Exodus 33: 1 – 23
Time to move on
33 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” 4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’” 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. 7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. 11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. 12 Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
It had turned out to be quite a nightmare. The enemy had influenced the people to sin against the Lord and as a result many fellow countrymen were killed. The people had rebelled against the Holy And Merciful God Yahweh. He had extended to the Israelites deliverance in a mighty way. They repaid His kindness by rejecting Him. It was a sad time indeed.
In our study today we learn of our Holy God Yahweh’s command that it was now time to move on. But there is a difference in that His people would no longer know His personal presence as they had previously. However, an angel would go before them.
There is a catchy song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers whose song ‘time to move on’ reflects the mood of this time. I jotted down what lyrics the Israelites might have sung.
It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going
Broken skyline, movin' through the desert
We are honest defectors
Conscientious objectors
Without Him as our protector
Broken skyline, which way to the Promised land
Which way to something better
Which way to forgiveness
Which way do I go
Time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going
Sometime later, getting the words wrong
Wasting the meaning and losing the rhyme
Nauseous adrenaline
Like breakin' up a dogfight
Like a deer in the spot lights
Frozen in real time
I'm losing my mind
It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going
Moses remained solid in His love for our Holy God Yahweh. We will see in this chapter that The Lord Most High instructed Moses that is now time to move on. He would honor His vow to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. Yet because the Israelites had rejected Him as their God, He would not go with them. Moses stood fixed in his position of caring for the Lord’s Honor that he would not go without Him. This pleased our Holy and Great God and He acknowledges to His servant that He will go with them.
33 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’
Yahweh repeats His command to be up and move. Their time at Sinai is finished and they must move on. The verse maps out their history in brief. They have been brought up from the land of Egypt by Moses, and are bound for the land promised to their fathers and their children. This is the midway point in their journey, or should have been. In just a few days after the Lord and the Israelites had confirmed a covenant together the people broke the first two commandments and rejected The Only Living God as their love and desire to be with Him. So now even with this horrible rejection we find out that our Holy God Yahweh now renews the promises that He made to their fathers that their descendents will inherit the Promised Land and He renews His promise to drive out the Canaanites from before them.
2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Now these words should sound very familiar to Moses. Let me refresh your memory back to chapter 4. The Lord had selected to be the man who would be God’s vessel to deliver the Israelites from the slavery in Egypt. In order to serve the Lord as His grandfather Abraham was instructed he and his family must be within the covenant of the blood through being circumcised. Moses did not insist that his wife be in agreement to circumcise his sons. So, he was about to try to serve the Lord without being fully in submission to his command. We read this, “24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” 26 So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.”
He promises that He will send an angel before them. In view of the fact that he here says that He will not be going with them it must be questionable whether we see in this angel the Angel of Yahweh. However the point in question may not be as to whether the angel of Yahweh will go before them but rather as to whether Yahweh will Himself dwell among them in His Tabernacle. The question is rather mote in that later He yields to Moses’ intercession and He does go with them and promises His’s presence will be with them.
Six nations are listed. They represent the whole population of Canaan
If you have ever been to Israel before 1948 you would think it was a wasteland based on all the destruction caused to it by foreign countries. Yet in the past as it is today it was to be a good land for it would flow with milk and honey. Milk flowed because there was good pasturage and, apart from in times of famine, plentiful rain. The honey would be from wild bees, (and later, domesticated bees, for it was tithed), and along with grape and date syrup, was plentiful and would later be exported to other countries. Thus it provided both nourishment and sweetness.
Have you ever been burnt by a person you were really close to? Even if forgiveness was sought and granted your relationship in 99 % of the time is not the same. You are cordial to each other, but there is a gap in your interaction. Our Holy Loving God said, ‘For I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff necked people, lest I consume you in the way.” An angel will go before them but this time it is because Yahweh God will not, lest because of their obstinacy and perverseness He be tempted to smite them. In other words they had lost out. His presence would not be so close and intimate. Their sin with the molten calf had burned deep. We will learn that later the situation will be reversed at the intercession of Moses.
