NOTES for Exo 34:1-35

Closeness to God transforms everything. Moses spent forty days and nights in communion with God, and during all that time he neither ate nor drank. And he did not grow weak, but on the contrary was filled with some new strength, so much so that his face began to shine with rays because God had spoken with him. Listening to God, he was filled with life (see Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4). Carrying out His will, writing the commandments on the tablets, he received food and drink (see John 4:34). Contemplating the glory of God, he was being transformed into the same image (see 2 Cor. 3:18). "If the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came in such glory that the children of Israel could not look at Moses' face because of the glory of his face, a fading glory, will not the ministry of the Spirit be far more glorious?" (2 Cor. 3:7).

Again and again the words of the first commandment repeat themselves on various tunes in the Bible: God is one, and nobody else should be worshiped. Well let us not stop now on this commandment, let’s look rather the next words: whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

We regard generally with disapproval the manifestation of jealousy. It appears to us as a feeling of possessor, unworthy for modern man. A jealous person doesn’t respect the freedom of the object of jealousy; he closes it {the object} in jealousy, as in prison. So, if it is written here that "jealous" is God's name, which is the expression of a certain aspect of His essence, doesn’t it then portray to us a false God?

Let’s try to disconnect ourselves from our modern “human” associations with the word "jealousy" and understand what the Holy Scriptures is telling us. Firstly, jealousy is never the source of itself; it ensues from a certain "strong" relation, for example - love. Secondly, jealousy is when we are not indifferent in how lives and what does the object of jealousy. Thirdly, jealousy is an attitude, and not an act depriving of liberty. And, if it is so, then all this is really of God - He loves us such, as we are; He isn’t indifferent to how we live and what we make; expressing His opinion about our life and also giving His commandments, He never deprives us of liberty.

The prohibition against boiling a young goat in its mother's milk became the basis for many norms of kashrut in Judaism, in particular those connected with the ban on mixing meat dishes with dairy. Yet the point here is not meat and not milk. This is indicated, among other things, by the very form of the corresponding legal norm: on the one hand, it mentions the need to consecrate the first fruits, and on the other, that same young goat boiled in its mother's milk. At first glance, these are things with no connection to one another.

In reality there is a connection, though it is not so obvious. The point is that, judging by the data that have reached us concerning the religious practice of a number of Near Eastern peoples, including the Jews' closest neighbors, a young goat boiled in goat's milk was a ritual dish, probably connected with the cult of the Great Goddess, patroness of fertility and childbirth, whose cult was widespread throughout the Near East. She was worshiped in the cities of Galilee, in Judea, and in the Samaritan steppe, and she was worshiped long before Abraham migrated to Palestine.

After the Jews conquered the land promised to them by God, the cult of the Great Goddess spread rather widely among them. As is known, paganism flourished luxuriantly among the people of God, provoking the denunciations of the prophets, who saw the greatest threat to Yahwism precisely in "the Astartes and the Baals." But the Great Goddess, that same "Astarte," did not attract the attention of the recent nomads by accident: they wanted to receive support from above and a blessing for their new settled, agricultural life, and it seemed to many that Yahweh would be no help here, since He was the God of the wilderness and the steppe, the God of nomads, not of settled farmers.

And so in the Torah there appear at the same time a ban on participating in the cult of the Great Goddess and a requirement to dedicate the first fruits to God, to that same Yahweh who, as it turns out, will support His people not only in the wilderness and the steppe, but also in the field, in the garden, and in the vineyard. If, of course, the people themselves want this. And if, with their needs, they turn not to "the Astartes and the Baals," but to the God who not only brought them out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness, but also brought them to that land where, of course, He will not leave them without help and support.

The nimbus in today’s religious literature (and not only) became an absolute and unconditional testimony of holiness. Even people unbelievers know perfectly that there is no real saint without nimbus. But what it is really this shining that we saw on the face of Moses, when he came down from the mountain? It is not of course about the physical light. It is about this God's presence, which manifested itself to Moses at Sinai, and which later accompanied the people throughout its history. It was seen at the Reed Sea, on the Tabernacle, and in the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Jerusalem. Such were places specially marked by God. Of course, God can’t in fact be compare neither with ligh, nor with the darkness.

God can If He wants, indicate a place on earth, where we can find Him and where we can meet with Him face to face. And the God of Israel indicated such places with the light or the shining cloud. But they were places indicated by God, as places of meeting with Him. And what could mean this shining on the face of Moses? The fact that God marked him as his servant? Apparently, yes. Because man is neither a stone and nor a tree that God just begins to use him, by putting on him marks. And man can’t be sanctified the way the stone or the tree is sanctified.

In fact, the measure of the sanctification of man indeed depends, first of all, on his trust to God and on his will to obey Him, here everything is defined by the intention of man, and if on the stone or on the tree God's touching just leaves its mark, which remains for ever, then the consequence of God's touching in the human heart becomes the conversion of this person to God. And the more the conversion is deep and coherent, the more the intention connected to it is deeply expressed, more strongly is manifested the sanctification of the convert. And what, if it becomes so deep and constant, how possible is it in general for the fallen man?

Then it is quite possible to wait for something following the example of this shining, which saw the surrounding on the face of Moses. Because then God's presence can dwell on the convert so freely and in a continuous way, as it dwells on objects not having their own will and thus not being able to oppose God. God feels completely free either with objects without soul, with which it does not happen to Him to take them in consideration by their lack of will, either with men, who fully surrender to Him: He has no problems with the will of such people. And places, where God feels free, He marks the same way - shining.