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Exodus 33

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God Refuses to Accompany Israel 1–6

1
And Jehovah spake 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 sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: ​
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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: ​
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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. ​
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And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. ​
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And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
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And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward.

The Tent of Meeting Established 7–11

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Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought Jehovah went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp. ​
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And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent.
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And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent: and Jehovah spake with Moses.
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And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent door.
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And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent. ​

Moses Pleads for God's Presence 12–17

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And Moses said unto Jehovah, 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 favor in my sight. ​
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Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. ​
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And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. ​
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And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. ​
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For wherein now shall it be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? is it not in that thou goest with us, so that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? ​
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And Jehovah said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found favor in my sight, and I know thee by name.

Moses Sees God's Glory 18–23

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And he said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. ​
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And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ​
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And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live. ​
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And Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock:
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and 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 until I have passed by:
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and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back; but my face shall not be seen. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Exodus 33

Verse 1

Depart, and go up hence — The order to leave Sinai carries the oath sworn to the fathers: 'Unto thy seed will I give it' (Gen 12:7; 26:3; 28:13). The people are those Moses 'hast brought up' (alah, to go up), the verb of the march; the land is still promised, though the LORD's own going is withdrawn in v.3.

Verse 2

I will send an angel — Malak, a messenger. The same promise stood before Sinai: 'Behold, I send an Angel before thee' (Ex 23:20), 'for my name is in him' (23:21). Here the nations are named again, six of them, and the Angel will drive them out; what is missing is stated in v.3, that the LORD will not himself go up in their midst.

Verse 3

a stiffnecked people — Qasheh and 'oreph, hard and the back of the neck. The charge is made at 32:9, here, in v.5 and in 34:9, where Moses turns it into a plea. 'Lest I consume thee' (kalah) repeats 32:10, 'that I may consume them': the LORD's absence is itself the restraint on that wrath.

Verse 4

evil tidings — Literally 'evil word' (dabar ra), the word of v.3 that the LORD would not go up in their midst. The people 'mourned' (abal) and wore no ornaments. The LORD had said, 'put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee' (v.5), and they strip them 'by the mount Horeb' (v.6).

Verse 7

Tabernacle of the congregation — Ohel mo'ed, 'tent of meeting'. This tent is pitched before the tabernacle's construction begins (ch. 35), 'afar off' outside the camp, and 'every one which sought the LORD' (baqash) went out to it. The same title is later given to the tabernacle itself (Ex 27:21; 29:42).

Verse 11

face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend — 'Friend' is rea, a companion. The LORD sets Moses apart from other prophets: 'mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches' (Num 12:8), and Deut 34:10 repeats it at the end of his life. Joshua, 'his servant' (sharath, minister), stays in the tent; he is 'Moses' minister' in Josh 1:1.

Verse 12

I know thee by name — The LORD says it again when he grants the request (v.17). Moses had been told to 'Bring up this people' and that an Angel would go (v.2), but not 'whom thou wilt send with me'. The phrase 'found grace' (chen) then runs through the whole prayer: vv.12, 13, 16, 17, and 34:9.

Verse 13

shew me now thy way — Derek, a road or manner of life. The psalm records the answer: 'He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel' (Ps 103:7). Moses asks for the way 'that I may know thee', and the LORD's proclamation in 34:6–7 gives it. 'Nation' (goy) is added to 'people' in his appeal.

Verse 14

My presence shall go with thee — 'Presence' is panim, literally 'face', the word of v.15 ('thy presence') and v.20 ('my face'). Where v.2 promised an Angel, the LORD now promises himself; Isaiah looks back on it: 'the angel of his presence saved them' (Isa 63:9). 'Rest' (nuach) is the word of Josh 21:44; Christ promises it again in Matt 11:28.

Verse 15

carry us not up hence — Moses refuses the journey on the terms of v.3: the land is not enough without the LORD's face (panim). 'Carry up' is alah, the verb of the order in v.1 and of the refusal 'I will not go up' in v.3. He asks again in 34:9, 'let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us'.

Verse 16

separated — Palah, to set apart. It is the verb the LORD used in Egypt: 'I will sever in that day the land of Goshen' (Ex 8:22) and 'the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt' (9:4); see also 11:7. The mark of the people is not the land but the LORD's going with them.

Verse 18

shew me thy glory — Kabod, from the root meaning weight. The reply names 'all my goodness' and the proclaimed name (v.19; 34:5–7). John writes of the Word made flesh, 'we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father' (John 1:14), and adds that 'No man hath seen God at any time' (John 1:18).

Verse 19

will be gracious to whom I will be gracious — Chanan, to show favour, and racham, to have compassion. Paul quotes the saying in Rom 9:15: 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' 'Goodness' is tuv; the name is proclaimed in 34:5–6.

Verse 20

no man see me, and live — 'Face' is panim again. Jacob marvelled at Peniel, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved' (Gen 32:30), and Manoah said, 'We shall surely die, because we have seen God' (Judg 13:22). Paul says of God, 'whom no man hath seen, nor can see' (1 Tim 6:16).

Verse 23

my back parts — Achor, the hinder part; the 'hand' is kaph, the palm that covers Moses in the cleft of the rock (v.22). The LORD then 'passed by before him' (34:6). At Horeb, 'the mount of God', 'the LORD passed by', and Elijah 'wrapped his face in his mantle' (1 Kgs 19:8, 11–13).