Truly See and Know God-Exodus 33

• How much God do you want in your life? A lot or not too much? Video Recording 7/17/2022. My testimony on The Goodness of God.

“And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Exo 33:19). [A better translation would be: “I will invoke my name Yahweh before you, that is, I show grace in being gracious and I show mercy in being merciful.”]

• God responds to Moses’ request to know God‘s ways (Exo 33:13) with a promise to “proclaim his name” [his character and essense, thus his ways, i.e., what he is like and what he expects his people to be like].
• God responds to Moses’ request to see his “glory” (Exo 33:18) with a promise to have “all [his] goodness” pass before Moses. God would “show” Moses things that would convince him of God’s presence yet would stop short of actually letting Moses look at him,” lest he die from doing so (Exo 33:20).

Exodus 33 outline:

• With or Without You? (33:1-11)
• God cancels his trip (33:1-3). God saying, “I will not go with you” (Exo 33:3) meant there’d be no tabernacle in the center of their camp. The purpose of the tabernacle was to create a sacred holy space where God could dwell with his people (Exo 25:8). The Israelites were facing life without God–no divine presence in their camp–no tabernacle. Without the tabernacle, they’d be:
• no altar for sacrifice,
• no basin for cleansing,
• no lampstand for light,
• no table for bread,
• no incense for prayer,
• no ark for atonement, and
• no glory in Israel.
• The people‘s response (Exo 33:4-6). God was offering to bless them without having a relationship with them. Isn’t this what most people want? Many want God to help them overcome obstacles in life. They want to reach a promised land. But are they truly interested in having a personal relationship with the living God? Are they happy for God to defeat all their enemies and let them into his kingdom, even if he did not give them Himself? Isn’t this how some Christians are? They want Jesus to get them into Heaven, but are they living intimately with Him (cf. Exo 33:11)?
• The Israelites sign of genuine repentance to get right with God was to strip off their ornaments…as a permanent change (Exo 3:6)–getting rid of sin once and for all. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of any sin, we need to take off whatever is leading us into sin and never put it on again.
• Do we love God > his blessings? Many blessings come from knowing God. The blessing of:
• repentance,
• being able to see our sin and turn away from it,
• forgiveness, receiving a pardon for our sin,
• justification, of being declared righteous in God’s sight,
• sanctification, of growing in godliness,
• adoption, of having all the rights and privileges of a child of God,
• perseverance, of staying with God to the very end,
• glorification, of having the free gift of eternal life.
• But the greatest blessing is God himself. Knowing him is better than anything else. We should not focus so much on what he does for us that we neglect who he is to us. If we know God–really know him–then all the rest of his blessings will follow. But the first thing, the main thing, the fundamental thing, is to know God. J.I. Packer’s Knowing God.
• The [Moses’ own private] tent of meeting (Exo 33:1-11)–the place to meet with God–is not the tabernacle, though also called as such (Exo 27:21; 40:2). The tabernacle stood at the center, while Moses pitched his tent outside the camp–way outside (Exo 33:7), far off from the Israelites. Inside the tent Moses talked with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exo 33:11). It doesn’t mean he could see God (Exo 33:20), but that they enjoyed direct intimate communication. He had talked with God at the burning bush (Exo 3:4), and on top of the mountain (Exo 24:18). Now God was coming down to meet in his tent–condescending to communitcate.
• Under the Shadow of His Hand (33:12-23). The dialogue between God and Moses can be divided into 3 sections, each beginning with Moses asking for something from God. Moses asked:
• for himself as the mediator (33:12-14).
• for Israel as the people of God (33:15-17).
• for himkself as a man who wanted to know God (33:18-23).

Limited exposure–enough for human perception to be truly aware of the divine presence but not enough for us to have a direct perception of God that only heaven would allow–had already taken place in earlier theophanies (Exo 3:6; 24:11; 33:8-11). Thus, what Moses actually “saw” wouldn’t be significantly revelatory, but it was rather what he learned and heard through God‘s word that’d most help him to understand his request to be taught God’s ways (Exo 33:13) and to be shown God’s glory (Exo 33:18).

