not go 
in and ask them politely to please leave, pack up their altars and 
go away because our God wants you to leave now. No, you're 
to go in and destroy them. Now when you compare this particular 
section with Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 7 is a bit more amplified in 
terms of the injunction or commandment relative to holy war. But you 
get the point here. Notice, you shall destroy their 
altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images. 
Now notice parenthetically, for you shall worship no other god, 
for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Now we see 
that connected to the second commandment, this idea or expression 
of the jealousy of God. And we can understand this prohibition 
against worshipping with the Canaanites, because if you allow 
them the presence to be in the land and to maintain their altars, 
it won't be long before Israelites are worshipping with them. Use 
the illustration last week, your neighbors are heathen, your neighbors 
are pagan, they pray to Baal and it happens to rain. And then 
you conclude, well, it's a good thing. I'll pray to Baal too, 
because then it might rain for me. Baal was the storm god. So if you see the pagans praying 
to Baal, and it just so happens to rain, there's that cause and 
effect, or at least it looks like to the Israelite, then he 
might take up praying to Baal. He's not rejecting wholesale 
Yahweh. Remember, we've seen that a lot of the idolatry in 
the Old Testament wasn't a complete eradication of Yahweh, but it 
was more likely and more often syncretism. It was Yahweh plus 
Baal, Yahweh plus Asherah, Yahweh plus Molech, Yahweh plus whatever 
God was able to deliver, whatever it is that the worshipper wanted 
at that particular time. So God's word is very clear. 
Go in and destroy their sacred spaces. Why? Because you shall 
worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is Jealous is 
a jealous God. Listen to John Gill. He says, 
His name and nature answer to one another. His name and nature 
answer to one another. Remember, all that is in God 
is God. He admits of no rival or competitor in worship. He 
will not give his glory to another god or one so-called, nor his 
praise to graven images. And in this he is distinguished 
from all nominal and fictitious gods, who have many joined with 
them and are rivals of them, which gives them no concern, 
because insensible. But it is otherwise with the 
Lord, who knows the dishonor done him, and resents it, and 
is as jealous of any worship being given to another, as the 
husband is of the honor of his marriage bed. For idolatry is 
spiritual adultery, as is suggested in the following verse. Notice 
what it says, verse 15. The scriptures, the Old Testament 
is filled with this particular image. It is spiritual harlotry, adultery, 
to engage in idolatry. The prophets speak of it as going 
a-whoring from God, departing from the true and living God, 
and seeking out that which is not God. Matthew Poole comments 
on verse 14, whose name is Jealous, who hath made himself known by 
and glories in that name, the Jealous God, who cannot endure 
any competitor or co-rival. whereas the false and puny gods 
of the heathens were contented with multitudes of partners. 
So this is properly said to be the name of God, whereby he is 
known and distinguished from all other gods." So the reason 
for this prohibition against religious sort of alliances is 
because it will lead you into idolatry. And then notice you're 
to avoid social alliances as well, as verse 16 makes clear. And you take of his daughters 
for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods, 
and make your sons play the harlot with their gods. So you see the 
problem. If you make religious alliances, 
you're going to be worshipping their gods. You make social alliances, 
you're going to be worshipping their gods. Well, Deuteronomy 
7 indicates political alliances are also a prohibition by God. If you want to turn to Deuteronomy 
7, as I mentioned, it's a bit of a more amplified version of 
the mandate for holy war. So 7-1, when the Lord your God 
brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast 
out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, 
and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, 
and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. 
Don't forget that. They are greater and mightier 
than you. How is it that Israel is going to combat these foes? Well, it's God who's going to 
go before them. It's God who's going to fight for them. It's 
God who is going to vanquish His enemies on behalf of His 
covenant people. The Lord promises to give them 
the land. The Lord is going to give them the grace, the ability, 
and the power to get that land. As I've said, you go through 
the book of Joshua, it's very favorable. God does fight, God 
does battle, God does vanquish enemies. You get to the book 
of Judges, it's not so wonderful anymore. You see the nation of 
Israel taking on the characteristics of the Canaanites. They were 
supposed to dispossess the land of the Canaanites, but they didn't 
do that fully, and now they become like the Canaanites. But back 
to our text here, it says, and when the Lord your God delivers 
them over to you, you shall conquer them. And again, notice, utterly 
destroyed that. The mandate wasn't to go in and 
leave a bunch of them. I realize that people hear this 
today and they say, oh, this is terrible that the God of heaven 
and earth has commanded genocide. you know, go exterminate those 
poor Canaanites, those poor innocent people that were just doing their 
thing. They weren't poor innocent people. The book of Leviticus 
highlights why God used Israel to go in and dispossess the land. They were wicked, they were vile, 
they were wretched, they engaged in all manner of lawlessness. And as I said, when Israel takes 
on the characteristic of the Canaanites, The same mandate 
comes. The Assyrians vanquish the northern 
kingdom, and then the Babylonians vanquish the southern kingdom. 
