Exodus 34:10–27

Moses had prayed to Him as Adonai, Lord: "Go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our sin, and take us for Your inheritance." He uses the special affection God had shown him to put himself together with the people. In this way he secures God's presence with a people who could otherwise never enter the land. It was bold faith. It worked in genuine love for the people, and with a deep sense of what God is despite all their failure. Yet its greatest request rests on grace that God Himself has revealed. So it is the very opposite of human presumption.

This is still a conditional covenant, though not one of absolute law. In fact, it is not based upon what God had already done (Ex. 19:4), but begins with what God would do, that is, "marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation" (v. 10). Though the covenant was conditional, yet what God would do was not conditional. God would also drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before Israel.

God will not call them His people any more. The people had said, "As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him" (ch. 32:1). And God says, "This people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." In chapter 33:1 the Lord says, "The people which you [Moses] have brought up out of the land of Egypt." And in chapter 34:10, God again calls them "your [Moses'] people."

Now then, it is a covenant made with Moses, as mediator. Here the sovereignty of grace comes in. God brought it in when all was lost, once they had broken the condition of the law. If God had not been sovereign, what would that breach have led to? The destruction of all the people. The sovereignty of God is eternal. Yet He reveals it when it becomes the only resource left to a people ruined by their own ways. And this sovereignty shows itself through a mediator.

Such was the covenant on which Jehovah would take Israel to be His inheritance. He would act towards them in an entirely different way from every other nation. Israel's history bears out these words. What is still to come will complete the "terrible thing" which Jehovah will do with that people. In the end, through the intercession of Christ, God will pardon all Israel's iniquity and sin, and the nation will be Jehovah's inheritance on this earth.

"Terrible" here is the same word as "fearfully" in Psalm 139. In its full sense it refers to the great tribulation Israel will pass through. Moses does not pass through it himself. But as the mediator he has to take it up in spirit. Christ has taken into His own soul those terrible, fearful sorrows announced here.

And it has been so; but the results are supremely blessed. His Name is known, and all the nations are blessed as a result.

God declared this fresh covenant in answer to Moses' confession and plea. He pledged Himself to work wonders that would show His power in the sight of His people. He did not say what those wonders would be. The rest of this chapter shows us more. This fresh covenant had a secondary place. It did not cancel or change the covenant of law that God had just set up, and it enforces some of the law's requirements again.

In answer to this prayer, God establishes a new covenant with the people. The basis of it is complete separation from the nations which God was going to drive out from before the people. It assumes that the people enter Canaan through the mediation of Moses. It also assumes that God is present with them because Moses prayed for them.

The terms of this covenant are not new, though God now commands them again. We have already looked at almost every one of them… Everything rests on what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around them, once He has put them in possession of the land. They must be separate from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship.

It was on the ground of their wickedness that God, ruling in righteousness, was about to drive these nations out. Every landlord has a perfect right to evict bad tenants. The nations of Canaan had not only failed to pay their rent, as we say. They had also damaged and defiled the property so badly that God could no longer put up with them. So He was going to drive them out, quite apart from who the incoming tenants were… The iniquity of the Amorites had reached its highest point, and nothing remained but that judgement should take its course.

The Lord then tells Moses that He will make a covenant with Israel. This is still a covenant with conditions, though not one of absolute law… The covenant had conditions, but what God would do had none. God would also drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before Israel. This did take place, yet Israel later allowed part of some of these nations to remain in the land (Judges 1:21; 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33). God kept His covenant.

We can well understand what God orders in verses 11-17. The people had just fallen into the great sin of making the molten calf. They had clearly brought the idea of it up with them out of Egypt. God was going to drive out the nations of Canaan before them. Those nations were soaked in forms of idolatry even worse than the idolatry of Egypt. So He required the most complete separation from those peoples, from their gods, their altars and images.

