Exodus 34:28 - Exposition

He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights . As on the former occasion ( Exodus 24:18 ). The patience and faith of the people was tested by this second long delay. Happily, they stood the test; and on Moses' final descent from Sinai the Israelites were found expectant and obedient ( Exodus 34:30-32 ). He did neither eat bread nor drink water . This was so also on the former occasion ( Deuteronomy 9:9 ), though it is not mentioned in Exodus. The near presence of God sustained the vital powers and made food unnecessary. Moses, Elijah ( 1 Kings 19:8 ), and our Lord have alone accomplished a fast of this duration. Modern parodies are not held by scientific men to belong to the category of established facts. He wrote upon the tables . It has been argued from this expression that Moses wrote the words on the second tables; and it would be natural so to understand the passage, had nothing else been said on the subject. But in verse 1 we are told that "God said, I will write upon these tables;" and the same is repeated in Deuteronomy 10:2 . Moreover in Deuteronomy 10:4 , it is distinctly declared "He" ( i.e. God) "wrote on the tables according to the first writing." We must therefore regard "he" in this passage as meaning "the Lord," which is quite possible according to the Hebrew idiom.