“And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”
My Notes
What Does Exodus 34:28 Mean?
Moses spends a second forty days on Sinai — replacing the tablets he broke after the golden calf. During those forty days: no food, no water. And God writes the Ten Commandments again on the new tablets. The covenant that was shattered is rewritten. The law that was destroyed is restored.
The detail "he did neither eat bread, nor drink water" is physically impossible without supernatural sustenance. Moses is sustained by God's presence the way manna sustained Israel — direct divine provision replacing natural need. The forty days without food parallel Jesus' forty-day fast in the wilderness.
"He wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments" — the rewriting is God's initiative. The first tablets were God's work (Exodus 31:18). The replacement tablets are Moses' stone but God's writing. The human provides the material. God provides the content. The covenant is restored through partnership: Moses brings the stone. God brings the words.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'broken tablets' in your life need God to rewrite — what covenant or commitment was shattered by failure?
- 2.Does the rewriting (God doesn't give up when the tablets break) encourage you about your own failures?
- 3.What does Moses' forty days without food teach about being sustained by God's presence rather than natural means?
- 4.How does the partnership (you bring the stone, God brings the words) describe your role in restoration?
Devotional
He went back up. For another forty days. Without food. Without water. And God rewrote what was broken.
The first set of tablets were shattered when Moses saw the golden calf. The law that God wrote with His own finger was destroyed at the foot of the mountain by the man who carried it down. The covenant was broken — physically, literally, in Moses' hands.
And God says: bring new tablets. Come back up. I'll write it again. The same words. The same commandments. The same covenant. Rewritten on fresh stone because the old stone was destroyed by human failure.
This is the most powerful image of grace in the Old Testament: the covenant that was shattered by sin is restored by God. The words that were destroyed are rewritten. Not because Israel deserved a second copy. Because God chose to write again.
Forty days without food or water. Moses' body is sustained by the same presence that sustained him the first time. The physical impossibility is sustained by the spiritual reality: God's presence is enough. When you're with God, in God's presence, doing God's work — the natural limitations bend.
The partnership is beautiful: Moses brings the stone. God brings the writing. You bring the raw material. God provides the covenant. You bring the blank slate. He fills it. The rewriting requires both — your willingness to go back up the mountain and God's willingness to write again.
The tablets were broken. The covenant was shattered. And God rewrote it. On fresh stone. With the same words. Because the God who writes covenants doesn't give up when the tablets break.
Bring the stone. He'll do the writing. Again.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And Moses called unto them,.... Who, as it appears by what follows, on sight of him were so terrified, that they did not…
Forty days and forty nights - See Clarke's note on Exo 24:18.
Here is, I. The continuance of Moses in the mount, where he was miraculously sustained, Exo 34:28. He was there in very…
The (re-)establishment of the covenant, with the laws upon which it is based. The passage belongs in the main to E; but…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture