Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
Parallel Translations
-
Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’
I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
-
And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
Show all 3 translations
-
And the LORD spoke unto Moses: 'Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying: Unto thy seed will I give it —
and I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite —
unto a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (46)
- Genesis 12:7 (v1) Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
- Exodus 32:9-10 (v3) Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath…
- Exodus 3:8 (vv2–3) I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a…
- Deuteronomy 9:6-13 (v3) Know therefore that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.…
- Acts 7:51 (v3) “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
Show all 44 cross-references
- Joshua 24:11 (v2) “ ‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the…
- Exodus 32:34 (vv1–2) Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I…
- Exodus 32:13 (v1) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring…
- Exodus 33:15-17 (v3) Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. For how would people know that I have found favor in…
- Jeremiah 11:5 (v3) that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then I…
- Genesis 22:16-18 (v1) and said, “ ‘I have sworn by myself,’ says Yahweh, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I…
- Genesis 26:3 (v1) Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will…
- Exodus 23:20 (v2) “Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
- Exodus 23:27-31 (v2) I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to…
- Exodus 32:7 (v1) Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
- Numbers 16:21 (v3) “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”
- Numbers 16:45 (v3) “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.
- Joshua 5:6 (v3) For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were…
- Ezekiel 33:13-16 (v3) When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds…
- Amos 3:13-14 (v3) “Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies. “For in the day that I visit the transgressions…
- Genesis 13:14-17 (v1) Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and…
- Genesis 15:18 (v1) In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great…
- Genesis 28:13-15 (v1) Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie…
- Exodus 3:17 (v2) I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the…
- Exodus 13:5 (v3) It shall be, when Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite,…
- Exodus 17:3 (v1) The people were thirsty for water there; so the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill…
- Exodus 23:21 (v3) Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.
- Exodus 32:1 (v1) When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him,…
- Exodus 32:14 (v3) So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
- Exodus 34:9 (v3) He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon…
- Exodus 34:11 (v2) Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the…
- Leviticus 20:24 (v3) But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am…
- Numbers 13:27 (v3) They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
- Numbers 14:8 (v3) If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.
- Numbers 14:12 (v3) I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
- Numbers 16:13 (v3) Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also…
- Deuteronomy 7:22 (v2) Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field…
- Deuteronomy 32:26-27 (v3) I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the…
- 1 Samuel 2:30 (v3) “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But…
- Psalms 78:8 (v3) and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was…
- Jeremiah 18:7-10 (v3) At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation,…
- Ezekiel 3:18-19 (v3) When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his…
- Jonah 3:4 (v3) Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
- Jonah 3:10 (v3) God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do…
44 distinct cross-references across this passage (46 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v1 The land of Canaan was compassed with hills: so…
The land of Canaan was compassed with hills: so they that entered into it, must pass up by the hills.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Exo 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart,…
Exo 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, [and] go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
Ver. l. Which thou hast brought.] {See Trapp on "Exo 33:7"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v3 I will not go up in the midst of…
I will not go up in the midst of thee by my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof God removes his tabernacle without the camp, Exo 33:7. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no peculiar and further kindness to thee.
Lest I consume thee in the way; lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So he shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that God even in his judgment remembers mercy to them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. The message which God sent by…
Here is, I. The message which God sent by Moses to the children of Israel, signifying the continuance of the displeasure against them, and the bad terms they yet stood upon with God. This he must let them know for their further mortification. 1. He applies to them a mortifying name, by giving them their just character - a stiff-necked people, Exo 33:3, Exo 33:5. "Go," says God to Moses, "go and tell them that they are so." He that knows them better than they know themselves says so of them. God would have brought them under the yoke of his law, and into the bond of his covenant, but their necks were too stiff to bow to them. God would have cured them of their corrupt and crooked dispositions, and have set them straight; but they were wilful and obstinate, and hated to be reformed, and would not have God to reign over them. Note, God judges of men by the temper of their minds. We know what man does; God knows what he is: we know what proceeds from man; God knows what is in man, and nothing is more displeasing to him than stiff-neckedness, as nothing in children is more offensive to their parents and teachers than stubbornness. 2. He tells them what they deserved, that he should come into the midst of them in a moment, and consume them, Exo 33:5. Had he dealt with them according to their sins, he had taken them away with a swift destruction. Note, Those whom God pardons must be made to know what their sin deserved, and how miserable they would have been if they had been unpardoned, that God's mercy may be the more magnified. 3. He bids them depart and go up hence to the land of Canaan, Exo 33:1. This mount Sinai, where they now were, was the place appointed for the setting up of God's tabernacle and solemn worship among them; this was not yet done, so that in bidding them depart hence God intimates that it should not be done - "Let them go forward as they are;" and so it was very expressive of God's displeasure. 4. He turns them over to Moses, as the people whom he had brought up out of the land of Egypt, and leaves it to him to lead them to Canaan. 5. Though he promises to make good his covenant with Abraham, in giving them Canaan, yet he denies them the extraordinary tokens of his presence, such as they had hitherto been blessed with, and leaves them under the common conduct of Moses their prince, and the common convoy of a guardian angel: "I will send an angel before thee, for thy protector, otherwise the evil angels would soon destroy thee; but I will not go up in the midst of thee, lest I consume thee" (Exo 33:2, Exo 33:3); not as if an angel would be more patient and compassionate than God, but their affronts given to an angel would not be so provoking as those given to the shechinah, or divine Majesty itself. Note, The greater the privileges we enjoy the greater is our danger if we do not improve them and live up to them. 6. He speaks as one that was at a loss what course to take with them. Justice said, "Cut them off, and consume them." Mercy said, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" Hos 11:8. Well, says God, put off thy ornaments, that I may know what to do with thee; that is, "Put thyself into the posture of a penitent, that the dispute may be determined in thy favour, and mercy may rejoice against judgment," Exo 33:5. Note, Calls to repentance are plain indications of mercy designed. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, justice knows what to do with a stiff-necked people: but God has no pleasure in the death of those that die; let them return and repent, and then mercy, which otherwise is at a loss, knows what to do.
II. The people's melancholy reception of this message; it was evil tidings to them to hear that they should not have God's special presence with them, and therefore, 1. They mourned (Exo 33:4), mourned for their sin which had provoked God to withdraw from them, and mourned for this as the sorest punishment of their sin. When 3000 of them were at one time laid dead upon the spot by the Levites' sword, we do not find that they mourned for this (hoping that it would help to expiate the guilt); but when God denied them his favourable presence then they mourned and were in bitterness. Note, Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, that which true penitents most lament, and dread most, is God's departure from them. God had promised that, notwithstanding their sin, he would give them the land flowing with milk and honey. but they could have small joy of that if they had not God's presence with them. Canaan itself would be no pleasant land without that; therefore, if they want that, they mourn. 2. In token of great shame and humiliation, those that were undressed did not put on their ornaments (Exo 33:4), and those that were dressed stripped themselves of their ornaments, by the mount; or, as some read it, at a distance from the mount (Exo 33:6), standing afar off like the publican, Luk 18:13. God bade them lay aside their ornaments (Exo 33:5), and they did so, both to show, in general, their deep mourning, and, in particular, to take a holy revenge upon themselves for giving their ear-rings to make the golden calf of. Those that would part with their ornaments for the maintenance of their sin could do no less than lay aside their ornaments in token of their sorrow and shame for it. When the Lord God calls to weeping and mourning we must comply with the call, and not only fast from pleasant bread (Dan 10:3), but lay aside our ornaments; even those that are decent enough at other times are unseasonably worn on days of humiliation or in times of public calamity, Isa 3:18.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 And the Lord said unto Moses, depart, and go…
And the Lord said unto Moses, depart, and go up hence,.... Not from the place where Moses was, which was the top of the mount, but where the camp of Israel was, at the bottom of the mount; where they had lain encamped some time, but were now ordered to proceed on their journey:
thou, and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt; though his wrath was in some measure mitigated, and he had so far forgave their sin, that he would not cut them off from being a people; yet still he does not call them his people, or own that he brought them out of Egypt, as he does in the preface to the commands they had now broke, as if they were not under his care and conduct; but speaks of them in a different manner, as a people that Moses had brought out from thence, and whom he orders to go on with:
Read full note →
unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed will I give it: meaning the land of Canaan, which as he had promised with an oath to their fathers to give it to them, he would faithfully observe it, though they were unworthy of such a favour.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 In this chapter we have a further account of…
In this chapter we have a further account of the mediation of Moses between God and Israel.
I. He brings a very humbling message from God to them, ver. 1, 2, 3, 5. which has a good effect upon then, ver. 4, 6.
Read full note →
II. He settles a correspondence between God and them; and both God and the people signify their approbation of that correspondence, God by descending in a cloudy pillar, and the people by worshipping at the tent-doors, ver. 7-12.
III. He is earnest with God in prayer, and prevails. (1.) For a promise of his presence with the people, ver. 12-17. (2.) For a sight of his glory for himself, ver. 18-23.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Moses is commanded to depart from the mount, and…
CHAPTER XXXIII
Moses is commanded to depart from the mount, and lead up the
Read full note →
people towards the promised land, 1.
An angel is promised to be their guide, 2.
The land is described, and the Lord refuses to go with them, 3.
The people mourn, and strip themselves of their ornaments, 4-6.
The tabernacle or tent is pitched without the camp, 7.
Moses goes to it to consult the Lord, and the cloudy pillar descends
on it, 8, 9.
The people, standing at their tent doors, witness this, 10.
The Lord speaks familiarly with Moses; he returns to the camp, and
leaves Joshua in the tabernacle, 11.
Moses pleads with God, and desires to know whom he will send to be
their guide, and to be informed of the way of the Lord, 12, 13.
The Lord promises that his presence shall go with them, 14.
Moses pleads that the people may be taken under the Divine
protection, 15, 16.
The Lord promises to do so, 17.
Moses requests to see the Divine glory, 18.
And God promises to make his goodness pass before him, and to
proclaim his name, 19.
Shows that no man can see his glory and live, 20;
but promises to put him in the cleft of a rock, and to cover him
with his hand while his glory passed by, and then to remove his
hand and let him see his back parts, 21-23.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXIII
Verse 1. Unto the land] That is, towards it, or to the borders of it. See Ex 32:34. See Clarke on Ex 32:34.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Exo 33:1. Go up hence, thou and the people…
Exo 33:1. Go up hence, thou and the people — God here seems to disown them, and calls them no more his people, because of their perfidiousness and idolatry.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v2 See Exo 3:8.
See Exo 3:8.
For I will not go up in the midst of thee - The covenant on which the original promise Exo 23:20-23 was based had been broken by the people. Yahweh now therefore declared that though His Angel should go before Moses, He would withhold His own favoring presence. The nation should be put on a level with other nations, to lose its character as the people in special covenant with Yahweh (see the note at Exo 33:16). Thus were the people forcibly warned that His presence could prove a blessing to them only on condition of their keeping their part of the covenant Exo 33:3. If they failed in this, His presence would be to them “a consuming fire” (Deu 4:24; compare Exo 32:10).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 This place. Mount Sinai, (Menochius) or the tabernacle, ver.…
This place. Mount Sinai, (Menochius) or the tabernacle, ver. 7. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Stricter Separation between Jehovah and the People. Removal of…
SECOND SECTION
Stricter Separation between Jehovah and the People. Removal of Moses’ Tent—the Provisional Tabernacle—out of the Camp. The Gracious Token
Read full note →
Exo_33:1-23
A.—appointment of an angel to be israel’s leader, instead of jehovah’s immediate guidance
Exo_33:1-6
1And Jehovah said unto Moses, Depart and go up [Away, go up] hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which [of which] I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: 2And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I consume thee in the way. 4And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put 5on him his ornaments. For Jehovah had said [And Jehovah said] unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee [were I to go up in the midst of thee one moment, I should consume thee]: therefore now pu off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 6And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, by the mount Horeb [from Mount Horeb onward].
b.—removal of moses’ tent, as a sort of traditional tabernacle, before the camp. The theocratic disciplinary chastisement
Exo_33:7-11
7And Moses took the tabernacle [tent], and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting]. And it came to pass, that every one which [who] sought Jehovah went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation [tent of meeting], which was without the camp. 8And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle [tent], that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, untilhe was gone into the tabernacle [tent]. 9And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle [tent], the cloudy pillar [pillar of cloud] descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle [tent], and Jehovah talked with Moses. 10And all the people saw the cloudy pillar [pillar of cloud] stand [standing] at the tabernacle door [door of the tent]: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in [at] his tent 11door. And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle [tent].1
C—jehovah’s determination modified in consequence of moses’ intercession. the people have a share in the grace shown to moses
Exo_33:12-23
12And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom [him whom] thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray thee, if [13Now therefore, if indeed] I have found grace in thy sight, show me now [I pray thee] thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry [take] us not up hence. 16For wherein shall it be known here [whereby now shall it be known] that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be [with us, and that we shall be] separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon 17the face of the earth? And Jehovah said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me [said, Shew me, I pray thee] thy glory. 19And he said, I will make all my goodness [excellence] pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee: and will [I will] be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20And he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shallnoman [forman shall not] see me, and live. 21And Jehovah said, Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a [the] rock: 22And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23And I will take away mine [my] hand, and thou shalt see my back parts [back]: but my face shall not be seen.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
[Exo_33:7-11. We have left the A. V. substantially unchanged out of deference to the uniform translation of the versions and commentators. But the fact ought to be noticed that the verbs in this section are Future verbs throughout. This fact has an important bearing on the exegesis of the passage.
