Verses 1-3 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: 2 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: 3 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.
Notice the six nations God promised to drive out. These will be seen throughout the conflicts recorded in the Bible surrounding the nation Israel. Six is the number of mankind in the Scripture. Notice also that God said He was no longer going to be in the midst of the people.
Application: Under the New Covenant of the church age, God is now dwelling in the midst of His people through the gift of the Holy Spirit/Ghost that lives within each and every believer.
Notice also that, as in verse 34 of chapter 32, God states that He will send an angel to go before the people and lead the way. The people were to follow that angel.
Verses 4-6 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
Stripping themselves of their ornaments was an outward demonstration of a repentant and mournful heart. One does not dress up as if going to a party if one is deeply saddened or disturbed. Remember that 3000 people had been killed by the Levites and so many families were also mourning the loss of their loved ones. The people were most likely also afraid that they would be destroyed along with the 3000 people already killed. They now knew that they had upset the one true God.
Verse 7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. 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.
Israel’s sin prevented the presence of God from being in the midst of them. So now that God refused to go in the midst of the people, Moses put the tabernacle outside of the camp and the people had to go without the camp to seek the LORD.
Verses 8-10 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. 9 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. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.
It appears that the Hebrew people had a change of heart and of behavior and they demonstrated respect for Moses by standing when he passed by on the way to the tabernacle. There was also a renewed spiritual attitude of worship and they were not bowing down to an idol at this point in time.
Verse 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
As mentioned in chapter 32, Joshua was a righteous warrior and a true servant of God. The verse above records that he stayed in the tabernacle in the presence of the LORD even when Moses departed.
Verses 12-13 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. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13 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.
Moses started his conversation with God by reminding Him of what He had said previously, and then he made the request to have the LORD show him the way (road, path) that he should go and to give him a better understanding of His character. He also wanted God to once again think of the Hebrew people as His and not as just Moses’ people.
Application: Believers need to seek the LORD’s way so that they can know Him more and more. This is accomplished through Bible study, prayer and the exercising of faith. Jesus is the example to follow as He did nothing unless He was told to by the Father. As a result, Jesus stated that if a person had seen Him (Jesus), the person had seen God. John 14:9 “...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;“
Verses 14-16 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 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? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
God will listen to a righteous person’s argument. He listened to Moses and then agreed to go up to the land of promise with him and therefore, with the Hebrew people. This was a change in His previous position of saying that He would not go with them, but have an angel lead them instead. God was disgusted with the people and not with Moses. Therefore, just one man standing between God and a nation had the power to change the mind of God. But the man Moses was righteous and in good standing with Almighty God. This influence of a single individual was seen previously back in Genesis when Abraham stood between God and Sodom and Gomorrah and succeeded in saving the lives of Lot and his daughters.
Application: It is God’s presence (Holy Ghost) that separates believers from the rest of the world.
Verse 17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
How marvelous to be known by the LORD by name. Moses found grace in God’s sight. That meant that he had found favor and acceptance by God.
Application: As soon as a person seeks the LORD and truly repents, that person has found grace in the sight of the LORD and that person is then known by name, and his/her name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. That person’s destination, if he/she remains true to the LORD Jesus Christ, is Heaven and eternal life.
Glory is a difficult concept. The Hebrew word “kabowd” is used here and it can mean honour, abundance, splendor, dignity, and reputation. Moses apparently wanted to see the beauty and goodness of the LORD. You, the reader, will have to decide what that consists of. This writer believes that only glimpses of the power and goodness and beauty of the LORD can be seen through Bible study and answers to prayer. The entire goodness of God will be seen when Heaven is reached. There is no other passage in Scripture where this request is granted to a man. But Moses was a very special person and God loved him enough to want to grant his requests.
Verses 18-20 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
Verse 20 can be controversial. It says that no man can ever see God’s face because in doing so, there would be physical death. However, the Bible is full of references of men and women seeing God and talking to Him face to face. So is this a mistake in translation or a mistake in the Word of God? And if this was not a fact, why would God bother to hide Moses?
The problem is solved with a clear understanding of the concept of Godhead. Colossians 2:9 states, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The word “trinity” is used over and over in many Christian denominational churches to refer to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It means “three”. So for many believers, the Christian Godhead consists of one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The problem with that is that this thinking seems to come from the Catholic Church and not from the Word of God. The word “trinity” does not appear in Scripture. If God wanted to use the concept of “three in one” to explain who He is, He would had done so. See if you, the reader, can find the concept of trinity. Also, a person is someone who has/had a human body. Only Jesus possessed a human body. Therefore, only Jesus has/had a face. Father God is a spirit as is the Holy Spirit. When in these forms, God is invisible. So there cannot be three persons involved. Also, God is a very good mathematician and this writer cannot find any other places in the Scripture where 3 equals 1 or visa versa. So if the verse above says that all the Godhead is in the LORD Jesus Christ, then it must be so. There is only one God who manifests himself as a spirit that fills Heaven and Earth, who manifests himself as a man called Jesus, and who manifests himself as a spirit that dwells in believers. So humans cannot see God when He is the Father and live. But humans could/can see Jesus and live. So all the Old Testament statements about the LORD appearing to humans was God manifesting in the person of Jesus, who created all things and was therefore around before the foundation of the world. Moses had to have been seeing Jesus. Make sense?
21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 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 while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.