Exodus 34:1-4 - Homiletics

The second promulgation of the moral law, by the renewal of the two tables

may teach us—

I. THAT ALL COVENANT WITH GOD MUST REST ON THE BASIS OF THE MORAL LAW . Moses had not asked for a renewal of the tables. He had requested the return of God's favour and the renewal of God's share of the covenant. It was God who made the restoration of the tables a condition. God, that is, will not divorce favour from obedience, privilege from the keeping of his law. Man desires the rewards that God has to bestow, but is not anxious to have the rewards tied to a certain course of action. God insists on the combination. He can only enter into covenant with those who accept his law as their rule of life. This is not for his own sake, but for theirs. They can only be fitted to enjoy his favour, and the rewards which he has to bestow on them, by leading a life in accordance with his law and acquiring the character which such a life forms in them.

II. THAT THE MORAL LAW IS ETERNAL AND UNALTERABLE . The broken tables must be restored. In restoring them no change must be made. Their very form must resemble as nearly as may be the form of the preceding ones. This, of course, was typical. It foreshadowed the further—not mere resemblance, but—identity of the words that were to be written on the tables. From first to last, "the words were those that were in the first table" ( Exodus 34:1 ). There is no hint of any alteration. Even Christianity changes nothing in the law that is moral. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets," says our Lord; " I am not come to destroy but to fulfil" ( Matthew 5:17 ). No "jot or tittle" of the moral law is to pass away. Even with respect to the Sabbath, which verges upon positive law, nothing is changed but the day of the week, and to a small extent the method of observance. Apostolic writings show us the Decalogue as still binding ( Romans 13:9 ; Ephesians 6:2 ; James 2:11 ; etc.).

III. THAT BREAKING THE MORAL LAW IMPOSES ON US FRESH OBLIGATIONS . "Hew thee"—literally, "hew for thyself "—"two tables of stone," said the Lord to Moses; repair the loss caused by thine own action. Repentance is no part of man's original duty to God; but if he once break the moral law, it becomes obligatory on him. Every infraction involves this new duty; some infractions involve more. Fraud involves the duty of restitution; calumny, that of retractation; insult, that of apology; and the like. Each of our sins lays upon us as a new burthen, not only of guilt, but also of labour, to efface it. We had best refrain from evil, even in our own interest, or we may increase our burthen till we sink under it.