4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you.’” 6 So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
It is quite clear that in this passage the putting off by the children of Israel of their ornaments is a deeply significant fact. Their earrings had caused them to stumble. We may possibly also see that their ornaments too were highly charged with religious significance. Thus we might see this as a putting off of their false gods
There have been groups who have attempted to do some excavation hoping to find these worldly valuable items but they have all come to naught.
The people were upset by this bad news. They were deeply saddened, and revealed their repentance by leaving off their ornaments (armlets, bracelets, earrings) as a display of mourning. It was a hopeful sign that they were recognizing their need for full dedication to Yahweh, for their ornaments would undoubtedly have had a religious significance. Possibly they hoped that by removing all their talismans and mascots they would win back Yahweh’s favor. Or possibly they had even learned the lesson about religious symbols and recognized that they must have no more to do with them. Such religious symbols will regularly be seen as an indication of backsliding in the future. Christians today equally do themselves spiritual; harm when they wear or use lucky mascots and talismans. In addition we need to understand that we need like the Israelites need to have a complete change of heart in forsaking any idols. We also need to be committed that we are forsaking not to get anything. If what we hope for comes about then we can be even more grateful to our Great and Holy Master God.
This action brought Yahweh to speak to them again through Moses. He reminded them of their perversity as revealed in all the incidents surrounding the incident of the molten calf. Indeed He knows that they are such that He would inevitably at some point consume them. So it would not be safe for them for Him to remain near. This point will be brought out as the Israelites in their wanderings sin and it bring about the Lord’s immediate counter action. For example we read about this situation in the book of Numbers chapter 16,
“Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. 3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” 4 So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face; 5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him. 6 Do this: Take censers, Korah and all your company; 7 put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses is the holy one. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!” 8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them; 10 and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also? 11 Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD. And what is Aaron that you complain against him?” 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up! 13 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 that you should keep acting like a prince over us? 14 Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!” 15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.” 16 And Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow, you and all your company be present before the LORD—you and they, as well as Aaron. 17 Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the LORD, two hundred and fifty censers; both you and Aaron, each with his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation. 20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” 22 Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry with all the congregation?” 23 So the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’” 25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.” 27 So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little children. 28 And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. 29 If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD.” 31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. 34 Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!” 35 And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.”
7 Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.
This Tent of Meeting had probably accompanied them from Egypt and was in Moses’ overall charge. Every time they stopped and erected their tents Moses would erect this Tent outside the camp, with Joshua as his deputy, acting as priest-guardian. It was clearly easily portable, unlike the later Tabernacle which required an army of Levites.
It is significant that the Tent was pitched outside the camp. It was clearly recognized that God’s holiness was such that the camp was no fit place for it. We need not doubt that it was pitched in what would be seen as a ‘clean’ place. Once, however, the people gained the status of God’s covenant people, His ‘holy nation’ (19.6), the Tabernacle could be within the camp, although set off from the people and guarded by the Levites. Nevertheless this position explained why continual atonement was necessary with regard to it (such as the daily offerings and the annual Day of Atonement).
8 So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
The point here is that when Moses went out to the Tent all knew that unusual things happened. When therefore news reached them that Moses was going out to the Tent, which he may have done at regular times, they would go to the entrances of their own tents and watch. Moses would then enter the Tent. This suggests that this in fact was the way in which it was used.
9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door. 11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.
The result of Moses’ entry into the Tent was that the pillar of cloud which accompanied Israel would descend on the entrance to the Tent, and this would produce awe and worship in the people, and they would bow themselves down and watch and wait. Then Yahweh would speak with Moses as friend to friend. This seemingly never happened to anyone else. Others He heard from afar off, but Moses He met as a friend. This made it clear to people that Moses truly had a special relationship with God.
Once Moses had finished speaking with God he would return to the camp, and presumably the cloud then returned to its watch over the camp. But now we learn another piece of valuable information. It would seem that Moses’ high-servant Joshua lived in the Tent and never left it. He would thus presumably hear all that went on between Moses and Yahweh, and possibly was also there to help the people when they sought God.
