Exodus 33:23

_AND I WILL TAKE AWAY MINE HAND, AND THOU SHALT SEE MY BACK PARTS: BUT MY FACE SHALL NOT BE SEEN._ Thou shalt see my back parts. Since a man whose back only is seen, and not his face, can be but imperfectly known, so God can be but indistinctly and partially discerned in the present state from His works in nature and providence, and from His Word, by material similitudes and analogies (1 Corinthians 13:12). That, however, is no more than shadowy reflection of His glory; and to whatever height of purity a believer may rise after he has become 'a partaker of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4), the holiest and most advanced saint in this mortal state must be content with a sight of the "back parts," 'but the face of Yahweh' shall not be seen.'...

12-23 Moses is very earnest with God. Thus, by the intercession of Christ, we are not only saved from ruin, but become entitled to everlasting happiness. Observe here how he pleads. We find grace in God's sight, if we find grace in our hearts to guide and quicken us in the way of our duty. Moses speaks as one who dreaded the thought of going forward without the Lord's presence. God's gracious promises, and mercy towards us, should not only encourage our faith, but also excite our fervency in prayer. Observe how he speeds. See, in a type, Christ's intercession, which he ever lives to make for all that come to God by him; and that it is not by any thing in those for whom he intercedes. Moses then entreats a sight of God's glory, and is heard in that also. A full discovery of the glory of God, would overwhelm even Moses himself. Man is mean, and unworthy of it; weak, and could not bear it;...

EXPOSITION THE REQUEST TO SEE GOD'S GLORY, AND THE REPLY TO IT. Having obtained the full restoration of the people to God's favour, Moses felt emboldened to ask a boon for himself. He had already been admitted to closer communion with God than any one of the race of man since Adam in Paradise. But what had been granted him, instead of satisfying, only made him desirous of something further, something closer, something than which nothing more close could be imagined. So he asks to see the unveiled glory of God (Exodus 33:18). He asks, that is, to see exactly that which man in the flesh cannot see, or at any rate cannot see and live. But, of course, he does not know this. God, in reply, tells hi

AND I WILL TAKE AWAY MINE HAND,.... As being covered with the hand may signify the obscurity of the former dispensation, the taking of it away may denote a more clear revelation of the grace and goodness of God in Christ, and so of the glory of it under the Gospel dispensation; and yet what is seen in this, in comparison of the reality of things as they are, or of the heavenly state, are but as next expressed: AND THOU SHALT SEE MY BACK PARTS; which some understand of the humanity of Christ, and his sufferings in it, sometimes expressed by his heel, and the bruising of it, Genesis 3:15 or else the works of God in creation, by which the invisible things of God are seen, and which give a knowledge of him "a posteriori"; and so Maimonides d interprets the phrase, which follow me, flow from my will, i.e. all my creatures: or rather it denotes the imperfect knowledge of God in t

5. MOSES' INTERCESSION AND ITS RESULTS CHAPTER 33 Repentance and Intercession _ 1. The word of the Lord and the people's repentance (Exodus 33:1)_ 2. The tabernacle without the camp (Exodus 33:7) 3. Moses enters the tabernacle (Exodus 33:8) 4. Moses' prayer and Jehovah's answers (Exodus 33:12) 5. Moses' request (Exodus 33:18) The words of the Lord, with which this chapter begins, reveal Him as the covenant-keeping Jehovah. He remembers His covenant, though they are a stiff-necked people. Yet He is a holy Go

EXODUS 33:1 J, EXODUS 33:5 E, EXODUS 33:12 J. YAHWEH'S PRESENCE. The sections of 34 have been glossed and disarranged. In Exodus 33:1 J, Yahweh's refusal to go up in the midst of Israel leads the people to put off their ornaments. In Exodus 33:5 f. follows from E Yahweh's order to put off ornaments and its execution. This may have been connected with the construction of the sacred Tent which is assumed as known in Exodus 33:7, the details being dropped in view of Exodus

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 people on their way to Canaan, and also (_vv._17 23) that He will vouchsafe Moses himself a glimpse of His glory....

HE SAID, I BESEECH THEE, SHEW ME THY GLORY, &C.— Moses, having obtained from the Lord a merciful remission of the dread penalties denounced upon the Israelites, proceeds now to request a confirmation of his grace by a sight of his _glory._ Again, condescending to his petition, the Lord promises to make _all his goodness pass before him,_ &c. Exodus 33:19 from which one would conclude, that _the glory_ which Moses was desirous to see, was some display of that _mercy reserved for thousands,_ in future times to be fully exhibited, and which alone can give comfort to repenting and returning sinners. Confirmative of this idea, we find that Christ's manifestation in the flesh is called _his glory:—The Word was made flesh,_ says St. John, _and tabernacled among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,_...

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 33 And Je-ho-vah spake unto Mo-ses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of E-gypt, unto the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to I-saac, 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 Ca-naan-ite, the Am-or-ite, and the Hit-tite, and the Per-iz-zite, the Hi-vite, and the Jeb-u-site: (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. (4) And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. (5) And Je-ho-vah said unto Mo-ses, Say unto the children of Is-ra-el, Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee: therefore now put off thy orname...

THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES (CONTINUED) 6. By the mount Horeb] RV 'from mount Horeb onward': this implies that they ceased wearing their ornaments. Their humiliation was lasting. Horeb] i.e. Sinai: see on Exodus 3:1....