John Gill Commentary Exodus 34

And the Lord said unto Moses
Out of the cloudy pillar, at the door of the tabernacle, where he had been conversing with him in the most friendly manner, as related in the preceding chapter:

hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first ;
of the same form, and of the same dimensions, and it may be of the same sort of stone, which perhaps was marble, there being great plenty of that kind on Mount Sinai. Now Moses being ordered to hew these tables, whereas the former were the work of God himself, as well as the writing, shows that the law was to be the ministration of Moses, and be ordained in the hand of him as a mediator, who had been praying and interceding for the people; and as a token of the reconciliation made, the tables were to be renewed, yet with some difference, that there might be some remembrance of their crime, and of their loss by it, not having the law on tables of stone, which were the work of God, but which were the work of man:

and I will write upon [these] tables the words that were in the
first tables which thou brakest ;
the writing of these was by the Lord himself, as the former, shows that the law itself was of God, though the tables were hewn by Moses, and that he would have it known and observed as such; and the same being written on these tables, as on the former, shows the unchangeableness of the law of God, as given to the people of Israel, that he would have nothing added to it, or taken from it; and the writing of it over again may have respect to the reinscribing it on the hearts of his people in regeneration, according to the tenor of the new covenant:

The phrase, "which thou brakest", is not used as expressing any displeasure at Moses for that act of his, but to describe the former tables; and the breaking of them might not be the effect of passion, at least of any criminal passion, but of zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of his law, which was broken by the Israelites, and therefore unworthy of it; and might be according to the counsel of the divine will, and the secret direction of his providence.

And be ready in the morning
This was, according to the Jewish chronology ^F5 , on the twenty eighth day of the month Ab or July:

and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai ;
the same mount where he had been before:

and present yourself there to me on the top of the mount ;
where the pillar of cloud removed and stood, and near it Moses was to stand and wait to hear what would be said unto him, and to see what would be made to pass before him.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 6. p. 19.

And no man shall come up with you
Before, Aaron and his two sons, and the seventy elders of Israel, went up with Moses, though they did not go so near the Lord as he did; but now having sinned in the matter of the golden calf, though a reconciliation was made, they were not allowed to go with him, nor even Joshua his servant, though he had no concern in the sin; Moses must be alone, that the ministration of the law might be by him only, and in order to receive a peculiar favour in answer to his request:

neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount ;
in any part of it, as Joshua was before in some part of it, even all the while that Moses was there; but now not a single person must be seen anywhere, not only because of the giving of the law to Moses, but because of the display of the divine glory, which was to be made particularly to him:

neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount ;
or over against it, or rather "near" it ^F6 ; which was ordered, not so much on the account of the flocks themselves, who were not capable of any moral guilt; nor that they might not come to any hurt, since they were to be stoned or thrust through with a dart if they touched it, which order it is highly probable was in force as before; but on the account of their keepers, that there might be none of them on the spot, or near, to observe what passed; and chiefly this was said to command fear and reverence in the minds of the people, while this solemn affair was transacting between God and Moses, and to check all curiosity in them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: (awhh rhh lwm la) (plhsion tou orouv) , Sept. "prope montem illum", Noldius, p. 80.

And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first
Which may be an emblem of the ministry of men, which God makes use of in hewing of his people, and bringing them to a sense of their sins, the breach of his law, and repentance for them, (Hosea 6:5) :

and Moses rose up early in the morning :
which, according to the Jews ^F7, was the twenty ninth of Ab or July, which showed his ready and cheerful obedience to the divine will, and the quick dispatch he had made in hewing the tables; which whether he did with his own hands only, or made use of others whom he directed, is not very material; though the phrase "hew thee", or "hew unto thee", seems as if he were to do it himself, and not another:

and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him ;
which was the third time of his going there, and every time he continued forty days and forty nights, as Aben Ezra observes, see (Deuteronomy 9:18Deuteronomy 9:25) :

and took in his hand the two tables of stone ;
which could not be very thick and heavy to carry in one hand up a mountain, but must be a sort of marble slab or slate: at this same time an ark was ordered to be made, and was made, to put the tables into, which was a type of Christ, the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness, (Deuteronomy 10:1–5) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 6. p. 19.

And the Lord descended in the cloud
The same with the cloudy pillar, which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before, (Exodus 19:9Exodus 19:16Exodus 19:18) :

and stood with him there ;
not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:

and proclaimed the name of the Lord :
Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,