Veils - Exodus 34:18-35

34:18-35 - God continues giving Moses a run down of the commandments, but they are all ones that we’ve previously discussed such as the festivals they are to keep, sacrifice of first born animals, keeping the Sabbath day holy, leavening of bread, blood sacrifices, first fruits, etc. TB goes on a lengthy diatribe about the significance of observing the Sabbath day on Saturday instead of Sunday as being more accurate to the scriptures. I personally don’t think it’s that big of a deal, especially when I belong to an organized religion professing modern revelation that observes the Sabbath on Sunday. Additionally, TB talks about observing God’s specified festivals instead of the ones our society celebrates now, and again, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, more like a “celebrate whatever you want, the date or name is not important, but how you live your daily life.”

Moses is up on the mountain for “forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, not drink water.” This is an interesting example of God performing physical miracles, manipulating tangible materials into doing unnatural things. Kind of like raising the dead, walking on water, the loaves and the fishes, refilling the food for the widow on Nain, etc. Just another really cool example.

When the 40 days were over, Moses came down off the mountain with the new covenant tablets and “the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” With his face shining “Moses talked with them… and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.” After giving the people the new commandments, he put a veil on and only took it off when he went in to speak to the Lord. This brings up an interesting point of veils, especially when concerning the temple. I know veiling their faces bothered a lot of women, I didn’t personally care but that doesn’t mean it didn’t bother other people.

Anyway, one time I read an article talking about the significance of putting a veil over someone’s face and it cited this instance with Moses as one of the examples. The article suggested that veiling someone’s face wasn’t in order to protect them from outsiders but instead to protect outsiders from them. The article suggested that those who veiled their faces did so because they exuded such power that it was dangerous for others to be exposed to their power at that time. I thought that that was a pretty interesting explanation for the whole process. Another example they used was one where God Himself wore a veil in order to protect the people from the power of his presence. Just something to consider.