So God is not capricious. He's not arbitrary. You act like 
a Canaanite, and you're a Canaanite, you're going to get dispossessed 
from the land. If you're an Israelite, and you act like a Canaanite, 
you're going to get dispossessed from the land. That's God's rule 
in God's world. So when the Lord your God delivers 
them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. 
You shall make no covenant with them, nor shall you show mercy 
to them, nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give 
your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your 
son. Why? For they will turn your sons 
away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the 
Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 
But thus you shall deal with them. You shall destroy their 
altars and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden 
images and burn their carved images with fire. So no religious, 
no social, no political covenants with them. No alliances with 
the people in the land, because if you do, you'll be led astray. 
Now obviously, as we move through the rest of the subsequent history, 
they don't obey this. They don't do this. They do leave 
Canaanites in the land, and they do worship alongside of those 
Canaanites, even to the point where Solomon married a thousand 
women, and those wives led his heart away from Yahweh. So what 
God says here is preventative maintenance. Preventative maintenance 
is only as good as the person who receives it takes it and 
engages in it. So God demands in terms of their 
entrance into the promised land that they vanquish the enemies. 
They were not to play the harlot with their gods. So that's the 
covenant renewed under the renewal of God's covenant. But notice 
the various laws reviewed in verses 17 to 28. We should expect 
review. We should expect renewal. We 
should expect another statement concerning their obligation to 
the living and true God. So Moses takes the two tablets 
up to the mountain, and it's God who writes the Ten Commandments 
on those tablets. We see that in verse 28. This 
other legislation, Moses keeps the Book of the Covenant. Moses 
keeps track of the ceremonial, the judicial law. It is the Decalogue, 
the Ten Commandments that are written with the finger of God. 
And remember that both tablets contain the entirety of the law. They were duplicate copies. One 
for Yahweh, one for Israel. Both were placed in the Ark of 
the Testimony, or in the Ark of the Covenant. This is the 
way that ancient Near Eastern people engaged in covenant. You 
had a sacred space, you had sacred documents, you put them in that 
space, and that is precisely what God is calling upon the 
nation of Israel to do here, vis-a-vis these tablets, and 
vis-a-vis the Book of the Covenant that Moses is recording. So when 
we go through this review of the laws, it's obviously the 
question to ask, well, why these particular ones? I don't know. I don't have the specific answer. But I do think it's calculated 
to promote on the part of the people this respect for the God 
of the Covenant. And the particular laws that 
are mentioned here, by way of ceremonial, they are moral to 
be sure, but by way of ceremonial seems to me to be connected to 
this reality that they are a separate people, separate from the heathen. 
Remember when they go into the promised land, there's ceremonial 
law that's not extant today. The prohibition against shellfish 
was for them. It's not for us anymore. There's 
nothing inherently wrong with eating a shrimp. There's nothing 
inherently wrong with eating a lobster. except the price, 
most of us can't afford it, but with reference to those ceremonial 
laws, what did it do? It separated the nation from 
the nations around them. That holiness code needs to be 
approached in that particular manner. It's not the case that 
there's something extra godly about not eating pork, or there's 
something extra holy about not doing so-and-so. There were ceremonial 
laws connected to the sanctification or the setting apart of the nation 
of Israel, so that they wouldn't be like the nations around them. 
In our Saturday morning studies, we're going through the covenants, 
the various historical covenants throughout the scripture. And 
with reference to the old covenant, it was a means that God used 
to sort of hedge the people in, to keep them under wraps, to 
tutor them until the time of the Messiah. And when the Messiah 
comes, that Old Covenant is abrogated. Not because it was bad, but because 
it had fulfilled its particular role. It gives way to the New 
Covenant, where that kind of detailed legislation over every 
jot and tittle of our lives is not necessary. Under the child 
tutor, we surmise that Israel, Old Covenant Israel, was a child. 
