Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord tells Moses to go to the promised land but that He will not go with Him, Moses pleads with God to go and He relents, Moses asks God to teach him HIs ways and show him His glory, God hides Moses in a cleft of a rock and allows Him to see Him from behind, Moses spends another 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain without bread or water to receive the new tablets of the testimony, and Moses's face shines whenever he returns from speaking with God so that he must cover it with a veil.
The Lord says to Moses to go up to the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a land "flowing with milk and honey," and that He will send His Angel before them and drive out all the inhabitants of the land. However, He says that He will not go up with them "lest [He] consume them along the way, for [they] are a stiff-necked people." When Moses tells the people this, they mourn and "[take] off their ornaments (jewelry)." God also says that He could "consume [them] in one moment." and He is the One Who tells them to take off their jewelry. Moses pitches his tent outside the camp and calls it "the tabernacle of meeting," and all who seek the Lord go there. Every time Moses goes there, all the people stand up outside his or her tent and watch him go. And when Moses goes in, the pillar of cloud descends and stands at the door while the Lord talks with Moses.
When the people see the cloud, they rise and worship the Lord. "So the Lord [speaks] to Moses face to face as a man speaks to His friend." But Joshua son of Nun does not depart from the tabernacle. Moses has a conversation with the Lord that we are privy to. He says, "If I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight... and consider that this nation is Your people." So the Lord says to Moses, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Moses asks God not to bring them up unless He goes with them; otherwise people will not know that they have found grace in His sight. And {if God's presence goes with them,} they will be separate from all people." God says that He will do it, because Moses has found grace in His sight and God knows him by name. Moses then says, "Show me your glory." The Lord says He will make "all His goodness" pass before Moses and "proclaim His name" before him. He says, "I will be gracious on whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. But you cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live." God says he will hide Moses in the cleft of a rock and cover him with His hand while He passes by and then take away His hand so Moses can see Him passing from behind (while all His glory passes by.)
The Lord says to Moses to cut two new tablets of stone so that He can again write the words of the testimony (law) on them. He tells Moses to go up to Him to Mt. Sinai again, and that no one should come near the mountain. So Moses rises early and obeys God. And the Lord descends in a cloud and proclaims the name of the Lord and passes before him and proclaims: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation." Moses bows and worships and says, "If I have found grace in Your sight, let my Lord go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance." The Lords answers and says that He is making a covenant with them and that He will do "marvels such have not been done in all the earth or any nation" and that all nations them will see the work of the Lord, and it will be an awesome things that God will do with them, how He will drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan. He warns them not to make a covenant with the people but to destroy all their altars, because "the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." He tells them to keep the feast of unleavened bread and to consecrate the firstborn of every male and "redeem the first born of a donkey with a lamb or break his neck." (?) Also, no one should appear before God empty-handed, and they should keep the Sabbath. They should also observe the Feast of Wheats and the Feast of Ingathering. Three times a year all the men should appear before the Lord because "[He] will cast out the nations before them and enlarge [their] borders." He says that no one will covet their land when they go up three times a year to appear before God. The first fruits of the land should be brought to the house of the Lord, and they are not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk. (?) He tells Moses to write these words and that they are the covenant between them. Moses is on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights without drinking bread or water, and He writes the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
When Moses comes down with the tablets in his hand, he does not realize that the skin on his face is shining, and Aaron and the others are afraid to come near him. But he calls them and talks with them, and Israel all comes near, and he gives them all the commandments God gave him. Then, he puts a veil on his face. Whenever he goes in to the Lord to speak to Him, he removes the veil, coming out after to speak to the people again. Aad when they see again that his face is shining, he covers it until the next time he goes in to speak with God.
Moses gathers all Israel together and repeats the commands to them. He also asks for the people, only those who are willing, to bring the materials needed for the building of God's tabernacle, including the anointing oil and incense and the priestly garment, inviting all the willing and gifted artisans to help make it.
So "everyone who [has] a willing heart and spirit," both men and women, brings the materials to make God's tabernacle.
And God tells Moses that He has chosen Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and gifted him for all kinds of artistic work and also teaching, along with Oholiab the son of Ahisamakh, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and weaver, to complete the work.
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
How many people ask God to show them His ways? That was always Israel's problem: they observed God but never became intimately acquainted with His ways. A person's ways are that person, so we can't truly know God unless we get to know His ways. Are we willing to spend time with Him and rise to His level in order to know His ways?
The book of Hebrews talks about how the new covenant has more glory than the old, even though Moses's face was shining! His was a glory that was fading away, but ours is one that is getting brighter and brighter. Think of that! Have we even begun to tap into that?!