Exodus 33

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:12utc

The Tent of Meeting

Exod. 33:1-23

Before the construction of the tabernacle there was a place where people could meet the Lord. We read in vs. 7, "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the 'tent of meeting.' Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp." The NIV uses the term "tent of meeting" also where the tabernacle is meant, which is confusing. It is obvious that the tent that is mentioned in this verse is not the same as the tabernacle, since it was positioned outside the camp and the tabernacle occupied the central place in the camp. The reason for the placement outside the camp is not given. Moses may have felt that the quietness of the wilderness was more conducive to intimate fellowship with God than the hustle and noise of the camp.

There is, however, a hidden meaning in this placement. It was outside the camp that the carcasses of certain sacrificial animals were burned and the condition of the leper was examined. The writer of the Hebrew epistle makes a point of this place outside the camp, when he says: "The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore."[ 1 ] Whether unwittingly or purposely, this is the place Moses designates for fellowship with God. It is the place where Christ suffered and paid for our sins.

If Moses had chosen the place to withdraw from the public eye, his purpose is defeated by the attitude of the people. They follow his every move and stand in awe for the fellowship this man knew with God, a fellowship, they felt, which lay beyond their own reach. But we read a very significant sentence about Joshua. When Moses returns to the camp, we read: "his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent." Joshua had discovered the source of Moses' greatness, and he decided that he would not leave that place until he drank his fill. About such an attitude Jesus would say, what He said about Mary: "Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."[ 2 ]

It is at this place that the conversation between God and Moses, about who will lead the people from here on, takes place. When the Lord said to Moses: "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," He actually scraps the plans for the construction of the tabernacle, given to Moses on the mountain a few days earlier. As it worked out the Israelites would remain at the foot of Mount Sinai for the construction of the tabernacle. Without the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, Israel would have nothing to distinguish itself from other nations on the earth. It would symbolize in a graphic way that the Lord Himself was not in their midst.

This conversation between God and Moses was a continuation of the one begun in the previous chapter. It appears, though, that not everything we read was said during one session; there must have been interruptions. Vs. 5 tells us, for instance, that the Lord had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.'" But in the previous verse we read: "When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments." And, again, in vs. 6 it says: "So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb." Moses must have gone back and forth between the Tent of Meeting and the camp to convey the message to the people and their reaction makes God decide to change His mind.

In the first three verses of this chapter there is a strange mixture of promise and punishment. God reminds Moses of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would give the land of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites to their descendants. An angel, one of God's created supernatural beings, would lead them to the land and help them conquer it, but the Shekinah would not go with them. It is these words that trigger the people's repentance. They go into mourning. Their attitude shows that the understand the magnitude of their sin. In making the Golden Calf they had withdrawn themselves from the protection of the blood of the lamb that had saved them from death in Egypt and brought them out of bondage. They had forfeited their lives. Mourning is connected with death, and sin and death are closely related.

Before the conversation continues in vs. 12, we are given a glimpse into Moses' intimate relationship with God. Vs. 11 tells us: "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." Moses' personal fellowship with God is recognized by the people. God testifies to this Himself at a later time when He says about Moses: "With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord."[ 3 ] This fact is stated as an introduction to the following event, which is one of the highlights of the whole Old Testament. Moses asks God to show him His glory. The lowest point in Israel's history is transformed into a peak of spiritual experience.

God had told Moses that He would no longer be present among the people to lead them into the promised land. Moses tells the Lord flatly that this is unacceptable. Again, we are not given a detailed account of the conversation. What we read seems to be a rough outline of the discussion. We may paraphrase Moses' words as follows: "You tell me to lead this people, but I cannot do that. They are not my people, but Yours. If You love me, as You say You do, You cannot do this to me." This doesn't sound like the language of prayer. Yet, God is, apparently, soon swayed. He agrees immediately to change the verdict and to return to His place as the leader of the nation. One has to know God well in order to be able to say "No" to Him. Moses' insistence is, obviously, according to the will of God.

One of the great lessons of Moses' attitude at this point seems to be that there can be a wrongly resting in our circumstances. There may be times in our lives when God is pleased when we resist what overcomes us, even if our circumstances are ordained by Him. This may sound contradictory, but the key for knowing when to accept and when to resist lies in the understanding of the love of God. At times God's love and mercy may be severe and we need insight into the character of God to know the difference between bowing and standing up. Moses did the right thing when he refused God's proposal and God richly rewarded him for it.

