Exodus chapter 34

After reading chapter 34:

*Yahweh told Moses to chisel out two stone tablets to replace the ones he smashed. Now we know those were stone also. Moses was to go back up the mountain alone and no one else was to go anywhere near it. So, Moses did that and God came  down in the cloud and stood there with him.

*Now we see God proclaiming his personal attributes to Moses. He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. BUT...he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children for the sins of the father to the third and fourth generations. Maybe it's just me, but the second part seems to negate any benefit of the first part. Why should I obey a god  if I'm going to be punished for all the sins of my forefathers anyway?

*So, Moses again begs God to go with the Israelites, in spite of their disobedience. Again, God says he is making a covenant with them and will drive out the people living in the lands they are going to. However, they must break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. There is to be no worshipping of any other gods. Apparently, Yahweh has another name and it is Jealous. Why doesn't he just tell them that no other gods actually exist?

*There are to be no treaties with the inhabitants of the land. This might lead to them participating in sacrifices to other gods. They might also marry their sons to the daughters of people other faiths. This could lead the sons to worship the other gods. Here the worship of other gods is metaphorically, not literally, equated with prostitution.

*There are more instructions that have been given before, Moses writes them down on the tablet, these are the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Let's take a look at them:

1. Do not worship any other god. (Verse 14)
2. Do not make cast idols. (Verse 17)
3. Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened bread. ( verse 18)
4. The first offspring of every womb belongs to God.(verse 19)
5. Six days shall you labor but on the seventh day you shall rest (verse 21)
6. No one is to appear before God empty handed. ( verse 20)
7. Celebrate the Feast of Weeks at the wheat harvest and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ( verse 22)
8. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice along with anything containing yeast and do not let any of the
Passover feast remain until morning. ( verse 25)
9. Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the lord your God.(verse 26)
10. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk. (Verse 26)

Does this look anything like the Ten Commandments you have seen before?