There are three opinions about this tent: (1) That it is Moses’ own tent. (2) That it is some old sacred tent used provisionally as a sanctuary. (3) That it is the real tabernacle, but that the passage is out of place. The latter hypothesis, of course, should be adopted only as a last resort. Against both the others it is to be said: (a) The phrase “the tent” is not easily to be accounted for. If it was Moses’ tent, why not אָהֳלוֹ, “his tent?” If another, nowhere else hinted at, why so indefinite a designation of it? As Rosenmüller pertinently observes, it cannot well be Moses’ own tent, since he is represented as going into it only for the special purpose of communing with God. (b) Even on either of these two hypotheses there is an interruption in the narrative as real, if not as strange, as on the theory that we have here an account of what was done with the real tabernacle before it was built. Exo_33:12 is clearly a resumption of Exo_33:3—Moses’ intercession with Jehovah. That Exo_33:7-11 should here intervene, not by way of an announcement on Jehovah’s part of His purpose, but as a historical account of the ordinary subsequent fact, is extremely unnatural, especially as at the close of it, the same tone of entreaty and personal intercourse is resumed. (c) It seems improbable that anything but the real Tent of meeting should have been called such before the real one was built. (d) The fact that the verbs in this section are future furnishes a natural solution of the whole difficulty. So far as I have observed, no one has noticed this fact at all except Knobel and Böttcher (Lehrbuch der Heb. Sprache, II., p. 162). Knobel simply refers to the case in Exo_15:5 as a parallel. But there, he says correctly, the future is used as a graphic form for the Present. This is an explanation not satisfactory here, where there is no poetry, and where the very uniformity and frequency of the Future verbs are sufficient to overthrow any such theory. Böttcher more plausibly classes this among the instances in which customary past actions are described by the use of the Future. But even on this assumption we get no relief from the various perplexities above described.
Now by simply translating the Futures as Futures we at once see light. We thus make it a continuation of Exo_33:5 (Exo_33:6 being parenthetical). The reasons for so translating are simple and cogent: (1) It is the most natural and obvious way to render the verbs. The burden of proof rests with those who render them otherwise. (2) It relieves us of the necessity of supposing that the section is out of place. (3) It relieves us of the necessity of drawing on our imagination for “the tent” so mysteriously introduced. It is neither “his (Moses’) tent,” nor some unheard-of old tent with sacred associations, but simply “the tent” which has been so minutely described and which is soon to be built. (4) The section thus translated is in excellent ha mony with the context. In Exo_33:5 God says to the people, “Put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” What follows in Exo_33:7-11 is a description of what God will do unto them. It contains a general direction concerning the way in which God is to lead the people. This is the question considered in Exo_32:34 to Exo_33:3. In what now follows (Exo_33:12 sqq.) the same theme is still discussed. Moses’ language, “See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people,” obviously points back to Exo_33:1-3. What intervenes is only an expansion of the statement of Exo_33:3, “I will not go up in the midst of thee.” The antithesis is between going in the midst of, and going far off from. According to Exo_33:7 the tent was to be pitched “afar off from the camp;” there Jehovah might be sought and found: and there (Exo_33:9) Jehovah talked with Moses. We thus see that the angel spoken of in Exo_32:34 and Exo_33:2 is not set over against Jehovah as a substitute for Him: the angel himself is not to go “in the midst of,” but “before” the people.
It remains to notice some objections: (1) Joshua was to remain in the tent, whereas, according to Num_3:10; Num_3:38; Num_18:7, only the priests besides Moses could enter it.—But to this it may be replied that, if Joshua, as Moses, confidential servant, could go with him to the mountain top when the law was to be given, he might accompany him into the sanctuary; and this fact would need no special mention in the passages just referred to.—(2) The object of this tent seems to be different from that of the sanctuary; no mention is made of Aaron and the sacrifices, but only of Moses and the people going to it to meet with God.—But this is all that it is necessary or proper to mention in this connection. And the same thing is also said of the real Tent of meeting; e. g., Exo_25:22, “There [by the mercy-seat] I will meet, with thee [Moses”]; Exo_29:43, “And there [at the tabernacle] I will meet with the children of Israel.”—(3) These verses do not seem to be the language of Jehovah, being immediately preceded by the historical statement (Exo_33:6), “the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments.”—This difficulty is easily removed by regarding Exo_33:6 as parenthetical, thus making Exo_33:7 sqq. a continuation of the directions begun in Exo_33:5. Examples of such a construction, in which a historical statement immediately connected with the topic treated of is interpolated in the midst of language quoted from another, are abundant. An exact parallel is found in Exo_4:4-5, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. (And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:) That they may believe that the Lord hath..… appeared unto thee.” Precisely so, Exo_4:7-8; Mat_9:6; Mar_2:10; Luk_5:24. In the passage before us the statement of Exo_33:6 is naturally introduced in immediate connection with the corresponding command of Exo_33:5.—(4) The preceding objection seems to be strengthened by the consideration, that if Exo_33:7-11 are the words of Jehovah it is unnatural that both Jehovah and Moses should be spoken of here in the third person.—But such changes of person are too numerous in Hebrew to occasion any serious perplexity. In Exo_33:5 itself we have an instance of a looseness of this sort. We read: “Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: were I [i. e., Moses is to say to the people, ‘were I’] to go up in the midst of thee,” etc. The prophetical writings are full of similar instances of interchange of persons. In Exodus 34, as frequently elsewhere, we have also instances of Jehovah speaking of Himself in the third person, vid. Exo_33:10; Exo_33:14, Exo_33:23.—(5). The real tabernacle was not in fact set up at a distance from the camp, but in the centre of it, according to Num_2:2 sqq. But if we assume, as we must, that the sternness of Jehovah’s regulations was relaxed in consequence of Moses’ importunate petition in Exo_33:12 sqq., there is no difficulty in the case.—Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This is one of the most mysterious chapters in all the three books of the covenant. It characterizes the Mosaic Middle Ages in the Old Testament as essentially a theocratic conflict of the pure law with the guilt incurred by the people through their idolatry. The people are pardoned; but their pardon is hierarchically conditioned. The first limitation consists in the fact that Jehovah will not go in the midst of the people to Canaan, because in that case they would expose themselves to condemnation through their transgressions; but that He will go before them by sending, or in the form of, an angel. The second limitation consists in the fact that Moses removes the provisional tabernacle out of the camp, by which act even the camp of the people of God, as being a place needing purification, is distinguished from the sanctuary. The third limitation consists in the fact that Moses himself, needing on account of his vocation a more distinct revelation, is to behold, in the angel, the face of Jehovah—the gracious form in which Jehovah reveals Himself; yet only in such a way that he is to see the glory of Jehovah in this apocalyptic form not in a front view, as the face of the face, but from behind, i.e., in the after-splendor of the sudden phenomenal effects produced by Jehovah, and rapidly passing by the prophet’s covered eyes. The first of these limitations marks the veiled revelation; the second, the increased difficulty of holding communion with God; the third, the fact that the knowledge of sacred things is removed from the sphere of intuition,—is to be not so much an original perception as a matter of practical experience.—In his hunt for contradictions Knobel imagines that he has discovered several contradictions in this chapter.—“According to the Elohist,” he says, “Jehovah was going to dwell in the midst of Israel in the tabernacle; otherwise this account.” According to the Elohist, he says again, the tabernacle was made from contributions; whereas here the ornaments delivered up were used in building the tabernacle (!). Here, then, the real tabernacle is implied to be in existence before the time when it was afterwards built. According to the Elohist only the priests, besides Moses, could enter the tabernacle; here Joshua is represented as dwelling in it, etc.
a. Appointment of the Angel. Exo_33:1-6
Exo_33:1. Away, go up.—Since the tables of the law were broken, and the tabernacle was not yet built (for the erection of it presupposed the existence of the new tables), the pardon of the people appears again in this command as a very limited one. God still says, “Thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt,” etc. (as in Exo_32:7). And because Jehovah is still determined to keep His word and to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s seed, He will also help them to conquer it. He will send an angel of terror before the marching host to drive out the Canaanites, so that they shall come into the land that flows with milk and honey (vid. iii. 8). But it is not said that this angel is to be the angel of Jehovah in the most special sense of that term, the angel of His presence, or of the covenant (the one in whom Jehovah’s name is, according to Exo_23:21); for the revelation of God has veiled itself again. The people obtain primarily only life, the advantage over the Canaanites, and the promise of the land of Canaan “flowing with milk and honey,” to shame them for their ingratitude. On the other hand Jehovah declares, “I will not go up in the midst of thee,” etc. This, too, like the promise of the angel, is an obscure utterance. At all events, it implies the temporary suspension of legislation and of the building of the tabernacle. But after the people repent, the form of the angel becomes richer in significance, and access to the tabernacle is refused to the people only as a common matter. The reason assigned is, that the people in their stiff-neckedness cannot endure the immediate presence of Jehovah without incurring a sentence of destruction through their continual transgressions. This announcement of the obscuration of revelation—of the curtailment of the promise—falls on the people as a heavy infliction. Therein is recognized Israel’s religious temperament, as also in the first symbolic expression of the common repentance of the people, Exo_33:4. How many heathen nations would have rejoiced, if God had declared that He would not dwell in the midst of them! This recognition of the fact that the people are in mourning and do not put on their ornaments as at other times, is not followed (in Exo_33:5), as Keil conceives, by another threat from Jehovah. It is nearly the same language as that in Exo_33:3, but yet is now used to give comfort. It would be the destruction of them, if He should go with them in the fullness of His revealed glory, in full fellowship, because this is simply beyond their capacity, because they are born and grown up as a stiff-necked people. Here is found a key to the understanding of the Catholic Middle Ages, and of the parables of our Lord in Matthew 13. How many a pietistic Christian, in consequence of an excess of religious fellowship and edification, in connection with a coarse nature, has fallen !—Nevertheless Jehovah gives them hope by turning into a precept their repentant act of laying off their ornaments. So then the children of Israel strip themselves of their ornaments. We translate the words מֵהַר חוֹרֵב, “on account of mount Horeb,” i. e., on account of the guilt here contracted, and of the divine punishment denounced from Horeb.2 Horeb rests on them now as a burden. As to the explanation, “from mount Horeb onwards,” one cannot but ask, what is the terminus ad quem? The terminus a quo also would be open to misunderstanding. “They put on none of their rings, bracelets, jewels, or other ornaments, as was done on festive occasions, but went about as mourners. During the time of mourning it was customary to avoid all pomp, and not to deck one’s self again till it was over (Eze_24:17; Eze_26:16; Jdt_10:3 sq.)” (Knobel).
b. Removal of the Tent of Revelation, or Central Text, as a sort of Traditional Tabernacle, before the Camp. The Theocratic Chastisement. Exo_33:7-11
The people are not restored to full communion with God; but in the person of Moses this is reserved even for the people. Hence the new, provisional order of things. Moses removes his tent outside of the camp. Emphasis is laid on the fact that it was set up far from the camp, and also, that it was called by Moses the tent of meeting, showing that it was not the tabernacle itself which had been before prescribed. The same is also shown by the fact that Joshua remains permanently in this tent to keep guard, and that Moses keeps up the connection between the camp and the tent by remaining a part of the time in the camp, doubtless to maintain order, and a part of the time in the tent of meeting with Jehovah, to receive His revelations and commands.3 Thus Moses has secured a new stand point designed to bring the penitent people to a renewed life. The people must go out to him outside of the camp (Heb_13:13), and there seek Jehovah. The effect of this is shown, first, in the fact that individuals among the people go out in order to seek and consult Jehovah at the tent of meeting (Exo_33:7); next, in the expression of reverence with which all the people accompanied Moses’ going to the tent (Exo_33:8); but especially in the fact that all the people cast themselves on their faces, when the mysterious pillar of cloud appeared before the tent, i. e., where at a later time the altar of burnt-offering stood, and beyond the cloud Jehovah talked with Moses face to face, i. e., in the perfect intercourse of God with the friend of God, not in the full revelation of His glory (vid. Exo_33:19). Thus the people are consecrated in preparation for the restoration of the covenant, vid. Num_12:8; Deu_5:4. Knobel finds here again a contradiction. He says, “Reference is made not to Moses’ tent (LXX., Syr., Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Piscator, Baumgarten), or to another sanctuary used before the completion of the tabernacle (Clericus, J. D. Michaelis, Vatablus, Rosenmüller), but the tabernacle,” etc. That the camp must from the first have had a central tent, religious head-quarters, is in this chase after contradictions never dreamed of.4 A strange assumption it is, too, that the people delivered up their ornaments to Moses to build the tabernacle with.
