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Exodus 34:34 · World English Bible

Exodus 34:34 Meaning But When Moses Went in Before Yahweh

But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

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What does Exodus 34:34 mean?

Coming into the presence, a man lifts the covering from his face and stands bare before the light; going back out, he covers it again for those who could not bear the shine. The temptation is to keep the veil on always, to face even God guarded, holding something back in the one place where nothing should be hidden.

From the Sufism reading below.

Exodus 34:34 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

SUFISM

Sufism

Coming into the presence, a man lifts the covering from his face and stands bare before the light; going back out, he covers it again for those who could not bear the shine. The temptation is to keep the veil on always, to face even God guarded, holding something back in the one place where nothing should be hidden.

The cure is that simple uncovering, meeting God with the whole face and no screen. God is present as the light that both the lifting and the shining come from, met plainly when the heart stops hiding and lets itself be seen.

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Live Exodus 34:34 today

  1. Before you sleep tonight, put the phone face down and say the one thing about your life you would not post, would not text, would not say out loud to anyone. Say it plainly, to God, with no softening.
  2. With one person today, drop the half second of arranging you do before you answer "how are you." Give them the real sentence instead of the smooth one.
  3. When a meeting or a message puts you on the spot and your instinct is to look composed, let the honest thing come out first, even unpolished. The guard costs more than the mistake would.

Where am I still performing for the one person who already sees everything?

The same truth in other traditions

Tao Te Ching 22

The sage does not display himself, and so is seen clearly. What is kept polished for show stays dim; what is left plain gives back the light.

Zen

The teaching about the ordinary face you had before anything happened to you points at what is under every arrangement you make for other people's eyes. It is not earned, only uncovered.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

He told himself to live as though the inside of his mind could be read aloud at any moment. A person who can say everything he thinks has nothing left to hold over his own face.

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