The names here, as everywhere, are surely significant. They suggest those powers of evil which take up the ground and would stop us enjoying our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! The Amorite, "the talker," rather than the doer of the Word. The Canaanite, "the trafficker," is the talker's companion, who turns the very truth of God into merchandise. The Perizzite, "the countryman," suggests perhaps great power, nobility, false pride. The Hivite, "the villager," suggests the opposite, a false humility. The Jebusite, "the treader down," never rests until it has trampled every divine thing underfoot. All these must be cast out. Every alliance with them must be refused outright.

We can easily understand what God commands in verses 11-17. The people had just fallen into the great sin of making the metal calf. They had clearly brought that idea up with them out of Egypt. God was going to drive out before them the nations of Canaan, Those nations were soaked in forms of idolatry even worse than those of Egypt. So God commanded the most complete separation from those peoples — from their gods, their altars and their images. The nations themselves, and everything that belonged to their idol worship, were to be destroyed. God had entered into a covenant with Israel, so Israel was not to make any covenant with those nations.

God would also drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before Israel. He did drive them out, yet later Israel let some of these nations stay in the land (Judges 1:21; 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33). God kept His covenant. Israel's responsibility was to make no covenant with anyone living in the land (v. 12), and instead to destroy their religious altars, their sacred pillars and their images.

Everything rests on what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around them, once He has given them the land — separation from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. They must worship the Lord alone; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (vv. 11-16). But if on one hand there must be separation from evil, on the other there must be separation to God.

How little the people of Israel suspected at that moment that the Gibeonites were the very Canaanites they had been commanded to drive out of the promised land! They are caught in the enemy's net. They had failed to ask the Lord for guidance, and as a sign of fellowship they eat some of the food of these men. The treaty is made, and the world is brought into the middle of the congregation of Israel. What a devilish trick! Satan suggests that the people bring the world into the camp as a way of beating the enemy — so he offers himself as the means of overcoming himself. He knew well that once he had brought in this one thing, the way was open for everything else.

The special sin mentioned here is that the holy people had mixed themselves with the peoples of those lands by marriage. This had been clearly forbidden (see Ex. 34:12-16). So it was in deliberate disobedience that they had made these shameful alliances with the world. That is what these marriages picture — the sin that trips up God's people in every age. The apostle James says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4); and the apostle Paul cries, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15)

We can well understand what God orders in verses 11-17. The people had just fallen into the great sin of making the molten calf. The idea of this they had evidently brought up with them out of Egypt. God was going to drive out before them the nations of Canaan. Those nations were soaked in forms of idolatry even worse than those of Egypt. So He commanded the most complete separation from those peoples, from their gods, their altars and images. They themselves and all that belonged to their idolatrous worship were to be destroyed. God had entered into covenant with Israel, so they were not to make any covenant with those nations.

The terms of the renewed covenant make one thing prominent: the people were to be separate from the inhabitants of Canaan. They were to have nothing to do with the impure and disgusting idolatries of these nations. He called His people to holiness. Moreover, they were to destroy their altars, their images and their groves. The word groves is "asherah." It was an image used for the most obscene practices, known as phallic worship. It flourished among all the ancient nations, and the Canaanites used it most of all. When Israel later joined in with these practices, judgment fell upon them.

The foundation of it all is laid in what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the surrounding nations, after He had put them in possession of the land. They were to be separate from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. They must worship the Lord alone; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (vv. 11-16). But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God.

Why were the people to maintain the most marked separation from the Canaanites? Why were they to refuse, with firm decision, to make any covenant, or form any marriage alliance with them? Why were they to demolish their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves? Simply because they were a holy people. And who had made them a holy people? Jehovah. He had chosen them and set His love upon them. He had redeemed them, and separated them to Himself. So it was His right and His prerogative to say what they were to be, and how they were to act. "Be holy, for I am holy."

God would also drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before Israel. While this took place, Israel later allowed part of some of these nations to remain in the land (Judges 1:21; 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33). God kept His covenant. Israel's part was to make no covenant with any of the inhabitants of the land (v. 12), and instead to destroy their religious altars, their sacred pillars and images.

