Exodus
33
THE THREAT OF GOD’S WITHDRAWAL, AND THE
HUMILIATION OF
THE
PEOPLE (vs. 1-6)
The
intercession of Moses, and his offer to sacrifice
himself for his people had obtained from
God some
great concessions, viz:
had been
introduced into the conditions under which the future journeys
were to be
made, somewhat obscurely indicated in the words — “Behold,
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 ch. 23:20-23 — or it may mean
simply one
of the created angelic host, which seems to be its sense in
ch. 32:34, and in v. 2 of this
chapter. By vs. 2 and 3 taken in combination it
was
rendered manifest, both to Moses and to the people (v. 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”
(v. 6). Real
penitence at last entered their hearts, and led to self-abasement.
vs. 1-6 – “And the LORD said unto Moses,
Depart, and go up hence, thou and the
people which thou hast brought up out of the
swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
And I will send an angel before thee” - Note the
change from “my angel” (ch. 32:34)
to “an angel;” which, however, would
still have been ambiguous, but for what follows
in v. 3. The angel of God’s presence is
“an angel” in ch.23:20 – “and I
will drive out
the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the
Jebusite” - The whole covenant had fallen
with
God to
retract or renew his part of it as it pleased Him. He here of
His free grace
renews the promise to drive out the Canaanitish nations. Compare Exodus 23:23-31.
“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.” At length
there was an end of ambiguity — God’s purpose was made plain — the
people had
shown themselves unfit for His near presence, and He would withdraw Himself.
So it
would be best even for them; since, if they were about to show themselves as
perverse in the future as they had in the past, His near presence could only lead
to their entire destruction. Some day they
would so provoke Him, that He would
“consume them in the way”. “And when the people heard these evil
tidings, they
mourned: and
no man did put on him his
ornaments.” Moses had
communicated
to the people what God had said to him. They felt it to be evil tidings — they
woke up at last to a feeling of the ineffable
value of the privileges which they had hitherto
enjoyed — His guidance by the pillar of the cloud (ch. 13:21) — His counsel,
if there were need to ask anything (ch. 15:25) — His aid in the day of battle
(ch.17:8-13) — His
near presence, by day and by night, constantly (ch.
13:22) —
and they dreaded a change, which they felt must
involve a loss, and one the
extent of which they could not measure. “An angel” is a poor consolation
when we are craving for Jehovah! So the people mourned — felt true
sorrow —
were really troubled in their hearts — and, to show
their penitence, ceased to wear
their customary ornaments. These may have consisted of armlets, bracelets,
and even,
perhaps, anklets, all of which were worn by men in
LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the
children of
stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume
thee” – The message was sent to
the people after their repentance, and in reply to it. It
was not, however, as our version makes it, a
threat of destruction, but only a repetition
of the statement made in v. 2, that, if
God went up with them, the probable result
would be their destruction. Translate — “Ye are a stiff-necked
people; were I for one
moment to go up in
the midst of thee, I should destroy thee,” – “therefore
now put
off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” The
command seems strange, when we had just been told that “no man did put on him
his ornaments” (v 4)
but
the word translated put off probably means
“lay
aside altogether.” The intention was to make their continued
disuse of the
ornaments a test of their penitence. (Compare Isaiah 3:16-26 – CY –
2010)
“And the children of
mount Horeb.” Rather, “from
Horeb (=Sinai), the Israelites wore no
ornaments, in token of their continued
contrition for their apostasy
The
Hiding of God’s Face from Man
When God
hides away His face from His people, it may be:
Himself and man after the Fall, and “drove man forth” from the Garden of
and “answered him not, neither by dreams, by Urim, nor by prophets”
(I Samuel 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
the reign
of Hoshea, and His “casting of
presence” (II Kings 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 — (AS THE
EXPERIENCING
AT THE PRESENT TIME – CY - 2010) - it may be,
it sometimes
is, in judgment. Our sins
separate between us and Him.
(Isaiah 59:2) 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:
parables, “that hearing they might not
understand,” it was in mercy. Our
responsibilities
are coordinate 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
spiritualizes
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:
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? (Psalm 73:25)
In Him is life; “in His presence
is fulness of joy, and at His
right hand are
pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11) - 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.
