Exodus 34:29-30

2 Corinthians 3:7

Verse 7. But if the ministration of death. In the previous verses, Paul had referred incidentally to the institutions of Moses, and to the superiority of the gospel. He had said that the former were engraven on stones, but the latter on the heart, (2Cor 3:3;) that the letter of the former tended to death, but the latter to life, (2Cor 3:6.) This sentiment he proceeds further to illustrate, by showing in what the superior glory of the gospel consisted. The design of the whole is to illustrate the nature and to show the importance of the ministerial office, and the manner in which the duties of that office were to be performed. That the phrase "ministration of death" refers to the Mosaic institutions, the connexion sufficiently indicates, 2Cor 3:13-15. The word "ministration" (διακονια) means, properly, ministry; the office of ministering in Divine things. It is usually applied to the officers of the church in the New Testament, Acts 1:17,25, Rom 11:13, 1Cor 12:5. The word here, however, seems to refer to the whole arrangement, under the Mosaic economy, by which his laws were promulgated and perpetuated. The expression, "ministrations-- written and engraven on stone," is somewhat harsh; but the sense evidently is, the ministration of a covenant, or of laws, written on stones, The word "ministration'" there refers to the arrangement, office, etc., by which the knowledge of these laws was maintained; the ministering under a system like that of the Jewish; or, more strictly, the act and occasion on which Moses himself ministered, or promulgated that System to the Jews, and when the glory of the work was irradiated even from his countenance. And the purpose of the apostle is to show that the ministry of the gospel is more glorious than even the ministry of Moses, when he was admitted near to God on the holy mount; and when such a glory attended his receiving and promulgating the law. It is called the "ministration of death,"' because it tended to condemnation; it did not speak of pardon; it was fitted only to deepen the sense of sin, and to produce alarm and dread. 2Cor 3:6.

Written and engraven in stones. The ten commandments--the substance of all the Mosaic institutes, and the principal laws of his economy-- were written, or engraven, on tables of stone.

Was glorious. Was attended with magnificence and splendour. The glory here referred to consisted in the circumstance of sublimity and grandeur in which the law of Moses was given. It was

(1.) the glory of God, as he was manifested on Mount Sinai, as the Lawgiver and Ruler of the people.

(2.) The glory of the attending circumstances, of thunder, fire, etc., in which God appeared. The law was given in these circumstances. Its giving--called here the "ministration"--was amidst such displays of the glory of God. It was

(3.) a high honour and glory for Moses to be permitted to approach so near to God; to commune with him; and to receive at his hand the law for his people, and for the world. These were circumstances of imposing majesty and grandeur, which, however, Paul says were eclipsed and surpassed by the ministry of the gospel.

So that the children of Israel, etc. In Ex 34:29,30, it is said, that "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. 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." The word rendered "stedfastly behold" (ατενισαι) means, to gaze intently upon; to look steadily, or constantly, or fixedly. Acts 1:10. There was a dazzling splendour, an irradiation; a diffusion of light, such that they could not look intently and steadily upon it--as we cannot look steadily at the sun. How this was produced is not known. It cannot be accounted for from natural causes; and was doubtless designed to be to the Israelites an attestation that Moses had been with God, and was commissioned by him. They would see

(1.) that it was unnatural, such as no known cause could produce; and,

(2.) not improbably, they would recognise a resemblance to the manner in which God usually appeared--the glory of the Shechinah in which he so frequently manifested himself to them. It would be to them, therefore, a demonstration that Moses had been with God.

Which glory was to be done away. The splendour of that scene was transitory. It did not last. It was soon destroyed, (τηνκαταργουμενην). It was not adapted or designed long to continue. This does not mean, as Doddridge supposes, "soon to be abolished in death;" or, as others, "ceasing with youth;" but it means, that the shining or the splendour was transitory; it was soon to cease; it was not designed to be permanent. Neither the wonderful scenes accompanying the giving of the law on Sinai, nor the shining on the countenance of Moses, was designed to abide. The thunders of Sinai would cease to roll; the lightnings to play; the visible manifestations of the presence of God would all be gone; and the supernatural illumination of the face of Moses also would soon cease-- perhaps as Macknight, Bloomfield, and others suppose, as a prefiguration of the abrogation of the glory of the whole system of the Levitical law. Paul certainly means to say, that the glory of Moses, and of his dispensation, was a fading glory; but that the glory of the gospel would be permanent, and increasing for ever.