c. Modification of Jehovah’s Determination in consequence of Moses’ Intercession. Exo_33:12-23
Moses’ humble request that Jehovah would express Himself more definitely respecting the promise of angelic guidance is founded partly on the progress of repentance manifested by his people, but partly and especially on the assurance of tavor which he had personally received. As before he would not hear to a destruction of the people in which he should not be involved, so now he cannot conceive that he has found grace in Jehovah’s eyes for himself alone; rather, in this personal favor he finds a reference to his people—a hopeful prospect which he must become acquainted with. But he at once draws the inference that Jehovah must again recognize as His people those whom He has before called thy (Moses’) people [Exo_32:7]. If I am Thine, let the people be Thine also—this is again the sacerdotal, mediatorial thought. Here [Exo_33:13] is to be noticed the difference between גּוֹי [“nation”] and עָם [“people”]. The former term, derived from גָּוָה, denotes a feature of nature, in which is involved the contrast of mountain and valley; the latter, derived from עָמַם, denotes a commonwealth ethically gathered and bound together. In reply to this petition Moses receives the declaration, “My presence [lit. face] shall go.” The indefinite angel (Exo_33:2), therefore, now becomes the face of Jehovah, i. e., at least, the angel by whom He reveals Himself, the one often manifested in Genesis and afterwards (angel of God, angel of Jehovah, an angel, Jehovah’s face, vid. Comm. on Genesis, p. 386 sqq.); for which reason Isaiah combines both notions and speaks of the angel of His face [ “presence” A. V.] in Isa_63:9. In Mal_3:1 occurs the expression, “angel [A.V. “messenger”] of the covenant.” Moreover God here no longer says, “He shall go before thee,” but “he shall go,” go out and give thee rest. Here, then, the discourse is about something more than milk and honey. But the form of revelation is still obscure, and the promise is connected with the person of Moses, though now the people are at the same time included. But Moses is consistent with himself, and firmly seizing hold of Jehovah’s promise, he again at once gives it a turn in favor of the people. He takes it for granted that, with him, the people also have found grace with Jehovah; thereon he founds the entreaty that this may not remain concealed, that Jehovah may make it manifest by distinguishing him and his people, in His guidance of them, from all other nations on earth. To this also Jehovah assents, but explains that He does it for Moses’ sake. But Moses in his prayer grows bolder and bolder, and now prays, “Let me see thy glory!” Heretofore all of Moses’ requests have had almost more reference to the good of the people than to his own. We must therefore conjecture that there is such a reference here. But it is entirely excluded by Keil, when he says, “What Moses desires, then, is to behold the glory, i.e., the glorious essence of God.” But the two notions, glory and glorious essence, must not be confounded. The glory (כָּבוֹד δόξα is the apocalyptic splendor of the divine essence, and is to be distinguished from this essence itself; it is the revelation of God in the totality of His attributes, such as that of which a dim vision terrified Isaiah (Isaiah 6), and such as was manifested in its main features in Christ (Joh_1:14). According to Keil, Moses desires a view such as cannot be realized except in the other world; but there is nothing about that here. Yet it is true that the revelation of Jehovah in His glory is fulfilled in the N. T. in Christ. And Moses unconsciously aims at this very thing, and as much in behalf of his people as of himself. For only in the fulfilment of the promises can Jehovah’s glory be revealed. This seems indeed to be contradicted by Jehovah’s declaration, “Thou canst not see my face, for man shall not see me, and live” But we are to infer from this that the notion of the perfect revelation of God’s glory in the future life, of the great Epiphany, is to be sharply distinguished from the revelation of the glory in its original form. This distinction, nevertheless, belonged to a later time than that of Moses. But this original form of the glory, the grace revealed in the N. T., which is what Moses must have had chiefly in mind, he was to behold at least in a figure. So then his petition is granted according to the measure of his capacity, while at the same time he is made to understand that God’s glory in its perfect revelation transcends his petition and comprehension.—And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee (should we render “beauty” instead of “goodness?” The Greek includes the good in his notion of the beautiful; the Hebrew, the beautiful in the good—but not first or chiefly the beautiful5). Accordingly He will expound to him Jehovah’s name, whose most essential significance is eternal fidelity in His eternal grace—a second promise, whose fulfilment is related in Exo_34:5 sqq. When now Jehovah further says, “Thou canst not see my face,” reference is made to His face in the highest sense, as also to His glory, which means the same thing, or even to the visibility of God Himself.—“For man shall not see me, and live” That here there is an occult intimation of existence in another world, should not be overlooked. A glory which no one in this life sees, or a view which can be attained only by losing this life, certainly could not be spoken of, if it were not man’s goal in the future life to attain it. Preparation is now made for the vision which Jehovah is going to vouchsafe to Moses. Moses is to stand in a cavity of a rock. Jehovah’s glory is to pass by. But while it is coming and passing by, Jehovah is to hold His hand over his eyes until His glory has passed by, lest he be overcome by the sight, and perish. But then he may look after the glory that has passed, and see it on the back side in the lingering splendor of its effects, i. e., see all the goodness of Jehovah, the eternity of His grace. Who, moreover, could see Him in His frightfully glorious appearance and dominion without being crushed and snatched away from earth ! When Christ, uttering the words, “It is finished,” saw the full glory of God on His cross, He bowed His head and died. Over His eyes, too, was gently placed the hand of Omnipotence, as He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” So the hand of Omnipotence covers the eye of the pious man with fear and terror, with sleep and faintness, with night and darkness, whilst the heavenly day of God’s glory passes over the world’s stage in His light and in His judgments; afterwards faith discerns that everything was goodness and grace.
On the realization of the vision, which took place after Moses ascended the mountain, vid., chap. 34. Probably Moses saw beforehand in images the glorious meaning of Jehovah’s proclamation. Of Jehovah’s grace in its manifestation nothing more can be said than that Moses himself saw only the after-gleam of the mysterious revelation; yet it was the after-gleam of the glory. But it is a wonderfully grand and beautiful fact, that Moses the law-giver, and Elijah the zealot for the law, both received in a cave in frightful Sinai the vision of the fulness of goodness and grace, the vision of the gentle rustling 6—the vision of the Gospel. Is this the same Sinai which has been so often pictured by mediæval doctors and ascetics? “How He loved the people, with His fiery law in His hand,” we read in Deu_33:3.7
Exo_33:12. Thou hast said, I know thee by name.—Not every word of Jehovah to Moses needs to have been reported beforehand. According to Knobel, interpreting as usual with a literalness amounting to caricature, this means, “Thou art my near and intimate acquaintance.” The name is in God’s mind the idea of the being, and accordingly this declaration of Jehovah’s expresses a very special, personal election of Moses. But Moses knows also, according to Exo_33:13, that his election and the grace shown to him involve a determination to promote the good of his people.
Exo_33:15. He will be led to Canaan only under the direction of the gracious countenance, or not at all. Better to die in the wilderness than to reach his goal without that guidance.
Exo_33:18. On the climax in reference to the seeing of Jehovah comp. Keil, II. p. 236; but observe the distinction between God’s glory and His essence, as also between the primary vision of His glory in the New Testament and the vision of His glory in the other world.
Exo_33:19. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious [Lange: I have been gracious, or I am gracious to whom I shall be gracious]. The LXX. invert the order of time; “I will be gracious to whom I am gracious” The Vulg. led to Luther’s translation [Wem ich gnädig bin, dem bin ich gnädig—“I am gracious to him to whom I am gracious”] by rendering, “miserebor cui voluero.” Paul, in Rom_9:15, follows the LXX. At all events the text, taken literally, does not involve an expression of absolute freedom of choice, still less of caprice. It distinguishes two periods of time, and thus becomes an interpretation of the name Jehovah, which comprehends the three periods of time. Accordingly the Hebrew expression affirms: “My grace is in such a sense consistent and persistent that, wherever I show it, it is based on profound reasons belonging to the past.” The expression in the LXX. implies essentially the same: “As I am gracious to one to-day, so will I show myself gracious to him continually.” Luther’s translation restores the distinction between grace and compassion, which the Vulgate has obliterated.8 Concerning the cave on Sinai, as well as the smaller one situated lower down, in which Moses, according to tradition, and Elijah, according to conjecture, stood, vid. Keil, II. p. 239. 9
Footnotes:
[1] [Exo_33:7-11. We have left the A. V. substantially unchanged out of deference to the uniform translation of the versions and commentators. But the fact ought to be noticed that the verbs in this section are Future verbs throughout. This fact has an important bearing on the exegesis of the passage.
There are three opinions about this tent: (1) That it is Moses’ own tent. (2) That it is some old sacred tent used provisionally as a sanctuary. (3) That it is the real tabernacle, but that the passage is out of place. The latter hypothesis, of course, should be adopted only as a last resort. Against both the others it is to be said: (a) The phrase “the tent” is not easily to be accounted for. If it was Moses’ tent, why not אָהֳלוֹ, “his tent?” If another, nowhere else hinted at, why so indefinite a designation of it? As Rosenmüller pertinently observes, it cannot well be Moses’ own tent, since he is represented as going into it only for the special purpose of communing with God. (b) Even on either of these two hypotheses there is an interruption in the narrative as real, if not as strange, as on the theory that we have here an account of what was done with the real tabernacle before it was built. Exo_33:12 is clearly a resumption of Exo_33:3—Moses’ intercession with Jehovah. That Exo_33:7-11 should here intervene, not by way of an announcement on Jehovah’s part of His purpose, but as a historical account of the ordinary subsequent fact, is extremely unnatural, especially as at the close of it, the same tone of entreaty and personal intercourse is resumed. (c) It seems improbable that anything but the real Tent of meeting should have been called such before the real one was built. (d) The fact that the verbs in this section are future furnishes a natural solution of the whole difficulty. So far as I have observed, no one has noticed this fact at all except Knobel and Böttcher (Lehrbuch der Heb. Sprache, II., p. 162). Knobel simply refers to the case in Exo_15:5 as a parallel. But there, he says correctly, the future is used as a graphic form for the Present. This is an explanation not satisfactory here, where there is no poetry, and where the very uniformity and frequency of the Future verbs are sufficient to overthrow any such theory. Böttcher more plausibly classes this among the instances in which customary past actions are described by the use of the Future. But even on this assumption we get no relief from the various perplexities above described.
Now by simply translating the Futures as Futures we at once see light. We thus make it a continuation of Exo_33:5 (Exo_33:6 being parenthetical). The reasons for so translating are simple and cogent: (1) It is the most natural and obvious way to render the verbs. The burden of proof rests with those who render them otherwise. (2) It relieves us of the necessity of supposing that the section is out of place. (3) It relieves us of the necessity of drawing on our imagination for “the tent” so mysteriously introduced. It is neither “his (Moses’) tent,” nor some unheard-of old tent with sacred associations, but simply “the tent” which has been so minutely described and which is soon to be built. (4) The section thus translated is in excellent ha mony with the context. In Exo_33:5 God says to the people, “Put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” What follows in Exo_33:7-11 is a description of what God will do unto them. It contains a general direction concerning the way in which God is to lead the people. This is the question considered in Exo_32:34 to Exo_33:3. In what now follows (Exo_33:12 sqq.) the same theme is still discussed. Moses’ language, “See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people,” obviously points back to Exo_33:1-3. What intervenes is only an expansion of the statement of Exo_33:3, “I will not go up in the midst of thee.” The antithesis is between going in the midst of, and going far off from. According to Exo_33:7 the tent was to be pitched “afar off from the camp;” there Jehovah might be sought and found: and there (Exo_33:9) Jehovah talked with Moses. We thus see that the angel spoken of in Exo_32:34 and Exo_33:2 is not set over against Jehovah as a substitute for Him: the angel himself is not to go “in the midst of,” but “before” the people.
It remains to notice some objections: (1) Joshua was to remain in the tent, whereas, according to Num_3:10; Num_3:38; Num_18:7, only the priests besides Moses could enter it.—But to this it may be replied that, if Joshua, as Moses, confidential servant, could go with him to the mountain top when the law was to be given, he might accompany him into the sanctuary; and this fact would need no special mention in the passages just referred to.—(2) The object of this tent seems to be different from that of the sanctuary; no mention is made of Aaron and the sacrifices, but only of Moses and the people going to it to meet with God.—But this is all that it is necessary or proper to mention in this connection. And the same thing is also said of the real Tent of meeting; e. g., Exo_25:22, “There [by the mercy-seat] I will meet, with thee [Moses”]; Exo_29:43, “And there [at the tabernacle] I will meet with the children of Israel.”—(3) These verses do not seem to be the language of Jehovah, being immediately preceded by the historical statement (Exo_33:6), “the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments.”—This difficulty is easily removed by regarding Exo_33:6 as parenthetical, thus making Exo_33:7 sqq. a continuation of the directions begun in Exo_33:5. Examples of such a construction, in which a historical statement immediately connected with the topic treated of is interpolated in the midst of language quoted from another, are abundant. An exact parallel is found in Exo_4:4-5, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. (And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:) That they may believe that the Lord hath..… appeared unto thee.” Precisely so, Exo_4:7-8; Mat_9:6; Mar_2:10; Luk_5:24. In the passage before us the statement of Exo_33:6 is naturally introduced in immediate connection with the corresponding command of Exo_33:5.—(4) The preceding objection seems to be strengthened by the consideration, that if Exo_33:7-11 are the words of Jehovah it is unnatural that both Jehovah and Moses should be spoken of here in the third person.—But such changes of person are too numerous in Hebrew to occasion any serious perplexity. In Exo_33:5 itself we have an instance of a looseness of this sort. We read: “Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: were I [i. e., Moses is to say to the people, ‘were I’] to go up in the midst of thee,” etc. The prophetical writings are full of similar instances of interchange of persons. In Exodus 34, as frequently elsewhere, we have also instances of Jehovah speaking of Himself in the third person, vid. Exo_33:10; Exo_33:14; Exo_33:23.—(5). The real tabernacle was not in fact set up at a distance from the camp, but in the centre of it, according to Num_2:2 sqq. But if we assume, as we must, that the sternness of Jehovah’s regulations was relaxed in consequence of Moses’ importunate petition in Exo_33:12 sqq., there is no difficulty in the case.—Tr.]
[2][This seems to be an original interpretation of the phrase. Some understand it to moan: “returning from Horeb to their camp;” others (with A. V.): “by Mount Horeb;” but the most: “from Mount Horeb onwards,” i. e., the people from this time on refrained from using them. To say, “from Mount Horeb,” is certainly a very enigmatical way of saying “on account of the sin committed at Mt. Horeb.”—Tr.]
[3][But where did he sleep and eat? Where was his proper abiding-place, if his own tent could be used only when he needed special revelations?—Tr.]
[4][On this point vid. under “Textual and Grammatical.”—Tr.]
[5][טוּב is used unquestionably in both senses; but as our word “goodness” has a limited sense, we have substituted “excellence” in the translation, as comprehending both the notion of moral goodness and that of majesty.—Tr.]
[6][This phrase, des sanften Sausens, is from Luther’s translation of קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָה in l Kings Exo_19:12, ein stilles sanftes Sausen; in the A. V., “a still small voice;” literally, “a voice of gentle stillness.”—Tr.]
[7][A somewhat free translation and inversion of the last part of Exo_33:2 and the first part of Exo_33:3, the former, moreover, of very doubtful meaning.—Tr.]
[8][This discussion is singularly infelicitous. The two verbs are in the Hebrew both Future (the first made such by the Vav Consecutive), so that Lange’s statement, that the text “distinguishes two periods of time,” and his own translation, “I have been (or am) gracious to whom I shall be gracious,” convey a misrepresentation which it is yet impossible to impute either to his ignorance of Hebrew or to conscious unfairness. His comment on the analogous expression in Exo_3:14 is open to the same criticism. Vid. the note on p. 11. Apparently Lange’s theory of the meaning of the name יהוה and of the nature of the divine attributes has led him unconsciously to put into the Hebrew what cannot be got out of it.—Tr.]
[9][This makes the impression, for which Keil is not responsible, that both Moses and Elijah have been supposed to have stood in the lower cave. There is no evidence of this. Comp. Robinson, I., p. 152 Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, pp. 166, 130.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 I will not go up . . . lest…
I will not go up . . . lest I consume thee--Here the Lord is represented as determined to do what He afterwards did not. (See on Exo 32:7).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 MEDIATION AND INTERCESSION, Exo_33:1-23.
MEDIATION AND INTERCESSION, Exo_33:1-23.
