Exodus 33
As a child (or even now), did you ever receive a gift from someone, but really what you wanted most was their presence? Maybe a grandparent who lived far off sent you something that you really wanted, but your heart would have been even fuller had you been able to cuddle up with them in their favorite chair and listen to them tell that same story over and over again. For most, I would submit our presence matters more than anything else we can give to a person. And this was most certainly the case for Moses and the Israelites, as we read in Exodus 33.
This chapter begins with God telling Moses to lead the people into the land that He had promised them. To ensure their victorious path, God would send an angel with them to “drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” (v. 2). This instruction came with a big, and disastrous, caveat: because of their continued resistance toward God, He would not be with them on their journey (v. 3).
The people’s response to this news? “[T]hey mourned, and no one put on his ornaments” (v. 4). Matthew Henry comments that “Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, that which true penitents most lament, and dread most, is God's departure from them.”[i] The Israelites were no different. Sure, the Promised Land awaited, but without God there? They could take no pleasure in such an inheritance!
Moses, not waiting for the tabernacle to be constructed, created his own tent of meeting to commune with the LORD. His purpose in doing so was to intercede on behalf of the people entrusted to his care for God’s presence to return to them. “And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?’” (vv. 15-16). Did you catch that? God’s presence and Israel’s relationship with the one true God are what Moses affirmed made the people a set-apart group from the rest of the world. Likewise, the Holy Spirit (God’s presence) in us as followers of the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life (John 14:6) ought to leave others with no doubt about who we serve.
God graciously grants this request, so Moses proceeds to ask his Creator to show him His glory. Moses wasn’t content with God’s presence, though; he wanted to know even more of Him. Can you say this is true in your life? Read below for God’s response to Moses:
And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Henry notes that “Moses was allowed to see only the back-parts; but long afterwards, when he was a witness to Christ’s transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun. If we faithfully improve the discoveries God gives us of himself while we are here, a brighter and more glorious scene will shortly be opened to us; for to him that hath shall be given.”[ii] Can you imagine what it will be like when we finally get to see God face to face in all His glory? When I dwell on that thought, the discouragements and struggles of this world quickly fade!
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Journal responses to the following prompts:
· Would you be content with God’s blessings if you didn’t have His presence? Really think about that question for a while.
[i] Henry, M. (2014). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible. (Vol. 1). Hendrickson Publishers. p. 330.
[ii] ibid