[CatherineTorpey]

I’ve learned my lesson and typed this out in elsewhere and then cut and pasted 🙂

Our wonderful Jacqui is preaching a sermon called, simply, “Changed.” She is preaching from Exodus 34:29-35

These verses come from the end of chapter 34, but for context, I am planning to have us read all of Exodus chapter 34 for Bible in the Middle.

The book of Exodus tells the story of the departure (“exodus” in Greek) of the Hebrew people from their enslaved state in Egypt. They take the long route to the “Promised Land.” The land had been promised to Abraham, who lived around the year 1800 BCE. The time of the Exodus would have been around the year 1200 BCE.

The scene in Exodus 34 comes after Moses had gone up to the mountain and received the two tablets of the Ten Commandments from Yahweh. When Moses carried the tablets down to the people, he found an unpleasant scene. His brother, Aaron, had allowed the people to worship a god they were familiar with from their time in Egypt, whose image was a calf. He had allowed the people to create a golden calf to worship. Big no-no.

When Moses saw this, feeling rageful and that these “stiff-necked” people did not deserve what Yahweh had written, Moses smashed the tablets.

So, our reading in chapter 34 is when Moses has to go trudge back up the mountain to do it all again. This time, it seems, God says, “You make the tablets yourself, buddy.” Nevertheless, it will be God’s hand which inscribes the words onto the tablets.

Something curious about this passage is that the commandments seem different from those that had been given previously; the ones we know as the Ten Commandments. Many note that this time, having seen the golden calf incident, God was much more focused on correct worship, and emphasizing himself as “jealous” (like a lover, who does not want you messing around — or “whoring” in Robert Alter’s translation with other gods). Some believe that the reason these commandments seem to be different is that there was no need for the Biblical writer to repeat the Ten Commandments — so this is more like God’s commentary, and we are to assume that God wrote the commandments out the same as before. That’s just one possible interpretation of why this differs so from the ones we think of as the real deal, from Chapter 20 in Exodus. (There’s also another version in Deuteronomy 5.)

The verses that Jacqui will preach on explain the glow that Moses had from having been in contact with Yahweh, and the fact that even the reflected glory of God was too much for the people, so that he had to veil himself in front of the people. The word that is translated “glowed” or “radiated” or “shone” is actually a mysterious word — this is the only instance of the word “qaran” attested in ancient Hebrew, and so we have to guess its meaning. Scholars mostly agree that some kind of glow or radiance is the most logical guess, but if you feel like digging into it, this article has some fun with the possible other root words it might have come from.

See you on Zoom!

[CatherineTorpey]

During Bible in the Middle, we discussed the word “qaran” which is what Moses’ face did. It is traditionally rendered “shone,” “radiated,” or other words that indicate some kind of glorious action.

A question came up about the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures available to Jesus and his contemporaries for those Jews who could not understand the Hebrew original. Remember that the original scriptures had been written hundreds of years before Jesus, and wasn’t comprehensible unless you studied it for many years. (In the time of Jesus, the “lawyers,” “scribes,” and “Pharisees” were the ones who had the education to know the scriptures well.)

Marty asked question during BitM whether the word used in the Septuagint to translate “qaran” was the word used by the New Testament writers to describe Jesus’ transfiguration. So I did a little quick study, and the answer is no.

dedoxasmene (“glorified”) is the word used in the Septuagint Ex 34:30
elomthen (“shone”) is the word used in Matthew to describe how Jesus looked at the Transfiguration
heteron (“altered”) is the word used in Luke for the Transfiguration of Jesus’ face
exastraptōn (“became dazzling”) is the word used in Luke for Jesus’ clothing in the Transfiguration
metemorphōthē (“he was transfigured”) is how it’s described in Mark (notice it’s where we get our word “metamorphosis”)
stilbonta (“shining”) is how Mark described Jesus’ clothing in the Transfiguration

Thanks for the question, Marty!

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