Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Exodus · About this commentary
The Face That Shone
Exodus 34:29-35
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. · WEB
A man's skin carries light he cannot see himself, and he covers it so the people will not watch it fade.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses' hand... Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him Exodus 34:29.
He did not know. The most striking detail in the paragraph is that the man carrying the light was the only person present who could not see it, and had not asked for it. Whatever he had received on the mountain, it was not something he had noticed happening.
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 Exodus 34:30.
The reaction is fear, from a nation that had recently danced around a metal calf and had asked, at this same mountain, never to hear God's voice again Exodus 20:19. A borrowed reflection on a man's face is more than they can stand.
Moses called to them Exodus 34:31. He does not accept the distance. The rulers come first, then everyone, and he delivers what he was given.
When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off Exodus 34:33–34.
The pattern is consistent: uncovered before God, uncovered while speaking God's words, covered afterward. The veil is not worn while he is teaching. It goes on when the message is finished.
Why it goes on at all is not stated here, and Paul supplies a reason that the passage allows: the veil was so that Israel would not watch the fading 2 Corinthians 3:13. The brightness was temporary and required renewing, which is the argument he builds on — a glory that has to be recovered by going back in, set against one that is not diminishing.
The practical shape of it is the more immediate lesson. The shining was a byproduct of time spent in the presence of God, it was not sought, the man himself was unaware of it, and it did not last without return visits. Every one of those four observations is in the text, and together they describe how proximity to God shows in a person: visibly to everyone except him, and not permanently.
settled What this mark means