Perhaps some of you have seen Michelangelo's great marble statue of Moses. Or if you have just seen a picture of that statue, you know that it depicts Moses sitting, holding the tablets of the law. And strangely enough, on Moses' head are two tiny horns. That depiction furnishes us with a good lesson in the history of Old Testament manuscripts. The verb "shone" in verse 29 of our text can also be translated as "horned," and that apparently was the rendering that the Exodus manuscript available to Michelangelo used. It said that Moses' face (or head) was "horned." So that is the way Michelangelo depicted him. Moses had horns.
What our text really says, of course, is that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after talking with God, the skin of his face "shone." It shone so brilliantly that the people were afraid to draw near to him. But when Moses called them, Aaron and all the leaders and congregation of the people approached Moses and listened to the commands that God had given them through Moses. And whenever Moses gave the people the commandments or whenever he went into the "tent of meeting" (Exodus 33:7-11) to talk with God, Moses left his shining face uncovered. Otherwise, he covered it with a veil, so the shining could not be seen.
All of that is very strange to us, and we need to know what it means. Why did Moses' face shine? It shone with the reflected light of God's glory. We are familiar with the phrase "the glory of God." For example, we read at Christmas that when the angels appeared to the shepherds, "The glory of the Lord shone around them" (Luke 2:9). But what is meant by the glory of the Lord?
God's glory has two meanings throughout the scriptures. First, his glory can designate the esteem and honor in which God is held. The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb, "to be glorious," is "to have weight." And we have the same usage in English. We say that someone has "great weight" in the community. So when we are called upon to give God glory, that means we are called to give him great weight, to deem him esteemed and honored throughout the world.
But the other meaning of God's glory is the meaning found in our text for the morning. God's glory is the shining light effulgence that surrounds his Person. God dwells in "unapproachable light," says the New Testament (1 Timothy 6:16). When he descends to the tabernacle to dwell in the midst of his people, in Exodus 40:34-35, a cloud fills the tabernacle, and in the midst of that cloud is God's shining, glorious light. Thus, Ezekiel 10:4 can speak of the "brightness of the glory of the Lord." God's glory is dazzling light, that gives the dazzling whiteness of Jesus' garments in the story of the Transfiguration and that alters Jesus' countenance.
In our text, therefore, Moses has been speaking with God on Mount Sinai, and when Moses comes down from the mountain, his face shines with the reflected light of God's glory. We know how a person's face can glow with the reflected light of a fire. So too Moses' face glows with the reflected light of God.
It is significant in our text that when Moses is giving the commandments of God to the people, he leaves his face uncovered, and the light of God shines forth. Thus, the text testifies to the fact that the commandments that Moses is giving are in fact the Word of God. Moses' shining face becomes the testimony to the truth that the commandments are God's Word to his people.
Are the commandments of the Old Testament then also God's words to us and therefore to be obeyed, all of those laws and statutes that we find scattered through the Torah, the first five books of our Bibles?
Obviously the Apostle Paul does not think so, according to our Epistle lesson in 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2. Paul reinterprets our Old Testament text in such a manner that the commandments become the "veil" whereby God is hidden from us, whereas God's revelation of himself in Christ removes the veil and allows us to know the glory of God. "We have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Christ reveals God's true, glorious Person, in a manner impossible for the Mosaic law to do.
Before we throw out the Old Testament, however, with its laws and its commandments, we need to take heed of the way in which the New Testament uses those. Our Lord Jesus clearly believes Moses was giving true words of God, because Jesus takes the two central commandments of the Old Testament as the two greatest commandments for us. When one of the scribes asks our Lord, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus quotes to him the words of Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And to that central commandment to love God, Jesus adds the second from Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." In similar fashion, Jesus affirms the validity of the Ten Commandments for our Christian life, and Mark 10:17-21 tells us that Jesus loves the one who keeps such laws.
The question to ask ourselves when we read -- and I hope we often read -- the commandments of Moses in the Old Testament is, "Are these commandments reaffirmed for us in the New Testament?" Do Jesus and Paul and the rest of the New Testament figures pick them up and apply them to the Christian life also? Over and over again, such is the case, even in the letters of Paul. After all, our Lord said that he came not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).
Contrary to our Epistle lesson, then, are we to live under the law? Does the Christian faith have about it a legalism after all? As Paul emphasizes, the answer is, "No." What Paul repeatedly underscores is that we are not saved by following the law, that is, we do not enter into relationship with God by obeying commandments. Rather, we are saved solely by grace through our trust in Jesus Christ, who fulfills the law for us. The commandments, then, found in the law and prophets and indeed, throughout the New Testament, are given us as guides in the new life which we have already been given by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You and I are given a new beginning, a new life by the work of our Lord. "The old has passed away" -- the old dispensation in our Epistle lesson: "Behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). And God gives us commandments from Old and New Testament alike to guide our steps in that new life. Mercifully, God goes with us in his commandments, as Israel always believed (cf. Deuteronomy 30:14), showing us how to live with him and our neighbors and all the world in abundant and joyful new life.