In this New Covenant Israel, which is the Church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, there isn't that specific legislation about everything 
connected to civil life. And so there is some fundamental 
difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. But in 
terms of the Old Covenant here, the particular laws are calculated 
to promote on the part of the people obedience to Yahweh, a 
rejection of the gods of the nations around them, and faithfulness 
in terms of their walk before God. So notice in the first place 
the prohibition of idolatry. Seems a good place to start in 
verse 17, especially in light of the calf incident in chapter 
32. Notice, you shall make no molded 
gods for yourselves. That's the second commandment. 
The first commandment defines the object of worship. The second 
commandment defines the manner of worship. So even though in 
Exodus 32 they predicated of that golden calf that it was 
Yahweh, that is to violate the commandment. Just because you 
say it's the proper object of worship, but then you worship 
it by this golden calf, you are guilty of the sin of idolatry. 
You've broken the law. And so coming out of that situation 
in Exodus 32, a repetition of the first commandment here, or 
the second commandment, really ought not to surprise us. You 
shall have no other gods before me or besides me, the first commandment 
stipulates, and then the second demands how we are to worship 
it. We're not supposed to make images. 
We're not supposed to fashion calves. We're not supposed to 
throw gold into the forge and out comes this calf and we bow 
down to it and sing before it and dance in front of it and 
ascribe to it the power of having liberated us from the bondage 
in Egypt. That is strictly prohibited. 
Now this would be a real life temptation when they go into 
the land of Canaan. One commentator says, when Israel 
came into Canaan, the people would immediately be confronted 
with the whole apparatus of cult worship. The Canaanites had their 
places of sacrifice and sacred stones, standing stone pillars 
that somehow represented a deity. They also had wooden poles which 
symbolized the fertility goddess Asherah. Asherah was sort of 
one of the girlfriends to Baal. So that's why the worshippers 
of Baal would fornicate or copulate because that would get the pump 
primed and then Baal and his consort would engage in the same 
and then there would be this rain and this fertility produced 
on the land. But back to this man. Out of 
wood and stone they cut idols of their gods. All these were 
the outward expression of Canaanite religious belief. Israel had 
one God, one Lord, who was not to be depicted in any way by 
idols. In accordance with the instruction 
in the Book of the Covenant, these cult objects were to be 
broken down, smashed, cut down, and burnt, respectively. To leave 
them where they were would provide constant temptation to the Israelites. So God speaks preventative maintenance 
to the people, knowing good and well what the hardened heart 
of man looks like. So when they get into the land, 
they do exactly what He commands them not to do. Again, a favorable 
view during the conquest under Joshua, you get to the period 
of the judges, they go a whoring from God. They go play the harlot. They engage in all manner of 
idolatry. It's vile, it's wretched, it's 
reprehensible. But in the context, remember 
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering 
and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, 
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. As you move from this 
place forward to the collapse of the Southern Kingdom, Till 
the time when they go into the Babylonian captivity, even the 
post-exilic situation that Israel finds herself in, covenant renewal 
is frequent. It is often. It is repetitious. 
What does that tell you? It tells you that God is long-suffering. 
It tells you that God does abound in mercy. It tells you that God 
is gracious. That God does forgive iniquity, 
transgression, and sin. that he doesn't obliterate the 
nation, that he doesn't decimate the nation, that he doesn't send 
them off into hell, is proof positive of the very perfections 
that are revealed to us in 34, 6, and 7. Notice in the next 
place you've got the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There's a lot 
of talk in this section concerning the annual feasts and the necessity 
to attend those annual feasts. And again, in the context, these 
things would be very helpful to promote fidelity to God. Because 
in each of these feasts, you're remembering something. You're 
not remembering Moloch, you're not remembering Baal, you're 
not remembering the gods of Egypt, you're remembering Yahweh, you're 
remembering His power and His glory and His majesty. And so 
an emphasis on these feasts, an emphasis on these ceremonies 
in terms of law and obedience would hopefully promote obedience 
on the part of the children of Israel. So you've got the Feast 
of Unleavened Bread, this goes back to chapter 12 in the book 
of Exodus. We've been through that, we're 
not going to rehearse every jot and tittle tonight, but that's 
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, specifically in verse 18. And then notice the last portion, 
for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. So I think 
the idea behind these feasts, the idea behind the Lord's Supper, 
the idea behind these sort of covenant renewal ceremonies is 
to cause us to reflect upon the power and the goodness and the 
glory of God so that we won't be as prone to wander and prone 
to leave the God that we love. In many respects, the Lord's 
Supper is similar to a covenant renewal. We come before God, 
we receive from His bounty in His hand, we reflect upon the 