Nothing is so jealous as true love: it cannot bear rivalry. But how much the blessed Lord has to bear with us! Is He not often rivalled in our hearts? "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" is a word we often forget and greatly overlook. Anything that takes Christ's place in the heart of a Christian is an idol, and we ought to judge it and put it far away from us.

We can well understand what God orders in verses 11-17. The people had just fallen into the great sin of making the molten calf. The idea of this they had evidently brought up with them out of Egypt. God was going to drive out the nations of Canaan before them. Those nations were soaked in forms of idolatry even worse than Egypt's. So He commanded the most complete separation from them — from their gods, their altars and images.

The word is emphatic: not only is God a jealous God, but His name is Jealous. He takes this name in view of idols. If that was His name under law when commanding men to worship Him, can He be less jealous now? No one can separate the worship of God from the worship of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Worship centres in Him; any other centre makes false worship and is an abomination to God.

The Hebrew word qana means "to be inflamed." It is the warm affection that cannot bear to see its loved one enticed by another. A man is jealous of his wife, Numbers 5:14. Paul felt this for the Corinthian believers, 2 Corinthians 11:2. And God felt it for the people and the land which He had chosen, and on which He had placed His name.

He is jealous because He cannot allow any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, and He alone can fill and satisfy it forever. And if His people turn away from Him and go after idols of their own making, He must leave them to reap the bitter fruit of their own doings.

Everything rests on what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around, once He had put them in possession of the land. They must be separate from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. They must worship the Lord alone; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (vv. 11-16). But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God.

They were to make no marriages with Moab, and no dealings or alliance of any kind with the people of the land. "The people shall dwell alone," and God, "whose name is Jealous," will dwell among them (Exodus 34:14). They are alone with God.

Jealousy is closely connected with idolatry. The first two commandments show this (Exodus 20:4-5). Jealousy is cruel as the grave. It is because He loves us so much that the Lord is jealous; He cannot bear to see our hearts divided. Some ask whether "flee from idolatry" applies to us now. It certainly does; the last warning in 1 John 5:21 is, "Keep yourselves from idols." An idol is anything that takes the place of God in the heart.

We can well understand what is ordered in verses 11-17. The people had just fallen into the great sin of making the molten calf. The idea of it they had clearly brought up with them out of Egypt. God was going to drive out before them the nations of Canaan. Those nations were steeped in forms of idolatry even worse than those of Egypt. So He commanded the most complete separation from those peoples, from their gods, their altars and images. God had entered into covenant with Israel, so they were not to make any covenant with those nations.

The foundation of it all is laid in what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around, once He had put them in possession of the land. They must keep separate from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. They must worship the LORD alone, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Israel was married to the LORD; their marriage to the heathen was disobedience to the law and unfaithfulness to the LORD. It was an alliance with the world. God demanded separation of Israel; He demands the same of His people in the New Testament. "But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:15-16).

He first refers to Israel to establish the important principle that, by sharing in a sacrifice, we express communion with all that it sets forth. This makes it intensely solemn for a Christian to have any part with anything that expresses fellowship with idols. ... The things sacrificed to idols are really sacrificed to demons. The idol may be nothing in itself, but the demons behind it were very real, and in leading people to worship idols they were leading them to worship demons, taking the honour due to God alone.

If the LORD could not be turned away from His people, perhaps the people could be turned away from the LORD! Balaam knew enough of God to be sure that if the people of Israel could be tempted into sin, the LORD's hand would come down on them in judgment. So we read in Numbers 25:1-2: "While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods."

But if there is failure, if we fall into idolatry, if we commit fornication with the world by yielding to its baits, if in any way at all we form a friendship with the world in the desert — then we make wars for ourselves. And that kind of fighting gains us no spiritual ground. God is obliged to make our relations with the world change completely. If we had not formed intimate ties with them, we would not have had that trouble; but since they deceive us as our friends, we must become enemies. Having no relations with them at all is our proper and peaceful position.

