Why did Moses have to wear a veil?

Answer

When God began to give the Law to Israel, He did so accompanied by an overwhelming atmospheric display of thunder and lightning, smoke and fire, and the sound of a trumpet on the top of Mt. Sinai. This was to warn the people that He is holy and should not be approached. Anyone who tried to come up the mountain would be killed. (See Exodus 19 and Hebrews 12:18-19:)

When God delivers the Ten Commandments, the people are so frightened that they are afraid to have God speak. They ask that Moses deliver the Law instead (Exodus 20:18-21). So Moses approaches God and receives the Law in Exodus 21–23. He delivers it to the people who are called to affirm their willingness to obey in chapter 24.

In Exodus 25–31, Moses goes up to the mountain and receives the plans for the tabernacle and the tablets of stone on which God had engraved the Ten Commandments. Upon his return to the Israelite camp, Moses finds the Israelites worshiping the golden calf in violation of the Law they had just agreed to keep. In anger, Moses smashes the stone tablets to bits and proceeds to address this sin in the camp (chapter 32.)

After the sin had been dealt with, God invites Moses to come back up the mountain to receive the Law again, engraved on new tablets of stone. Moses goes up the mountain alone and meets with God. There he begs for pardon for the nation. God forgives and renews the covenant with Israel and once again provides a summary form of the Law, the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 34:1-27). Moses spends 40 days and nights with God on the mountain, and during that time, he did not eat or drink (verse 28). It seems that the glory of God sustained him.

After spending an extended amount of time with God, Moses descends the mountain, and his face is radiant with the glory of God “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.”, (Exodus 34:29). The exact appearance of this radiance is unknown, but it was alarming to his brother, Aaron, the high priest, and all the other people. Due to fear of approaching Moses (verse 31), he veiled his face to conceal the glory (verses 33–35). The duration of this phenomenon is unspecified, but presumably, the radiance began to diminish when Moses stopped regularly entering God’s presence. The length of time Moses wore the veil remains a mystery, as it is not mentioned in the later years of his leadership—approximately 38 years.

The account of Moses’ veil in the Old Testament is clear-cut. However, Paul’s reference to the veil in the New Testament has prompted a reexamination of why Moses opted to wear it. Second Corinthians 3:13 states, “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.” This may suggest that Moses covered his face to prevent the Israelites from noticing the fading glory. Isolated reading of this verse could imply that Moses used the veil to give the impression that his face was still radiant, even when it was not. Yet, such an interpretation underscores the risk of isolating verses. When 2 Corinthians 3:13 is considered within Paul’s broader argument, it does not address Moses’ intention behind veiling his face.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul contrasts the glories of the Old and New Covenant.

Paul contrasts the Old and New Covenants, and he concludes that the New Covenant is significantly more glorious.

• The Old Covenant was inscribed on tablets of stone; the New Covenant is inscribed on the heart (verse 3).

• The Old Covenant represents the letter of the Law, while the New Covenant represents the Spirit. The letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life (verse 6).

• The Old Covenant results in condemnation; the New Covenant brings righteousness (verse 9).

• The Old Covenant had a glory that faded; the New Covenant has an enduring glory that far surpasses it to the extent that the Old Covenant seems to have no glory in comparison (verses 10–11).

Second Corinthians 3:12–13 provides another comparison. Ministers of the New Covenant differ from Moses. New Covenant ministers boldly proclaim the unfading glory, whereas Moses wore a veil to shield Israel from a fading glory. Paul is not offering new insights into Moses’ actions. There is no new information in 2 Corinthians 3 regarding the events in Exodus 34. The key point is that the glory of the Old Covenant was temporary; the radiance of Moses’ face was meant to fade, just like the Law he delivered. The focus is on the veil that prevented the Israelites from seeing a temporary glory, not on their inability to perceive that the glory was gradually diminishing, much less on any personal (potentially prideful) motive Moses may have had for concealing the fading. To paraphrase: Unlike Moses, who veiled the temporary glory of the Old Covenant, we boldly proclaim the enduring glory of the New Covenant.

Paul continues by explaining that just as Moses presented the Law to Israel with a veil over his face, even today, when the Law is read, a veil covers the hearts of unbelieving Israelites. Then and now, Israel’s understanding is obscured, and their hearts are hardened. The “veil” prevents them from seeing the true glory of God. The veil is only lifted when they turn to Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Moses wore a veil for the reason explained in Exodus 34—his shining face frightened the Israelites. Paul uses that historical event to compare the ministries of the Old and New Covenants.