great redemption that is wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ through 
His broken body and through His shed blood, and hopefully we 
all re-commit or renew that desire to serve and love and obey and 
adore Him. So this attendance upon the Feast 
of Unleavened Bread. And then notice the Law of the 
Firstborn in verses 19 and 20. And again, it goes back to Exodus 
13, Exodus chapter 22. Now with reference to the Law 
of the Firstborn, it wasn't the case that you actually sacrificed 
your child. There was a payment made to set 
him apart or to actually recognize and realize that all good comes 
from the hand of God. So the Firstborn is consecrated 
unto the Lord God. Now, that reference to the donkey, 
the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and 
if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck, that 
seems a bit odd, so I'll just read, I'll lean on Stuart, the 
commentator here. Again, this goes back to chapter 
13 as well. He says, since donkeys were not 
needed at the tabernacle or temple, but were beasts of burden, that 
would be much better put to use by individual families on their 
farms, God allowed them to be redeemed through a substituted 
lamb or goat kid. Female donkeys would be kept 
for breeding, but since only one male stud would usually be 
needed for a herd of donkeys, an Israelite with a large number 
of newborn male donkeys might choose simply to euthanize some 
of them quickly by breaking their necks rather than go to the expense 
of substituting a lamb or a goat kid for them. a utilitarian emphasis 
there. There was a gracious emphasis 
on the part of God in terms of this firstborn with reference 
to the donkey. And then in terms of the sons, 
again, Stewart says the provision, and he's commenting on chapter 
13, verses 13 and 15, which are similar in terms of the firstborn, 
for redeeming the firstborn back into the family by means of a 
buyback payment. His desire was that the Israelites 
recognize his right to ownership of the first and best in whatever 
came to them in spoils of war or harvests or offspring. It 
is necessary and beneficial that human beings recognize that God 
is superior to them, and the requirement of a ritual that 
reminded every Israelite of this by insisting on receiving their 
firstborn from them helped create the spiritual attitude of submission. 
And I think that in this renewal ceremony you see that kind of 
emphasis on a reminder of who God is, who they are as the beneficiaries 
of His grace and mercy, and therefore hopefully this will help them 
in terms of their pursuit of their covenant obligations before 
God Almighty. And then notice, it says, the 
end of verse 20, and none shall appear before me empty-handed. We've seen that, the necessity 
of offerings. Not that God needs anything, 
not that God, you know, is hurting financially or needs some food 
or whatever. He owns the cattle on a thousand 
hills, but it is an expression of our worship, it is an expression 
of our dependence, and it is an expression of our gratitude 
unto God. Now notice the law of the Sabbath 
here. And again, this isn't the first giving of the Sabbath. 
We see it in the Decalogue, chapter 20, verses 8 to 11. But there is this addition, or 
this qualification. Six days you shall work, but 
on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in 
harvest you shall rest. in plowing time and in harvest 
you shall rest." When we get to the New Covenant and we get 
to what I call the Sabbath wars of Jesus and the Pharisees, Jesus 
underscores the legitimacy of works of necessity and works 
of mercy. Work of mercy, a donkey falls into the pit on the Sabbath 
day, You don't leave him there until Monday morning. You fetch 
him out. You're a merciful human that 
loves his donkey. Works of necessity. The priests 
had to work. They had to minister. They had 
to offer. They had to engage in those things. So, with reference 
to this stipulation at the end of verse 21, in plowing time 
and in harvest you shall rest. Your normal ordinary farming 
wasn't a work of necessity or mercy. You couldn't sort of get 
out of it by appealing to that. So you should work it in such 
a way that you're able to rest on that Sabbath day even during 
plowing time and in harvest according to 3421. And then you've got the Feast 
of Weeks. Again, this goes back, we see 
these feasts mentioned in chapter 23. It's also known as the Feast 
of Harvest, or the Feast of Pentecost, or the Feast of Firstfruits, 
about May and June on our calendar. And it was a time to remember 
God's blessing and provision, and it was a time to remember 
their bondage in Egypt and redemption by God. So a review of these 
particular laws seems calculated to promote on the part of the 
people a recognition of who God is and who they are relative 
to him, and the necessity for obedience and compliance with 
his laws. You've got the three annual feasts 
in verses 23 to 24. There is this command concerning 
attendance, and then this promise by God that there would be protection 
during attendance. Notice in 24, "...for I will 
cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders. Neither 
will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before 
the Lord your God three times in the year." It'd be a real 
life concern. All the men are going to go to 
Jerusalem during these feast times or wherever the tabernacle 
happened to be at that particular time. then all the women and 
children would be vulnerable. But see, God even speaks to that 
particular situation and says that he will provide and afford 
protection for them at that time. And then notice the law of sacrifice 
in verses 25 to 26. You see a prohibition of leaven 
in verse 25a. And again, this isn't new legislation. 
