Exodus · chapter 33 of 40
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Exodus 33 tells how, after the golden calf, the Lord orders Israel to set out for the promised land but says he will not go in their midst. Moses speaks with God in the tent of meeting outside the camp, pleads that his presence go with them, and the Lord agrees. Moses asks to see his glory, and God promises to show him his goodness and covers him in a cleft of the rock.
After the crisis of the golden calf (Exodus 32), the covenant seems broken. Exodus 33 deals with the central question of the book: whether God will go on dwelling with his sinful people. In the midst of the tension we see the unique relationship between Moses and the Lord, and one of the most intimate moments in the Bible opens, when Moses asks to see God's glory.
The Lord tells Moses to leave that place with the people for the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will send an angel before them, but he will not go up in their midst because they are a stiff-necked people, and he might consume them on the way. When the people hear this bad news, they mourn and no one puts on his ornaments. God tells them to take off their ornaments so he may decide what to do with them, and the Israelites strip themselves of them at Mount Horeb.
Moses takes the tent of meeting and pitches it outside the camp, far off. When he enters it, the pillar of cloud comes down and stands at the entrance, and the Lord speaks with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. The people rise and worship, each at the door of his own tent. Joshua, Moses' young assistant, does not leave the tent.
Moses asks God to show him his ways and to tell him whom he will send with him, and the Lord answers that his presence will go with them and give them rest. Moses insists that if his presence does not go with them, they should not be brought up from there, for only so will they be distinguished from every other people. God says he will do this also. Then Moses asks: show me your glory. The Lord will make all his goodness pass before him and proclaim his name, but Moses cannot see his face and live. He will put him in a cleft of the rock, cover him with his hand as he passes, and afterward Moses will see his back.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. It shows Moses' exceptional nearness to God, though even so there was a limit: he could not see God's face in full.
God answers that his presence will go with Moses and give him rest. The answer to his plea is the center of the chapter: what the people need more than the land is God's presence.
Moses says that if God's presence does not go with them, he should not bring them up from there. What distinguishes Israel from other peoples is not its strength or territory but that God is with them.
God promises to make all his goodness pass before Moses and to proclaim his name, and he affirms that he will be gracious to whom he will. His glory is shown above all as goodness and grace, not as mere power.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because they were a stiff-necked people and he might consume them on the way. — Exodus 33:3
Answer: They mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. — Exodus 33:4
Answer: Outside the camp, far off from it. — Exodus 33:7
Answer: Face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. — Exodus 33:11
Answer: That his presence would go with them and give them rest. — Exodus 33:14
Answer: He could not see his face and live; he would see his back as God passed. — Exodus 33:20-23
Exodus 33 teaches that the most valuable thing a people or a person can have is the presence of God. Israel could have the land without God, but Moses did not want it that way. A group can ask whether it values results, projects or successes more than the Lord's presence, and whether it prays with the same passion as Moses that God go with them.
It also teaches us to speak with God with candor and trust. Moses speaks, argues, asks, and God listens. Christians have access to God through Christ, and that friendship is cultivated with time in his presence. The chapter also encourages us to ask God to show us who he is: his glory lies in his goodness and mercy.
Exodus 33 ends with Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock, waiting to see God's goodness pass by. Chapter 34 tells how the Lord proclaims his name and renews the covenant with new tablets.
The expression describes the direct, intimate communication Moses had with God, without dark visions or intermediaries, as between friends. The same chapter makes clear that Moses cannot see God's face in all his glory and live, and will see only his back.
It is figurative language meaning that Moses will see only a part of God's glory, his passing, and not his full presence. God is spirit, and the text uses human images to express a real but limited revelation.
The text does not explain it explicitly, but after the sin of the calf, God's presence is moved away from the camp until the covenant is renewed. The distance expresses that sin breaks fellowship. The tabernacle has not yet been built.