He is to our spirits more than the sun to all material things. “In him we live,
and move, and have our being.” (Acts
17:28) - Happily for us, while we live,
we may
recover His favor; we may prevail on
Him once more to “lift up the
light of His countenance upon us.” (Numbers 6:26, Psalm 4:6) - 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.
THE
FIRST ERECTION OF A TABERNACLE
The decision
of the matter still hung in suspense. God had not revoked His threat to
withdraw
Himself
and leave the host to the conduct of an angel.
He had merely reserved His final
decision (v. 5). Moses was anxious to wrestle with
Him in prayer until he obtained the reversal
of this sentence; but he could not be always
ascending Sinai, when the camp needed his
superintending care, and the camp as yet contained no
place of worship, where a man
could pray and be secure against disturbance.
Moses, under these circumstances, with
the tabernacle in his mind, but without
leisure to construct it, contrived “for the present
distress” a temporary tabernacle or tent. He took,
apparently, the tent that had hitherto
been his own, and removed it to a position
outside the camp, erecting it there, and at the
same time giving it the name of “the tent of meeting” (v. 7). Hither he
decreed that all
persons should come who desired communion with
God, and hither he resorted himself
for the same purpose (v.8). It pleased God to
approve these arrangements; and to show
His approval by a visible token.
Whenever Moses entered the “tent of meeting,” the
pillar of the cloud descended from the top of Sinai,
and took up its station at the door of
the tent (v. 9), thus securing Moses from
interruption. At the sight the people “worshipped,”
each at his tent’s door, while Moses was
privileged to speak with God “face to face, as a
man speaketh unto
his friend” (v.11). Joshua accompanied him on the first occasion, and
remained behind, to
guard the tent, when Moses left it (ibid.).
vs. 7-11 – “And Moses took the tabernacle,
and pitched it without the camp,
afar off from the camp” – The
sacred and the profane must not approach each other
too closely — an interval must be set between
them. But the distance, evidently, was
not great (v.10) – “and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation” - Rather, “the tent
of meeting” or “of conference” — i.e., the
tent in which he expected to meet
and converse with God. “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.”
Moses
must have commanded this. The “tent” was not to be a mere oratory for himself,
but
open to all Israelites. “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.” Probably
Moses “went
out” at a set
time, or at set times, each day; and the people
watched for his going, and “rose up,” as a
mark of respect and reverence. They felt that
he went to the tent mainly to pray for them.
“And it came to pass, as Moses entered into
the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar
descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with
Moses.
And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door:
and
all the people rose up and worshipped” - Literally,
“bowed
themselves down” —
“made
an obeisance,” in token that they recognized the presence of God – “every man
in his tent door. And the LORD spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend.” - As one
present — not as one at a distance — “month to mouth,”
as we read in Numbers 12:8 — but not under any visible form
(see vs. 20, 23, and compare
Deuteronomy
4:12,15) – “And he turned again into the camp” - After each conference,
Moses
returned to the camp, where, no doubt, he had put up for himself another tent,
and
where his presence was needed He left, however, his
personal attendant (“minister”), Joshua,
to watch and guard the sacred structure during his absence. It
is remarkable that the trust was
committed to Joshua, rather than to Aaron, or any of the
Levites. Probably the reason
of this was, that Joshua alone had had no part in the idolatry
of the calf. (See ch.
32:17.)
“but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man,
departed not out of the
tabernacle.”
The
Mode of Recovering God’s Presence
Moses
felt that he could not rest till he had obtained for the people the complete
return
of God’s favor, and the assurance of His
perpetual presence. But this was no easy task.
The
offence given was so grievous that it could not be
condoned at once. Even the penitence
of the people had produced no more than a
promise that God would take the matter into
His
consideration, and determine later what He would do to the people (v. 5). Moses
sought
to hasten a favorable decision. It is well
worth noting the means whereto he had recourse.
These
were:
tent of meeting”; because
he hoped that there God would be met with or
would
suffer Himself to be addressed or would let His people draw nigh to
Him. He
erected it “without
the camp,” afar off — partly on account of the
recent
pollution of the camp — partly to separate and sunder it from
secular sights and sounds.