it is a review of previous legislation, with reference to the Passover 
sacrifice, you are not supposed to leave any, it was to be consumed 
wholly, the presentation of first fruits according to 26a, and 
then this prohibition concerning the young goat in verse 26b. It's already been mentioned in 
chapter 23 at verse 19, and then it will be mentioned again in 
Deuteronomy 14.21. It is, I think, standing law 
in terms of Jews and not eating cheeseburgers. I think the typical 
sort of rabbinic tradition has taught that you don't eat cheeseburgers 
because you're not, I don't know if they say it quite like that, 
you're not supposed to mix dairy and meat. That's what, at least 
from the surface reading here with reference to not boiling 
a young goat in its mother's milk. Again, I'll lean on Stuart. 
I read this quote when we were in Exodus 23. He says, Canaanite 
fertility religion imitated the fertility practices generally 
found throughout the ancient world. These included marrying 
seeds when planting a field, on the theory that such a ritual 
would magically stimulate the powers of nature to procreate, 
producing more fertile crops. Since mother's milk, the milk 
of the goat, dough, was what made the goat kids grow big and 
strong, the folk theory developed that dough's milk, employed in 
the process of a sacrifice, in this case by boiling rather than 
by roasting on an altar, would somehow impart strength to the 
goat flock, making the whole flock more fertile. Such nonsense, 
if believed, could have led the Israelites to conclude that the 
power to shape their destiny and to live the abundant life 
was to be found in magical practices and fertility religion rather 
than in the only true, alive God. Even if all other people 
groups known to them practiced these sorts of rituals, the Israelites 
could not. As Yahweh's people, they were 
to be above such things, attributing all life to the single source 
thereof." So basically it was a pagan ritual, okay? It was 
something that they were supposed to avoid because it might cause 
them to think that magic worked. Now, magic is condemned in scripture, 
not, you know, pick a card, any card, and I'll tell you, you 
picked out the ace of hearts. That's not the magic that it's 
condemning. It is the attempt to manipulate 
natural or supernatural forces to try and get what we want. 
And so, certainly, the pagans would engage in magic in that 
particular way, so God does not want the children of Israel to 
participate in that. When you get to Deuteronomy 18, 
for instance, There is strict prohibition against soothsaying, 
witchcraft, necromancy, trying to communicate with the dead, 
and those sorts of things. The way that God would communicate 
to his people would be via prophet. According to Deuteronomy 18, 
there would be a succession of prophets that would culminate 
in that prophet from among their brethren, which would be like 
Moses, even our Lord Jesus Christ. So Israel was not to engage in 
witchcraft or in sorcery or in any of that sort of thing. They 
would go to Yahweh through the mediation of a priest. They would 
hear from Yahweh through the work of the prophet. So these 
things were designed to promote in them fidelity to God so that 
they would not go astray, so that they would not engage in 
spiritual harlotry. And then the summary statement 
in verses 27 and 28. Moses is commanded to write the 
book of the covenant. Then the Lord said to Moses, 
you can go back for just a moment to chapter 24. Chapter 24, just 
so we can see this, that Moses was already on track doing this. 
Verse 4, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and he rose 
early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain 
and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel. And then 
verse 7, then he took the book of the covenant and read it in 
the hearing of the people and they said all that the Lord has 
said we will do and be obedient. So again, when we come to renewal, 
we come to restoration, it is in order that Moses keep notes 
that Moses have this so that he may communicate to the children 
of Israel what their covenantal obligations are. So God says, 
write these words for according to the tenor of these words I 
have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was there 
with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate 
bread nor drank water. And then notice, and he, this 
is God, wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 
Ten Commandments. There's a wonderful book on the 
threefold division of the law by a man named Philip Ross, and 
it's called From the Finger of God. And basically, the threefold 
division of the law, you have the moral law, which is the Ten 
Commandments, you've got the judicial law, which were those 
civil laws that govern the nation, for their tenure in the land 
of promise. And then the ceremonial laws, 
chapters, as I said, 25 to 40, and scattered throughout Leviticus 
and Deuteronomy as well. But one of the things that this 
author points out, and one of the things that is conspicuous, 
When it comes to the Decalogue in these two tablets, it's God. 
