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Exodus 34:11–17
“Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst” (v. 12).
We have been arguing that the events described in Exodus 34 represent a restoration of the covenant enacted before the golden calf incident. This covenant and its enactment are described in Exodus 19–31. Various parallels between Exodus 19–31 and 34 prove that the Israelites were restored to the former covenant after their idolatry. Just as God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets before the golden calf was worshiped, so He wrote the same foundational laws on two new tablets after the worship of the calf (Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 34:1). Furthermore, the Lord pledged to do great things with Israel when the covenant at Sinai was formalized before the people’s idolatry, and God made the same promise after Aaron had made an image for the Israelites to serve (Ex. 19:1–6; 34:10).
Parallels between the regulations in Exodus 19–31 and in chapter 34 indicate that the people were truly restored to the terms of the covenant made before their idolatry. Today’s passage effectively repeats Exodus 23:20–32. God promises to drive out the inhabitants of the promised land, and He warns the Israelites not to make a covenant with the pagan peoples of Canaan (Ex. 34:11–16). The Lord makes plain that Israel will be susceptible to the false religion of the Canaanites, so the people must do everything they can to avoid being ensnared by idolatry. All pagan altars must be torn down, and their “pillars” and “Asherim” have to be destroyed (Ex. 34:13). “Pillars” and “Asherim” refer to all images representing the false deities worshiped in Canaan, but especially the carved wooden statues of Asherah, the goddess of fertility. If the Israelites do not do this, they will be tempted to “whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and . . . eat of his sacrifice” (Ex. 34:15). Here is one of the earliest instances of Scripture’s likening of idolatry to prostitution (see, e.g., Hos. 1:2–3). It is a fit image, for a prostitute is not faithful to one husband, as Israel was supposed to be to God, but rather chases after many different men, as idolaters do by worshiping many gods. The prohibition in Exodus 34:17 of making gods of cast metal basically repeats Exodus 20:23.
In Exodus 34:16, God says that the sons of Israel should not take wives from the daughters of Canaan, forbidding interreligious marriage. Scripture has no problem with people of different ethnicities marrying each other, provided that husband and wife both worship the one true God, but a believer should not marry anyone who is not a Christian (1 Cor. 7:39).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Today’s passage does not warn us to have no dealings with unbelievers. Instead, it tells us not to engage with them in ways wherein we adopt false religion. John Calvin cautions us, “As long as we live among unbelievers, we cannot escape those dealings with them which relate to the ordinary affairs of life; but if we approach nearer, so that a greater intimacy should arise, we open the door as it were to Satan.”
FOR FURTHER STUDY
- Ruth 1:1–18
- Ruth 2:12
- Ruth 3:9–11
- Ruth 4:13
- Nahum 1:2
- 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1