<b>And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai … Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams (Exod. 34:29).</b> Why did Moses merit the beams of glory? Our sages of blessed memory said: Because of the incident at the rock, as it is said: <i>And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by</i> (Exod. 33:22). The Holy One placed His Hand upon him, and because of that he merited the beams of glory. For so it says: <i>Rays hath He at his side; and there is the hiding of His power</i> (Hab. 3:4).
There are others who say that at the time the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Torah, sparks emanated from the countenance of the Shekhinah, and he received the beams of glory from them. R. Samuel the son of Nahman said: The tablets were six handbreadths long and three handbreadths thick, and Moses held them by two of the handbreadths, and the Holy One, blessed be He, held them by two, and Moses obtained the beams of glory from the two handbreadths in the middle.
R. Samuel said: After Moses wrote the Torah, a little ink was left in the pen, and when he passed it before his head, the beams of glory were formed upon him, as it is said: <i>And Moses knew not that the skin of his face sent forth beams</i>. All the glory he obtained was a reward (for what he had done), but You placed the beams, as it is said: <i>Rays hath He at His side; and there is the hiding of His power</i>. The righteous receive their reward in the world-to-come, but he received his reward at that time, as is said: <i>Behold, the Lord will come as a Mighty One, and His arm will rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him</i> (Isa. 40:10).