Exodus 34:17

_THOU SHALT MAKE THEE NO MOLTEN GODS._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Exodus 34:17._Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. _When he calls graven things, statues, and pictures, by the name of gods, he shews the object and sum of the Second Commandment, viz., that God is insulted when He is clothed in a corporeal image. Moreover, the name of God is transferred to idols, according to common parlance, and the corrupt opinion of the Gentiles; not that unbelievers thought that the Deity was included in the corruptible material, but because they imagined that it was nearer to them, if some earthly symbol of its presence were standing before their eyes. In this sense, they called the images of the gods their gods; because they thought they could not ascend to the heights in which the Deity dwelt, unless they mounted by these earthly aids. There is no doubt but that he comprehends by _synecdoche, _all kinds of images, when he forbids the making of molten god

10-17 The Israelites are commanded to destroy every monument of idolatry, however curious or costly; to refuse all alliance, friendship, or marriage with idolaters, and all idolatrous feasts; and they were reminded not with idolaters, and all idolatrous feats; and they were reminded not to repeat the crime of making molten images. Jealously is called the rage of a man, Proverbs 6:34; but in God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only....

The precepts contained in these verses are, for the most part, identical in substance with some of those which follow the Ten Commandments and are recorded in “the Book of the covenant” (Exo. 20–23; see Exodus 24:7). Exodus 34:13 CUT DOWN THEIR GROVES - This is the first reference to what is commonly known as grove-worship. The original word for “grove” in this connection אשׁרה _'ăshêrāh_ is different from that so rendered in Genesis 21:33. Our translators supposed that what the law commands is the destruction of groves dedicated to the worship of false deities...

EXPOSITION THE RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. Dazed, as it would seem, by the splendour of the vision which he had beheld, Moses forgot that God had already pledged himself to renew the covenant, and lead the people in person to Canaan. In his forgetfulness, he once more set himself to intercede with God on their behalf, and besought him— 1. That he would go up with them; 2. That he would pardon them; and 3. That he would once more take them as his inheritance (Exodus 34:9). Without replying separately to these requests, God formally renews the covenant; promises not only to go up with the people, but to work miracles for them (Exodus 34:10), and to d

THOU SHALT MAKE THEE NO MOLTEN GODS. Made of a melted liquid, whether gold, or silver, or brass, poured into a mould; and though graven images are not mentioned, they are included, a part being put for the whole, as appears not only from the injunction to break images in general, whether graven or molten, Exodus 34:13 but from the second command, which expressly forbids the making and worshipping of them; but "molten" ones are particularly mentioned, because it is probable they were chiefly such the Canaanites worshipped, and especially, because the calf the Israelites had lately made and worshipped was a molten one....

CHAPTER 34 THE RESULT: THE SECOND COVENANT AND THE GLORY _ 1. The command to hew two tables of stone (Exodus 34:1)_ 2. The proclamation of Jehovah (Exodus 34:5) 3. Moses' worship and prayer (Exodus 34:8) 4. The covenant restated (Exodus 34:10) 5. The second tables written (Exodus 34:27) 6. The glory upon the face of Moses (Exodus 34:29) The command is given to Moses to hew two tables of stone like the first, which Jeho

EXODUS 34:1 J. THE COVENANT WORDS. After removing Exodus 34:5, the sublime account of the revelation of Yahweh's nature as mercy and truth in their unity, which follows on Exodus 33:23, the remainder is the sequel of J's account of the descent upon Sinai in Exodus 19, and the clauses (Exodus 34:1; Exodus 34:3) referring to the first (tables) are glosses of the editor who displaced this section (_cf._ p. 183). And it may be that originally, as in Deuteronomy 10:1

The (re-)establishment of the covenant, with the laws upon which it is based. The passage belongs in the main to E; but it has probably been enlarged in parts with hortatory additions by the compiler. We have met with some such additions before, in Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33; and they are found elsewhere also in connexion with laws, as in Leviticus 18:1-5; Leviticus 18:24-29; Leviticus 20:22-24 (H), and Deuteronomy 12-26 _passim_....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 34 And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest. (2) And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Si-nai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. (3) And no man shall come up with thee; neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. (4) And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Mo-ses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Si-nai, as Je-ho-vah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone. (5) And Je-ho-vah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Je-ho-vah. (6) And Je-ho-vah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Je-ho-vah, Je-ho-vah, a God merciful...