Exod 34:33

“For so long as a man does not attend to the spiritual meaning "a veil lies upon his heart," in consequence of which veil, in other words his duller understanding, the Scripture itself is said or thought to be veiled. This is the explanation of the veil which is said to have covered the face of Moses when he was speaking to the people, that is, when the law is read in public. But if we turn to the Lord, where also the Word of God is and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, the veil will be taken away, and we shall then with unveiled face behold in the holy Scriptures the glory of the Lord.”

“The shadows bring forth the truth, even if they are not at all the truth themselves. Because of this, the divinely inspired Moses placed a veil upon his face and spoke thus to the children of Israel, all but shouting by this act that a person might behold the beauty of the utterances made through him, not in outwardly appearing figures but in meditations hidden within us.”

“ויתן על פניו מסוה AND HE PUT A VEIL ON HIS FACE — Render it (מסוה) as the Targum does: בית אפי, a cover for his face. מסוה is an Aramaic expression (from the root סוי, “to look”). It occurs in the Talmud (Ketubot 62b) “her heart perceived (סּוי), and again in Ketubot 60a “הוה קא מסוה לאפה”, where מסוה is an expression for looking: “he looked into her face”, i. e. he gazed at her. Here, too, מסוה denotes a cloth that was put in front of the face and of the region of the eyes. And out of reverence for the “rays of glory” — that not everybody should feast himself on them — Moses used to put the veil in front of them (the eyes), but took it off during the time when he spoke to Israel, and during the time when the Omnipresent conversed with him until the moment when he was going out and also when he went out he went out without the veil.”

“And having, &c. At first, he spoke uncovered. (Menochius) — The Protestants insert the word till in Italics, to insinuate that Moses spoke with a veil on, as St. Paul mentions; (Haydock) and Calmet would translate, “for Moses had ceased to address the people, and had put a veil upon his face,” as soon as he perceived that they could not bear the blaze of his countenance. This he did out of modesty, that they might not be afraid of coming to speak freely to him, (Jansenius) though it was also mysterious, as St. Paul remarks. For even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart, (2 Corinthians iii. 15,) as it is upon that of heretics, who cannot see the church. (St. Augustine in Psalm xxx.) (Worthington) Bible Text & Cross-references: The tables are renewed: all society with the Chanaanites is forbid: some precepts concerning the first-born, the sabbath, and other feasts. After forty days fast, Moses returneth to the people with the commandments, and his face appearing horned with rays of light, he covereth it, whensoever he speaketh to the people. 1 And after this he said: *Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the former, and I will write upon them the words, which were in the tables, which thou brokest. 2 Be ready in the morning, that thou mayst forthwith go up into Mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand with me upon the top of the mount. 3 Let no man go up with thee, and let not any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the oxen nor the sheep feed over-against it. 4 Then he cut out two tables of stone, such as had been before; and rising very early he went up into the Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying with him the tables. 5 And when the Lord was come down in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord. 6 And when he passed before him, he said: O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true, 7 *Who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sin, **and no man of himself is innocent before thee. ***Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation. 8 And Moses making haste, bowed down prostrate unto the earth, and adoring, 9 Said: If I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, I beseech thee that thou wilt go with us, (for it is a stiff-necked people) and take away our iniquities and sin, and possess us. 10 The Lord answered: *I will make a covenant in the sight of all, I will do signs such as were never seen upon the earth, nor in any nations; that this people, in the midst of whom thou art, may see the terrible work of the Lord which I will do. 11 Observe all things which this day I command thee: I myself will drive out before thy face the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite. 12 Beware thou never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be thy ruin: 13 But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their groves: 14 Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God. 15 *Make no covenant with the men of those countries; lest, when they have committed fornication with their gods, and have adored their idols, some one call thee to eat of the things sacrificed. 16 *Neither shalt thou take of their daughters a wife for thy son, lest after they themselves have committed fornication, they make thy sons also to commit fornication with their gods. 17 Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods. 18 Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month of the new corn: for in the month of the spring time thou camest out from Egypt. 19 *All of the male kind that openeth the womb, shall be mine. Of all beasts, both of oxen and of sheep, it shall be mine. 20 The firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: but if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem: neither shalt thou appear before me empty. 21 Six days shalt thou work, the seventh day thou shalt cease to plough and to reap. 22 *Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks with the first-fruits of the corn of thy wheat harvest, and the feast when the time of the year returneth that all things are laid in. 23 *Three times in the year all thy males shall appear in the sight of the almighty Lord the God of Israel. 24 For when I shall have taken away the nations from thy face, and shall have enlarged thy borders, no man shall lie in wait against thy land when thou shalt go up, and appear in the sight of the Lord thy God thrice in a year. 25 *Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon leaven; neither shall there remain in the morning any thing of the victim of the solemnity of the Phase. 26 The first of the fruits of thy ground thou shalt offer in the house of the Lord thy God. *Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam. 27 And the Lord said to Moses: Write thee these words, by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel. 28 And he was there with the Lord *forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables** the ten words of the covenant. 29 And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord. 30 And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near. 31 And being called by him, they returned, both Aaron and the rulers of the congregation. And after that he spoke to them, 32 And all the children of Israel came to him: and he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord on Mount Sinai. 33 And having done speaking,* he put a veil upon his face. 34 But when he went in to the Lord, and spoke with him, he took it away until he came forth, and then he spoke to the children of Israel all things that had been commanded him. 35 And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them.”

“he put a veil on his face--That veil was with the greatest propriety removed when speaking with the Lord, for every one appears unveiled to the eye of Omniscience; but it was replaced on returning to the people--and this was emblematic of the dark and shadowy character of that dispensation (Co2 3:13-14). Next: Exodus Chapter 35”