Though the covenant was conditional, what God would do was not conditional. God would drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before Israel. This did take place, yet Israel later allowed part of some of these nations to remain in the land (Judges 1:21, 27-33). God kept His covenant. But Israel was responsible to make no covenant with any of the inhabitants of the land (v. 12). Instead they were to destroy their religious altars, their sacred pillars and images.

Solomon was in open disobedience to God. God had said to His people: "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you." There was a double prohibition. We are in danger of going to the world or of letting it come in to us. Perhaps the second is even more dangerous than the first... the world might more easily seduce a Christian by coming to him. Little by little it works its way into our homes and into our lives. Often, by the time we open our eyes to the danger, it is already too late. "They would surely turn away your heart after their gods," the Lord had said. Marriage with the world will necessarily lead us to the religion of the world.

In Scripture "abomination" is a word often used for idols, because they are so hateful to God and so detestable in man. In the same way, Scripture constantly uses fornication and adultery for idolatry, or for any false religious system that men turn to. Such a turn is unfaithfulness to the Lord, who had taken His people to Himself as a bride (see Ex. 34:15-16; Lev. 17:7; Ezek. 6:9; 1 Kings 11:5, 7).

The first wrong step we notice is mentioned at the beginning of 1 Kings 3. Solomon "made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt" and took his daughter as his wife. In the days of Moses the people were told not to take in marriage the daughters of the pagan nations — see Exodus 34:16. The Lord knew what evil would spring out of this, and so forbade it for all the people. Did Solomon think that he was so lifted above ordinary folk that rules which applied to them did not apply to him? Or did he think that the passing of time since Moses, and changed conditions, had made this law obsolete?

The special sin mentioned here is that "the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands" — that is, by intermarriage. God had clearly forbidden this (see Ex. 34:12-16)... for this is what these marriages picture — the besetting sin of God's people in every age. The apostle James says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" (James 4:4). And the apostle Paul cries, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14-15).

The nations Israel was mixing with were actually demon worshippers. So God had absolutely forbidden any marriages with them. Believers today are not under such a law, though Scripture tells them, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers" (2 Cor. 6:14). If they disobey this scripture, they are not told to put away the unbeliever. Instead, "the wife should not separate from her husband" (1 Cor. 7:10), though "if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so" (1 Cor. 7:15). Today a believer who marries an unbeliever must learn the painful results of this disobedience by experience, instead of escaping them.

They were still left under the law which had been given. So as we open Exodus 34 we find that Moses was to cut two tablets of stone like the first. He was to go up with them again to the top of the mountain, so that God might write the words on them as He had done before. As on the first occasion, no one was allowed to come near, and flocks and herds had to stay away from the mountain. The holiness of God was emphasized once more, but this time in harmonious connection with His mercy.

The terms of this covenant are not new, though they are newly enjoined... The foundation of it all is laid in what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around... But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God. So the feast of unleavened bread was to be kept. Seven days — a complete period, typical of their whole lives — they were to eat unleavened bread, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8).

The month in question was Abib, otherwise Nisan (Ex. 13:4), and corresponded to our March–April. Until then it had been the seventh month in their reckoning. From the time of Israel's deliverance from Egypt it counted as the first. So redemption gave the people a new start with God. It is the same now. Suppose a man admits before God that he is a sinner, exposed to eternal wrath. If he then takes refuge in simple faith under the blood of the Lamb, he begins life anew.

This month received the name Abib — "the month of the ears of grain." For Israel it was the month of life out of death, the fruitful month. The name fitted a people at their birth into national life.

