Exodus 34:10

And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) I make a covenant—i.e., “I lay down afresh the terms of the covenant which I am content to make with Israel. I will go with them, and drive out the nations before them (Exodus 34:11), and work miracles on their behalf (Exodus 34:10), and enlarge their borders (Exodus 34:24), and prevent their enemies from desiring their land at the festival seasons (Exodus 34:24); they, on their part, must ‘observe that which I command them this day.’” The “command” given included the moral law, as laid down in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28), and a summary of the chief points contained in the “Book of the Covenant,” which must be regarded as a re-publication and re-authorisation of that book.

Marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth—e.g., the drying up of Jordan (Joshua 3:16-17), the falling down of the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6:20), the destruction of the army of the five kings by hailstones (Joshua 10:11), and the like.

A terrible thing.—Comp. Deuteronomy 10:21; Psalm 106:22; Psalm 145:6. God is “terrible” to the enemies of His people.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 34:10. Behold I make a covenant — When the covenant was broken, it was Israel that broke it; now it comes to be renewed, it is God that makes it; if there be quarrels, we must bear all the blame; if there be peace, God must have all the glory. Before all thy people I will do marvels — Such as the drying up of Jordan, the causing of the sun to stand still. Marvels indeed, for they were without precedent; and they were the terror of their enemies: it is a terrible thing that I will do.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

34:10-17 The Israelites are commanded to destroy every monument of idolatry, however curious or costly; to refuse all alliance, friendship, or marriage with idolaters, and all idolatrous feasts; and they were reminded not with idolaters, and all idolatrous feats; and they were reminded not to repeat the crime of making molten images. Jealously is called the rage of a man, Pr 6:34; but in God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Marvels - Explained in the following verse. Compare 2 Samuel 7:23; Psalm 77:14.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9, 10. he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us—On this proclamation, he, in the overflowing benevolence of s heart, founded an earnest petition for the Divine Presence being continued with the people; and God was pleased to give His favorable answer to Moses' intercession by a renewal of His promise under the form of a covenant, repeating the leading points that formed the conditions of the former national compact.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Behold, I make a covenant, i.e. I do hereby renew my covenant with thy people which they had violated and voided by their sin. But the shortness of the phrase, there being no mention here of any with whom this covenant is made or renewed, and the following words, make it more probable that this covenant is nothing but a solemn promise or engagement that God will do the thing which here follows. And the word covenant is oft used for a mere promise, as Genesis 9:9, &c.; Leviticus 24:8 Numbers 18:19 25:12.

It is a terrible thing that I will do with thee; either,

1. By thy ministry, as that phrase is sometimes used, as 1 Corinthians 15:10. Or,

2. In the midst of thee, i.e. of thy people, as Exodus 34:11, before thee, i.e. before thy people. This I prefer, because the next verse explains this of such things as were not done by Moses’s ministry, nor in his time, but afterwards.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said, behold, I will make a covenant,.... Or renew the covenant before made the people had broke; which on his part was, that he would, as Moses had entreated, forgive the sin of the people, go along with them, and introduce them into the land of Canaan, and drive out the inhabitants of it before them; and, on their part, that they should avoid idolatry, and everything that led unto it, particularly making covenants, and entering into alliances with the idolatrous nations cast out:

before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; both in their passage through the wilderness, and entrance into Canaan's land, and the conquest of that; such as the earth opening its mouth and swallowing alive Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and was a new thing God created; the smiting of the rock at Kadesh, from whence flowed waters abundantly; the healing of such as were bit by fiery serpents through looking at a serpent of brass; Balaam's ass speaking, and reproving the madness of the prophet; the division of the waters of Jordan; the fall of the walls of Jericho at the sound of rams' horns; the sun and moon standing still, until the Lord had avenged himself of his enemies:

and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord; for it should be visible, as the above things were, and plainly appear to be the Lord's doing, and not man's, being above the power of any created being to perform:

for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee; Aben Ezra restrains this to Moses's person, and interprets this of the wonderful shining of the skin of his face, when he came down from the mount, which made the children of Israel afraid to come nigh him; and of his vigorous constitution at the time of his death, when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, contrary to the nature of ancient persons: but it is better to understand it of the ministry of Moses, and of the awful things that God would do by him; or rather of the people of Israel, among whom, and for whose sake, God would do such things as should cause a panic among the nations all around them; particularly what he did for them to Og king of Bashan, and Sihon king of the Amorites, on account of which terror fell, as on the king of Moab, so on the inhabitants of Canaan; see Numbers 21:33 Joshua 2:9.

