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)
Verse 33 - "he put a veil on his face" - Most miss an obvious truth here. The purpose of the veil was not to calm the anxiety of the people. We know this because Moses put on the veil only after the people had come near and after he had finished declaring the law to the people (vv. 31, 32). Rather, as Paul in 2 Cor. 3:13 makes clear, the veil was to keep the Israelites from seeing that the glory was fading away.
According to Paul, this fading glory shows the temporary and inadequate character of the old Mosaic covenant and points to the need for a greater covenant Mediator—Jesus Christ.
When not speaking to the Lord or authoritatively on His behalf to the people, Moses veiled his face. The Apostle Paul advised that the veil prevented the people from seeing a fading glory and related it to the inadequacy of the Old Covenant and the blindness of the Jews in his day.
This physical action pictured the fact that Moses did not have the confidence or boldness of Paul because the Old Covenant was veiled, that is, it was was only an unclear foreshadowing of the coming work of God's Messiah. It was shadowy. It was made up of types, pictures, symbols, and mystery. Moses communicated the glory of the Old Covenant, but with a certain obscurity.
The “veil” here can be seen as representing unbelief. Those Israelites did not grasp the glory of the Old Covenant because of their unbelief. As a result, the meaning of the Old Covenant was obscure to them (cf. Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7). Paul’s point was that just as the Old Covenant was obscure to the people of Moses’ day, it was still obscure to those who trusted in it as a means of salvation in Paul’s day. The veil of ignorance obscures the meaning of the Old Covenant to the hardened heart (cf. John 5:38).
Without Christ the OT is unintelligible. But when a person comes to Christ, the veil is lifted and his spiritual perception is no longer impaired (Is. 25:6–8). With the veil removed, believers are able to see the glory of God revealed in Christ (John 1:14). They understand that the law was never given to save them, but to lead them to the One who would.
This underscores for us the truth that the NC, the NT is not a replacement for the OC/OT; rather it is the fulfillment of it. It is the ultimate demonstration of all that God had "merely" foreshadowed in type and picture in the Law.
Verse 34 - “…he would take the veil off…” - Given that the above is so, we can readily understand why Moses took the veil off when in the presence of God. That picture of the Law, the OC, is not needful for the redeemed when he stands before the Lord. Between the genuinely saved believer and his God there are no "veils". There is only reality. There are no shadows or types. There is only the real. And so Moses, when in the presence of his God, removed the veil, for there was no need for it. There was no unbelief in Moses heart, nothing to keep him from God's presence as there was in the hearts of the people of the congregation. He was safe in the presence of His God and thus, off with the veil.
“…he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded…” - The grammar here is very similar to what we saw earlier. What we want to note is that he continued to do this in what appears to be an ongoing basis. He went into the presence of God and immediately emerged and communicated what God told him to the people of God.
We want to note also that nowhere, here or elsewhere, are these people called "his people". They are God's people, the children of Israel, not Moses' people. Moses understood that, and our leaders today ought to understand that. My congregation is not "my people", even innocently. They are God's people. I must remain constantly, painfully aware that this always the case!
Further, we note that there is also a limitation on Moses here – he spoke all that God had told him, but he also spoke NO MORE! We see through the rest of the OT Law that the prophet was strictly limited as to what he could say. False prophesies we dealt with very, very harshly! It was important that the man of God speak for God and speak accurately, both positively by what he said, and negatively by what he did NOT say. Would that this were true today!
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