What our text really says, of course, is that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai after talking with God, the skin of his face "shone." It shone so brilliantly that the people were afraid to draw near to him. But when Moses called them, Aaron and all the leaders and congregation of the people approached Moses and listened to the commands that God had given them through Moses. And whenever Moses gave the people the commandments or whenever he went into the "tent of meeting" (Exodus 33:7-11) to talk with God, Moses left his shining face uncovered. Otherwise, he covered it with a veil, so the shining could not be seen.
All of that is very strange to us, and we need to know what it means. Why did Moses' face shine? It shone with the reflected light of God's glory. We are familiar with the phrase "the glory of God." For example, we read at Christmas that when the angels appeared to the shepherds, "The glory of the Lord shone around them" (Luke 2:9). But what is meant by the glory of the Lord?
God's glory has two meanings throughout the scriptures. First, his glory can designate the esteem and honor in which God is held. The basic meaning of the Hebrew verb, "to be glorious," is "to have weight." And we have the same usage in English. We say that someone has "great weight" in the community. So when we are called upon to give God glory, that means we are called to give him great weight, to deem him esteemed and honored throughout the world.
But the other meaning of God's glory is the meaning found in our text for the morning. God's glory is the shining light effulgence that surrounds his Person. God dwells in "unapproachable light," says the New Testament (1 Timothy 6:16). When he descends to the tabernacle to dwell in the midst of his people, in Exodus 40:34-35, a cloud fills the tabernacle, and in the midst of that cloud is God's shining, glorious light. Thus, Ezekiel 10:4 can speak of the "brightness of the glory of the Lord." God's glory is dazzling light, that gives the dazzling whiteness of Jesus' garments in the story of the Transfiguration and that alters Jesus' countenance.
In our text, therefore, Moses has been speaking with God on Mount Sinai, and when Moses comes down from the mountain, his face shines with the reflected light of God's glory. We know how a person's face can glow with the reflected light of a fire. So too Moses' face glows with the reflected light of God.
It is significant in our text that when Moses is giving the commandments of God to the people, he leaves his face uncovered, and the light of God shines forth. Thus, the text testifies to the fact that the commandments that Moses is giving are in fact the Word of God. Moses' shining face becomes the testimony to the truth that the commandments are God's Word to his people.
Are the commandments of the Old Testament then also God's words to us and therefore to be obeyed, all of those laws and statutes that we find scattered through the Torah, the first five books of our Bibles?
Obviously the Apostle Paul does not think so, according to our Epistle lesson in 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2. Paul reinterprets our Old Testament text in such a manner that the commandments become the "veil" whereby God is hidden from us, whereas God's revelation of himself in Christ removes the veil and allows us to know the glory of God. "We have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Christ reveals God's true, glorious Person, in a manner impossible for the Mosaic law to do.
Before we throw out the Old Testament, however, with its laws and its commandments, we need to take heed of the way in which the New Testament uses those. Our Lord Jesus clearly believes Moses was giving true words of God, because Jesus takes the two central commandments of the Old Testament as the two greatest commandments for us. When one of the scribes asks our Lord, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus quotes to him the words of Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And to that central commandment to love God, Jesus adds the second from Leviticus 19:18: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." In similar fashion, Jesus affirms the validity of the Ten Commandments for our Christian life, and Mark 10:17-21 tells us that Jesus loves the one who keeps such laws.
The question to ask ourselves when we read -- and I hope we often read -- the commandments of Moses in the Old Testament is, "Are these commandments reaffirmed for us in the New Testament?" Do Jesus and Paul and the rest of the New Testament figures pick them up and apply them to the Christian life also? Over and over again, such is the case, even in the letters of Paul. After all, our Lord said that he came not to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).
Contrary to our Epistle lesson, then, are we to live under the law? Does the Christian faith have about it a legalism after all? As Paul emphasizes, the answer is, "No." What Paul repeatedly underscores is that we are not saved by following the law, that is, we do not enter into relationship with God by obeying commandments. Rather, we are saved solely by grace through our trust in Jesus Christ, who fulfills the law for us. The commandments, then, found in the law and prophets and indeed, throughout the New Testament, are given us as guides in the new life which we have already been given by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You and I are given a new beginning, a new life by the work of our Lord. "The old has passed away" -- the old dispensation in our Epistle lesson: "Behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). And God gives us commandments from Old and New Testament alike to guide our steps in that new life. Mercifully, God goes with us in his commandments, as Israel always believed (cf. Deuteronomy 30:14), showing us how to live with him and our neighbors and all the world in abundant and joyful new life.
CSS Publishing, Preaching and Reading from the Old Testament: With an Eye to the New, by Elizabeth Achtemeier