1. Depart, and go up hence — This is in substance a repetition of Exo_32:34. The people have broken the covenant which they promised to keep, (Exo_24:3-7;) why linger longer at this mountain? Let them now proceed to the land which was promised unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and do the best they can under the curse of violated vows.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. go up] into the high ground of Canaan.…
1. go up] into the high ground of Canaan. Cf. on Exo_1:10.
which I sware, &c.] See the passages quoted on Exo_32:13.
Read full note →
1–3. Jehovah commands Moses to lead the people on to Canaan, but refuses to go with them personally Himself.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) The Lord said unto Moses.—In continuation and explanation…
(1) The Lord said unto Moses.—In continuation and explanation of the words recorded in Exo_32:33-34, but probably at another time, after Moses had once more descended from the Ras Sufsafeh to the plain at its base.
The land which I sware unto Abraham . . . —The misconduct of Israel in their worship of the calf would not annul the promises of God to the patriarchs. These He was bound to make good. “The Lord sware, and will not repent” (Psa_110:4).
Read full note →
XXXIII.
THE HUMILIATION OF THE PEOPLE AT THE THREAT OF GOD’S WITHDRAWAL.
(1-6) If God consented at all to renew His covenant with the people, after they had so flagrantly broken it, the terms on which He would renew it were, in strict justice, purely optional. In the “Book of the Covenant” He had promised to go up with them by an Angel, in whom was His Name (Exo_23:20-23): i.e., by His Son, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. He now, to mark His displeasure, withdrew this promise, and substituted for the Divine presence that of a mere angel. “I will send an angel before thee” (Exo_33:2); “I will not go up in the midst of thee” (Exo_33:3). Dimly the people felt the importance of the change, the vast difference between the angelic and the Divine, and “mourned” their loss (Exo_33:4). mourned with some touch of real godly sorrow, and, as was the custom of the Orientals in mourning (Terent. Heaut. ii. 3, 47; Herodian. iv. 2, &c.), “put off their ornaments.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 33 - 34
Exodus 33 - 34
Jehovah refuses to accompany Israel to the land of promise. "I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people; lest I consume thee in the way." At the opening of this book, when the people were in the furnace of Egypt, the Lord could say, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows." But now He has to say, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people." An afflicted people is an object of grace; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled. The cry of oppressed Israel had been answered by the exhibition of grace ; but the song of idolatrous Israel must be answered by the voice of stern rebuke.
Read full note →
"Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee," It is only when we are really stripped of all nature’s ornaments that God can deal with us. A naked sinner can be clothed; but a sinner decked in ornaments must be stripped. This is always true. We must be stripped of all that pertains to self, ere we can be clothed with that which pertains to God.
"And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb." There they stood beneath that memorable mount, their feasting and singing changed into bitter lamentations, their ornaments gone, the tables of testimony in fragments. Such was their condition, and Moses as once proceeds to act according to it. He could no longer own the people in their corporate character. The assembly had become entirely defiled, having set up an idol of their own making, in the place of God - a calf instead of Jehovah. "And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation." Thus the camp was disowned as the place of the divine presence. God was not - could not - be there. He had been displaced by a human invention. a new gathering point was, therefore, set up. "And it came to pass that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp."
There is here a fine principle of truth, which the spiritual mind will readily apprehend. The place which Christ now occupies is "without the camp," and we are called upon to "go forth unto him." It demands much subjection to the word to be able, with accuracy, to know what "the camp" really is, and much spiritual power to be able to go forth from it; and still more to be able, while "far off from it," to act towards those in it, in the combined power of holiness and grace - holiness, which separates from the defilement of the camp; grace, which enables us to act toward those who are involved therein.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Moses exhibits a higher degree of spiritual energy than his servant Joshua. It is much easier to assume a position of separation from the camp, than to act aright towards those within.
"And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me: yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight." Moses entreats the accompanying presence of Jehovah as a proof of their having found grace in His sight. Were it a question of mere justice, He could only consume them by coming in their midst, because they were "a stiff-necked people." But directly He speaks of grace, in connection with the mediator, the very stiff-neckedness of the people is made a plea for demanding His presence. "If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance." This is touchingly beautiful. a "stiff-necked people demanded the boundless grace and exhaustless patience of God. None but He could bear with them.
"And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." Precious portion! Precious hope! The presence of God with us, all the desert through, and everlasting rest at the end! Grace to meet our present need, and glory as our future portion! Well may our satisfied hearts exclaim, "It is enough, my precious Lord."
In Ex. 34 the second set of tables is given, not to be broken, like the first, but to be hidden in the ark, above which, as already noticed, Jehovah was to take His place, as the Lord of all the earth, in moral government. "And he hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first: and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with them there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third, and to the fourth generation." This, be it remembered, is God, as seen in His moral government of the world, and not as He is seen in the cross - not as’ He shines in the face of Jesus Christ - not as He is proclaimed in the gospel of His grace. The following is an exhibition of God in the gospel: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself, by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself; NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5: 18, 19) "Not clearing" and "not imputing" present two totally different ideas of God. "Visiting iniquities" and cancelling them are not the same thing. The former is God in government, the latter is God in the gospel. In 2 Cor. 3 the apostle contrasts the "ministration" recorded in Exodus 34 with "the ministration" of the gospel. My reader would do well to study that chapter with care. From it he will learn that any one who regards the view of God’s character given to Moses, on Mount Horeb, as unfolding the gospel, must have a very defective apprehension, indeed, of what the gospel is. Neither in creation, nor yet in moral government, do I, or can I, read the deep secrets of the Father’s bosom. Could the prodigal have found his place in the arms of the One revealed on Mount Sinai? Could John have leaned his head on the bosom of that One? Surely not. But God has revealed Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. He has told out, in divine harmony, all His attributes in the work of the cross. There "mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Sin is perfectly put away, and the believing sinner perfectly justified "BY THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS." When we get a view of God, as thus unfolded, we have only, like Moses, to bow our head toward the earth and worship," - suited attitude for a pardoned and accepted sinner in the presence of God!
C. H. Mackintosh, Notes on the Pentateuch — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Vers. 1-6. THE THREAT OF GOD"S WITHDRAWAL, AND THE…
Vers. 1-6. THE THREAT OF GOD"S WITHDRAWAL, AND THE HUMILIATION OF THE PEOPLE. The intercession of Moses, and his offer to sacrifice himself for his people had obtained from God some great concessions, viz.
1. That the people"s lives should be spared; (Exo_32:14)
Read full note →
2. And that they should be led into Palestine (ibid. ver. 34) But a change had been introduced into the conditions under which the future journeys were to be made, somewhat obscurely indicated in the words mine angel shall go before thee" (ibid. ) which was now to be more distinctly set forth. "God"s angel" may mean his Presence in the Person of his Son as it appears to mean in Exo_23:20-23 or it may mean simply one of the created angelic host, which seems to be its sense in Exo_32:34, and in ver. 2 of this chapter. By vers. 2 and 3 taken in combination it was rendered manifest, both to Moses and to the people (ver. 4), that they were threatened with the loss of God"s actual presence and personal protection during the remainder of their wanderings, and would have, instead of it, the mere guidance and help of an angel in the inferior sense of the word. This was felt to be "evil tidings" and the people consequently "mourned" and "stripped themselves of their ornaments" (ver. 6). Real penitence at last entered their hearts, and led to self-abasement.
The Lord said unto Moses. In continuation of what he had said in Exo_32:33, Exo_32:34, but possibly at another time; and with the object of fully explaining what had been meant in ver. 34. The land which I sware unto Abraham . See Gen_12:7 Gen_13:15 Gen_15:18, etc.
Vers. 1-6. The hiding of God"s face from man.
When God hides away his face from his people, it may be
I AS A JUDGMENT. It was as a judgment that God separated between himself and man after the Fall, and "drove man forth" from the Garden of. (Gen_3:24) It was as a judgment that he withdrew from Saul, and "answered him not, neither by dreams, by Urim, nor by prophets". (1Sa_28:6) When he "hid his face" from David, and forgot all his misery and trouble, it was because David had offended him by the grievous sin into which he had fallen. This, again, was a judgment. Of a similar character was his "removal of Israel out of his sight" (2Ki_17:23) in the reign of Hoshea, and his "casting of Jerusalem and Judah out of his sight", (2Ki_24:20) in the reign of Zedekiah. And so, when, at the present day, he ceases to make his light shine upon us, withdrawing, as it were, behind a cloud, and no longer shedding the brightness of his radiance upon our souls it may be, it sometimes is, in judgment. Our sins separate between us and him. They raise the barrier which conceals him from us. They constitute the cloud which shuts him out from our sight. And he judges us for them. Or, the withdrawal may be made
II AS AN ACT OF MERCY. When Jesus "did not many miracles" at Capernaum "because of their unbelief," it was in mercy. When he retired to Galilee, and "walked no more in Jewry," it was in mercy. When he spake in parables, "that hearing they might not understand," it was in mercy. Our responsibilities are co-ordinate with the light vouchsafed us; and the more God reveals himself to us, the more he makes his presence manifest, the greater the peril which we incur. Unless his near presence purifies us and spiritualises us, it deadens us. Two disciples were the nearest to Jesus one "lay upon his breast," the other habitually "dipped with him in the dish" one was "the beloved disciple," the other was "the traitor." In either case, the withdrawal is properly regarded
III AS A GROUND FOR SADNESS. "The people mourned when they heard the evil tidings." Justly, for, if it was-in mercy, how sad that they should need such a mercy! How sad that to be removed further from God should be a mercy to them! And, if it was in judgment, how much more sad that their conduct should have brought upon them such a judgment have caused God to withdraw himself have led him to punish them by banishment from his near presence! What real satisfaction is there in existence except his presence? Whom have we in heaven but him, or who is there upon earth that we can desire in comparison with him? In him is life; "in his presence is fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore." If we lose him, we lose all; if we are shut out, even for a time, from him, we lose more than we can express. lie is to our spirits more than the sun to all material things. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Happily for us, while we live, we may recover his favour; we may prevail on him once more to "lift up the light of his countenance upon us." Mourning, self-abasement, real heart-felt sorrow for sin will in every case find acceptance with him for his Son"s sake, and obtain for us a restoration of the light of his presence.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Vers. 1-12. A nation in garb of penitence.
On this section consider
I THE CONDITIONED PROMISE (vers. 1-4). God has consented to spare the nation. They are to set out forthwith on the journey to Canaan. But his presence is no longer to go with them. He would send an angel. Notice
1. Everything, in one sense, remains the same. The people are to be conducted to Canaan. They are to inherit the promises. God will drive out their enemies before them. The land will still flow with milk and honey. It will still be able to be said of them, that there is no nation on earth so favoured as they are. Yet,
2. Everything, in another sense, is different. Blessings without God in them are not the same blessings. They want that which gives them their chief value. See below, on ver. 15.
II THE SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE (vers. 4-7). A command is next given to the people to strip off their ornaments. They are to humble themselves before Jehovah that Jehovah may know what to do with them. This command they obeyed. From this time forward they ceased to wear ornaments. On this observe,
1. Repentance for sin is an indispensable condition of restoration to God"s favour. It was required of Israel. It is required of us. There can be no salvation without it. (Luk_17:5) "Cease to do evil; learn to do well". (Isa_1:16, Isa_1:17) Had Israel not repented, Moses would haveinterceded in vain.
1. Repentance, if sincere, must approve itself by appropriate deeds. forth therefore fruits meet for repentance". (Mat_3:8) The people put off their ornaments. Ornaments do not become those with whom God is displeased. This act of the people was a first step in obedience.
2. A very imperfect repentance is sometimes accepted by God as a reason for forbearance with the sinner. The people mourned; but their repentance, as events showed, did not amount to a real change of heart. They mourned for "the evil tidings." It was the consequences of their sin which distressed them, more than the sin itself. Yet do them justice. The "evil tidings" was not the loss of any material blessings, hut, solely, the loss of God"s presence. There is still good in a heart which feels the withdrawal of God"s presence to be a loss to it.
3. It is well that the remembrance of great sins should go with us all our days. Those who have committed them should go softly ever after.
III THE WITHDRAWAL OF JEHOVAH"S PRESENCE FROM THE CAMP (vers. 7-9). Moses, we are next informed, took a tent, possibly his own, possibly one which had hitherto served as a sanctuary, pitched it "without the camp, afar off from the camp," and called it "the tent of meeting." Thither came out every one that sought the Lord. The act was,
1. A symbol of Jehovah"s formal withdrawal from the midst of the people.
2. A token that a final decision had not yet been come to as to how Godmeant to deal with them. Communications were not wholly broken off. Space was left for repentance. God might still be entreated of them. Learn
(1) iniquities separate between man and God; (cf. Isa_59:2)
(2) the withdrawal of God"s presence is not necessarily the end of the day of grace. There is an "accepted time" during which, if the sinner repents, he will be forgiven, and God"s presence will be restored to him. (2Co_6:2) Meanwhile, even God"s keeping back from him has its side of mercy. God"s near presence would consume (cf. ver. 5).
(3) The day of grace which sinners enjoy is won for them by the intercession of another. Israel"s "accepted time" was based on the intercession of Moses. Ours, as the passage above referred to implies, rests on the intercession of Christ. "I have heard thee (Christ) in a time accepted" (cf. Isa_49:8) now is the accepted timefor men. (2Co_6:2)
(4) it is our duty to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call on him while he is near. (Isa_55:6)
IV THE TOKEN OF FAVOUR TO MOSES (vers. 9-12). The cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle. There the Lord talked with Moses, as a man talketh with his friend. This was
(1) a mark of favour to Moses himself;
(2) an honour put upon him before the people;
(3) an encouragement to further intercession. J.O.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Vers. 1-32. The restoration to Divine favour completed.
This is a chapter which, beginning very gloomily, ends very gloriously. In the beginning Jehovah seems as if bidding farewell to the people for whom he had done so much; but at the close he is seen giving a revelation to Moses their leader, which must have sent him forth to resume his arduous work with greater encouragements than he ever had before. It is therefore very interesting to trace how this change was brought about.
