2 Corinthians 3:13

And not as Moses i.e. we do not act as Moses did, who put a veil on his face.

that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished The Greek implies that Moses placed the veil on his face afterspeaking to the people that they might not see the glory on his face fading. The LXX. of v. 33 implies the same thing, and the Vulgate still more explicitly. The Hebrew is ambiguous, from the want of a pluperfect tense in that language. But the LXX. in v. 34, 35, as well as the Hebrew, imply that Moses veiled his countenance on account of the terrorwith which its brightness inspired the Israelites. The latter says expressly that he kept his face unveiled until he came forthfrom speaking to God. So St Paul seems to imply himself in 2 Corinthians 3:7. The fact seems to be that St Paul, as is extremely common with him, and as occurs several times in this chapter (as in 2 Corinthians 3:3 and 2 Corinthians 3:18) gives the simile he is employing another direction. He has been contrasting the glory of the Mosaic with that of the Christian dispensation. He adduces the latter as a reason for the transparent sincerity of which he had boasted in ch. 2 Corinthians 2:17. He proceeds to contrast that absence of reserve with the reticence of Moses in the law. The figure of the veil once more occurs to him as an illustration of the fact that the Jews were not, for reasons which are obvious enough, encouraged to look upon the Law as a transitory dispensation (though sometimes hints of this kind were vaguely thrown out, as in the celebrated passage in Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18-19); not allowed to see the gradual extinction of that glory which had seemed to them so great, and whose greatness was the surest guarantee of their obedience. Many commentators have supposed here an allusion to Christ as the end of the law (Romans 10:4). But Olshausen pertinently asks, "How could St Paul say that Moses covered his countenance in order that the Israelites should not behold Christ?"

is abolished Literally, was being brought to nought. See note on 2 Corinthians 3:7.