Intolerant of delay, he thought it better to take
the best of
existing structures, rather than wait till he could erect a new
one. As his
own tent was the best in the camp, he gave it, not without
some
self-sacrifice.
the Lord went out unto the tent” (v. 7).
Doubtless Moses urged the
need of all
the people’s seeking the Lord, turning to Him, besieging Him
with their
prayers, importuning Him. (Each man with “the plague
of his own heart” –
[I Kings 8:38] -
CY – 2010) There
had been, so far
as
appears, no set times of
prayer hitherto, and no set place of prayer. All had been
left to individual
feeling or conviction. And the people, we may be sure,
had for the most part
neglected prayer. In their difficulties they had been
content that Moses should
pray for them (chps.14:15; 15:25; 17:4, 11,12).
Now at length they had awoke
to the need of personal religion; they had “mourned” and “put off their
ornaments”; they —
some of them,
at any rate — “sought the Lord,” and
resorted to the “tent of meeting,” in the hope of finding him
there.
EARNEST
INTERCESSION. The narrative of vs. 8-11 describes a
continual
practice. Moses made it his habit to go forth from the camp to
the “tent of meeting” at a fixed
hour each day — possibly more than once a
day; and,
when there, no doubt prayed to the Lord with all the fervor that
we observe
in the recorded prayer of the next section (vs. 12-16). “The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
The daily intercession, recorded in
vs. 8-11, culminated in the
“wrestle
with God,” which obtained the gracious promise — “I will do this
thing that thou hast spoken” (v. 17).
The general lesson taught is the
might of
prayer:
ü for
oneself;
ü for others.
There is a further particular lesson
upon the value of a “house of prayer”
— most
appreciated, through the perversity of human nature, where least
readily
obtainable, least regarded where closest to men’s doors and most
accessible.
THE
REVOCATION OF THE THREAT OF WITHDRAWAL (vs. 12-17)
After
some days’ “wrestling with God” in the “tent of meeting,” Moses prayed to
know definitely what God had determined
on. “Show
me thy way,” he said (v.13) –
“Whom wilt thou send with me?” To this demand, God made
the gracious reply –
“My presence shall go with thee, and I will
give thee rest” (v.14).
This was
satisfactory, except that it did not distinctly include the conduct of the people
— it
might be merely a promise to himself. So Moses (vs. 15-16) requires a
more
explicit assurance, and, closely associating the
people with himself, declares that he
will not move a step further, unless God allows
the people to find grace in His sight,
and consents to “distinguish” them by “going
up” with them. Then at length God
yields and gives the assurance “I will do this thing also that thou hast
spoken”
(v.17)
— i.e. “I will go up visibly with
the people and distinguish them.” (See
the comment on v.16.)
vs. 12-17 – “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.”
Moses takes
advantage of his privilege of speaking as friend with friend, and uses familiar
terms — “See,” he says, “thou hast told me to conduct the people to
yet thou hast not made it clear
whom thou wilt send with me. If it is to be an angel,
what angel? Why not the angel of
the original promise? (ch. 23:20-23) – “Yet
thou
hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found
grace in thy sight, shew me now thy
way, that I may know thee, that I may find
grace in thy sight: and consider that
this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee”
- Literally,
“My
presence shall go up” — my own presence, not that of an angel.
That for which
Moses had
been so earnestly pleading is, seemingly, granted. God will go up - “and I will
give thee rest.” – “bring thee to
Hebrews
4:8) “And he said unto Him, If thy presence go
not with me, carry us not
up hence.” - Still
Moses is not quite satisfied. God had said — “I will give thee
rest”
—
not “I will give you
rest.” Moses must see distinctly that the people are associated with
him before he desists. So he replies — “If thy presence go not up, carry us not up
hence.” “For wherein shall it be known here that I
and thy people have found
grace in thy sight? is
it not in that thou goest with us? The
reply in v.17 sets his
doubt finally at rest – “so shall we be
separated” - Rather, “So shall we be
distinguished.” God’s presence with them would distinguish them from all
the other
nations of the earth — place them in a category alone
and apart from all others.