I WE SEE THE PEOPLE ARE BROUGHT TO A MEASURE OF PENITENCE. We cannot assume that this penitence went very deep, so far as the general apprehension of unworthiness of conduct was concerned. But there was this depth in it, that the people perceived they had done something wrong, something insulting to Jehovah, something very dangerous to their own prospects. And how had this been brought about? Simply by the statement of Jehovah that he would not go up with those who had hitherto been his people. He would not go the real truth was that he could not go. The sin of the people, their reckless, thoughtless trifling with holy things made his presence among them a peril. Something, indeed, had to be done to get these people from Horeb to Canaan, and settle them in possession; but that could be done by a sort of exercise of physical force. So much Jehovah could do for these Israelites, howsoever idolatrous they became. But his great blessing for them was not in the mere possession of Canaan, with its temporal riches and comforts. The temporal riches of Canaan were no more than those of any other land, save as God himself was in the midst of those who possessed the riches. What a humiliating thing to consider that God had to threaten withdrawal from his people in a sort of exercise of mercy. Suppose for a moment that the people had continued obdurate, what would the end have been? They would, indeed, have gone forward and got Canaan, and then sunk back, so that Israelite would have had no more importance in the history of the world and the development of God"s purposes than Amorite, Hittite, or any of the other tribes mentioned in ver. 2.
II CONSIDER THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SEPARATED TABERNACLE. In all probability this was the tent of Moses, and if so, we see at once a beautiful mingling of grace with necessary severity. Moses was prompted to separate from the people, but not to depart from them.
Jehovah could not come down in the pillar of cloud into the midst of the camp; and for this no reason needs be sought other than the peril to the people flowing from his holiness. Thus there was everything to fill the minds of the people with a suitable mingling of humility and hope. Moses, true type of the greater Mediator yet to come, gave a point where God and the people could meet together. Jehovah will not depart, unless, so to speak, he is driven away. These people could not bear his presence; and yet apparent contradiction they could not do without him. IndividualIsraelites made it plain by their seeking Jehovah that they could not do without him; and he in his never-failing loving-kindness and pity, provided for such. The fate of the nation was trembling in the balance; but ample access and counsel were secured to the individual believer. There was a definite and favoured place for every individual who in his need sought the Lord. National trouble did not eclipse, it rather intensified and aggravated, individual trouble and need.
III NOTE THE POINTS OF INTEREST IN THE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MOSES AND JEHOVAH WITH WHICH THIS CHAPTER CONCLUDES.
1. There is what we may call the holy boldness of Moses. There is an illustration here of the importunity and great confidence with which God"s people should persist in their approaches to the throne of the heavenly grace. Only just before God had spoken in great anger; and Moses, when he became aware from his own observation of the extent of the people"s transgression, approached Jehovah with the utmost deference. Pat as time went on, and he was able to take all the elements of the position more and more into consideration, he felt himself shut up to persistent waiting upon God. A return to God"s favour and guidance is the only way out of the difficulty; and therefore Moses cannot but be bold and pertinacious in doing his best to secure that way.
1. He makes the most out of God"s favour to him as an individual. Not only have the people been apostate and reckless, but their very apostasy and recklessness bring out into stronger relief the clinging obedience of Moses. He has done well, and, more than that, Jehovah has approved him; and now, therefore, he pleads that the approval may not be in word only, but in deed; not in the promise of some future and distant recompense, but in deliverance from a present difficulty near at hand. Moses is not slow to avail himself of every legitimate consideration which he may plead with God. There were times when he would have been the first to allow and indeed affirm his unworthiness before God; but God had counted him worthy, and in his present need he avails himself of God"s gracious regard to gain as much as he can for his needy brethren. Thus some slight hint is given to us of the way in which, for Christ"s sake, God regards men. God had made it plain to Moses that he regarded him; and in effect Moses says, "If this regard be real, I will try it by large requests for my people." So let us feel that from the undisputed regard of God for the person, obedience, and everything belonging to his well-beloved Son, there will also come a regard to all the intercessions of that Son on behalf of a world so much alienated from God; and yet the more it is alienated, only the more in need of his mercy and deliverance.
2. The determined manner in which Moses associates himself with his people. He and Israel were as one. He may not in so many words speak of them as his people; on the contrary, he very emphatically alludes to them, in addressing Jehovah, as "thy people;" but we feel that underneath mere expressions there lies this natural and beautiful resolution, not to be separated from those who were one with him in blood. He felt that if Israel was to be frowned upon, he could not, so far as his consciousness was concerned, be favoured; and so we are led to think of the intimate association of Jesus with the children of men. Human nature is his nature; and however unworthy and polluted human nature often shows itself, however low it may sink in forgetfulness of its original constitution and purpose, the fact remains that the Word of God became flesh, and the consequent kinship and claim must ever be recognised.
3. The cry to God for a revelation of his glory. Much intercourse Moses had enjoyed with Jehovah, and often had he heard the voice that gave commandment and guidance. Indeed, as our minds go back over the past experience of Moses, and we consider how much he had been through, this strikes us at first as a somewhat puzzling request: beseech thee show me thy glory." But the puzzle rises rather from unspirituality in our minds than from anything in the circumstances of Moses himself. Consider well the point to which he had attained, the distance which there was between him and his brethren, heart-infected as they still were with image-worship, and there will seem little wonder that in the heart of this lonely servant of God there should rise desires for what strength and satisfaction might come to him from the vision of God. He had asked much for his people, and it was fitting that he should ask something for himself. And he asked something worthy, something pleasing to God, something of highest profit to himself, even as Solomon did later on. He asked that he might no longer have to deal with a voice as behind a vail, but might see the face from which that voice came. The request was right and acceptable; but it could not be fully granted. What a fact to ponder over! What a humbling and yet hope-inspiring fact that sinful man cannot look upon the glory of the Lord and live! What of Divine glory is manifested to us has to be manifested in a way that is safe; and surely this is part of the salvation wherewith we are saved, that by-and-bye, when all pollution is cleansed away, we may be able to bear visions and revelations which, if they were to be attempted now, would only destroy us. Y.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1-11. Mercy vailed in judgment.
I GOD"S SEPARATION FROM THE PEOPLE AND ITS EFFECTS.
1. The separation.
(1) In wrath he remembers mercy. They will receive the land, but for the fathers" sake and his oath"s sake, not because he has delight in them. God"s goodness is not always a proof of his being pleased with us, any more than his chastisements prove his auger. The former may be a loud call to repentance.
(2) The reason for God"s absence; his presence would be judgment, not mercy: I consume thee in the way." If God"s face be hidden, and the sense of his presence and guiding gone from us, his next revelation may be judgment.
2. Its effects.
(1) The people mourned. It was no satisfaction that God and they were no longer to walk together.
(2) Other delights lost their attractiveness: No man did put on his ornaments.
(3) They were troubled by fear of judgment, for the Lord had said, "I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee." These are the effects of the Spirit"s work to-day. The same cry is lifted: from the wrath to come.
II THE SEPARATION OF GOD"S PEOPLE FROM THE MIDST OF SURROUNDING SIN AND ITS RESULTS.
1. Its necessity as a testimony to God"s separation from sin. This is the duty of the Church to-day: ye out from among them and be ye separate." The tabernacle of the congregation, meant though it be for all, must be pitched "without the comp.
2. The results.
(1) Moses" example led others to declare themselves on God"s side (ver. 7).
(2) The people "looked after Moses." Yearning for the light of God"s face is stirred up in the hearts of men by those who go forth to meet with him,
(3) God manifests himself to the separated (ver. 9). A living Church is ever the means of revealing God"s reality.
(4) The people worshipped "every man in his tent-door." A true Church will send forth a cry for mercy from the homes of the sinful. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Without the camp.
Exo_33:1-3
Without the camp.
Read full note →
The Tabernacle without the camp
I. First, then, they that seek the Lord must go without the camp.
1. It is scarcely necessary for me to say that no man can be a true seeker of God who has anything to do with the camp of the profane. We must take care that our garments are entirely clean from those lusts of the flesh, and those blasphemies of the ungodly.
2. Again, we must as much come out from the camp of the careless as from the camp of the profane. The largest company in the world is not that of the profane, but of the thoughtless--not those who oppose, but who neglect the great salvation.
3. But we must go further than this: if a man would have fellowship with God he must go even out of the camp of the merely steady, sedate, and thoughtful; for there be multitudes whose thoughts are not Gods thoughts, and whose ways are not His ways, who are in every respect conformed outwardly to the laws of God, and who rigidly observe the customs of upright society--who think, and therefore abhor the trifles of the world--but who, notwithstanding, have never learned to set their affections on things above. It is not enough to leave the Amalekites; thou must leave even the hosts of Moab, brother though Moab may seem to be to the Israel of God.
4. He that would know anything of God aright must even come out of the camp of the merely religious. Oh, it is one thing to attend to religion, but another thing to be in Christ Jesus; it is one thing to have the name upon the church book, but quite another thing to have it written in the Lambs book of life.
II. This going out of the camp will involve much inconvenience.
1. You will find that your diffidence and your modesty will sometimes shrink from the performance of dutys stern commands. If Christ be worth anything, He is worth avowing before the world, before men, before angels, and before devils.
2. Peradventure when you go without the camp you will lose some of your best friends. You will find that many a tie has to be cut when your soul is bound with cords to the horns of the altar. Can you do it? As Christ left His Father for you, can you leave all for Him?
3. You will find, too, when you go without the camp, you will have some even professedly godly people against you. Ah! they will say, when you are filled with the Spirit, and are anxious to serve God as Caleb did, with all your heart--Ah! young man, that is fanaticism, and it will grow cool by and by.
4. Another inconvenience to which you will be exposed is that you will be charged falsely. So was your Master, remember. Endure, as He did.
5. Again, you must expect to be watched. If you profess to go without the camp, others will look for something extra in you--mind that they are not disappointed. I have heard some say, I do not like to join the Church because then there would be so much expected of me. Just so, and that is the very reason why you should, because their expectation will be a sort of sacred clog to you when you are tempted, and may help to give impetus to your character and carefulness to your walk, when you know that you are looked upon by the eyes of men.
III. Now I come to use certain arguments, by which I desire earnestly to persuade each Christian here to go without the camp; to be exact in his obedience; and to be precise in his following the Lamb withersoever He goeth.
1. I use first a selfish argument, it is to do it for your own comforts sake. If a Christian can be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate he will be saved so as by fire. Would you like to go to heaven in the dark, and enter there as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country?
2. But I have a better reason than that, and it is, for your own growth in grace do it. If you would have much faith, you cannot have much faith while you are mixed with sinners. If you would have much love, your love cannot grow while you mingle with the ungodly.
3. I beseech you, Christian men and women, come right out and be your Masters soldiers wholly for the Churchs sake. It is the few men in the Church, and those who have been distinct from her, who have saved the Church in all times.
4. And for the worlds sake, let me beg you to do thus. The Church itself can never be the salt of the world, unless there be some particular men who are the salt of the Church.
5. And now lastly, for your Masters sake. What have you and I to do in the camp when He was driven from it? What have we to do with hosannas when He was followed with hootings, Crucify Him, crucify Him ? What have I to do in the tent while my Captain lies in the open battle-field? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 33
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PREVAILING INTERCESSION.
Read full note →
Exodus 33
At this stage the first concession is announced: Moses shall lead the people to their rest, and God will send an angel with him.
We have seen that the original promise of a great Angel in whom was the Divine Presence was full of encouragement and privilege (Exo_23:20). No unbiassed reader can suppose that it is the sending of this same Angel of the Presence which now expresses the absence of God, or that He Who then would not pardon their transgression "because My Name is in Him" is now sent because God, if He were in the midst of them for a moment, would consume them. Nor, when Moses passionately pleads against this degradation, and is heard in this thing also, can the answer "My Presence shall go with thee" be merely the repetition of those evil tidings. Yet it was the Angel of His Presence Who saved them. All this has been already treated, and what we are now to learn is that the faithful and sublime urgency of Moses did really save Israel from degradation and a lower covenant.
It was during the progress of this mediation that Moses distracted by a double anxiety--afraid to absent himself from his wayward followers, equally afraid to be so long withdrawn from the presence of God as the descending of Sinai and returning thither would involve--made a noble adventure of faith. Inspired by the conception of the tabernacle, he took a tent, "his tent," and pitched it outside the camp, to express the estrangement of the people, and this he called the Tent of the Meeting (with God), but in the Hebrew it is never called the Tabernacle. And God did condescend to meet him there. The mystic cloud guarded the door against presumptuous intrusion, and all the people, who previously wist not what had become of him, had now to confess the majesty of his communion, and they worshipped every man at his tent door.
It would seem that the anxious vigilance of Moses caused him to pass to and fro between the tent and the camp, "but his minister, Joshua the son of Nun, departed not out of the tent."
The dread crisis in the history of the nation was now almost over. God had said, "My Presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,"--a phrase which the lowly Jesus thought it no presumption to appropriate, saying, "I will give you rest," as He also appropriated the office of the Shepherd, the benevolence of the Physician, the tenderness of the Bridegroom, and the glory of the King and the Judge, all of which belonged to God.
But Moses is not content merely to be secure, for it is natural that he who best loves man should also best love God. Therefore he pleads against the least withdrawal of the Presence: he cannot rest until repeatedly assured that God will indeed go with him; he speaks as if there were no "grace" but that. There are many people now who think it a better proof of being religious to feel either anxious or comforted about their own salvation, their election, and their going to heaven. And these would do wisely to consider how it comes to pass that the Bible first taught men to love and to follow God, and afterwards revealed to them the mysteries of the inner life and of eternity.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Exo_33:18. Thy glory] = Kebodecha, from kabod = glory,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_33:18. Thy glory] = Kebodecha, from kabod = glory, i.e., the mysterious essential qualities of the Deity in all their magnificence and stupendousness. Moses felt forced to make this request on account of the pressure of circumstances. He was fully alive to the heinousness of the sin which the Israelites had committed in the worship of the golden calf (Exo_32:30); he had witnessed God’s indignation upon it (Exo_32:10), and yet, upon his intercession on their behalf, the Lord repented (i.e., recalled) the evil which He thought to do to His people (Exo_32:14). This blending of justice and mercy; this stern reproving, and again yielding with all tenderness and love and forbearance, on the part of God, was so contrary to all that he feared, and therefore so bewildering to him, that he was induced to ask, “Show me now Thy way that I may know Thee” (Exo_33:13), i.e., “reveal unto me now, at this juncture of contrarieties, Thy secret, that I may know once for all the principles on which Thou dost act thus.” To this God answers him with a promise (Exo_33:14). To which, again, Moses replies with great naivete (Exo_33:15), as if he said, “Of course, Thy presence must go with us; only that is not exactly what my request means,” and, as if for the sake of greater perspicuity, he amends his request and resumes, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory,” i.e., “Give me that which will unlock to my understanding Thy mysterious self, for then shall I feel at rest and never again be confounded, however contradictory Thy wonderful dealing with us may appear in future.” And again God replies (Exo_33:19-22), and of which Exo_33:23 is an ax omatic conclusion, viz., that man in his present state can only know or see the glory of God experimentally, and in the manifestations of His providence, as indicated in Exo_33:19-22, and that only retrospectively, by seeing His “back-parts = Achoray, i.e., His past, or His works; but His “face” = Panav, i.e., future, in all its mysteriousness no man can see while in a mortal state.