Moses says some very deep things to God. It seems redundant to tell the omniscient God, "You know me by name," but it appears that there are with God different levels of knowing us. Jesus says to the evildoers, "'I never knew you. Away from me, you!"[ 4 ] Evidently, knowing, in this context, stands for an intimate relationship. That is why Paul says: "The man who loves God is known by God."[ 5 ] So, Moses says to God: "I love You and You tell me that You love me." And the statement: "you have found favor with Me," could be interpreted as: "I have forgiven you your sins." Now, Moses transfers this intimate relationship between God and himself to the whole nation. He wants to increase in his love for God by better understanding His character. "Teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you," is the Old Testament equivalent of Paul's deepest desires. The apostle wrote: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."[ 6 ] The beauty of Moses' entreating with God is that, not only he wants to increase in love and knowledge, but also that his motive for doing so is the salvation of the people of Israel. The words "Remember that this nation is your people," are found in this context. David expresses the same desire when he says: "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."[ 7 ] And David also confirms later that God answered Moses' prayer. He wrote: "He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel."[ 8 ] It was never Moses' intention that he would be the only one in the nation who would know God in such an intimate way. Moses' relationship with God should have been the normal standard for all the Israelites. That is why, at a later date, he said: "I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"[ 9 ]

In all this, Moses is an image of our Lord Jesus Christ. The man Jesus had a relationship with God that has never been equaled by any other human being. While on earth, He set the example for us as to know how to pray, how to know Scripture, how to suffer and die, and how to live. As Peter says: "If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."[ 10 ] Jesus' relationship with the Father was to our benefit. In Jesus' own words: "For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."[ 11 ]

God seems to be easily swayed by Moses' words. Without offering any of the former objections that God's presence would mean the annihilation of the people, God says: "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." The words "I will give you rest," stand for a whole concept of entering into a position of victory over evil and the powers of darkness and of proclaiming the majesty of God. God rested on the seventh day of the week of creation. The book of Genesis tells us: "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."[ 12 ] There is also a rest after the completion of the new creation in Jesus Christ. The author of the Hebrew epistle focuses upon this truth when he says: "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his."[ 13 ] The Bible puts the entrance of Israel into Canaan in the perspective of the ultimate victory over evil which disrupted God's creation. The rest God promises to Israel is an image of the real rest that is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"[ 14 ]

Moses formulates a timeless truth when he answers God: "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" The difference between those who are the children of God and those who aren't is in the presence of God Himself. That is the only distinction that has value. No name or sticker or form of organization or lifestyle can substitute for the reality of Christ in us.

Moses puts the emphasis on the distinction outsiders will make: "How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people?" In the previous chapter he had already used the argument "what will the Egyptians say?" in order to dissuade God from destroying the people. Here it is put in a positive way. The people had fallen into a very serious sin that could have meant their annihilation. Moses pleads with the Lord to have their testimony restored, so that the world may know that there is a God who reveals Himself to the world. The phrase, "you are pleased with me and with your people," is rendered by other translations as: "that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight." (KJV) or, as in the RSV "that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people." The word "favor" or "grace" in Hebrew is cheen, which, according to Strongs Definitions means, "graciousness," in the subjective sense, or, objectively, "beauty." That is a different connotation than "pleased."

God confirms Moses' words by answering: "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." TLB renders this with: "Yes, I will do what you have asked, for you have certainly found favor with me, and you are my friend." Having received this reassurance, Moses asks of God the greatest request anyone has ever asked: "Now show me your glory." It is wonderful to find grace with God and to be His friend is even more, but Moses understood that this was only the beginning of the realization of God's plan with man. The ultimate purpose is that we would not only see His glory, but share His glory. The Bible testifies to this from the Old Testament on to the end of the New Testament. The psalmist says: "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory."[ 15 ] And Jesus, speaking about His disciples, says to the Father: "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one."[ 16 ] Paul describes our present condition with the words: "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."[ 17 ] And, later, writing to the Colossians, he says: "Christ in you, the hope of glory."[ 18 ] The writer of the Hebrews defines God's purpose with us, as Christ bringing us to glory. We read: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering."[ 19 ] Peter tells the elders of the church that he is: "a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed."[ 20 ] And, finally, John, describing the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, says: "It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal."[ 21 ] So, there is ample proof from the Bible as a whole that Moses' request was not outrageous. He did not exceed the limits of human potential. He understood something of God's purpose in creating man in His image.

