After Moses pleaded with God not to destroy His people, Exodus 32:30-35, God holds true to His promise He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concerning the land, Exodus 33:1.
God is going to send an angel before them to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, Exodus 33:2 / Exodus 23:20, but He Himself would not go with them.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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, Exodus 33:4.’
Israel is to go to the land flowing with milk and honey, but God won’t go with them, Exodus 33:3. If He were with them, He knew that He would have to bring down judgment on them because they were a stiff-necked people, Exodus 33:3. For this reason, God stayed at a distance lest He destroy them.
As a result of God declaring that He wouldn’t go with His people, the Israelites were deeply saddened by this, Exodus 33:4-5 / Micah 1:8. It’s clear they understood that this was a result of their sinful, idolatrous behaviour, Exodus 32:25-29. Their sin separated them once again from God, Isaiah 59:1-2.
God commands them to remove their ornaments, Exodus 33:5, which was a test to see if they really were repentant or not. They were to remove the ornaments that would possibly cover up any sign of remorse.
It appears that they now realise that this wasn’t the time for decorating themselves with clothes, but a time for making their hearts right with God again. And so they removed their ornaments at Mount Horeb, Exodus 33:6.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Though many had parted with their choicest ornaments, yet not all, only a few comparatively, of the wives, daughters, and sons of 600,000 men, could have been thus stripped to make one golden calf, Exodus 32:2-4. The major part still had these ornaments, and they are now commanded to lay them aside.’
Moses appears to take extraordinary measures to seek God, and so, he went ahead and made his own tent, a ‘tent of meeting’, Exodus 33:7. It wasn’t a tent or tabernacle in which people assembled, but a structure around which they assembled. Earlier, God told Moses to make a tabernacle of meeting when Moses was on Mount Sinai, Exodus 25-28, but here the tabernacle itself hadn’t been built yet.
We know it wasn’t the tabernacle he built because of the following four facts.
1. There were no sacrifices offered.
2. There was no High Priest, nor even any lesser priests.
3. This tent was outside the polluted camp of Israel, not in the midst of it.
4. When Moses needed someone to watch the tent, he gave the commission to Joshua, not to Aaron, perhaps because Joshua was the only one in Israel who had not danced around the golden calf.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘That distinctive word in the Old Testament, which alone should be rendered ‘tabernacle’ does not even appear in this chapter; and thus there is no excuse for confusing Moses’ Tent with the Mosaic Tabernacle.’
Notice the text was set up ‘outside’ the camp, Exodus 33:7 / Numbers 11:26 / Numbers 12:4. This was done because of Israel’s sin, and so, if the people wanted to call on God, they would have to go outside the camp to do so. In other words, this was to let the people know that God couldn’t dwell where sin was.
Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent, Exodus 33:8. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses, Exodus 33:9.
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to their tent, Exodus 33:10. It was when Israel murmured, rebelled, or didn’t have any faith that the pillar of cloud, indicating God’s presence, would appear over this tent instead of over the tabernacle.
The phrase ‘face to face’, Exodus 33:11, is obviously figurative, as God doesn’t have a physical face, John 4:24 / 1 John 4:12. What is meant here is that Moses had free and open fellowship with God. Moses hadn’t and couldn’t see the actual face of God the Father in His glory.
Notice that Joshua is referred to as a ‘young man’, Exodus 33:11. Moses, at this period point in time, was past eighty years old, and Joshua might have been around thirty to forty years old.
He succeeded Moses for nearly forty years after the events mentioned here. It’s clear that Moses was setting the example for everyone else, especially Joshua. As Moses’ relationship with God, it appears that Joshua’s relationship with God got stronger, to such an extent that Joshua didn’t depart from the tent, Exodus 33:11.
This is now the third time Moses has interceded for Israel, Exodus 33:12 / Exodus 32:11-14 / Exodus 32:30-35. Moses reminds God that He told Moses to lead the people, but God hasn’t let him know whom He will send with him, Exodus 33:12. God knew Moses by name and God found favour with him, Exodus 33:12.
Moses now asks God if He is pleased with him, then teach him God’s ways so he may know Him and continue to find favour with Him, and then he asks God to remember that Israel is His nation, Exodus 33:13.
It’s here that Moses was reassured by God that He would be with him as he led the people from Mount Sinai. Moses was calling on the grace of God to overlook their sin in order to be with them as a nation.
God previously promised to send an angel with Israel, Exodus 33:2, but after interceding again for his people, God tells Moses He will go with him, Exodus 33:14, which would have filled Moses with the courage to lead his people confidently.
He knew that only the strong presence of the Lord Himself could do that, Exodus 33:15. Moses how will anyone know that God is pleased with him and His people unless God go with them? What else will distinguish Moses and God’s people from all the other people on the face of the earth? Exodus 33:16.
Moses’ confidence in speaking with the Lord and his faith in the Lord are clearly seen here. He knew that nothing the Lord could give them would truly separate them from the nations, Exodus 33:16. As a result of Moses’ confidence and faith, God promised to restore His relationship with Israel, Exodus 33:17.
It appears that Moses’ confidence in speaking to God is getting bolder. He no longer wants to walk by faith; he wants to walk by sight, 2 Corinthians 5:7, but God denies his request, John 4:24.
Moses earlier had already seen something of the glory of God, Exodus 16:10 / Exodus 24:16-17, but here he wants to see more, Exodus 33:18.It’s the glory that would pass by Moses and notice that God’s glory lies in His goodness, Exodus 33:19.
