Jehovah bids Moses lead the people on to the promised land, but refuses to go with them personally Himself, _vv._1 3. The people strip themselves of their ornaments, _vv._4 6. How Moses used to pitch the Tent of Meeting at some distance outside the camp, and how Jehovah used to speak with him there,... [ Continue Reading ]
_go up_ into the high ground of Canaan. Cf. on Exodus 1:10. _which I sware_, &c. See the passages quoted on Exodus 32:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah commands Moses to lead the people on to Canaan, but refuses to go with them personally Himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
_an angel_ in the place of Jehovah, and exclusive of Him (see _v._3): not, therefore, as Exodus 23:20, where Jehovah is in some sense present in the angel (_v._21 -my name is in him"). As was remarked on Exodus 32:34, this is not the usual idea of the -angel": it can, however, be avoided here only b... [ Continue Reading ]
_a land flowing_, &c. See on Exodus 3:8. _in the midst of v._5, Exodus 17:7; Exodus 34:9; Numbers 11:20; Numbers 14:14; Numbers 14:42. _a stiffnecked people_ Exodus 32:9. _lest I consume thee_, &c. in consequence of some outburst of wilfulness or rebellion on thy part.... [ Continue Reading ]
_these evil tidings_ that Jehovah would not accompany them to Canaan. _and no man_, &c. The removal of ornaments was a mark of mourning and grief: Ezekiel 24:17; Ezekiel 26:16, Jdt 10:3 f. (Kn.).... [ Continue Reading ]
The people strip themselves of their ornaments.... [ Continue Reading ]
The people are here told to do what they have already done (_v._4b), a clear proof that two narratives have been combined. In _v._4 the removal of the ornaments is a spontaneous token of grief; in _v._5 it is done at Jehovah's command. It is true, LXX. omit _v._4b: but the omission is open to the su... [ Continue Reading ]
_Horeb_ E's term: see on Exodus 3:1. There can be little doubt that, as Di. remarks, according to E the ornaments were to be used in the construction or decoration of the Tent of Meeting (cf., in P, Exodus 25:2-8; Exodus 35:22-29): some account of the construction of the Tent would naturally preced... [ Continue Reading ]
_used to take_, &c. at every new encampment of the Israelites. _the tent_ As the context shews, not Moses" tent, or a provisional tent, but the same sacred tent which is mentioned by P, under the same name (Exodus 25:22), though described by him as a much more ornate and elaborate structure (see fu... [ Continue Reading ]
The Tent of Meeting, and the use made of it by Moses. The sudden introduction of this notice of the Tent of Meeting is extremely surprising; and it is difficult to explain it, except by the conjecture mentioned on _v._6. The notice is a highly interesting and remarkable one, preserving, as it does,... [ Continue Reading ]
Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise up, and follow him reverently with their eyes. The camp seems to be pictured on a much smaller scale by E than by P. _door_ lit. _opening_: so _vv._9, 10, and regularly with -tent.... [ Continue Reading ]
Whenever Moses entered the Tent, the pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21-22), symbolizing Jehovah's presence, would descend and stand by the entrance of the Tent (cf. Numbers 11:25; Numbers 12:5; Deuteronomy 31:15), God would speak to him there, and the people, every one at the entrance of his tent in the... [ Continue Reading ]
WOULD SPEAK _unto Moses face to face_ not from the distant heaven, or with the comparative indistinctness of a vision or a dream (Numbers 12:8), but -face to face" (so Deuteronomy 34:10; cf. Deuteronomy 5:4), or -mouth to mouth" (Nu. _l.c._), like one friend speaking to another. Moses WOULD then RE... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses complains to Jehovah that He has not treated him with the confidence that He had given him reason to expect. _Bring up_ viz. into Canaan, like -go up," _v._1. So _carry up, v._15. _whom thou wilt send with me_ An angel has been promised in Exodus 32:34; Exodus 33:2: so that, unless these ver... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses resumes the intercession broken off at _v._3; and starting from the command given him in Exodus 32:34 a, Exodus 33:1 a obtains from Jehovah (_vv._14 16, as the text stands; see, however, on _v._14) the promise that He will not carry out the threat of _v._3, but will Himself accompany the peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
_if_, &c. A common Heb. phrase: Genesis 18:3; Genesis 30:27 _al._ shew lit. MAKE ME TO KNOW. -Shew" in Old English meant not only to _let see_, but also to _let know_, or _tell_: see on Daniel 2:2; Daniel 4:2 in the _Camb. Bible_, or the writer's _Parallel Psalter_, p. 481. Cf. Psalms 103:7. _ways_... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah promises that His presence shall go with Moses (as the representative of His people), and that He will give him and with him the people rest. The words do not however seem very suitable as an answer to _v._13; and Di."s suggestion is a plausible one, that _vv._14 16 are misplaced, and should... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses replies that if Jehovah will not go with them, they prefer to remain where they are, in the neighbourhood of their God (Exodus 19:4), at Sinai.... [ Continue Reading ]
For how can it be known that they stand in Jehovah's favour except by His personally accompanying them, and thereby shewing that they are distinguished from all other nations of the earth? _separated_, &c. The word, as Exodus 8:22; Exodus 9:4; Exodus 11:7 (Heb.): for the thought, cf. Exodus 19:5, D... [ Continue Reading ]
_this thing also_ i.e., as the text stands, accompany you personally to Canaan (_v._16): but, if _vv._14 16 (see on _v._14) stood originally after Exodus 34:9, give Moses a knowledge of His -ways" (_v._13). In either case, the new paragraph would begin better at _v._18. _and I know thee by name_ Se... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shew me_ Here, as a modern English reader would expect, -make me to _see_," not as in _v._13, -make me to _know_." _thy glory_ Thy full majesty.... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses repeats, in a more definite form, his request of _v._13. He asks to be allowed to see Jehovah's glory; but is told in reply that he cannot see this in its fulness (_v._20); he may, however, have a glimpse of it, sufficient to disclose to him God's _moral_nature.... [ Continue Reading ]
_goodness_ GOODLINESS or COMELINESS, viz. of the Divine appearance; cf. Hosea 10:11 (lit. -the _goodness_, i.e. _comeliness_, of her neck"). -It is to be a spectacle of outward beauty as a visible sign of His moral perfection" (McNeile). _proclaim the name of_ JEHOVAH] and so manifest the character... [ Continue Reading ]
The thought that no one could -see God," at least in His full glory, -and live," is often expressed in the OT.: cf. Genesis 32:30; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 5:24; Deuteronomy 5:26; Judges 6:22 f., Exodus 13:22; Isaiah 6:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_stand_ better, STATION THYSELF: cf. Exodus 34:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah accordingly bids Moses stand where he may see, as He passes by, not His full glory, but only His _back_, or HINDER PARTS (Exodus 26:12 Heb.), i.e., so to say, only the afterglow, which He leaves behind Him, but which may still suggest faintly what the full brilliancy of His presence must be... [ Continue Reading ]