He writes these. You see that? Exodus 24, 12, 
Exodus 31, 18, Deuteronomy 4, 13, Deuteronomy 5, 22, Deuteronomy 
9, 10, and Deuteronomy 10, 4. Now, in the Reformed tradition, 
we understand that to mean that while the judicial law expired 
with the Commonwealth of Israel, the general equity is still present. We can use it and lean and learn 
wisdom. Ceremonial law was fulfilled 
in our Lord Jesus Christ. The moral law is binding. The 
moral law is still in play. The moral law has not been vanquished. 
The moral law has not been abrogated. In fact, Jesus, on the Sermon 
on the Mount, said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the 
law. I have not come to abolish, but rather to confirm it, to 
fulfill it. Christ does not abrogate that. 
So in the New Covenant we have that Ten Commandments, again 
not as a means by which we are saved, but it is what God has 
given in terms of our salvation as a pattern for sanctification. 
So you've got a three-fold division in the law, you've got three 
uses of the law. The three uses of the law, the 
civil use, it restrains the wickedness of man, pedagogical use, it leads 
us to Christ for salvation, and the normative use, where it defines 
for us righteousness and sanctification and the things that God calls 
us to. Now, finally and quickly, the reflection of God's glory, 
verses 29 to 35. Notice that when Moses comes 
down from Mount Sinai, according to verse 29, he has the two tablets 
of the testimony in his hand when he came down from the mountain. 
The symbolism of this is strong. Covenants renewed, covenants 
restored. What was broken in chapter 32 
by God's grace has been put back together. You're back on track. You go forward in the fear of 
the Lord with these laws in your mind and heart and do not depart 
from them so that you maintain tenure in the land. But notice, 
Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked 
with them. So when Aaron and the children 
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and 
they were afraid to come near him. I mentioned last week that 
the language is horns. And some artists have pictured 
Moses with horns. But it's probably the radiating 
of the light from him kind of like horns. I don't think Moses 
sprouted horns when he had this time with God. But if you ever 
see art or you ever see a picture of Moses and he has horns, That's 
probably what it's owing to, is that particular interpretation 
of what we find here. Now that's the residual effect. That's the residual effect of 
having been placed in the cleft of the rock and not seeing the 
front of God, but rather the backside of God as he passes 
by. And so the glory of God is such 
that when Moses descends from the mount, his face shines in 
such a way that Aaron and the children of Israel are afraid 
to see him. Now when he goes to converse with God, he takes 
off the veil. But when he comes back to converse with the children 
of Israel, he puts the veil back on. Again, his face is shining, 
his face is bright, and the apostle appeals to this to show us or 
highlight for us, no pun intended there, the superiority of the 
new covenant. In 2 Corinthians 3, 7, But if 
the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, 
so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the 
face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which 
glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not 
be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation 
had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For 
even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because 
of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was 
glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since 
we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, 
who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel 
could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 
but their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same 
veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, 
because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, 
when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, 
when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord 
is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there 
is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in 
a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the 
same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the 
Lord. So whatever Moses had in terms 
of this reflection of God's glory, what we have in the New Covenant 
in terms of our Lord Jesus Christ excels that. So never read this 
without reflecting upon what Paul says concerning this incident 
in the New Covenant. But in terms of some summary 
observations. Don't miss the connection between 
the revelation of God's perfections, or the revelation of God's attributes, 
who God is in terms of His essence and nature in verses 6 and 7, 
to the demonstration of those perfections as He deals graciously 
with Israel. And when we jump into the New 
Covenant, never forget that those attributes and perfections that 
we see revealed all throughout Scripture, the law was given 
through Moses, but grace and truth came through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. It's not just stated by John 
in the prologue, but it's demonstrated by John throughout his gospel 
in terms of the life and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. All that God is, or all that 
is in God is God, And the way that God relates to His people 
is by demonstrating those blessed attributes. Well, let's close 
in prayer, and if there's any questions, we can take those. 
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You 
for what this Scripture, this passage, teaches concerning who 
You are. in your perfections and attributes. 
We thank you that we've experienced this in the gospel of our salvation. 
We thank you for the forgiveness of sins and iniquity and transgression. We thank you for your mercy to 
us and we just pray that you would help us to live in light 
of these truths, empowered by your Holy Spirit to walk in a 
manner that is consistent with our calling. And we ask