When Moses saw the glory of God, He fully understood that God was good. God promised to reveal His name, Exodus 33:19 / Exodus 34:6, that is, His character, to Moses.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning Exodus 33:19.
‘Paul’s reference to this passage in Romans 9:15 is instructive. The meaning of this in the present context seems to be God’s disclaimer that God in any sense whatever owed Moses any such favour as that which he had requested. The sovereignty permits him to bestow His favour on whomsoever He will. Moses, of course, had not earned such a favour, nor did he, in any sense, merit it. Yet, in keeping with God’s sovereign will, He gave it to Moses.’
God refused to literally show Moses His face, Exodus 33:20. Notice that God tells Moses He will put Moses ‘in a cleft in the rock,’ Exodus 33:22. God was preparing Moses to see His glory by passing by, by giving Moses a specific place to stand.
Moses had to be protected by the hand of God and the cleft of the rock when the glory of God passed before him, Exodus 33:23. Moses could only see God’s back, not God Himself, Exodus 33:23.
It’s very common for people to read certain passages in Scripture and conclude that they contradict one another. However, those who take the time to look at these Scriptures a little deeper know that the Scriptures nowhere contradict themselves. This is especially true when it comes to the Scriptures, which relate to seeing ‘God’s face’.
Paul tells Timothy that ‘no one can see God’, 1 Timothy 6:16, but then Jesus says, ‘the pure in heart will see God’, Matthew 5:8. Is this a contradiction? There are other Scriptures which appear to imply no one can see God, 1 Timothy 6:15-16 / 1 Timothy 1:17 / 1 John 4:12 / Exodus 33:20 / Deuteronomy 4:12.
However, there are also Scriptures which appear to imply that we can see God, Genesis 32:30 / Job 19:26-27 / Matthew 5:8. The only conclusion we can come to is that there are ways we can see God and there are ways we can’t see God.
God told Moses that he couldn’t see ‘His face and live’, Exodus 33:20. Jesus Himself said that ‘no one has ever seen God’, John 1:18 / John 5:37 / John 6:46. Paul tells Timothy that no one has ever seen God or can see God, 1 Timothy 6:15-16.
We must remember that God isn’t physical; He is a spirit, John 4:24. He hasn’t got a face any more than He has legs or arms. The descriptions of God having eyes, arms, and legs, etc, are metaphors which help us understand God in human terms, Deuteronomy 33:27 / Genesis 6:8 / 2 Kings 19:16.
The point is that we can’t see Him with our physical eyes because He is invisible to the physical eye, Colossians 1:15 / 1 Timothy 1:17. There’s also a sense in which we can’t see God because we are simply too sinful, whereas He is just too glorious and holy, Isaiah 6:1-6. This is one reason why we need Christ to act as our Mediator, John 6:45-46 / 1 Timothy 2:5-6 / 1 John 2:1.
When it comes to seeing God, we know that Abraham saw God, Genesis 17:1 / Genesis 18:1. We also know that Moses saw God, Exodus 6:2-3, as did Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and seventy elders of Israel, Exodus 24:9-11. Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, saw God, Judges 13:22.
Stephen also saw God, Acts 7:2, although he was about to die physically. We also see God when we look at Jesus, John 1:14 / John 1:18 / John 20:28 / 1 John 3:2. We can also see God in the sense that we see Him in and through the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
There are many examples of people meeting God in the Scriptures, but we must remember that not all of them saw God’s ‘face’, Exodus 3:2 / Exodus 33:22 / Exodus 13:21 / Genesis 20:3 / Genesis 28:11-13 / 1 Kings 3:5.
God told Moses that ‘no one can see His face and live’, Exodus 33:20, yet we have Abraham, Genesis 18:22-33, and Jacob, Genesis 32:22-30, who lived afterwards and in the New Testament those who saw Jesus, who was God in the flesh, John 1:14 / John 1:18 / John 8:58 / John 14:8-9, lived to tell others about it.
Apart from those times when God physically appeared in human form to people, we must try to understand what the Hebrews meant when they used the term ‘seeing God’s face’.
The writers understood that this didn’t mean that they saw God in physical form; they understood the phrase ‘seeing God’s face’ as a metaphor for being in ‘the presence of God’.
Although Peter, James and John got a peek at God’s glory on the mountain, Matthew 17:1-9, they didn’t see His full glory. The Hebrews understood that no one could see God in the fullness of His glory and live; they understood that sinners couldn’t see God in His full glory. Sin and holiness just don’t go together; they can’t coexist in the same place, Isaiah 59:2.
The ‘heart’ is the centre of our thinking processes, it is the mind, Biblically speaking, Proverbs 23:7. The ‘pure in heart’, Matthew 5:8, are those who are free from evil desires and purposes; their thoughts and speech are pure, Matthew 12:24.
This is because they meditate on those things in which there is virtue, Philippians 4:8. Such people experience great joy in seeing God. Of course, they do not see Him physically since He is a Spirit being, John 4:24, but they do see Him through faith in Christ.
Most of the Jews, having their hearts defiled with carnal hopes or self-righteous pride, failed to see God as He revealed Himself in the person of His Son, John 14:6-9 / Matthew 13:14-17. Not only do the ‘pure in heart’ see God here, but they shall also see Him ‘as He is’ hereafter, 1 John 3:2-3.