(*) "children of Israel" "Israelites" (a) "for the glory" Ex 34:1,29-35

2 Corinthians 3:13

Verse 13. And not as Moses. Our conduct is not like that of Moses. We make no attempt to conceal anything in regard to the nature, design, and duration of the gospel. We leave nothing designedly in mystery.

Which put a vail over his face. That is, when he came down from Mount Sinai, and when his face shone: Ex 34:33, "And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face." This vail he put off when he went to speak with God, but put on again when he delivered his commands to the people. What was the design of this, Moses has not himself declared. The statement which he makes in Exodus would lead us to suppose that it was on account of the exceeding brightness and dazzling splendour which shone around him, and which made it difficult to look intently upon him; and that this was in part the reason, even Paul himself seems to intimate in 2Cor 3:7. He, however, in this verse intimates that there was another design, which was that he might be, as Doddridge expresses it, "a kind of type and figure of his own dispensation."

That the children of Israel. Mr. Locke understands this of the apostles, and supposes that it means, "We do not vail the light so that the obscurity of what we deliver should hinder the children of Israel from seeing in the law, which was to be done away, Christ who is the end of the law." But this interpretation is forced and unnatural. The phrase rendered "that" (προςτο) evidently connects what is affirmed here with the statement about Moses; and shows that the apostle means to say that Moses put the vail on face in order that the children of Israel should not be able to see to the end of his institutions. That Moses had such a design, and that the putting on of the vail was emblematic of the nature of his institutions, Paul here distinctly affirms. No one can prove that this was not his design; and in a land and time when types, and emblems, and allegorical modes of speech were much used, it is highly probable that Moses meant to intimate that the end and full purpose of his institutions were designedly concealed.

Could not stedfastly look. Could not gaze intently upon, (ατενισαι.) 2Cor 3:7. They could not clearly discern it; there was obscurity arising from the fact of the designed concealment. He did not intend that they should clearly see the full purport and design of the institutions which he established.

To the end. ειςτοτελος. Unto the end, purpose, design, or ultimate result of the law which he established. A great many different interpretations have been proposed of this. The meaning seems to me to be this: There was a glory and splendour in that which the institutions of Moses typified, which the children of Israel were not permitted then to behold. There was a splendour and lustre in the face of Moses, which they could not gaze upon, and therefore he put a vail over it to diminish its intense brightness. In like manner there was a glory and splendour in the ultimate design and scope of his institutions, in that to which they referred, which they were not then able, i.e. prepared to look on, and the exceeding brightness of which he of design concealed. This was done by obscure types and figures, that resembled a vail thrown over a dazzling and splendid object. The word "end," then, I suppose, does not refer to termination, or close, but to the design, scope, or purpose of the Mosaic institutions; to that which they were intended to introduce and adumbrate. THAT END was the Messiah, and the glory of his institutions. Rom 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law." And the meaning of Paul, I take to be, is, that there was a splendour and a glory in the gospel which the Mosaic institutions were designed to typify, which was so great that the children of Israel were not fully prepared to see it, and that he designedly threw over that glory, the vail of obscure types and figures; as he threw over his face a vail that partially concealed its splendour. Thus interpreted there is a consistency in the entire passage, and very great beauty. Paul, in the following verses, proceeds to state that the vail to the view of the Jews of his time was not removed; that they still looked to the obscure types and institutions of the Mosaic law, rather than on the glory which they were designed to adumbrate; as if they should choose to look on the vail on the face of Moses, rather than on the splendour which it concealed.

Of that which is abolished. Or rather, to be abolished, (τουκαταργουμενου;) whose nature, design, and intention it was that it should be abolished. It was never designed to be permanent; and Paul speaks of it here as a thing that was known and indisputable that the Mosaic institutions were designed to be abolished.

(*) "children of Israel" "Israelites" (a) "to the end of that" Rom 10:4
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