The general fact about Moses’ relationship with God having been made clear, Moses now comes to Yahweh to plead for a reversal of His decision not to go with them in person any more. All hope rests in this friend of God. We may assume that this conversation takes place at one of Moses’ visits to the Tent of Meeting. It is because we know that Yahweh speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can fully appreciate this conversation between two friends. Had we not known that, what follows would lose a lot of its power.
12 Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
Moses comes again in intercession for his people. He points out to God that He has told him to bring this people to Canaan. And yet all He has promised is the accompaniment of an anonymous angel. Why will He not send the original angel in whom was Yahweh’s name? (23.21). He is indicating that this failure does not seem to fall in line with His statement that He knows Moses by name (that is, intimately knows him, knows him as a friend) and that Moses has found favor in His sight. He believes that the original promises of God cannot be properly fulfilled.
So he argues that if he really has found favor in His sight then let Yahweh show it by showing him the full facts about what His ways are going to be so that he may really know Him as He Is, and what His plans are. Then he will truly know that he has found favor in His sight.
Without the knowledge gained in verse 11 especially, these words would not have sounded right. It is only because we know that God speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can appreciate how he could speak to God like this so obstinately. What he is asking God to do is lay all the facts on the table.
What Moses really wants is for Yahweh to rescind His statement that He would no longer go with them. He has put it in a roundabout way, but that is at the bottom of it. Yahweh’s response to His friend is immediate.
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Our Holy and Longsuffering God Yahweh promises His friend that He will still go with him, and that He will certainly bring him into the promised rest. Whatever the people have done, and whatever happens to them, He will not fail to keep His promise to, and show favor to, His friend. So Moses’ future is secure. But Moses is not satisfied with that. If the people are not to go up with him he really does not want to go.
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
Notice how Moses insists on linking himself with his people, those even who had recently planned to do away with him. If God will show favor to him He must also do so to his people. Indeed Moses makes it clear that if God will not go with them in person, and do so faithfully to the end, then he does not want to go up. For it is only by God going with them all the way that the world will know that they are a people separated to Yahweh and that He has really shown favor to Moses.
For then the world will know that they are His holy nation (19.6). And if they are not to be known as that then his going up and their going up is a waste of time
17 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Yahweh agrees to all Moses’ requests, and points out that He does so precisely because Moses has found favor in His sight and because Yahweh does know him as a friend, by name. He is God’s servant in whom He delights.
Now Moses is emboldened. He has been privileged to see Yahweh more fully than any human being since Adam. He has seen Him along with the elders of Israel (24.10). He has been with Him on the Mount in personal session. He has seen Him in the pillar of cloud at the Tent of Meeting. But always He has been partly hidden. Now he begs, as His friend, that he may see His full glory.
Yahweh explains to Moses that he does not know what he asks. To fully see Yahweh’s ‘face’ could only be disaster for him, for he would immediately expire. No human flesh could bear the sight. But He promises him that he will see the hinder part of His glory. That is something he may survive.
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.”
Moses had seen much of the glory of Yahweh, although only as partial revelation, but it has filled him with a yearning to see more. If Yahweh is his friend let Him show him His glory. Let him be privileged as no man has ever been.
19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
God’s reply is that He will show Moses all that it is possible for him to see without expiring. He will show him His goodness and beauty. He will show Him all that His name means of grace and power, of love and friendship, proclaiming His name and very nature to His friend. He will show him His graciousness as revealed through His sovereign activity. He will show him the fullness of His compassion and mercy. But He cannot show him His face. That would be no kindness. That would reveal no friendship. For none can see Him full face and live.
21 And the LORD said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”
If Yahweh is speaking from the cloud outside the Tent of Meeting it is clearly pitched near a rocky place. And Yahweh directs him to come there and stand on a rock, necessarily out of sight of the camp. Then when His glory begins to pass by He will put Moses in a cleft of the rock and cover him with His hand. For no earthly protection will be sufficient. Such is His glory that only the divine hand can prevent it from blasting him where he stands. Then will the full glory of Yahweh be revealed, and once it is safe He will remove His hand and Moses will see the aftermath, as much as a man can bear. But he will not be able to see His full glory. He will only be able to imagine what it must have been from what he does see.
