Exodus 34:28 ¶ And he was
there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor
drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten
commandments. 29 And it came to pass,
when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’
hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of
his face shone while he talked with him. 30
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the
skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all
the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
32 And afterward all the children of
Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken
with him in mount Sinai. 33 And till
Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to
speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and
spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of
Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face
again, until he went in to speak with him.
Forty days is a significant time of testing in the Bible that
something should be confirmed and something should be accomplished.
Genesis
starts it.
Genesis 7:4 For yet seven
days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights;
and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of
the earth.
Here
with Moses and then later with Elijah.
1Kings 19:8 And he arose,
and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and
forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
Nineveh,
the capital of Assyria, was given that time to repent of its sins.
Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began
to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Christ
endured Satan’s attempt to thwart His mission.
Mark 1:13 And he was there
in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts;
and the angels ministered unto him.
Luke 4:2 Being forty days
tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were
ended, he afterward hungered.
Then,
after His resurrection regarding the time He spent with His followers.
Acts 1:3 To whom also he
shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of
them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
As a time of testing or something to come about we can see how the
narrative of the Bible defines importance in a way we might not. Forty years is
also important. For instance, notice in the account of David’s reign that there
is forty years between his slaughter of the Geshurites, when Saul was king, and
his son, Absalom’s, rebellion after spending time with his mother’s family, the
Geshurites. First, the attack.
1Samuel 27:8 ¶ And David
and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the
Amalekites: for those nations were
of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land
of Egypt. 9 And David smote the land,
and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen,
and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to
Achish.
Then,
the statement that David took a wife from them, the mother of Absalom
2Samuel 3:3 And his second,
Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the
son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
2Samuel 13:37 But Absalom
fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day.
38 So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur,
and was there three years.
Then the rebellion that broke David’s heart, forty years
thereabouts after the slaughter of the Geshurites.
2Samuel 15:7 ¶ And it came to pass after forty years,
that Absalom said unto the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I
have vowed unto the LORD, in Hebron. 8
For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If
the LORD shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.
9 And the king said unto him, Go in
peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10
But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As
soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth
in Hebron. 11 And with Absalom went two
hundred men out of Jerusalem, that
were called; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any
thing. 12 And Absalom sent for
Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered
sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually
with Absalom.
David’s sins against the Lord in the matter of Bathsheba were
forgiven eternally but one of the temporal consequences of the sin, which we
forgiven people usually must face, was that David’s past would be used as a cause
for temporal judgment. God used Absalom to judge David. Forty is a very
significant number in the Bible.
Now, back to the text. Moses did not know that his skin glowed
when he came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Wist not is used several times, not only
in the Old Testament but in the New.
Exodus 16:15 And when the
children of Israel saw it, they
said one to another, It is
manna: for they wist not what it was.
And Moses said unto them, This is
the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
Mark 9:6 For he wist not
what to say; for they were sore afraid.
Remember
Jesus’ appearance at the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matthew 17:2 And was
transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment
was white as the light.
One application here is that the glory of God is revealed by God
and by those whom He has indwelt. People should see a life and a confidence in
God that reveals that God has directly touched them. Others would not help but
affected as the children of Israel were by Moses.
Moses had to put a vail on his face when he spoke to the
Israelites because God’s glory made them afraid.
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