CHAPTER XXXIII _Moses is commanded to depart from the mount, and lead up the_ _people towards the promised land_, 1. _An angel is promised to be their guide_, 2. _The land is described, and the Lord refuses to go with them_, 3. _The people mourn, and strip themselves of their ornaments_, 4-6.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:2. _I WILL SEND AN ANGEL_] In Exodus 23:20, God promises to send an angel to conduct them into the good land, in whom the name of God should be; that is, in whom God should dwell. Exodus 23:20, Exodus 23:20. Here he promises that an angel shall be their conductor; but as there is not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:3. _I WILL NOT GO UP IN THE MIDST OF THEE_] Consequently, the angel here promised to be their guide was not that angel in whom Jehovah's name was: and so the people understood it; hence the mourning which is afterwards mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:5. _NOW PUT OFF THY ORNAMENTS FROM THEE_] "The Septuagint, in their translation, suppose that the children of Israel not only laid aside their ear-rings, and such like ornaments, in a time of professed deep humiliation before God, but their upper or more beautiful garments too. Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:7. _MOSES TOOK THE TABERNACLE_] אה האהל _eth haohel, the_ TENT; not את המשכן _eth hammishcan_, _the tabernacle_, the dwelling-place of Jehovah, see Exodus 35:11, for this was not as yet erected; but probably the _tent_ of Moses, which was before in the midst of the camp, and to which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:9. _THE CLOUDY PILLAR DESCENDED_] This very circumstance precluded the possibility of deception. The cloud descending at these times, and at none others, was a full proof that it was _miraculous_, and a pledge of the Divine presence. It was beyond the power of human art to counterfei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:11. _THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES FACE TO FACE_] That there was no personal appearance here we may readily conceive; and that the communications made by God to Moses were not by _visions,_ _ecstacies, dreams, inward inspirations_, or the _mediation of_ _angels_, is sufficiently evident:... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:12. _MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD_] We may suppose that after Moses had quitted the tabernacle he went to the camp, and gave the people some general information relative to the conversation he lately had with the Lord; after which he returned to the tabernacle or tent, and began to plead... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:13. _SHOW ME NOW THY WAY_] Let me know the manner in which thou wouldst have this people led up and governed, because this nation is _thy people_, and should be governed and guided _in thy_ _own way_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:14. _MY PRESENCE SHALL GO WITH THEE_] פני ילכו _panai_ _yelechu, my faces shall go_. I shall give thee _manifestations_ of my grace and goodness through the whole of thy journey. I shall vary my _appearances_ for thee, as thy necessities shall require.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:15. _IF THY PRESENCE GO NOT_] אם אין פניך הלכים _im ein_ _pancycha holechim, if thy faces do not go _- if we have not _manifestations_ of thy peculiar providence and grace, _carry us_ _not up hence_. Without _supernatural_ assistance, and a most _particular_ providence, he knew that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:16. _SO SHALL WE BE SEPARATED_] By having this Divine protection we shall be saved from idolatry, and be preserved in thy truth and in the true worshipping of thee; and thus shall we be separated from all the people that are upon the face of the earth: as all the nations of the world... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:17. _I WILL DO THIS THING ALSO_] My presence shall go with thee, and I will keep thee _separate_ from all the people of the earth. Both these promises have been remarkably fulfilled. God continued miraculously with them till he brought them into the promised land; and from the day i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:18. _SHOW ME THY GLORY_] Moses probably desired to see that which constitutes the peculiar glory or excellence of the Divine nature as it stands in reference to man. By many this is thought to signify his eternal mercy in sending Christ Jesus into the world. Moses perceived that wha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:19. _I WILL MAKE ALL MY GOODNESS PASS BEFORE THEE_] Thou shalt not have a sight of my _justice_, for thou couldst not bear the infinite splendour of my purity: but I shall show myself to thee as the fountain of inexhaustible _compassion_, the sovereign _Dispenser_ of my own mercy in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:20. _NO MAN SEE ME, AND LIVE._] The splendour would be insufferable to _man_; he only, whose mortality is swallowed up of life, can see God _as he is_. See 1 John 3:2. From some disguised relation of the circumstances mentioned here, the fable of _Jupiter_ and _Semele_ was formed; sh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 33:21. _BEHOLD_, THERE IS _A PLACE BY ME_] There seems to be a reference here to a well-known place on the mount where God was accustomed to meet with Moses. This was a _rock_; and it appears there was a cleft or cave in it, in which Moses was to stand while the Divine Majesty was pleas... [ Continue Reading ]