God certainly does not refuse Moses' request, but He modifies it so that Moses would be able to see the glory and stay alive. If God would reveal His glory to us in all its fullness, our human frames would not be able to bear it. It would mean our physical death. Daniel fainted when he was approached by an angel. He described the experience as follows: "So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.' And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling."[ 22 ] And John, the beloved disciple, who knew Jesus more intimately than any of the others, when he saw Jesus in the glory of His resurrection, says: "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead."[ 23 ] Our bodies are not built for this kind of revelation and, probably, our souls and spirits would not be able to absorb the intensity of it. Yet God is longing to reveal Himself to His beloved servant Moses and He takes all the precautions necessary to protect him from excessive radiation. The main part of the revelation will be in the Word of God. In our present dispensation the emphasis is upon hearing, not seeing. Paul emphasizes this when he says: "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Or, as the KJV puts it: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."[ 24 ] And Jesus indicates that God's mode of revelation is by the Word, not through what we see. That is why He says to Thomas: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."[ 25 ] As far as seeing the glory of the Father is concerned, Jesus says: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."[ 26 ]

We read in the verses 19-23, "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. But,' he said, 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.' Then the LORD said, 'There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.'"

Some of these words are hard to grasp. What does it meant that God makes His goodness pass by Moses and pronounces His Name in his presence? Jesus says to the rich young man: "No one is good-- except God alone."[ 27 ] All goodness is derived from God. He is the ultimate good. It appears that God lets His goodness pass by Moses as an indication of the standard against which all goodness is to be measured. It is important to understand this in the context of the law that God had just given to Moses. The commandments were not just rules to determine the limits of human behavior, they were expressions of the character of God. That is why it can be said that the law is good. We tend to see laws as restrictions of human liberty. It is true that God's goodness restricts evil, but it also means that God blesses us and fills our lives with His goodness. James puts it this way: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."[ 28 ]

Goodness is an absolute that can only be found in God, but at the same time it is a characteristic to which we can relate. We experience goodness as something that agrees with us, that fills and satisfies us. When we encounter goodness we realize that this is what we were made for; it is the reason for our existence. In God's goodness we find all His perfections of love, kindness, gentleness and beauty wrapped together. And, although Moses was not able to experience God's goodness in all its fullness, God allowed him to get a taste of it, to whet his appetite, so to speak, for things to come. Now, in Heaven, Moses drinks his fill of God's goodness continuously. Then, he could only touch it and lick his finger.

Then God says: "I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence." This phrase makes us realize how far we have strayed from our origin. For us, names are meaningless. They are a little better than numbers, but they do not differ in quality. Shakespeare asked the famous question, "What's in a name?" And the meaning of it is, that names make no difference. They did make all the difference in the world when man was still in fellowship with God. Didn't God say to Moses: "I know you by name?" This meant that God knew Moses intimately. David would say later: "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in-- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me."[ 29 ] Now, God reverses the miracle and He says to Moses: "I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence," or, "I will tell you Who I am." This is an invitation to search and know God: to know Him intimately, as God knows us. In this too, Moses received only a foretaste of things to come. Paul opens the window on a wider perspective when he says: "It is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."[ 30 ] The half has not yet been told!

God describes His own character with the words mercy and compassion. Those words, obviously, have relevance in the relationship God has with man who is fallen. Man needs mercy because he is guilty and he needs compassion because he is lost. Jesus paints so beautifully the picture of the Father's attitude toward His wayward children in the parable of the prodigal son. We read: "But while he [the prodigal son] was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.[ 31 ]

Mercy is a word that fits in a legal context. It presupposes guilt and exchanges pardon for punishment. Compassion describes an emotional reaction to a condition in which one of God's creatures has fallen from the place God had intended him to occupy. It is love acting to save and heal. Both words are perfect descriptions of what God has done for man and for the whole of creation since Satan succeeded in separating man from God. Mercy is extended to the guilty because of the sacrifice God Himself would bring in His Son who died on the cross and compassion is demonstrated in the saving of man's soul through the Gospel. All this was only visible in outline form when God revealed Himself to Moses. It is abundantly clear to us now.

