Exodus 33:21

33:12-23 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; guilty, and could not but dread it. The merciful display which is made in Christ Jesus, alone can be borne by us. The Lord granted that which would abundantly satisfy. God's goodness is his glory; and he will have us to know him by the glory of his mercy, more than by the glory of his majesty. Upon the rock there was a fit place for Moses to view the goodness and glory of God. The rock in Horeb was typical of Christ the Rock; the Rock of refuge, salvation, and strength. Happy are they who stand upon this Rock. The cleft may be an emblem of Christ, as smitten, crucified, wounded, and slain.

What follows, denotes the imperfect knowledge of God in the present state, even as revealed in Christ; for this, when compared with the heavenly sight of him. is but like seeing a man that is gone by, whose back only is to be seen. God in Christ, as he is, even the fullest and brightest displays of his glory, grace, and goodness, are reserved to another state.

And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me,.... Near him, not in or by the tabernacle, where it may be the pillar of cloud now was, as it had been, Exodus 33:9 but upon the rock, where it had been for many days, and near to which there was a fit place for Moses to be in, and have that view of the goodness and glory of God he would favour him with: and thou shall stand upon a rock; in Horeb, typical of Christ the rock, the rock of Israel, and the rock of ages, the rock of refuge, salvation, and strength; comparable to one for shelter, solidity, firmness, strength, and duration; and happy are they who stand upon this rock; they are safe and secure, they stand on high, and have noble prospects of the perfections of God, and of the riches of his grace and goodness, see Psalm 50:2.

Exodus 33:21 . Behold, there is a place by me — Probably meant of some part of mount Horeb, where Moses had long enjoyed intercourse with God, and from which the tabernacle, where the cloud of glory now appeared, was at no great distance. And thou shalt stand upon a rock — If not that from which the water was miraculously brought, yet certainly one which, like it, was emblematical of Christ, ( 1 Corinthians 10:4 ,) through whom alone we can have the knowledge of the glory of God. For this glory none can see to their comfort but those that believe, confide, and take shelter in him. While my glory passeth by, I will put thee in a cleft of the rock — As the rock might limit Moses’s view of the divine glory, that he might not be overwhelmed by it; so the refulgent rays of the glory of God are limited and concealed by the humanity of Christ, and by faith we are hid in him, and secured from the effects of the glorious justice and wrath of God, which would otherwise consume us. I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by — My invisible power shall spread a cloud before thee, that thou mayest not be overpowered and struck dead by the excessive glory, and so be undone by thy own desires.

Such passages as this, being clearly in accordance with what we know of the relation of spiritual existence to the human senses, show how we are to interpret the expressions "face to face" Exodus 33:11 ; Deuteronomy 34:10 , "mouth to mouth" Numbers 12:8 , and others of the like kind. See Exodus 24:10 ; Isaiah 6:1 ; and compare John 14:9 .

Verse 21. - Behold, there is a place by me. No sufficient indication is given by these words, or by any other words in Scripture, of the exact locality of the manifestation to Moses. The so-called" traditions "are worthless; and we can only say that the scene was probably some portion of the upper part of the Ras Sufsafeh. Exodus 33:21

21 . stand ] better, station thyself : cf. Exodus 34:2 . 21–23 . Jehovah accordingly bids Moses stand where he may see, as He passes by, not His full glory, but only His back , or hinder parts ( Exodus 26:12 Heb.), i.e., so to say, only the afterglow, which He leaves behind Him, but which may still suggest faintly what the full brilliancy of His presence must be (cf. Job 26:14 ).

18-23. I beseech thee, show me thy glory—This is one of the most mysterious scenes described in the Bible: he had, for his comfort and encouragement, a splendid and full display of the divine majesty, not in its unveiled effulgence, but as far as the weakness of humanity would admit. The face, hand, back parts, are to be understood figuratively.

Moses was emboldened by this, and now prayed to the Lord, "Let me see Thy glory." What Moses desired to see, as the answer of God clearly shows, must have been something surpassing all former revelations of the glory of Jehovah ( Exodus 16:7 , Exodus 16:10 ; Exodus 24:16-17 ), and even going beyond Jehovah's talking with him face to face ( Exodus 33:11 ). When God talked with him face to face, or mouth to mouth, he merely saw a "similitude of Jehovah" ( Numbers 12:8 ), a form which rendered the invisible being of God visible to the human eye, i.e., a manifestation of the divine glory in a certain form, and not the direct or essential glory of Jehovah, whilst the people saw this glory under the veil of a dark cloud, rendered luminous by fire, that is to say, they only saw its splendour as it shone through the cloud; and even the elders, at the time when the covenant was made, only saw the God of Israel in a certain form which hid from their eyes the essential being of God ( Exodus 24:10-11 ). What Moses desired, therefore, was a sight of the glory or essential being of God, without any figure, and without a veil. Moses was urged to offer this prayer, as Calvin truly says, not by "stulta curiositas, quae ut plurimum titillat hominum mentes, ut audacter penetrare tentent usque ad ultima caelorum arcana," but by "a desire to cross the chasm which had been made by the apostasy of the nation, that for the future he might have a firmer footing than the previous history had given him