October 2001
Exodus Chapter 33
After the Lord had disciplined the Israeli people for their impatience and worship of a golden calf idol, He reminded Moses of His covenant with the children of Abraham. The Lord instructed Moses to continue to lead the people toward the land of Canaan "unto a land flowing with milk and honey."
"And I will send an angel before thee" to drive out the present people occupying the land. Exodus 33:1-3.
The Lord reminded Moses of the promise which He had made to the people -- that He "sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it."
The Lord noted that the Israelites were a stubborn people, but nonetheless He would lead them into Canaan. But as part of His discipline, He instructed Moses to tell the people to remove their jewelry and recognized their God.
Moses then disassembled the tabernacle from the interior of the campsite, and relocated it to outside the Israeli campsite "afar off", but within eyesight. Exodus 33:7. Moses named it "Tabernacle of the congregation." Remember, the campsite of the Israeli people had to be substantial in size to accommodate the literally hundreds of thousand of people who participated in the exodus from Egypt. See Exodus 12:37-38.
Thereafter, it created a spectacle for all the people to witness whenever Moses went into the tabernacle. Whenever Moses headed out to the Tabernacle, all the people would stand at their own tents and watch Moses travel to and enter the Tabernacle. They would watch as a giant cloud formed into a pillar and descended down into the door of the Tabernacle. This was the manner in which the Lord appeared to talk directly to Moses inside the Tabernacle.
The people witnessed this massive cloudy pillar and worshipped their powerful and awesome God. Exodus 33:8-10. The sight had to be awe-inspiring and a tremendous demonstration of the power and control of the Lord.
An interesting note is made in the 11th verse of Exodus 33, that when Moses went into the Tabernacle to speak with the Lord, that when Moses left, Moses' new young servant, Joshua stayed behind in the Tabernacle.
Moses appealed to the Lord in behalf of the Israelites. Moses prayed for God's presence to lead him and the people out of the Sinai and into Canaan and he prayed in behalf of the people for the Lord to continue to recognize the people as "thy people".
The Lord responded that He would indeed "go with thee" and Moses replied that he did not want to go any farther without the Lord being with him and the people.
The Lord then, in a well-known display of His power and the uniqueness of His power told Moses He would display the
Lord's glory before Moses, but not let Moses look upon the Lord's face, for it was too powerful and great of a sight for any mortal man. Exodus 33:19-23. The Lord also added a statement of extreme doctrinal importance, indicating very clearly that He and he alone was in charge of mercy for His people.
"1 will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will\ be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Exodus 33:19. See also Romans 9: i5.
The Lord told Moses that Moses could not look directly upon the face of the Lord "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." The Lord then put Moses into a cliff on the rock at Horeb on Mt. Sinai and as the Lord with His glory passed by the Lord would His hand to cover and protect Moses' eyes. As the Lord passed, He would remove His hand and Moses could visually witnessed the back side of the Lord as He passed, but never His face. Exodus 33:23.