Exodus

33.1-23

By the beginning of this chapter, Yahweh has yet to fully relent from His anger in the aftermath of the Israelite's worship of the golden calf. Moses successfully intervened to stay God's Hand from consuming them (32:10), but God is unwilling to abide with the children of Israel even though He reaffirms the covenant (v2). No longer willing to go up in their midst (v3), still to the point of consuming them in His anger (vv3, 5), God tells Moses He is instead sending "an angel" before them (v2). Moses tells the Israelites this, and their grief and remorse is finally apparent. Now, the Israelites decide not to wear the vestiges of their Egyptian captivity, the ornaments (jewelry) that had been the objects of their own self-worship (v4). God's response reads confusingly in the English translation (v5), but the meaning is that of a command for them to "put off your ornaments from you (forever) so that I may know what I shall do with you." Just as with the response Aaron failed to anticipate from the Israelites when he hoped they would not want to give up their jewelry to make the golden idol (32:2), the people demonstrated that their desire for God was greater than their attachment to gold. "So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward" (v6). The reverence paid to Yahweh from this point is more evident as the people stand at the entrances of their tent whenever Moses goes to meet with Yahweh (v10). Because of the intimacy of his relationship with God (v11), Moses persists in his petition to retain God's presence with the people as they continue into Canaan. From verses 12-17, Moses accurately declares to God "His" mind in petitioning for God to abide with His people, ultimately achieving one of the most tremendous affirmations in all of Scripture, "you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name." (v17). Today we still speak to God as Moses did in the closing verses of this chapter. We desire to see God, yet He has already made Himself seen in the results of His glory having passed by. The contrast between Moses' interaction with God here and Jacob's from Genesis 32 is the physical and the spiritual. In the flesh, we are incapable of seeing God and surviving. Seek Him in His Word and know Him by the power of His Spirit that resides in you. He has already shown us the effect of His presence.

CHAPTER 33

Moses and the Tent of Meeting

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go! Go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘To your seed I will give it.’
2 “And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
4 Then the people heard this sad word and went into mourning; and none of them put on his ornaments.
5 So Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would consume you. So now, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’”
6 So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought Yahweh would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.
8 And it happened whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.
9 And it happened whenever Moses entered the tent, that the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and Yahweh would speak with Moses.
10 And all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent. And all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.
11 Thus Yahweh used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, and his attendant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses and the Glory of Yahweh

12 Then Moses said to Yahweh, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’
13 “So now, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. See also, that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.
16 “Indeed, how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
17 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
21 Then Yahweh said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;
22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
23 “Then I will remove My hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”