Read full note →
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_33:1-12
THE HIDDEN COUNTENANCE
We observe—
I. The fact of the hiding of God’s face. God has not here wholly deserted Israel—far from it. In consequence of the intercession of Moses, and of that retribution which had been inflicted upon Israel, God promised not to forsake His people; but we are instructed here, Exo_33:2-3, that God’s presence shall not be so fully and brightly granted to Israel as it has been. “I will send an angel before thee,” Exo_33:2. That is, God will stand by His elect people, but He will be more hidden by agents and instruments. Is not this sometimes still the case with God’s people? They feel that God has not forsaken them, but He is not near to them, so sensibly near and precious to them as He once was. They feel as the children of Israel did here—that an angel takes the place of God—a star takes the place of the sun. They feel as Job did (Job_29:3.) As David did (Psa_42:5). There is not the rich, full abiding sense of the Divine presence and love.
II. The reason of the hiding of God’s presence. This hiding is not arbitrary. The sin of Israel was the explanation of this eclipse of the Divine Face. When God withdraws His fuller presence from the souls of His people it is
(1) partly in judgment. “I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people,” Exo_33:3. Because of our forgetfulness, or unbelief, or perversity, God takes from us the joys of His salvation. Our sins separate between us and God, and when they do not create an impassable gulf, they create a distance between us and God which fills the soul with the gloom of the night and the chill of the winter. But it is
(2) also in mercy that God hides Himself. “Lest I consume thee in the way.” With fuller revelations of God’s presence come loftier responsibilities, and God lessens the gifts that He may lessen our perils. It is as much in mercy as in anger that God denies us fuller revelations of truth, fuller measures of joy, higher privileges and gifts.
III. The sorrow of the hiding of God’s presence, Exo_33:4-6. The people put off their ornaments as the sign of their great loss and sorrow. Putting away their ornaments signified
(1) that in losing God they had lost their glory. Their God was their glory, and if He refused to shine upon them, their glory departed. Putting away their ornaments signified
(2) that in losing God they had lost their treasure. God was their portion, and in Him they had all riches.
(3) Putting away their ornaments signified that they had lost their joy. No more joy without Him. Thus is it still with God’s people. In diminishing measures of God’s love and grace they find reason for profoundest sorrow. It is no use wearing jewels if we are losing Him—for without Him we have no glory, no treasure, no joy.
“Should I from Thee, my God, remove,
Life could no lasting bliss afford;
My joy, the sense of pardoning love,
My guard, the presence of my Lord.”
IV. The method by which we are to seek the restoration of the light of God’s presence, Exo_33:7-12. Drawing nigh to God in penitent sorrow—in ardent supplication. Then God is moved to forgiveness; He causes His face to shine upon us, and we are saved.
THE MANIFESTED PRESENCE.—Exo_33:12-17
The manifested presence is—
I. The saint’s privilege, Exo_33:12-13. Moses pleads that it is his privilege to have a clear knowledge of God’s will and way. God has condescended to honour Moses: “I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight,” Exo_33:12. Therefore Moses pleads that God will give to him a clear knowledge of His mind and purpose, Exo_33:13. It was not only the privilege of Moses thus to know God, but all God’s people are to be sharers in the same privilege. God has called us His friends, and sons, and people, therefore it is not for us to walk in uncertainty and darkness and sorrow. We ought to seek—
1. For a clear manifestation of God’s character.
2. For a comfortable assurance of God’s favour.
3. For a full acquaintance with God’s will concerning us. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,” and none of God’s people ought to be content to live in a state of perplexity and misery.
II. The saint’s rest. “And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,” Exo_33:14. The clear bright consciousness of God’s favour and presence will give rest unto the soul. There is rest from doubts. We feel we are God’s, and all fear is cast out. Rest from fear of enemies. “If God is with us, who can be against us?” Rest from anxieties about the way. He finds the path for us. Rest from misgivings about the future. In the knowledge of God’s truth, love, power, promise, the soul realises a peace which passeth understanding.
The manifested presence is,—
III. The saint’s joy and glory, Exo_33:15. If God does not go with them, they do not wish to proceed to Canaan. True, Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey; but it had no charms in the eyes of Moses if God was to be hidden. The manifested love of God is the Canaan of His people, and without this, lands flowing with milk and honey are desolate and undesirable. And, in Exo_33:16, we are taught that God is the glory of His people. The consciousness of God’s love renders the people of God singularly rich, and great, and happy.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Bible-Truths! Exo_33:1-23. Beautiful Book of Life! Everlasting Word! though heaven and earth should pass away thou art all-abiding. Thou art the book of love and of peace; thy pages are brightened with the intelligence that “God is love,” and thou makest by thy soft influence families and nations peace-makers. Thou art the book of truth; from thy pages have shone forth the clearest and must certain words that ever fell on human ear. Thou art the book of freedom; priests and kings have clasped and chained thee, dreading the dreadful power of light. Thou art the book of eternity and of time; thou hast the promise of a life that now is, and of one that is to come. What a lovely world would that be where the page was not only widely and openly spread, but where all men and women walked steadily in the light of it! What would such a world be but a Paradise regained?
“Speak! for Thy servant heareth; bid Thy word
Draw me to Thee, encourage, or reprove;
Incline my heart to do Thy will, O Lord;
And on its tablets trace Thy words of love.”
Divine-Restraint! Exo_33:3.
(1.) In Madagascar, some natives asked a missionary to take the leadership of their deputation to the governor of the province, on the question of their being allowed to migrate to another and more fertile part of this great island. On the way, some of the members of the party fell into committing excesses by drinking, and under its influences plundering some of the properties. As soon as the complaint was made to the missionary, he refused to go any farther, and intimated his intention of returning the following morning at daybreak, leaving them to shift for themselves. “I cannot go up with you, for your irregularities dishonour my character as a messenger of truth and righteousness.”
(2.) Was it not something of this kind here! “I will not go up in the midst of thee.” But why not? Surely God had forgiven them in Exodus 32! But it was forgiveness conditional upon Israel’s penitence. If a child, who has done wrong, and who has heard of its father’s readiness to pardon, does not arise and go to him, saying, “Father, I have sinned,” can he obtain the father’s forgiveness? Ought he to expect it? No. Just so Israel. God could not, consistently with His attributes, go up with Israel so long as there was no repentance. This impenitence was a Divine restraint upon Him.
“May repentance be the ember
Which upon my lips shall lie,
And, from head to foot, my nature,
With its burning, purify.”
Palestine-Promised! Exo_33:3. Bannister says that all that can delight the eye, and feed the imagination, is lavished over the surface. The lovers of scenery can find there every form and variety of landscape. Its snowy heights and mountains, its valleys and its waters, are as beautiful as when David sang their praises, and far more interesting by the accumulation of reminiscences. The land, unbroken by the toils of the husbandman, awaits but the hour appointed, when it will sustain and fructify its millions of products, and flow, as of old, with milk and honey, reasserting its rightful title, “the garden of the Lord”—“the glory of all lands!”
“O blessed land! the whole world envies thee,
Thy fields, by His pure footsteps hallowed.
O happy people, whom, as Shepherd, He
With gentle crook unto green pastures led.”
—Gerok.
Sin-Scars! Exo_33:1-3. Have you ever attempted a carpenter’s work as an amateur? There is a right and a wrong way of planing a board. Even the skilled carpenter will by accident plane one shaving the wrong way of the grain. Of course, the surface is left rough. What is to be done! Turn the board and plane in the reverse direction. It will take more than one driving to get the surface smooth again; and it is necessary to go over it again and again. So with Israel. One stroke—a wrong one—cut deeply and roughly, and long weary years were needed to efface the error. Efface! That could never be. The cut made by the urchin’s hand remains in the giant oak centuries after that boy became hoary and went to the other world. The scar formed from some slight wound received by a child in some act or deed of disobedience when but three years of age, remains on the finger or leg when threescore years and ten have been reached. The mark of Israel’s cross-grainedness at Sinai remained afterwards on the national life.
“The wind is hushed, and the storm is gone,
Yet the waves of the ocean are rolling on,
And, reckless of all they have done before,
Madly they rush on the trembling shore,
And whiten the beach with foaming spray,
Like wreaths of snow on a winter’s day.”
Hiding-Discipline! Exo_33:4. A father walking with his child in the city, and fearful of losing him, owing to the restless spirit of the child, whose curiosity led him to gaze on every new object which presented itself, withdraws himself behind some pillar, or hides himself at the corner of a street. He has thus hidden away, not that he may lose the child, but in order to prevent it from being lost, by making it keep closer to him in future. So did God hide Himself from Israel when that people rambled from Him in their worship at Sinai. It was done to make the Israelites seek Him the more earnestly, walk more circumspectly, and keep closer to Him for the time to come.
“Therefore, although ’tis hard to flesh and blood,
Believe, my children, this is for your good.”
Divine-Tuition! Exo_33:5.
(1.) Sailing down the might-sweeping Amazon were an English mother and her children. One of them of very tender years was yet of wayward and self-willed spirit. On one occasion, having landed from the boat at a creek on the shore to catch turtles and game, the little one, contrary to solemn injunctions, wandered off into the wood, and caused extreme anxiety and delay. The search all night for the wanderer led to an elder brother catching the swamp fever, from which he never recovered. It was necessary that the self-willed child should be punished. Yet the mother-heart yearned to relax the severity of the chastisement. Could this be done without an expression of penitence? No; but none was evidenced. Tenderly the mother took the boy’s hand, reasoned with him, pointed out that the moral attributes of a parent required contrition for an offence, and urged upon him true repentance.
(2.) Great as is a mother’s love, the Divine is greater. Solemn as are the moral attributes of a parent, God’s are more so. He cannot be inconsistent with His own perfections, yet He longs to reduce the severity of His sentence. How can it be done? He on Sinai—ay, in Egypt—condescended to be Israel’s Teacher and Parent; therefore He here instructs Israel in the law of repentance. Like that mother, He, as it were, sits down to teach Israel the necessity of true heartfelt contrition, with confession of sin. Awful as Exo_33:5 seems, it is the awfulness of the Divine Heart thirsting to extend mercy, if only the scandalous offenders will bend their stiff necks in penitence: “Therefore now, put off thy ornaments from thee.”
“It is good for you, though it seems not now;
Although your eyes are now bedimmed with tears,
Yet on your darkness purer light shall glow,
Till, through the cloud, the Crown of Faith appears.”
Self-Mortification! Exo_33:6; Exo_33:4.
(1.) A nobleman employed at a continental court on an important State mission heard of the unfaithfulness of his wife during his absence. Duty to his country at a perilous crisis required its careful and complete discharge. On his return home and arrival at the town nearest his castle, he sent forward a friend to disclose the revelation which had been made to him. Stricken with remorse at her sire’s knowledge of her guilt, she implored mercy, and besought the friend to intercede for her forgiveness. The husband promised that she should be provided for, but declared his inflexible resolution not to restore her as before. Overwhelmed with a sense of shame, and of the utter hopelessness of life under such circumstances, she stripped herself of her princely attire of silks and jewels, and assumed the meanest garb of sackcloth and humiliation.
(2.) God tells us that Israel had been to Him as a wife: “Thy Maker is thy husband.” The calf-worship was indeed idol-fornication on the part of the nation’s soul. He had discovered Israel’s unfaithfulness while Moses was in the mount. He sends Moses to announce an entire separation of Himself from the nation. The intercession of Moses secure milder terms; but God says, “I will not go up in the midst of thee.” This terrible declaration led to deep humiliation on the part of the people. They stripped themselves of their ornaments, in token that separation from God meant the drying-up of all heart joy and gladness. This explains Exo_33:4, which chronologically comes in after Exo_33:6.
“No good thing in me resides,
All my soul an aching void,
Till Thy Spirit there abides,
And I am filled with God.”
—Wesely.
Congregation-Tent! Exo_33:7.
(1.) Some suppose this to have been the official tent-residence of Moses, as the leader of Israel. Porter says that the tents of eastern leaders are often very lovely, spacious, and encompassed with walls of waxed cloth. He describes one pasha’s tent near Cairo, inside of which was a pavilion lined with flowered tapestry. Around this costly tent were pitched two hundred other tents in such a manner as to look towards the pasha’s tent.
(2.) Others, however, are of opinion that this was really a temporary sacred tabernacle, provisional to the construction of the one according to Divine direction by Bezaleel, Aholiab, and their workmen. This seems to be the most correct view; and its removal without the camp was clearly symbolic instruction to Israel of their increased need of a mediator in their approaches to God.
“Times have been when tempests beat,
And I suffered great defeat;
When loved comrades fell away,
Till it seemed that none would stay;
But amid the storm’s wild rush
There has come a solemn hush
Over life’s oft-troubled sea,
For a Friend has said to me,
‘I will never leave thee.’ ”
—Farningham.
