Exodus 34 - Broken Laws and Horns of Light

Many theories have been put forth as to why the tablets of the Law had to be destroyed and re-made. There is the surface reason, of course, that Moses destroyed the first tablets in a fit of anger over the people's fall into idolatry. But usually the Bible operates on many levels, and it seems a strange case that there had to be a "do over" when it came to God's written Commandments. One theory is that the second tablet wasn't as sacred as the first. The reason for this theory is that in Exodus it appears that God Himself writes the Commands on the first stone, while Moses writes it on the second, thus making the latter imperfect. Since the people blew it concerning the first tablet, they get a lesser version for the second. Another theory is that the breaking of the first Law symbolizes the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Old Law in favor of the New. This does make sense symbolically. God gave Moses a written covenant, a certain way for the people to act, they disobeyed, and so a new covenant had to be made. The exact same thing can be said for the need for Jesus Christ to come and give us the New Law. There is another theory, however, that I had never heard of and which I find the most interesting. It speaks of God's Mercy and how much we are in need of it based on how frequently we break His covenant with us. The first tablets God gives to Moses contain the pure Covenant, written by the finger of God, to provide the people of God a brand new start, a new beginning for a chance to walk with the Lord -- this is our baptism. When we are baptized we are given a Law to follow of which we had before been ignorant. We are new and pure and given a glorious opportunity to walk with the Lord. But, who can remain pure? We are human, thus we are fallen, and we will, at some point or another, break God's covenant by sinning, just as the Israelites broke the Law by worshiping the golden calf. The Law is destroyed, the covenant shattered, just as Moses shattered it upon the ground. What now? Are we forever doomed and cursed to remain barred from God's Law? By the Mercy of God, no! God, in His infinite compassion for us, re-writes the Law and allows us to return into it. The stone tablets are reconstructed, the Law is re-written upon it, and the Covenant is made new again. After we are baptized and we sin, thus damaging our pure souls, God gives us the sacrament of Penance, which allows us to re-purify our souls back to the baptized state. In essence, when we sin we smash the stone commandments upon the ground, and when we confess our sins with true repentance, God re-constructs the stone commandments which we willfully destroyed and lets us try once again to walk with Him. And that is why His Mercy is perfect and infinite.

One last note about Exodus 34. In this chapter we read of Moses's transformation; how he came down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days and forty nights in prayer and fast, conversing with the Lord, with a new appearance. There has been some confusion over the centuries over what exactly this new appearance of Moses looked like. The verse in my translation reads: "And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord" (Exodus 34:29). Some other translations read as follows:

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord." (New International Version)

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn't know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God." (The Message)

"When Moses went down from Mount Sinai carrying the Ten Commandments, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord." (Good News Translation)

It seems clear when looking at other translations that what is meant by this verse is that Moses's face was illuminated somehow ("radiant," "glowed," "shining"). The word "horned" must be then a very literal translation, and it is commonly believed that what is meant is that his face was sending forth rays of light like horns. Whatever the specific translation may be, the fact remains that Moses's conversation with the Lord was so special and so enlightening that it literally transfigured him.