seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 33:12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Here's the link to the commentary.If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us: Moses continued his bold way of speaking with God. God had just promised His presence; Moses responded by warning or cautioning God of the consequences of not keeping His promise.
For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us: Moses knew that nothing the LORD could give them would make them truly different from the nations. Only the strong presence of the LORD Himself could do that.
After reading about the stick turning into a serpent and the red sea drowning Pharaoh's troops, it would be easy to think that God was walking in that cloud that led the way all day long, and glowed all night. All of that seems, and is, fantastic. We would like to think that the special effects should continue... but there comes a time when the special effects become mundane. Moses thought he could demand things from God. Sure, Moses was angry at the people. It's like he had just come back from a religious retreat to find an orgy going on in his living room.... it just didn't compute.
Moses had invested a lot in this trip to the "promised" land. His whole life was invested. He was the face of everything that had transpired in Egypt since he searched out his roots and found out he was Israeli.
Moses life sucked. Moses had literally gone from glory on the mountaintop to the depths of human grossness. Moses blamed God! God's great plan caused all this commotion in his life. If he wasn't an Israeli, he wouldn't have felt compassion for the Israeli being beaten. If he hadn't felt compassion, he would not have beat that Egyptian to death. If he hadn't beaten the Egyptian to death... He could have stayed in the palace living like a prince. BUT NO... God had a plan.
Moses was so angry he yelled at God. "Show me your face!"
God is not one to be yelled at. Remember, God was angry with those dancing orgy loving morons too. I'm pretty sure God was miffed about Moses throwing those engraved tablets and busting them up. God was sort of "hulked" up.... and Moses was standing there spouting puffed up demands of Him.
God told Moses if He did show Moses His face, Moses would not survive the confrontation. Remember, God's still very angry about the golden calf.
So, God told Moses He would show Moses "His Back". He secured Moses' life by putting Moses in a crack in the rock, and putting His hand across the rock as He passed by.... but Moses could indeed watch God Walk away!