Scripture Sublimities! Exo_33:9. What a mistake it is, says the author of the Schönberg Gotta Family, to look upon the Bible as a mere collection of many books! It is so essentially One Book—the first page linked to the last—not by similarity of opinion, but by identity of authorship. If Exodus 14 is evidently by the same author as Revelations 14; so clearly is this chapter with other portions of the apocalypse. Exodus and the apocalypse are portions—verses, if you like—of one great, wonderful poem, by one whose ideas are all eternal realities. The simplicity of the old classics is strained and artificial beside its stories and pictures. The vivid visions of Dante are faint and dusky as the air of his Inferno itself beside the Scripture sublimities of Exodus 33 and Revelations 4 or 11. And there is this infinite difference between it and all human compositions: that its heroes were those who were alive, and are dead, and yet are alive for evermore. Its visions are not guesses, but glimpses of realities which shall soon familiarly surround us. Its thoughts are messages, to each soul among us, from “the Lord our God talking with us.”
“Then I felt my fainting soul
Filling with a new delight,
On my darkened vision stole
Dawn of day that hath no night;
Thirsting, trembling for the vail
To be wholly rent for me,
That from sin’s entangling toils
Evermore I might be free.”
Divine Communion! Exo_33:11.
(1.) Some say the Lord Jesus is in visible guise; while others say, invisible. The blind communicate without seeing a form, and the deaf without hearing a voice. We may speak to a person behind a wall or a screen, if only assured that he is within call. By letters we address friends hundreds of miles distant. The telegraph hourly gives instances of men in close contact, though physically far apart. Writers have addressed multitudes separated from them by continents of space and centuries of time. Here, however, was some sense of nearness to God.
(2.) It may be, therefore, that the Divine Son appeared in visible form, as He had formerly done to Abraham and to Jacob—deigning thus to shroud His glory before the time when, born of a woman, He should wear the veil of human flesh. But what the Lord revealed of Himself only raised a more intense desire in the heart of Moses for higher knowledge—more exalted communion. It is ever so. Each glimpse of Emmanuel’s beauty makes us long for fuller revelations. Each draught of divine fellowship fills us with deeper thirstings.
“As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee,
And Thy refreshing grace.”
Prayer-Pleadings! Exo_33:12-16.
(1.) Hamilton not inaptly remarks that the insulated cloud, which from its lonely bosom launches a bolt big enough to rend the mountain, or make the welkin ring again, if touched at every point by its trailing neighbours—if stranded on the tree tops or the mountain side—soon loses all its lightning, drawn off in inconspicuous sparklet—a thin pale ghost of vapour.
(2.) From isolated spirits, soaring hearts like those of Elijah and Moses, great bolts of prayer went up, or, like the fire from heaven, in some flashing word the long-gathered thought came down. And such was this mighty supplication, which Moses dared to flash out from his Horeb heart up into the Divine and Infinite.
(3.) Nowadays, instead of the whole soul going up to God in some heaven-rending ejaculation, it is all that our spent and diluted pity can do, when the sacred fire is drawn off in driblets, to appreciate the sublime upsoarings of souls such as Luther and Knox, John or Paul, Daniel or David, Elijah or Moses. Yet, let us not forget that a thousand smaller orgins may equal the might and melody of that in the giant minster.
“Prayer, like the Saviour, ever pleads
For faithless friend—for keenest foe;
Prayer, like the Spirit, intercedes
For every grade of human woe.
And yet like Him, so vast its power,
That it can calm the fiercest blast,
And, over misery’s darkest hour,
A sunlet radiance sweetly cast.”
—Mark.
Name-Knowledge! Exo_33:12-17. Kitto says that this denotes personal favour towards those whose names are thus known. To be known by name to a great personage or king in the East is still considered a high distinction. Knox, in the History of his Adventures in Ceylon, mentions that, when he desired the Cingalese to bring him rice for his daily food, they told him that, as “the king knew his name,” the nobles of the Court would see that he was daily supplied with all necessary provisions and dainties. Before Theodore, the Emperor of Abyssinia, became a victim to the vice of strong drink, the missionary found a frequent passport through the wilds and villages of that region in the same way: “The king knows your name.” in Isa_43:1, the Lord exhorts to confidence and trust, because “I have called thee by thy name.” His knowing the name of Moses was indicative of honour. Even so, God knew Jesus by name: “Thou Shalt call His name Jesus;” and, “He has given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus (as the Mediator and Intercessor) every knee should bow.”
“Thy precious name, Lord Jesus Christ! is better far to me
Than all the wealth that can be found in earth, or air, or sea.
Thou art the Paradise, set forth by God’s own hand of love;
Thy presence is itself the heaven where I shall dwell above.”
—Canitz.
Divine Guidance! Exo_33:14. Two boys were conversing about Elijah’s ascent on the chariot of fire, when one inquired of the other whether he would not have been afraid to ride in such a chariot. “No,” replied the other, “not if God drove the horses.” If God holds the reins there can be no danger. As the child on board the ship, amid the howling blast, exclaimed, “My father is at the helm,” Moses felt that with the Divine Guidance all would go well, and Israel reach the haven where they would be. He realised that God’s presence was the only guarantee for safety, success, and happiness.
“I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless,
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if THOU abide with me.”
Presence-Power! Exo_33:15. It was church-time. The bells had ceased tolling, and still the messenger of God came not to conduct the services. The congregation were wondering and impatient, for they were blessed with a faithful pastor, whose ministry they esteemed. Anxious about the delay, the elder sent the verger across to the parsonage to remind the preacher that he was expected in the house of God. On entering the open door, what was the worthy man’s astonishment to hear his pastor apparently in earnest and urgent conversation with some one, whose replies he could not hear. Returning hastily to the place of prayer, he acquainted the pious elder with the fact. A ray of light flashed in upon the elder’s mind, and he asked the verger what words he had heard. The reply was, “I cannot go without Thee; I must have Thy presence.” “That will do,” said the elder; “He’ll come with our pastor, and we’ll have a blessed day with God.” The minister was, like Luther and Knox, agonising with God in prayer, imploring Him in the words of Moses, “Let Thy presence go with us.”
“Does He promise that His presence
Shall go with us to the end?
Will our dear Lord ne’er forsake us?
Will He all our steps attend?”
Mosaic-Self-forgetfulness! Exo_33:16.
(1.) In England’s historical annals stands a king of high renewn, against whom a nobleman had secretly conspired with a rival prince. A neighbouring baron, on intimate terms with the offender, and yet held in high esteem by the sovereign because of his probity and valiancy, undertook to intercede. Hastening to court, he sought the royal presence-chamber, and pressed his suit for mercy. The king told him that his intention was to confiscate the estates and titles of the offending nobleman and confer them upon himself, as a most faithful and devoted subject, to whose wisdom and valour king and country alike owed much. He assures him of his sovereign’s favour and grace. What was the astonishment of the courtiers around to see the favoured baron cast himself again at the feet of his monarch benefactor, and plead the royal favour towards himself us a reason for pardoning the conspiring peer.
(2.) Israel’s Sovereign assures Moses of His favour, and offers to confer on him Israel’s inheritance and title as “God’s People.” Whereupon Moses makes the assurance of God’s favour to himself a plea for offending Israel: “If I have found grace in Thy sight, go up with us.” He identifies himself with Israel because he derives no separate advantage or privilege. “I and Thy people.” Surely, if the earthly monarch grasping England’s sceptre wondered at the spirit of the mediator, acceded to his request, and honoured him in many ways, we can understand the Divine King, swaying the sceptre of righteousness, according Moses his petition, and rewarding him with a vision of His glory.
“Father of Jesus, love’s reward,
What rapture will it be,
Prostrate before Thy Throne to lie,
And ever gaze on Thee.”—Faber.
Mosaic-Yearnings! Exo_33:18.
(1.) Not Nature’s glory. Moses had seen glorious landscapes—the Nile brimming over with bounty—sunrise from behind the Pyramids—the majestic mountains of this great wilderness. The 90th Psalm, and all the poems in the Pentateuch, show that Moses was alive to the glory of God in Nature. He realised the Divine Glory in the twinkling stars and shining sands, in the wild thunderstorm and in the soft sweet breath of eve. But this was not the glory for a vision of which he thirsted.
(2.) Not Jehovah’s glory. Moses had beheld His glory at the Burning Bush in Midian—on that night, so much to be remembered, when His royal ensign fired the firmament, and under Heaven’s immediate guidance the glorious march began; and in that mount, whose mountain-top was encircled with the Divine glory like devouring fire, whilst the voice of the Eternal filled the surrounding solitudes with words which echo still far and wide o’er earth and sky and sea.
(3.) But Grace’s glory. Moses would gaze on the heart of Jehovah, rich in forgiveness, and radiating forth its ceaseless loving-kindness. Like those mysterious boxes of Eastern Asia and Japan, the Divine attributes had opened up their glories one by one; and now Moses glimpses a glory still interior—the glory of His Grace. God has just shown mercy to scandalous insulters of His supremacy; and grasping at this inlet mild and merciful, Moses prays, “Show me Thy glory.” As the astronomer
“Who on the starry heavens the livelong night
Has gazed unwearied, in the dewy morn
Returning homeward, plucks a simple flower,
Promise, or cowslip, or anemone,
And in its tender beauty peering finds
More sweet delight than in those mighty orbs
With all their pendant satellites.”
—Bickersteth.
Mediator-Mirror! Exo_33:19.
(1.) Moses interposes between God and the breakers of His holy laws. He even offers himself a sacrifice (Exodus 32) in the place of recreant Israel. His mediation avails, so that God mitigates the penalty on the repentance of the evildoers. He declares His favour for the man who has so generously offered himself as a substitute. The Divine assurance of favour and grace emboldens the mediator to become the intercessor. In Exodus 33 we have these eloquent utterances of self-forgetful devotions; as well as the Divine revelation that He will vouchsafe to manifest Himself to the intercessor.
(2.) Messiah interposed between God and the offenders of His righteous will. He offered Himself a sacrifice unto God for a sweet-smelling savour—doing what Moses could not do. The Lord accepted His mediation—laid on Him the iniquity of us all—and announced pardon to those sinners who repented. He spoke from the excellent glory this word, “Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” On the Cross of Calvary, the Intercessor’s prayer rose high and clear: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” St. Mark in his last chapter, and St. Luke in Acts 1 relates that God then “received Him up into glory,” as Paul expresses it in one of his epistles; see also Revelation 1
“And lo! the Everlasting Father rose
Diffusing beams of joy ineffable,
Which centred on His Son, His only Son.”
Face-Fire! Exo_33:20.
(1.) Heathen mythology has an extraordinary caricature of this Divine declaration in the tradition-fable of Jupiter and Semele. She is reported to have entreated Jupiter to show her his glory. At first he was very reluctant, knowing that it would be fatal to her; but he at last yielded to her solicitations. The story runs that she paid dearly for her importunate temerity, as she was consumed by his presence on the revelation of his majesty.
(2.) Oh! Profane parody of the Divine Ideal! Jupiter cannot do aught to ward off the peril. Whereas, Jehovah accedes to the request, only by preventing danger to the suppliant Moses. Bagster thinks that “the face of God” here signifies that light inaccessible before which angels may stand; and concerning which the apostle says, “Now we see through a glass, darkly; then face to face”—with no dim, darkling veil between.
“Light of the world! be Thou a sword of wrath
Flashing its threat’ning gleam across the path
Which leads to sin and shame—and guide us on,
Until we bathe in bliss before Thy throne!”
Divine-Face! Exo_33:20. The Incas of Peru have a curious tradition of one of their princes. He had been driven from the palace and court; and had to tend the sacred llamas amongst the lonely plains of Chita. Here a glorious being, with robes brighter than the light, appeared to him, and ordered him to return to his city, to deliver his people from oppression: “For to thee it is given to deliver thy people.” He did as he was told—secured the deliverance of his people—and was appointed their ruler and prince After this was accomplished, he built a beautiful temple. Here he stood in the court before all the people, wearing a beautiful tunic of blue wrought with gold threads, and a long mantle glittering with shining jewels. He dared to raise his eyes to the awful burning face of the great father, and to say, “Let me behold thy brightness.” Is there in this ancient legend no relic of the histories of Moses, Aaron, and Solomon—blending together in the far distance of time?
“But who can wander to Thy bright abode,
And look on Thee, the Everlasting God,
If angels, veiled, before Thy presence sing,
And sinless seraphs droop the golden wing!”
God-Emblems! Exo_33:22. Bowes says that one of the most ancient hieroglyphic representations of God was the figure of an eye upon a sceptre, to denote that God sees and rules all things. The Egyptian hieroglyphic was a winged globe with a serpent coming out of it: the globe to signify God’s eternity, the wings His active power, and the serpent His wisdom. The Thracian emblem was a sun with three beams; one shining upon a sea of ice and melting it, another upon a rock and dissolving it, and the third upon a dead man and putting life into him. But we know nothing of the imagery which God decided to employ in order that Moses might behold this beatific vision.
“How wonderful, how beautiful,
The sight of Thee must be;
Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!
“Yet I may love Thee, too, O Lord,
Almighty as Thou art;
For Thou hast stooped to ask of me
The love of my poor heart.”
Rock-Clift! Exo_33:22.
(1.) There is a remarkable passage in Son_2:14, which is uttered by Christ
(1) to His Church, and so
(2) to the Christian: “Thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs.” Some suppose that the second clause refers to the gardens in the east, where the terraces one above another were cut out of the rock. But the natural significance is the cavernous precipices of the rocks resembling stairs. What are these words designed to indicate?
1. Some say “the rock of nature,” in which Christ finds the Church and Christian before He calls them by His grace.
2. Others assert that Christ is the hiding-place. Thrice blessed are they who are hidden in Him, that they may see the goodness of the Lord!
(2.) The subsequent expression is equally remarkable: “Let me see Thy face, let me hear Thy voice.” It was Moses who besought God for this. But here we have God asking for this at the hands of Moses. To Him the voice of Moses’ prayer had been sweet: “The prayer of the upright is His delight.” He loves to hear the breathings of the Spirit of His Son in our hearts. See Son_4:13; Mal_3:16. Moreover, it is only while we are thus in Christ Jesus that our countenance beams with the reflection of His glory. Thus when Moses was forty days in the mount His face shone. “So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.”
“Oh, droop not! Though a cloud may be
Between the glorious Son and thee,
No shade His face can dim;
Beneath His smile away shall roll
The sin-mist of thy wounded soul:
Only abide in Him.”