Unleavened bread was to be eaten seven days. "The unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is what the Spirit of God tells us this part of the type means. To put away leaven is one side of this truth; to eat unleavened bread is the other side of this truth... "Sincerity" means letting the clear sunshine of God's light in His Word shine on our walk and ways. Then I judge whatever I find that is contrary to it. But who is there who lets this clear sunshine of God's light shine into his ways and finds nothing but what is pure? Only One, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact, they first kept this command in a striking way: "they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait." If the Egyptians had pressed them less hard, no doubt they would have put the leaven into the bread! How easy to see the application of this! Think of the times when the world has pressed hardest on the Church. Have those not usually been the times when the feast of unleavened bread was best kept? When the world has forced believers out of it, then indeed brightness and devotedness have been more seen.

In verses 18–26 we have certain details of the law repeated. It is not easy to see the connection between the various items listed. But we can see this much. If they kept them, the rights of Jehovah their God would be safeguarded. And they would be a nation quite distinct in their observances, marked off from other peoples.

Exodus 34:21. Given as part of the covenant founded on supremacy and intercession, after Israel had broken the law. That covenant is tied to the portion in the land they held by it.

God renewed the two tablets, but they were to be placed in an ark. He proclaimed Himself as "Jehovah, Jehovah God" — His name with Israel, but adding the characteristics of mercy and holy government... The sabbath was set before them again, as the token of this fresh covenant of mercy and holy government. But mercy will in the end rejoice over judgement.

Again, the second covenant of the law still required the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath. People must rest on that day even in the busiest seasons of the year (v. 21). They must also keep the feast of weeks, bringing the firstfruits to the Lord before they harvested the rest of their crop... When they did this, God would take care of their families, as verse 24 implies: they and their land would be safe.

They were to work for six days only and rest the seventh day, and this rest included their servants and their animals. This was a gracious provision of God for their own benefit, not by any means a law that would oppress them. Yet obedience would show respect for God's authority.

But I believe, from the Lord's own statement, that "the Sabbath was made for man." Keeping it would have been a blessing in this life to man condemned to labour. In the world sin had brought him into, it would keep reminding him that his hopes and blessings were elsewhere.

"Sabbath" means "rest". We should be clear about this: in the Bible, in the Old Testament and in the New Testament alike, having a share in God's rest is what marks God's people. This is their special privilege... The form of the rest may change, as we shall see, but a share in God's rest is always the sign between God and His people.

The question then arose: could man share God's rest? The answer is that he has sinned, and so can never have any part in this rest. Under the law he came to the test again. Then he made the golden calf before Moses came down from the mountain.

No labour marks us as the people of the Lord as truly as rest we actually enjoy. It is a rest according to the Word, and on the basis of God's own rest. But this is ours in Christ only... under this first covenant no one will reach it. The law makes nothing perfect.

They were first spoken of in the covenant made between the Lord and Israel at Sinai (Ex. 23:14-16), and mentioned again in that unconditional covenant made by the Lord in favour of Israel after they had broken the first covenant (Ex. 34:18-22)... In Leviticus 23 we have what may be called a kind of calendar. It is really the history of God's ways in grace with the nation, from the day He took them up to bring them out of Egypt, until the day He will bring them into full and lasting rest on earth under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The feasts were designed to keep Jehovah, His power and His grace, as a living reality before the nation... the feast of the first fruits, also called the feast of weeks, because it came seven weeks after the feast of unleavened bread (Lev. 23:15-16; Deut. 16:9), and still another name is "the feast of the first fruits of the wheat harvest." It was now known by the name of Shavuoth. The third feast came on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Lev. 23:34), and is the feast of ingathering, known as Succoth, the feast of tabernacles.

Barley harvest was at the feast of first fruits; the wheat harvest at the feast of weeks; and the vintage at the feast of tabernacles. Lev. 23:10, 16, 34. Harvest was a joyful time, Isa. 9:3, and the poor were not to be forgotten. Deut. 24:19-22.

