Exodus 34:1 And the LORD said to Moses, Hew you two tables of stone like to the first… I. THAT THE MORAL LAW IS PERPETUALLY BINDING. Having been broken, it must be renewed. II. THAT THE RENEWAL OF THE MORAL LAW WHEN BROKEN ENTAILS DUTIES UNKNOWN BEFORE. "Hew thee two tables of stone"; "and he hewed two tables of stone." This fact is very typical and suggestive. 1. In the first inscription of the moral law upon man's heart, the preparation and the writing were exclusively the work of God. When our first parents awoke to consciousness, the "fleshy tables" were found covered with the "oracles of God." 2. When those tables were defaced and those oracles transgressed, the work of preparation fell largely upon man. Ever afterwards man had to prepare himself by acts of penitence and faith — not excluding Divine help, of course — but nevertheless those acts are acts of man. 3. But this renewal of the Divine law is accomplished in such a way as to deprive man of all ground of glorying, and so as to ascribe all the glory to God. The tables were of plain stone, all their embellishments were by the Divine hand. III. THAT WHEN THE MORAL LAW IS BROKEN, GOD GRACIOUSLY OFFERS TO RENEW IT UPON MAN'S COMPLIANCE WITH THE REVEALED CONDITION. So when man by repentance and faith "puts off the old man and puts on the new," he is renewed in the image of Him that created him, on which the moral law is inscribed (Colossians 3:9-16). IV. THAT THESE CONDITIONS SHOULD BE COMPLIED WITH — 1. Speedily. "Early in the morning." 2. Personally. This great work is a transaction between God and the individual particularly concerned. 3. Patiently. Moses waited again forty days and forty nights. (1) Do not hurry the work over. What is being done is being done for eternity. (2) Don't despond if the work is not progressing as rapidly as you might wish. If God is writing on your heart, let that be your comfort, and let God use His own time. Learn — 1. The value of the moral law. 2. The importance of having that law not only on stone or paper, but in the heart. 3. The necessity of a public and practical exhibition and interpretation of that law in the life. (J. V. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. |
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