E34-12: Why were the people afraid of God’s light that was radiating from Moses’ face?

Adonai said to Moshe, “Write these words down, because they are the terms of the covenant I have made with you and with Isra’el.”  Moses was there with Adonai forty days and forty nights, during which time he neither ate food nor drank water. [Adonai] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.-Exodus 34:27-28

Okay, seemingly out of the blue, the strange command to not boil a kid (a baby goat) in it’s mother’s milk pops up again (it first appeared in Exodus 23).

Traditional Judaism has interpreted this command by forbidding the eating of dairy products with meat.

Their reasoning is that they are putting a hedge or a fence around the commandment.

There have been all kinds of theories proposed as to why the Lord would forbid this.

Look, I think the simplest answer is the best.

The simple truth is boiling young animals in their own mother’s milk was a common Canaanite religious rite.

And the Lord is continuously in the process of SEPARATING Israel from the ways of the Canaanites.

Beyond that, I don’t think there really is anything else to discuss, so let’s move on. 

Now beginning from verse 28 we get some interesting parallels between Moses and Yeshua that I want to point out.

Remember in all of the Scriptures, there are only two mediators: Moses and Yeshua.

Let’s take a look at some parallels as follows:

Just as Moses spent 40 days and nights fasting in God’s presence, so did Yeshua before His temptation from the devil.

Just as Moses was higher than the High Priest of Israel, so was Yeshua higher than the High Priest of Israel.

Just as Moses was the highest earthly Mediator between God and man, so was Yeshua. 

Just as the Lord gave Moses the Law written on stone to give to Israel, the SAME Law through Yeshua would be supernaturally written on the hearts of believers.

Just as light radiated from Moses’ face when he came back down from the mountain, so was Yeshua the “light” of the world.

Now there’s an interesting point I want to mention about Moses’ radiant face that also ties in with today’s spiritual takeaway.

Did you notice how the people were afraid to approach Moses when they saw his shining face?

In fact, they were so frightened that Moses took to covering his face with a veil.

This also reminds us of the time when God in His own voice spoke to the people and they we so terrified that they begged Moses to be their spokesperson from that time on.

The people didn’t want to hear God’s voice.

Nor did they want to see His light.

What’s up with that?

I think it was because they sensed the tremendous gap between their sinful selves and a most Holy God.

I know that whenever I’ve done something that I know isn’t pleasing to the Lord, I feel like I want to shelter myself away from the Lord, worship and my fellow believers.

Somehow I feel dirty and don’t want my shame to be exposed.

I feel like I have to give it some time, a period of repentant prayer and restoration before I can return guilt free.

I wonder if this is how the people felt seeing that just a short time earlier they had committed the gross golden calf rebellion.

But here’s the thing.

The Lord wants us to become ONE with Him and His Holy Light.

The intimate relationship that He had with Moses and Yeshua is also what He wants for us.

But the other side of that equation is do WE really want to DIRECTLY hear God’s voice and see His light?

Or do we prefer to just hear about God’s voice or be told about God’s light via books, youtube videos, and maple syrupy, non-confrontational Bible study sessions at our places of worship?

The Lord was willing to fellowship with the people directly.

He was willing to let them get a glimpse of His glory via the Holy Light radiating from Moses’ face.

But the people declined.

They preferred to have second hand experience with the Living God.

I ask you again.

Do you really want to DIRECTLY hear God’s voice and see His light?

I think it’s a very interesting and important question.