This is the feast of Pentecost. It pictures God's people, gathered by the Holy Spirit and presented before Him, in connection with all the preciousness of Christ. In the Passover, we have the death of Christ. In the sheaf of first fruits, we have the resurrection of Christ. And in the feast of Pentecost, we have the coming of the Holy Spirit to form the Church. All this is divinely perfect. Christ had to die and rise again before the Church could be formed. The sheaf was offered and then the loaves were baked.

The feast of tabernacles took place after the increase of the earth had been gathered in. As we learn elsewhere, it came not only after the harvest but after the vintage as well. That is, it came after separation by judgment, and after the final carrying out of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints will all be gathered in. Israel was to rejoice seven days before Jehovah.

A freewill offering was a statute in Israel at every feast, because nothing draws the heart out towards need like the sense of what God in Christ has been to our own souls... At the feast of weeks we hear of overflowing grace. Here the heart is set free and goes out in freewill offering, in the sense of Jehovah's blessing. The Passover only rises as high as the removal of judgment. There is personal security from the Lord. But here He has blessed already — "as the Lord your God has blessed you." Along with this, too, there is joy that spreads all around.

Three times in the year they were to go up to Jerusalem for that purpose. This meant leaving the portion and place given to them, and it looked as though they were leaving their land open to danger while they were away. It is then that Jehovah assures His obedient people: "No one shall desire your land, when you go up to appear before Jehovah your God three times in the year."

The terms of this covenant are not new, though He now commands them again... God lays the foundation of it all in what He would do for His people. On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around... But there must not only be separation from evil. There must also be separation to God.

The third section — verses 14-19 — gives in short form the rules for the three great feasts of the year. Israel was to keep them, and at each one all the males were to appear before God. Deuteronomy 16:16 tells us they were to appear in the place the Lord would choose. So God settled the place as well as the times, not the people.

In Deuteronomy 16 we get three feasts: the Passover; Pentecost; and the feast of Tabernacles, which is not yet accomplished. The Passover is the sacrifice of Christ for us, and Pentecost is the Holy Spirit already given to us, but the feast of tabernacles is still future. There is very little joy in the Passover; as soon as it was done they returned to their tents. At Pentecost I find, "You shall rejoice before the LORD your God," and, "You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt"... but the feast of tabernacles has something more. Here they have entered the fullest blessing, and worship flows out of being in that fullness of blessing.

See how thoroughly practical these gatherings were. Notice what a tide of praise, thanksgiving, joy, blessing and active generosity flowed from the assembly of Israel when they gathered round the Lord in the place He had chosen... "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God... They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that He has given you."

They had the land, with each portion given out and enjoyed. Now they were to count on the Lord to protect both the land and their interests, while they went up to appear before Him at the appointed feasts. His power had driven out the nations before them. While they were busy with Him in this special way, He would not allow anyone even to desire their land. So the Lord secured it all for them, not by any human scheme or planning, but through their doing His will. Their obedience in appearing before Him fully guaranteed His power and protection.

The Lord desires the fellowship of His people now, and He desired it in the days of old also. He desired it so much that He thought of the difficulties His people would face in coming together to meet Him. And He made provision for those difficulties. We all know that it would be impossible for us to rejoice before the Lord if we were worrying about our cares at home... The God who could think of these things and take special care of His people in those days will not forget them now. He tells us now not to neglect meeting together (Heb. 10:25), and will He not take care that those who hear and obey His Word will not lose by it?

In verses 18-26 we have certain details of the law repeated. In verse 24 there is one statement they had not heard before. The command told their men to leave home and appear before the Lord three times every year. If they obeyed it, God guaranteed the safety of their land and homes while they were away. What the wise man says in Proverbs 16:7 would then come true, and if they took God at His word all fear would be gone.

When they were in Canaan the Lord required Israel to keep three special feasts. Three times in the year they were to go up to Jerusalem for that purpose. That meant leaving the portion of land allotted to them, and it looked as if they were exposing it to danger while they were away.