—Shipton.
Deity-Dazzling! Exo_33:23.
(1.) When a heathen king objected to the missionary’s testimony concerning the One living and true God, that he could not see Him, and, therefore, could not believe in Him, he took the king into the courtyard, and asked him to look intently upon the sun, which was burning in high noon. When the monarch replied that the attempt would blind him, the missionary retorted, “If thou canst not look upon one of His servants without being dazzled by his brightness, how canst thou endure looking upon Himself?”
(2.) But this incapability not only arises from the inherent glory of God, but from man’s imperfection. True, when Daniel by the river Hiddekel, and John in Patmos, beheld even the veiled glory of the Lord, their comeliness was turned into corruption; but still sin has much to do with this fact, that no man shall see God and live. Angels, who never sinned, may look upon Him and be undismayed; but sinful man cannot. Yet we have the Messianic beatitude: “Blesssed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
“O Holy, wondrous vision! to think, when this life’s past,
The beauty of Mount Tabor shall end in heaven at last!
To think that all the glory of uncreated light
Shall be the promised guerdon of them that win the fight!”
—Cosmas.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 This is a word in season to every one…
Exo 33:14
This is a word in season to every one who is weary. It is as surely ours as if, like the message of the shepherds at Bethlehem, it came to us, with stroke of light and rush of mystic music, straight from the eternal throne.
Read full note →
I. In what sense has God said, "My presence shall go with thee"? He is present to the believer as a Friend whose love has been accepted, and whose conversation is understood with all the intelligence of a kindred nature.
II. In what sense does the presence of God give rest? (1) It tends to give rest from the terror incident to a state of condemnation. (2) It gives rest from the anguish which springs from a discordant nature. (3) It gives rest from the cravings of an unsatisfied spirit. (4) It gives rest from the distraction felt amidst uncongenial scenes and associations. (5) It gives rest from the disquietude which results from want of human sympathy. (6) It gives rest from apprehensions regarding the future. (7) The presence of God with us now is the pledge of perfect rest in the next life.
C. Stanford, Central Truths, p. 227.
I. The Angel’s presence refers to Christ, the same who is elsewhere called the "Angel of the covenant."
II. The presence of God in Christ showed itself in the desert by the pillar and cloud in which it tabernacled, and also by the shechinah, which, as it hung over the sacred tent, testified to God’s faithfulness and glory.
III. Note the imperatives of God’s futures. No uncertainty shall harbour here; it comes in the infallibility of a prophecy and the sovereignty of a fiat: "My presence shall go with thee." It is personal, intimate, minute, appropriate.
IV. The presence of God brings rest. There is (1) a rest by God, when a justified soul rests through the blood of Jesus from the torment of its fear; (2) a rest on God, when the sanctified spirit reposes on the bosom of the promises; and (3) a rest with God, when the battle of life is over, and the victor-saint lays down his armour.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons; 9th series, p. 249.
References: Exo 33:14.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 64; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 467; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1583. Exo 33:15.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. vii., p. 467.
Exo 33:18
It was a fine aspiration, worthy of the man who uttered it and the occasion on which he spoke. It was the reaching out of a darker dispensation after Gospel light, the reflections wishing to lose themselves in the great original. It was earth longing after heaven—the restlessness of earth longing for that which should be Divine, the rest of desire.
I. There are three kinds of glory: (1) the glory of circumstances; (2) moral glory; (3) the glory of the sense or consciousness that everything goes back to the Creator, encircling Him with His own proper perfections, the living of God in the adoration, gratitude, and service of His creatures. Moses saw all three. His prayer had an answer on the Mount of Transfiguration.
II. It was a very remarkable answer that God made to him. "I will make My kindness pass before thee." Kindness is glory. The glory of God was in Jesus Christ. That was the manifestation of the glory of God—that is, kindness. God is love. He has many attributes, but they meet to make love.
All God’s attributes unite together, and His glory is His goodness.
J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus, p. 91.
Exo 33:18-20
I. Consider what Moses desired when he prayed, "I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory." It could not have been a mere external display of glory and power. He had seen enough, and more than enough, of these to satisfy the most enlarged desire. It could not have been to behold the glory of God as manifested in His past government of the world. In this he had been already taught. He had been the world’s sole historian for nearly two thousand years. It is probable that in this prayer, "Show me Thy glory," he desired to comprehend the merciful purpose of God towards the Israelites, and through them to the world. He wished to understand more fully the whole plan of salvation, and to see the things that should happen in the latter days.
II. Consider how far this desire was satisfied. God made His goodness to pass before Him. (1) This was probably a prophetic view of His mercy to the Israelites as a nation. (2) God showed him His administration as a Sovereign. (3) He gave him a prophetic view of the mission of Christ. "Thou shalt see My back parts" might be translated "Thou shalt see Me as manifested in the latter days."
III. Why was not the petition of Moses fully granted? The reason why man could not behold God’s glory would not be because of its terror or majesty, but because the view of the riches of His grace, His compassion, and benevolence, would excite emotions of reverence, admiration, and love too terrible for humanity to bear.
Bishop Simpson, Sermons, p. 347.
References: Exo 33:18.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 234; J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. i., p. 64; J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 252; Parker, Fountain, May 30th, 1878. Exo 33:18, Exo 33:19.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 264; H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 107; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 50. Exo 33:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 553. Exo 33:20-23.—A. L. Mansel, Bampton Lecture, 1858, p. 67.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Intercession of Moses (continued)
The Intercession of Moses (continued)
6. By the mount Horeb] RV 'from mount Horeb onward': this implies that they ceased wearing their ornaments. Their humiliation was lasting. Horeb] i.e. Sinai: see on Exo_3:1.
Read full note →
7. Moses took the tabernacle] RV 'Moses used to take the tent,.. and he called it, The tent of meeting': see on Exo_25:22. The tent here is most probably not the Tabernacle whose construction is prescribed in Exodus 25-31. The words describe the practice of Moses before its erection, the account of which follows in Exodus 35-40.
9. Descended] from the top of the mount. After the erection of the Tabernacle the cloud rested upon it: see Exo_40:34-38.
10. Worshipped] bowed themselves to the ground.
11. Face to face] A peculiar privilege: cp. Exo_19:9; Num_12:6-8; Deu_34:10. Exo_33:23 shows that the expression 'face to face' is not to be pressed literally, but to be understood as distinct from a revelation by means of dreams or visions: see especially Num_12:6-8. Joshua] see on Exo_17:9. The priests and Levites were not yet formally consecrated to the service of the sanctuary.
12-17. The promise of God to go with the people is renewed.
12. Thou hast not let me know] The whole of this passage from Exo_33:7 may be independent of what goes before (cp. the expression 'used to take' in Exo_33:7). Otherwise we must suppose that Moses has not clearly understood the meaning of the promise 'I will send an angel before thee' in Exo_33:2. I know thee by name] see on Exo_31:2.
13. Thy way] thy purpose. Thy people] see on Exo_32:7, Exo_32:11
14. My presence] lit. 'my face.' The expression is equivalent to 'myself in person': cp. e.g. 2Sa_17:11, where the words are literally 'and that thy face go into battle.' The 'angel of God's presence' (cp. Isa_63:9) is not the angel that stands in the presence of God but in whom the personal presence of God is manifested: see on Exo_3:2. Will give thee rest] i.e. a peaceful settlement in Canaan: cp. Deu_3:20; Jos_21:44; Jos_23:1.
16. Separated] see on Jos_19:4-6; Num_23:9.
18-23. A divine manifestation asked and promised.
18. Shew me thy glory] What Moses asks, not out of curiosity but as a confirmation of the promise in Exo_33:14, is impossible. No man can look upon God's unveiled glory and live (Exo_33:20 : see on Exo_19:9; Exo_24:9-11). Even the angels cannot do so (Isa_6:2).
19. My goodness] A revelation is vouchsafed, but it is one accommodated to human capacity. It is not further described, but probably consisted in the proclamation in the following chapter, Exo_33:6, Exo_33:7. This gracious veiling of the ineffable glory and the revelation of God in mercy are both fuifilled in the person of Christ: see Joh_1:14; 2Co_4:6.
23. My back parts] Not the full manifestation of the divine radiance, but its afterglow. The most that human faculties can comprehend of God even in their exalted moments is a faint reflection of His essential glory: cp. 1Co_13:12.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v2 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 5. Moses’ Intercession and its Results
5. Moses’ Intercession and its Results
CHAPTER 33 Repentance and Intercession
Read full note →
1. The word of the Lord and the people’s repentance (Exo 33:1-6)
2. The tabernacle without the camp (Exo 33:7)
3. Moses enters the tabernacle (Exo 33:8-11)
4. Moses’ prayer and Jehovah’s answers (Exo 33:12-17)
5. Moses’ request (Exo 33:18-23)
The words of the Lord, with which this chapter begins, reveal Him as the covenant-keeping Jehovah. He remembers His covenant, though they are a stiff-necked people. Yet He is a holy God and if He were to be in their midst they would be consumed. They had to take the place in self-judgment and acknowledge their guilt and separation from the Holy One. They were obedient to this demand and stripped themselves of their ornaments. In this place they had taken the Lord could show them mercy.
The word “tabernacle” here in this chapter means “tent” and of course is not the real tabernacle, for that had not yet been erected. It was a tent which had been used as a place of worship, it now had to occupy a place outside of the camp. All who wanted to seek the Lord had to go to the “tent of meeting,” outside of the camp. See Heb 13:13. Christ and His gospel is now rejected; the professing people of God are in rebellion and apostasy; the call, therefore, is to go outside of the camp, bearing His reproach. Christ occupies this place in Laodicea , the phase of Christian profession in these last days. He is outside, standing at the door and knocking. And there, “outside of the camp,” the Lord spake unto Moses, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Again he represents Christ as mediator, only our mediator is higher than Moses. And through Christ we have access into His presence. “Outside of the camp” leads to the closest communion with Himself. The Lord talked to Moses out of the cloud and then Moses turned again into the camp. Joshua remained in the tabernacle and did not enter the camp. All is written for our learning. Though we go “outside of the camp” yet we have a solemn duty and responsibility towards those in the camp. May we discharge these. Moses’ prayer pleads now grace, and upon that the Holy One answers graciously. But His face Moses could not see. Read and compare with Joh 1:18 and Joh 14:9.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Sorrow of the People over their Sins
The Sorrow of the People over their Sins
v. 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it. The intercession of Moses in behalf of the children of Israel had been successful: the Lord, in accordance with the promise given to the patriarchs, did not destroy the people, did not even withdraw the special Messianic feature of the promise, although His pardon, for the present, was limited.
Read full note →
v. 2. And I will send an angel before thee, Cf Exo 32:34; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
v. 3. unto a land flowing with milk and honey, distinguished for its extraordinary fruitfulness; for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people; lest I consume thee in the way. Because they had shown themselves a people with a rigid neck, Exo 32:9, as incorrigible as a stubborn draught-animal, therefore the Lord, for the time being, withdrew His presence from their midst. His purpose was to lead the people to a proper estimate of their guilt and thus to full repentance; for as it was, their willful transgressions continually challenged destruction. This announcement had the desired effect.
v. 4. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, they showed their deep sorrow by putting on the garments of mourning; and no man did put on him his ornaments. The repentance was general and sincere.
v. 5. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee; that had been the Lord’s intention when His anger first flared up, Exo 32:10; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. The Lord demanded this evidence of sincere repentance; for if they had refused and He had appeared in their midst for as much as a moment, their total destruction would have resulted.
v. 6. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the Mount Horeb. From this time on, from Mount Horeb onwards, the children of Israel discarded rings, bracelets, and all other jewelry, as in a period of mourning, to remind themselves always of the guilt which they had loaded upon themselves through similar ornaments at Mount Horeb.
v. 7. And Moses took the tabernacle, his own tent, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the "tent of meeting. " Until matters were adjusted between the Lord and the people and the building of the Sanctuary could be undertaken, his own tent had to serve the purpose. The people were to become more deeply conscious of their guilt and of their separation from Jehovah, and yet Moses wanted to keep the way open for the renewal of the covenant, by giving the people an opportunity to keep in touch with Jehovah. And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation which was without the camp. This was the first step in bringing the penitent people to a new life, that individuals went out to consult with Jehovah, instead of following their own ideas and opinions.
v. 8. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the Tabernacle. This was a second sign of repentance, the expression of reverence with which the people accompanied the going of Moses into the tent of meeting.
v. 9. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar, which served to show the way by day, descended and stood at the door of the Tabernacle; and the Lord, who was present in the pillar, talked with Moses.
v. 10. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the Tabernacle door, in the place which was afterward occupied by the altar of burnt offering. And all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door. That was the third proof of their sincerity and of their desire to enter into the former relations with Jehovah once more.
v. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. It was not a communicating from a distance, nor through any mediating person or agency, but the perfect intercourse of God with the friend of God, although not in the full revelation of His glory. And he (Moses) turned again into the camp, after having communicated with God; but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tabernacle. To him, as an unmarried man, was entrusted the care of the Sanctuary by day and by night. We learn here that unfaithfulness, idolatry, excludes a person from the intercourse, from the fellowship with God, and that it is the will of God that all transgressors should turn to Him in sincere and earnest repentance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to tell Moses of his anger.
Read full note →
that land, which is flowing with milk and honey
The land was good for raising livestock and growing crops. See how you translated this in Exodus 3:8. AT: "a land that is excellent for raising livestock and growing crops" (See: Metonymy)
flowing with
"full of" or "with an abundance of"
milk
Since milk comes from cows and goats, this represents food produced by livestock. AT: "food from livestock" (See: Metonymy)
honey
Since honey is produced from flowers, this represents food from crops. AT: "food from crops" (See: Metonymy)
a stubborn people
"people who refuse to change"
translationWords
Yahweh
Moses
people group
Egypt
oath
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
descend
send
angel
cast out
Canaan
Amorite
Hittite
Perizzite
Hivite
Jebus
honey
stiff-necked
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–3 33:1-6 God would not lead the people up to…
33:1-6 God would not lead the people up to Canaan as he had previously led them (see 33:3; but see also 33:14-17). Instead, he would send an angel (33:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.