Geneva Study Bible

And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Jehovah declares His purpose of concluding a covenant with His people, to be confirmed by wonders of a character to convince all of His power and greatness. The wonders meant are such as those narrated in Numbers 11, 16, 20, 21, &c. The verse, however, is hardly an answer to v. 9, whereas Exodus 33:14 would answer it directly: the conjecture (p. 361) that Exodus 33:14-16 should follow here is thus confirmed.

I make] Heb. am making, i.e. am about to make: the partic. after Behold, as Exodus 7:17, Exodus 8:2, Exodus 19:9, and frequently.

marvels] Exodus 3:20, Joshua 3:5, Jdg 6:13, Psalm 78:4; Psalm 78:11, &c.

wrought] lit. created (marg.), of an event—not, as usually, of a material object—requiring superhuman power to produce it: cf. Numbers 16:30 (RVm.), Jeremiah 31:22, Isaiah 45:7; Isaiah 48:7.

with thee] i.e. in dealing with thee: cf. Deuteronomy 1:30; Deuteronomy 10:21 (also with ‘terrible’): in both these passages ‘for’ is lit. with.

10–28. The (re-)establishment of the covenant, with the laws upon which it is based. The passage belongs in the main to E; but it has probably been enlarged in parts with hortatory additions by the compiler. We have met with some such additions before, in Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33; and they are found elsewhere also in connexion with laws, as in Leviticus 18:1-5; Leviticus 18:24-29; Leviticus 20:22-24 (H), and Deuteronomy 12-26 passim.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - I make a covenant - i.e., "I lay down afresh the terms of the covenant between me and Israel." On my part, I will go with them (implied, not expressed), and do miracles for them, and drive out the nations before them (vers. 10, 11), and enlarge their borders, and not allow their land to be invaded at the festival seasons (ver. 24): on their part, they must "observe that which I command them" (ver. 11). Marvels such as have not been done in all the earth. As the drying up of the Jordan (Joshua 3:16, 17); the falling down of the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6:20), the slaughter of the army of the five kings by hailstones (Joshua 10:11), and the like. It is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Terrible, not to Israel, but to Israel's enemies. Compare Deuteronomy 10:21; Psalm 106:22; Psalm 145:6, etc. Exodus 34:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

On this manifestation of mercy, Moses repeated the prayer that Jehovah would go in the midst of Israel. It is true the Lord had already promised that His face should go with them (Exodus 33:14); but as Moses had asked for a sign of the glory of the Lord as a seal to the promise, it was perfectly natural that, when this petition was granted, he should lay hold of the grace that had been revealed to him as it never had been before, and endeavour to give even greater stability to the covenant. To this end he repeated his former intercession on behalf of the nation, at the same time making this confession, "For it is a stiff-necked people; therefore forgive our iniquity and our sin, and make us the inheritance." Moses spoke collectively, including himself in the nation in the presence of God. The reason which he assigned pointed to the deep root of corruption that had broken out in the worship of the golden calf, and was appropriately pleaded as a motive for asking forgiveness, inasmuch as God Himself had assigned the natural corruption of the human race as a reason why He would not destroy it again with a flood (Genesis 8:21). Wrath was mitigated by a regard to the natural condition. - נחל in the Kal, with an accusative of the person, does not mean to lead a person into the inheritance, but to make a person into an inheritance; here, therefore, to make Israel the possession of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 9:26, cf. Zechariah 2:12). Jehovah at once declared (Exodus 34:10) that He would conclude a covenant, i.e., restore the broken covenant, and do marvels before the whole nation, such as had not been done in all the earth or in any nation, and thus by these His works distinguish Israel before all nations as His own property (Exodus 33:16). The nation was to see this, because it would be terrible; terrible, namely, through the overthrow of the powers that resisted the kingdom of God, every one of whom would be laid prostrate and destroyed by the majesty of the Almighty.