29 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. 30 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. 31 Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. 32 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. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 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. 35 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. Exodus 34:29–35 (NKJV)
“The skin of his face shone” - "Shone" in verse 30 is to be radiant, to emit light rays, i.e., a shining appearance due to glow of a face that supernaturally beams light. The basic form of the word can literally mean "with horns"! We are talking shooting out spikes of light here! There was a blinding brilliance to Moses face man had never seen since the Garden (and Adam had nothing to compare that with!).
"They", here, includes Aaron, Moses brother and by the time of Exodus 34, High Priest of Israel. And they were afraid with good reason!
"Afraid" is a common Hebrew word meaning to be in a state of feeling great distress, and deep concern of pain or unfavorable circumstance. It is the word used to describe the state of emotion in Adam and Eve when they hid themselves in the garden after thier din in Genesis 3:10 and Adam gave explanation for their hiding to God:
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Adam knew that God had commanded that he obey and there would be consequences for disobedience and was "afraid" as a result.
The reaction of fear in this passage suggests previous events leading up to the current experience. It was only when they drew near and conversed without harm were they reassured.
"Then" is another marker of co-ordinate relationship. Here indicating another time relationship. One phrase or action following immediately after the prior to keep the narrative moving.
"Called to them..." is a verb that is used of leader to subordinates or of one who has something to offer to the "offeree". It means to summon, i.e., call a person(here, a group) to come into one’s presence. God "called" Moses and Aaron in Exodus 12:31 and told them lead Israel out of Egypt:
31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.
Moses acts as Israel's leader, their Prophet and calls them back to speak to them all that God has said to Him. Let's not make the mistake of thinking that this is harsh. It surely is not. It is reasonable to see Israel as reluctant to come in to the presence of Moses, and by implication God, once again. The experience, thus far, has been an awesome one, but it has not been a real positive one (their fault not God's of course.) If not excused, we can surely see why they might hang back and need to be called to Moses' feet.
Just as a note, "...rulers of the congregation..." seems to refer to the leaders of the tribes of Israel. That particular English phrase only appears 5 times, twice in Exodus and three times in Joshua. The phrase "rulers of Israel" appears in Judges 5:9 and seems to refer to the same concept. 2 Kings 10:1 makes reference to the "rulers of Jezreel". 2 Chronicles 29:20 speaks of "rulers of the city" speaking of Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 35:8 speaks of "...Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God..." Isaiah 1:10 refers to the "rulers of Sodom" and Micah 3:1 refers to the "rulers of the House of Israel". Matthew 2:6 refers to the "rulers of Judah" and Matthew 20:25 speaks of the "rulers of the Gentiles". Mark 5:22, speaking of Jairus, calls him a "ruler of the synagogue". Luke 14:1 speaks of the Rulers of the Pharasees. In Acts 4:8 peter address the "rulers of the people and Elders of Israel...". In Acts 13:15, when preaching at Pisian Anticoh, Paul address the "rulers of the Synagogue". In Acts 17:6-8, preaching at Thessalonica, Paul was dragged from Jason's house by the Jews before the "rulers of the city", but was eventually let go. 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 speaks twice of the spiritual "rulers of this age. Likewise Paul, in Ephesians 6:12 famously speaks of the "rulers of the darkeness of this age".
There are many "rulers" in the Scriptures. These seem to the ones Moses selected and put in place in Exodus 18:21–26:
21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
24 So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.
It is this group that Moses called, summoned to him so that they, in turn could lead their charges to him in what follows.
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