Angelic
guidance would not have done this; for even heathen nations had their
protecting angels (Daniel 10:13,20) – “I and thy people, from all the people that
are upon the face of the earth. And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this
thing also that thou hast spoken” - “I will extend my favor to
thy people also,
and distinguish them, as well
as thee, by going up with them. I will do this for thy
sake” – “for thou hast found grace in my sight” - Moses’
petition is at last fully granted —
the threat of withdrawal cancelled — the
promise of Divine guidance and protection
renewed – “and
I know thee by
name.” It is a
supreme favor for God to know us
by name. It marks “a specifically personal relation to God”. The expression is perhaps
taken from the phraseology of Oriental Courts,
where not one in a hundred of the courtiers
is known to the monarch by name.
Effectual
Importunity
Our Lord
Jesus Christ spake a parable to show “that men ought always to pray and
not to faint” (Luke 18:1). The present
record is, we may be sure, inserted
in the Old
Testament for the same purpose. GOD WILLS TO BE IMPORTUNED! Not,
however, for His own sake, but for ours. He would
have us fervent and persistent in
prayer,
for the improvement of our characters, the increase of our faith by exercise, the intensifying
of our sense of dependence
upon Him. Especially He
would have us persistent in
intercessory prayer, because we are then exercising, not only
faith, but love; and by
increasing in love, we advance in resemblance to Himself. For “God is Love.”
(I John
4:8) Note, that, to be importuned
effectively, God must be importuned:
day after
day for blessings on ourselves or others, are a mere battologia,
no more
effectual than the involuntary repetitions of a stammering tongue.
God grants nothing to coldness,
nothing to mere words, nothing unless it
be
earnestly desired by a fervid heart. The Buddhists, in many parts of
believing
that in every revolution of the machine a prayer is offered, and
that, after
so many turns, Buddha is bound to grant it. As well expect God
to respect
the requests of a praying-machine, as the utterances of many
who
languidly repeat the prayers of the Church after the clergyman, or say
a set form,
with small thought and no heart, morning and evening. It is “the
fervent prayer of a righteous man” — nay, even
of a sinner — that is
“effectual.” (James 5:16)
for his own
satisfaction God’s glory, until he had obtained the restitution of
the people
to favor. His importunity was for them. Let us importune God
for the
conversion of our relatives and friends, the forgiveness of their
sins, the
awakening of their consciences, their perseverance in well-doing,
and their
final entrance into His glory, and we may feel confident of
prevailing
with Him. But, if we importune Him for our own worldly
advancement,
or even if we ask increase of grace for our own sakes solely
or mainly,
we must not be surprised if our prayers remain unanswered. “Ye
ask and obtain not, because ye ask amiss.” (James
4:3) - The spirit of
sacrifice
is required to sanctify prayer. Those who in a spirit of self-seeking
asked to
sit on the right hand and left hand of Christ in His kingdom obtained
no promise. (Mark
10:37-40) Our prayers even for our
spiritual advancement
will
scarcely be answered, unless we desire it to
promote God’s glory, or to
help forward the salvation of our fellow-men.
MOSES REQUESTS TO SEE GOD’ GLORY AND GOD’S REPLY
(vs. 18-23)
Having
obtained the full restoration of the people to God’s favor, Moses felt emboldened
to
ask a boon for himself. He had already been admitted to closer
communion with God than
any one of the race of man since Adam in
of satisfying, only made him desirous of something further,
something closer, something
than which nothing more close could be imagined. So he
asks to see the unveiled glory of
God (v.18). He asks, that is, to see exactly that which man
in the flesh cannot see, or at any
rate cannot see and live. But, of
course, he does not know this. God, in reply, tells him he
shall see all that can be seen of Him — more than
anything which he has seen before. He
shall see “all His
goodness” — he shall have another revelation of the name of God
(v.18);
and, further, he shall be so placed as to see as much as mortal
man can behold of “His
glory”
— God will
pass by him, and when He has passed, Moses shall be allowed to look after
Him, and
see what is here called “his back.” This was probably some
afterglow or
reflection from the
Divine glory, which language must have been as inadequate to
describe as it was to embody the “unspeakable words” heard by Paul in the “third
heaven,” and declared by him “impossible for
a man to utter” - (II Corinthians 12:4).
vs. 18-23 – “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” – Moses longed for
that ineffable blessing of the full “beatific vision,” which is
promised to us after death,
if we die in the faith and fear of Christ (I Corinthians
13:12). “And He
said, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the
LORD
before thee; (Compare ch. 34:5-6) and will
be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and
will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.” - I am not bound to do all this for thee.
