| 34:10 |
This covenant precludes any covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan (34:12).
|
| 34:11-16 |
The Deuteronomic editor here contrasts the covenant with a forbidden covenant with foreign peoples.
|
| 34:11 |
These nations mentioned were the inhabitants of Canaan.
|
| 34:12 |
In fact, Israel did not drive out all previous inhabitants of the land (Judges 3).
|
| 34:13 |
'Sacred pillars / poles' represent the Canaan deities. Asherah is the Canaanite goddess of fertility, the wife of El, the chief god of the Canaanites (Genesis 33:20).
|
| 34:14 |
The 'other god' is always seen as the greatest danger to following YHWH. This is a parallel of the first commandment in Exodus 20:3. Literally it reads, 'the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God'.
|
| 34:15 |
This describes a situation in which an Israelite is invited by pagans to a meal and eats meat that has been sacrificed to a pagan god. cf 1 Corinthians 8.
|
| 34:16 |
Intermarriage always creates syncretism (to combine beliefs or practices from different religions). See also 1 Kings 11:1-8; Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 13:23-27.
|
| 34:17 |
This is a parallel of the 2nd commandment in Exodus 20:4 (also Leviticus 19:4; Deuteronomy 5:8;27:15).
|
| 34:18-26 |
See Exodus 13:12-13 and 23:12,15-19. For the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which includes Passover, see Exodus 12:14-20; Leviticus 23:5-8; Numbers 28:16-25.
'Month of Abib' meaning 'green ears' is the name of the first Canaanite month, falling in spring. The Babylonian name of the first month 'Nisan' was adopted later.
|
| 34:19-20 |
See 13:12-13 and 22:29-30 on redeeming the firstborn. In ancient religions sometimes the first-born male of domesticated animals and even humans were offered in sacrifice to the gods. As Israel had no human sacrifice, lambs were substituted for the children, and the ritual was practised to remember the exodus from Egypt.
|
| 34:20 |
The ass was not considered a suitable sacrifice because it was unclean (Leviticus 11:3). A sheep was sacrificed instead or the ass was killed.
|
| 34:22 |
'Feast of Weeks' or 'Feast of Harvest' (23:16). The harvest of wheat was celebrated in the late spring. It was eventually known as Pentecost and observed 50 days after the Passover. The Feasts of Weeks, Shelter and Passover were the pilgrim festivals for Judaism when males over 12 would go up to Jerusalem to celebrate them.
|
| 34:24 |
'No one should covet your land' - at the three annual festivals all males would be at the sanctuary, leaving the land undefended. Its safety is guaranteed.
|
| 34:25 |
The prohibition of yeast is mentioned in Exodus 23:18. Yeast was forbidden in the 7-day Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrating the beginning of the barley harvest, later adopted to celebrate Passover. The command to eat the whole animal refers to Exodus 12:10.
|
| 34:26 |
For the commands of the 'first corn' and 'young sheep' see Exodus 22:29; 23:19; Deuteronomy 14:21; 26:2.
|
| 34:27-28 |
Moses himself writes upon the tablets, despite the suggestion elsewhere that YHWH himself does.
|
| 34:27 |
It is emphasised that God made the covenant with Moses. Only indirectly is the covenant with Israel, as it is Moses who is the mediator.
|
| 34:28 |
'Forty days and nights' - numbers in the Bible can have a symbol significance. 'Forty' is often used as a round number to indicate a long time rather than a precise duration. This event is mentioned also in Exodus 24:18. In Deuteronomy, Moses spends two periods of this length on the mountain (Deuteronomy 9:18; 10:10).
|