The apostle Paul quotes God's words to Moses in a different context of God's election. In Romans, speaking about Israel's role in the history of God's revelation of Himself in this world, he writes: "Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden." Unless we understand that Paul is speaking about God's choice of Israel as the wardens of His revelation in this world and not about man's personal salvation from sin, we have a hard time grasping the meaning of the apostle's words. Nowhere in the Bible is it taught that God would keep salvation from a man who is eager to be saved. God does not reject anyone who accepts Him. A man who rejects God cannot blame God for his decision.

When God says to Moses: "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live," He does not only indicate that man could not see God because the frailty of his physical body would not be able to bear the stress, but also that there is a moral restriction. We cannot see God face to face and continue living the life we are living now. In our present condition, we are all condemned to death. No one will escape death. Seeing God, the One who cannot die, who is the source of life, and then continuing to live a life of the dying would be impossible. That is why God says: "No one may see Me and live." It is a moral impossibility as well as a physical one.

The solution God offers to Moses is pregnant with spiritual significance: "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by." We can hardly read these words without thinking of Paul's explanation of the spiritual significance of the rock in Israel's crossing of the desert. He says: "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."[ 32 ] In Christ we are all hidden in the cleft in the rock and covered with the hand of God. Fanny Crosby wrote a beautiful hymn that uses this theme: "A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. .... He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock and covers me there with His hand." In Christ, we may behold the glory of God and at the same time we are protected against the harmful rays of His radiance.

Moses' experience was, of course, a spiritual one, although there were physical signs that indicated the presence of a spiritual reality. But the picture that is drawn is anthropomorphistic. When God says: "I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen," He speaks in terms that can by understood by man. God does not have a hand, a back and a face in the sense that we know it. What we know as hand, back, and face are images of God's reality. God is spirit and, in Jesus' words: "a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."[ 33 ] What happens to Moses is translated in terms we can understand.

Yet, it is hard to understand what actually happened to Moses. Moses asked God to show him on earth what, actually, can only be seen in heaven. We have very little understanding what God did when He created heaven and earth and expressed Himself, as a Spirit, in material things. He, who had no image, created man in His image. We understand something of the principle when we look at a sculpture. Through the genius of the sculptor, a lump of clay or a form of bronze or of marble can convey emotions and values that may affect us deeply. An artist can give form to color on a canvas and express things that go far beyond the material he uses. And music is more than a series of vibrations of the air that fall upon our eardrum: it is beauty, emotion, value and truth. So, when God passed by Moses, the imprint of His feet conveyed things that went far beyond what can be put into words. It did not transform Moses into a heavenly being yet, but it kindled in him an unquenchable thirst for things to come. May Moses' experience do the same to us. "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"[ 34 ]

[ 1 ] Heb. 13:11-13

[ 2 ] Luke 10:42

[ 3 ] Num. 12:8

[ 4 ] Matt. 7:23

[ 5 ] I Cor. 8:3

[ 6 ] Phil. 3:10,11

[ 7 ] Ps. 25:4,5

[ 8 ] Ps. 103:7

[ 9 ] Num. 11:29

[ 10 ] I Pet. 2:20,21

[ 11 ] John 17:19

[ 12 ] Gen. 2:2,3

[ 13 ] Heb. 4:9,10

[ 14 ] II Cor. 5:17

[ 15 ] Ps. 73:24

[ 16 ] John 17:22

[ 17 ] II Cor. 3:18

[ 18 ] Col. 1:27

[ 19 ] Heb. 2:10

[ 20 ] I Pet. 5:1

[ 21 ] Rev. 21:11

[ 22 ] Dan. 10:8-11

[ 23 ] Rev. 1:17

[ 24 ] Rom. 10:17

[ 25 ] John 20:29

[ 26 ] John 14:9

[ 27 ] Luke 18:19

[ 28 ] James 1:17

[ 29 ] Ps. 139:1-5

[ 30 ] I Cor. 2:9-12

[ 31 ] Luke 15:20

[ 32 ] I Cor 10:3,4

[ 33 ] Luke 24:39 (KJV)

[ 34 ] Ps. 42:1,2