It is of my free grace that
I do it. I intend, however, to be gracious, and show
mercy to thee, because thou hast
found favor in my eyes. “And He said, Thou canst
not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” - The inability proclaimed
in these words is not an absolute inability to see God, but an inability
to see and survive
the sight. Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel, marveled
that he could see God, (a
pre-manifestation of the incarnation of Christ – a la – sermon by
Marion Duncan of
and live (Genesis 32:30). It may well be that actually to see
God, while we are in the flesh,
would kill us.
“Our God is a consuming fire” –
(Hebrews 12:29) “And the LORD
said, Behold,
there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it
shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I
will put thee in a clift
of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand” - i.e., “at
once conceal thee and
protect thee.” Without these precautions, it is
implied, the nearness of the Divine
Presence
might have had injurious effects – “while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand,
and thou shalt see my
back parts” - After the Divine Presence had passed by, Moses
was to be permitted to look out, and would see
so much of the Divine glory as he would
be able to bear; but still something far
short of that which he had desired to see – “but my
face shall not be seen.” – (Compare
John 1:18; 6:46; I Timothy 1:17; I John 4:12.
A
Craving for Close Communion with God
without the
consciousness of being sustained and upheld by an eternal
omnipotent
being — can have no strength or confidence in the present, no
hope in the
future. He is a feeble part of the vast mechanism of a great
incomprehensible
universe — a form which matter has assumed for a time
— powerless
to shape his future — the sport of circumstance. From this
his better
nature revolts, and, like some marine organism, throws out
tentacles
to seek a hold on some firm solid object without him. God is the
only such object truly firm and stable; and hence
man may be said to have a
natural
desire for God. As soon as the idea of God is in any way brought
before him,
he feels that it exactly answers an instinctive craving of his
nature. His
soul goes out to it — seizes it — appropriates it — rests on it
as a sure
prop and stay. Intellectually, the idea clears up the riddle of the
universe;
morally, gives a firm foundation to right and wrong, explains the
authority
of conscience, and supplies a motive for virtue; even physically it
has a
value, reducing the infinitude of nature within limits, and furnishing a
reasonable
origin to nature’s laws.
cannot be
satisfied without it; but whether, having got it, he shall thrust it
into the
background, or ever more and more cling to it, and seek to realize
it, depends
on his spiritual condition. Adam and Eve, after they had sinned,
“hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of
the
garden” (Genesis 3:8). The Gergesenes
“besought Christ that He would
depart out of their coasts” (Matthew
8:34). The guilty conscience cannot bear
the near
presence of the Most High, shrinks from the keen inspection of the
all-seeing Eye, would fain skulk and hide among the bushes. The
worldly
heart is
indifferent to the thought of God — turns away from it in the
present —
reserves it for a more convenient season. Only the spiritually
minded
delight in dwelling on the thought of God — seek Him constantly
— crave for communion with Him. Only
they can say with sincerity- “As
the hart panteth after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O
God. My soul thirsteth for God,
for the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).
They, however, can, and do say this
continually. And the more communion
they
obtain, the more they desire. It is after Moses had entered into the
cloud, and “spoken with God face to
face, as a man speaketh unto his
friend” (v. 11),
that he beseeches him to “show him His
glory.” We
cannot
while on earth obtain the full communion for which our
spiritual
nature
craves. We cannot therefore while on earth be satisfied, but must
ever be
craving for something more, ever crying —
“Nearer, my God, to
thee, nearer to thee!” Only in heaven, if we be
found worthy, shall we
“see face to face, and know as we are known” (I Corinthians 13:12).
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let
me hide myself in thee!”
"Excerpted
text Copyright AGES Library, LLC. All rights reserved.
Materials
are reproduced by permission."
This material can
be found at:
http://www.adultbibleclass.com