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.”
I’ve always found this passage mildly intriguing. What I mean is that, when compared to Ex. 33:7-11 – Moses and the tent of meeting – verses 12-23 seem rather odd. Off the top of my head I can’t explain what exactly is happening in the tent of meeting, particularly in light of the following passage. But I can say something about the above verses…
The words “glory” plays an important role in Ex. 33. The Hebrew word is kavod, meaning “glory, importance, weight, heavy.” There’s a sense that God’s glory is being personified slightly in this chapter. When the OT speaks of God’s kavod there is an assumption that God and kavod cannot be separated – kavod is part of God’s essence, it’s part of who God is. We can experience the glory of God, but we cannot be in the physical presence of His glory.
So when Moses demands that God shows him His kavod, God responds by basically saying “no,” but He says it in sort of a weird way. God says, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence…When my kavod passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back…” God says, “You can’t see my glory, but you can see my back.” In an odd way God is compromising with Moses.
But here’s what I find really intriguing: there is some evidence to suggest that the phrase “and you will see my back” is actually a Hebrew idiom literally meaning “you will see the place where I was.”
The other day, I was watching a special on the History Channel that was talking about Lincoln’s assassination and Wilkes-Booth’s escape. While trying to escape, Booth broke his leg. He made his way to a doctor friend where he spent the night getting his leg treated. The doctor’s house has been turned into a museum complete with the original furnishings for no other reason than the fact that John Wilkes-Booth once sat on the couch and slept in the bed.
There are places throughout the world in which people flock simply because someone famous once slept there or lived there or whatever. A similar thing happened between God and Moses; Moses could not be in God’s physical presence, but he was allowed to see/experience where God had once been. But unlike the many museum’s and historical sites throughout the world, this really was an honor. Moses was able to be as physically close to God the Father as any living human being could possibly hope to be and live to tell about it.
How’s that for a reality check…
People Talk