Exodus 33 and 34 (selected verses)

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• Moses sees God's glory; God declares to him the significance of his (God's) name; every time Moses was in God's presence, his face would shine for a while.

Scripture

Exodus 33:7-11, 18-23; 34:1-35 – The effects of seeing God

Scripture Passage

Comments and Links

Exo 33:7 Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it "The Tent of Meeting." It happened that everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. Exo 33:8 It happened that when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent. Exo 33:9 It happened, when Moses entered into the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and spoke with Moses. Exo 33:10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door. Exo 33:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. ...

"The Tent of Meeting" (outside the camp of Israel) and Moses' special relationship with God. People Meeting with God Fellowship with God

Here (verses omitted), Moses intercedes for the people, insisting that God go with them.

Below, the people's responsibility (beginning with v. 12) is similar to what is stated in Exodus 23:13+.

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Exo 33:18 He said, "Please show me your glory."	Then Moses' request to see God's glory.
Exo 33:19 He said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Exo 33:20 He said, "You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live." Exo 33:21 Yahweh also said, "Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. Exo 33:22 It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; Exo 33:23 then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen."	God will show his goodness and proclaim the significance of his name. Moses will be allowed a glimpse of God's glory from behind; but to see the face of God would mean instant death.
Exo 34:1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Exo 34:2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. Exo 34:3 No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." Exo 34:4 He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.	Preparation – includes chiseling 2 stone tablets to replace the ones he broke. (God would write the words on them.)
Exo 34:5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. Exo 34:6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, Exo 34:7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."	Yahweh - The Name of God God presents himself and declares the significance of his name. People Meeting with God God's Description of Himself
Exo 34:8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.	Moses' response – the only proper response! Responding to God
Exo 34:9 He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."	Moses again intercedes for the people.
Exo 34:10 He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you. Exo 34:11 Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.	God's response – he will go with them, will do wondrous things among them, and will personally drive out the inhabitants of the land. People of Canaan But they must obey him. This is a conditional covenant.
Exo 34:12 Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you: Exo 34:13 but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim; Exo 34:14 for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Exo 34:15 Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice; Exo 34:16 and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods. Exo 34:17 You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.	The people's responsibility – make no agreements with the inhabitants and reject their false gods. (This is for their own good... otherwise they will end up being like them.) God's Description of Himself "Unequally Yoked" First Commandment Second Commandment Intermarriage
Exo 34:18 "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. Exo 34:19 All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep. Exo 34:20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty. Exo 34:21 "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Exo 34:22 You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end. Exo 34:23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.	Some of their obligations: 1) annual feast of unleavened bread, 2) redemption (or sacrifice, if applicable) of all firstborn males, 3) rest on the seventh day, regardless of time of year, 4) two feasts (with the feast of unleavened bread, this makes three times/year). ... Firstborn Fourth Commandment Religious Feasts and Celebrations (Old Covenant)
Exo 34:24 For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.	God will protect the land during those three times a year, when the males are not in their cities to protect them. God's Protection
Exo 34:25 "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning. Exo 34:26 You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." Exo 34:27 Yahweh said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."	(Obligations continued) … 5) two restrictions related to the sacrifices, 6) first fruits belong to God, Firstfruits 7) don't cook a young animal in its mother's milk. (This last obligation may be related to a custom that the pagans practiced during a ceremony related to the first fruits. OR: Some suggest that this may point to a "sacredness" in the relationship between a parent and its offspring... don't kill both at the same time / don't cook the offspring in its mother's milk.)
Exo 34:28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.	God re-writes the words of the covenant on the stone tablets. (See: Exodus 34:1 and Deuteronomy 10:2, which affirm that it was God who did it.) God Doing Physical Activities
Exo 34:29 It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. Exo 34:30 When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him. Exo 34:31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. Exo 34:32 Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.	This time with God caused Moses' face to shine. God's Glory Seen in His Servants
Exo 34:33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.	After speaking to the people, he covered his face. This is because the radiance of God's glory would diminish in intensity.
Exo 34:34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded. Exo 34:35 The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.	When he returned to God's presence, the radiant glory would again begin to shine. (And then diminish. This was an ongoing pattern.)

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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.