What did God mean by “all my goodness” [“loveliness/splendor” (Hos 10:11] and how could such goodness “pass in front of” Moses (Exo 33:19)? The translation could be read, “I will cause my full splendor to pass in front of you.” What God is promising Moses would be to sense God’s glory visually–to see something so splendid to behold–the best thing he could possibly see as a human–that he’d know without a doubt that it represented/manifest God’s presence passing before him. He wouldn’t actually see God as if God were like a human whose entirety could be seen; he may not get to see much of antying at all (Exo 33:21-23).

Seeing, knowing and speaking to God “face to face” (Exo 33:11) can be likened to a conversion opposite someone in a completely dark or smoke-filled room. There’s no question the conversation is “face to face,” but there’s also no actual visual contact with the other person, who’s really there–truly present–though one sees nothing per se. Moses was hidden in a rock crevice that was covered by Yahweh’s corporealized “hand” (Exo 33:22)–meaning that he couldn’t see God at all except his “back” (Exo 33:23)…after God had passed by. Thus, sensing God’s goodness was mainly nonvisual, and takes place in God’s covenant context with his people (Exo 34:4-7). Thus, God’s goodness was not so much a thing to be seen by looking but an ongoing experience of the nature of God as he manifest his nature for the benefit of his people through his beneficent covenant.

The character of Yahweh–grace and mercy [compassion]–is placed side by side with to the name of Yahweh. It addresses not only Moses’ special relationship with Yahweh, but more broadly it speaks to his name, that is, his character and ways (Exo 33:13). Moses did enjoy God’s special mercy and compassion in one way at one time, but in other ways and at other times God’s mercy and compassion would take different forms with other people.

A general principle is stated rather than merely a personal word to Moses. God’s “mercy” and “compassion” were granted to all his covenant people (Dt 13:17; Jas 5:11), and should in turn characterize the behavior of all his covenant people (Zech 7:9). But they are not automatically available to all other people unless they join in covenant with God. God’s covenant blessings are special incentives and privileges for those who know his name–those who seek to keep his covenant…and not give in to idolatry (Exo 32:1, 4-6). The promise of mercy and compassion is not so much a divisive or discriminatory staement as it is a part of the reassurance God gave Moses, saying in effect: You (my people) will receive my covenant mercy and compassion.

A restrictive clause followed by an explanatory clause (Exo 33:20). Moses should not expect to see God fully–as fully as, for eg., angels see God in heaven (Mt 18:10), or as the redeemed will one day see God (1 Jn 3:2). Such full proximity to the holiness of God would require the death of Moses, a sinful human still on earth, not yet transformed into the likeness of Christ and therefore not yet fit to experience a higher level of the presence of God while on earth. [God explained to Miriam and Aaron that what Moses saw when he “saw” God was his “likeness” or “depiction” (Num 12:6-8).

Reference:

1. Douglas K. Stuart. Exodus. The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. 2006.
2. Eugene Carpenter. Exodus 19-40. Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. 2016.
3. Philip Graham Ryken. Exodus. Saved for God’s Glory. Preaching the Word. 2015.
4. Leon R. Kass. Founding God’s Nation. Reading Exodus. 2021.
5. James K. Bruckner. Exodus. New International Bible Commentary. 2008.
6. John Goldingay. Exodus & Leviticus for Everyone. 2010.
7. Robert Alter. The Hebrew Bible. A translation with commentary. The Five Books of Moses. 2019.
8. Dennis Prager. Exodus. God, Slavery, and Freedom. The Rational Bible. 2018.

Other titles considered for Exodus 33:

• Why God can’t go with you, yet He does.
• See and speak to God face to face.
• It’s God’s prerogative to have mercy and compassion on whom He wishes.
• Do you want more or less of God? More God or less?
• Sin limits God’ presence.