Daily Devotion – March 9, 2022 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Exodus 34:29-35
34:29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
34:30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.
34:31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.
34:32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
34:33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face;
34:34 but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,
34:35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Moses talks often with God in the days of the great wandering in the wilderness. And this story is about what the Israelites see in Moses every time he speaks with God.
Apparently being in the presence of the Almighty and talking with God gives you a shining brightness – it transforms your body so that it glows. This glow was so startling to Aaron and the rest of the Israelites that they were afraid to go near Moses at these times. So Moses began wearing a veil after meeting with God, so that he could communicate everything God wanted the Israelites to know without frightening them by his shining.
The earliest church art showed Jesus and his disciples and the saints with a shining glow. Iconographers would have placed gold leaf completely around the bodies of these holy people, to depict that shining quality they must have had. But gold was expensive, so eventually they settled for a golden ring around the head or face, a convention which became the halo. Angels spend time in the presence of God, so angels have haloes, too. One day we all will have such a glow about us.
Perhaps the closest thing we have here on earth to this shining or glowing is when we notice a friend come in after seeing the person he or she loves – we say, “Oh, you must just have been with ____! You are simply glowing!†Love does that. And God is love, and God’s love transfers in a visible way, even to human beings.
Think about radiating love, that glow of deep caring and compassion. And especially when we are tempted to lash out in sarcasm or anger, we might dwell for a second in God’s presence and see if we can calm ourselves and pick up a little of that glow to share with the person we have been tempted to lash out at. We will do less harm and more good by sharing compassion and a shining glow.
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us this story of Moses and his transformation by God into a glowing, shining person. Help this image to inspire us to spend more time with you and more time shining out to those you place in our path each day. Amen.