They now held the land, with its portions given out and enjoyed. They were to count on the Lord to protect both it and their interests while they went up to appear before Him at the appointed feasts. While they were taken up with Him, whose power drove out the nations before them, He would not allow anyone even to desire their land. So the Lord secured everything for them, not by any human scheme or planning, but through their doing His will. Their obedience in appearing before Him fully guaranteed His power and protection.

Exodus 34:24 assured Israel that at these feasts, when the men were obedient to the Word of God, no one would desire their land, so that their wives and children would be in no danger. Israel kept these feasts at Jerusalem, where God chose to place His name (Deut. 16:5-16).

The Lord desires the fellowship of His people now, and He desired it in the days of old too. He desired it so much that He thought of the difficulties that might arise when His people came together to meet Him, and He provided for them. We all know it would be impossible for us to rejoice before the Lord if we were worrying about our cares at home. When all the men left their homes to go up to meet the Lord, who would protect the homes from the enemy?… The God who could think of these things and take special care of His people in those days will not forget them now. He tells us now not to neglect meeting together (Heb. 10:25), and will He not take care that those who hear and obey His Word will not lose by it?

We read that when Israel were to go up to serve the Lord three times in the year, they could leave their defenceless homes in complete confidence… But He gave no assurance that He would protect the interests of someone walking in disobedience. If David chose to join the enemies of God, ignoring God's interests, he could not expect God to protect him while he did so.

The obedience that called every male of Israel up to remember the Lord at these three feasts gathered them to the place the Lord their God would choose… It is the Lord gathering the people round Himself. He delights in the delight of His people. He would have them happy in Himself, and enjoying all He had given them to enjoy.

The terms of this covenant are not new, though they are newly enjoined. The foundation of all is laid in what God would do for His people. On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around them, once He has given them the land. They must be separate from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God. So the feast of unleavened bread should be kept. For seven days — a complete period, a picture of their whole lives — they were to eat unleavened bread, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:8).

Note it, leaven is never once used in Scripture for truth, the gospel, or anything good. Leaven and honey were forbidden to be offered to God (Ex. 34:25; Lev. 2:11; Amos 4:4-5). And Paul writes, "Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:6-8). For anyone who studies Scripture, that settles it.

The blood of God's sacrifice was not to be offered with leavened bread, because leaven speaks of sin. The sacrifice of Christ allows no toleration of sin at all. It is itself the total condemnation of sin (Rom. 8:3).

Once again leaven is forbidden with the blood of the sacrifice. The sacrifices pointed to Christ, and leaven is a symbol of evil. So leaven in them would have made their picture teach something false. Christ cannot be linked with evil. So leaven was banned outright.

Anything that remained of the Passover lamb was to be destroyed in the morning. The sacrifice in all its ceremony was to be completed within a single night. The rising sun was to see no trace of the slain lamb. In the same way the atoning work of Christ is not a progressive, but a completed thing. The work is not still going on. It was finished, once and for ever. Calvary's costly sacrifice stays with God and with the redeemed for ever, as a fragrant and holy memory. But the sacrifice itself is past and complete.

This command teaches us that the communion of God's people was never to be separated from the sacrifice on which that communion rests. The heart must always keep this clearly in mind: all true fellowship is tied to a redemption already accomplished. Think of communion with God on any other ground, and you are imagining that He could share our evil. In a word, all must be founded upon, and inseparably linked with, the blood.

None of that roast lamb was to remain until the morning. Exodus 12:10 tells us that true worship cannot be known apart from the death of Christ. True worship can never be stale: it must always be fresh.

No leaven was to be found in Israel during those seven days. None of the meat of the Passover lamb was to remain overnight. Exodus 12:10 had commanded that anything left over be burned. That is, it went up in fire to the Lord. God can appreciate everything about Christ, even when we cannot.

The terms of this covenant are not new, though they are newly enjoined. Almost every one of them has already been under consideration. The foundation of all is laid in what God would do for His people (v. 10). On that basis He commands complete separation from the nations around... But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God.

The spirit of the offering is also clear: a full profession before God that they had the things which He had promised to their fathers... redemption had brought them out of Egypt, and into the good land which they were now fully enjoying. So they came up to acknowledge the Giver, by offering Him the firstfruits... All his worship is only the answer, the reflection, the bringing back to God of the fruit of what God has revealed Himself to be to him. It is the firstfruits of that, if true faith and godliness are there... The mark of piety in Scripture is always this: the first effect of blessing is turning back to God and owning it there, not the personal enjoyment of it... The love that gave it is more present than even the gift.

Three times it is found in the Scriptures. God will have His people tenderly careful, guarding them from breaking any single instinct of nature. The mother's milk was the food, the sustenance of the young goat, and so it must not be used to boil it as food for others.

As I understand it, this is the point about boiling a young goat in its mother's milk. One mark of idolatry, of Satan's power, is to destroy the order, affections and beauty which God has established in nature. Christianity lifts us above nature, but respects it all. Satan degrades in every way by what is unnatural... This was an example concerning tender and kindly affections... All this the law forbade.

We may set it down as a fixed principle, an axiom in Christian ethics: no action can be of God if it does violence to the feelings that properly belong to nature. The Spirit of God may, and often does, lead us beyond and above nature, but never against it.

The LORD cultivates what is fitting in His people... He also wants tenderness of feeling, even toward an animal that cannot speak, or one already dead. That is why He forbade boiling a young goat in its mother's milk. All Scripture is against the coarse brutality that was normal among the nations who did not know the true God.

Some have seen a spiritual teaching in this rule. Helpful comparisons can certainly be drawn. But that suits private study better than public teaching.

The oral law has explained this verse to mean that it is a sin to eat meat and drink milk at the same time. The elders have gone so far as to declare that if a pot of milk boils over and some of the milk drops into a pot of meat, the meat is unclean and must be thrown away.

In Exodus 24:4 we read, "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." In chapter 34:27 God gives another command to write: "Write these words." The Hebrews speak of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, as "the law" and "the law of Moses." The book of the law, the law of Moses, now divided into five parts, already existed in the time of Joshua (Joshua 1:8).

The Lord then told Moses to write these words of the covenant (v. 27). Moses did not write on the stone tablets. God had said that He would write on these (the Ten Commandments). Moses was to write what God told him in verses 10 to 26.

This time the hand of Moses wrote the words. Yet they were just as truly the words of God Himself as when His own finger had written them. So Moses could say, "These are the words that the Lord has commanded" (Ex. 35:1).

The covenant under the law had been broken. The intercession of Moses made way for another covenant (Exodus 33:14, 19), and we have its basis in Exodus 34:27: "And the Lord said to Moses, Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." Notice: with you. There is a remarkable change in the language of God. In Egypt, God had always said, "My people, my people." But when Israel made the golden calf, He uses their own word — "your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt." For Israel had said, "As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:1). God takes them up in their own words.

God looks at the people only in relation to the mediator, as in verse 27: "In accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." The Lord goes on, "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."

Through the mediation of Moses, God puts the people under grace in a measure, as far as His present dealings go. The people humbled themselves, and they are spared, and God's presence goes with them. God retreats into His own sovereignty to be gracious and show mercy. As the LORD He then declares His name. This is not the gospel, founded on accomplished redemption, full forgiveness, and acceptance in Christ, who has wrought it. It is the terms of God's forbearing mercy in His government of Israel. It was a mixture of grace and law. Grace spared them and, for the present, forgave them. But they were put back under law again, and under law, as a strict and absolute rule, Israel had wholly failed.

The Lord Himself spoke the Ten Commandments in the hearing of the people, and Scripture calls them the "words of the covenant." "Write these words," He says to Moses, "for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel… and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." So it is very clear that God addressed the Ten Commandments to Israel, the covenant-people, and formally to no one else.