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Exodus 33:1-6: Yahweh Announces His Decision to Allow Israel to Proceed to Canaan
This chapter opens with a repeat of God's command to lead the Israelites to Canaan. For a third time God repeats His promise made in Exodus 23:20 (before the incident of the Golden Calf) and 32:34 (after the people's sin). But this time the divine emissary is not designated as "My messenger/angel" but "an angel."
Exodus 33:7-11: The Temporary Tent of Meeting
Since God vowed to withhold His presence from the camp of Israel at this time, Moses erected a temporary "Tent of Meeting" with Yahweh located outside the Israelite camp. That the tent was erected "far away from the camp" symbolized the spiritual and physical absence of God's Presence from the Israelites. At this time there was no Tabernacle and no ordained priesthood. This tent was instead a private place where Moses could commune with God and where individual righteous Israelites could come to seek God's Presence.
Question: What is the sign of God's presence at the Tent of Meeting and who is the guardian of the Tent of Meeting?
Answer: The Glory Cloud appears whenever Moses entered the tent. Joshua is the guardian of the Tent of Meeting.
The appearance of the Glory Cloud is a sign for the people that Moses continues in God's favor. The people showed proper reverence for the presence of God by facing the Tent and by bowing low whenever the Glory Cloud appeared.
Question: No human being can safely be in the presence of the holy Almighty God and view His face except in one place. Where is that place? See Mt 5:8; 1 Cor 13:12 and 1 Jn 3:2.
Answer: In heaven.
Question: In addition to the Old Testament prophets Isaiah (Is 6:1-13) and Ezekiel (Ez 1:2-28ff), and the New Testament prophet St. John (in the Book of Revelation), to what other two men in salvation history does God grant the special favor of coming into His Divine Presence?
Answer: Moses and Elijah.
Exodus 33:12-18: Moses' third Intercessory Prayer and Two Petitions to God
This passage is another illustration of the intimate discourse between God and His prophet. Moses is concerned that the plans for the Sanctuary and the Tabernacle, where God had announced He would reside in the midst His people (and not outside the camp), may be cancelled because of Israel's sin (Ex 25:21). Moses wants to know God's plan but he also wants to know God more intimately "to know His attributes that impact on how God governs man and the world "Moses wants God to "please show me your ways so that I understand you...". Moses also wants to extend God's favor to embrace not only himself but also God's people Israel (vs. 13). This is the first of three petitions in this encounter.
Question: What are Moses' three petitions in Exodus 33:12-18?
- That God will show him God's ways (vs. 14).
- That God's Presence will accompany the people on their journey (vs. 15).
- That God will reveal His Glory to Moses (vs. 18).
Question: What is Yahweh's response to Moses first petition?
Answer: He promises to go with Moses and to give him "rest."
"I will give you rest" is a phrase most often found in Scripture in giving relief from one's enemies "especially from Israel's enemies in association with the Promised Land.
Question: What is God's response to Moses' petition?
Answer: Again God grants Moses' petition to reside in the midst of His people, which means the Tabernacle will be built.
In granting Moses' third petition God will give Moses an intimate experience that will justify his title as Yahweh's greatest Old Testament prophet "having reached a level of intimacy with God that only one other Old Testament prophet will experience.
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Agape Bible Commentary
Exodus 33 - 34
Exodus 33:18-23: Moses' Intimate Dialogue with God Continues with His Third Petition
Question: What was Moses' third petition?
Answer: To behold God's glory/ Divine Presence.
Question: In the examples of the revelation of God's visible glory (kavod) cited above what three features are usually present?
Answer:
- It is an experienced shared by a large number of people.
- God's glory is visible at a distance from the observers.
- God initiates the supernatural manifestation and He selects the time, location and duration.
In response to Moses' third petition God gave Moses the promise of a unique revelation: I shall make all my goodness pass before you... God's goodness is embodied in the benevolent attributes He manifests in His dealings with mankind and all living creatures. In this statement Moses receives a deeper understanding of God, who defines His goodness by granting both His grace (divine favor) and His mercy/compassion.
Question: What is the most serious restriction and why?
Answer: Moses will not be permitted to see God's face because no mortal, stained with original sin, can see the face of God and live.
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Chapter 34: The Renewal of the Covenant
God's people of every age and every generation are called to be holy as God is holy ( Ex 19:6; Lev 11:44-45; 19:2; 22:33; 1 Pet 1:15-16; 1 Jn 3:3-6). The rebellion of intentional sin is a breach of covenant that can only be restored through expiation of the sin, genuine contrition and repentance. Forgiveness and reconciliation lead to covenant renewal and covenant renewal leads to restored fellowship with God.
Question: How are the children of God in the universal Church restored to their covenant relationship after a fall from grace through committing mortal sin?
Answer: Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation we are restored to fellowship with God and with the covenant community.
Exodus 34:1-5: Moses Is Called to Ascend the Mountain Again
Question: What is different about this ascent to the summit of Mt. Sinai compared to the previous ascents in Exodus 19:23-24 and 24:12-18?
Answer:
- God provided the stone tablets the first time, but now Moses must cut the stone tablets himself.
- No one is allowed to accompany Moses as Aaron did in 19:24 and as Joshua did in 24:13.
- No animals are to be permitted to graze at the base of the mountain as they had apparently been permitted to graze in Moses' first 40-day absence.
- There is no display of fire at the summit.
In the Glory Cloud Yahweh descended to the summit, and standing before Moses Yahweh pronounced his Divine Name "a revelation of His Divine Essence.
Exodus 34:6-9: God Reveals His Divine Attributes
Verses 6-7 constitute God's response to Moses' petition to know God's ways (33:13) and to behold God's glory (33:18). There is no awesome visual display because this is not a revelation for a multitude but is instead a divine disclosure for a single individual. God's revelation of self is confined to a quiet oral proclamation of His attributes "His divine qualities of mercy and justice that He extends in His relationship with man. God begins by calling our His divine name in a three-fold expression of His divinity:
Question: What is Moses' response to this private revelation, which he makes in three petitions?
Answer: He is encouraged to petition God to:
- To accompany the people on their journey to the Promise Land, rescinding Israel's punishment pronounced in 33:3 (verse 9a)
- Forgive Israel's sin (verse 9b).
- To renew the covenant and adopt the Israelites as Yahweh's own covenant people (verse 9c).
Exodus 34:10-11: The Statement of Covenant Renewal
The statement of covenant renewal begins with a promise and a warning.
Question: What is the promise in verse 11?
Answer: A repeat of the promise made to the Patriarchs concerning possession of the Promised Land of Canaan.
Exodus 34:13-28: Ten Additional Commands and Prohibitions to be Included in the Articles of the Law
It is interesting that the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on the second set of tablets given to Moses are reinforced in a list of God's ten attributes of mercy and justice and ten additional laws in verses 12-26 identifying authentic and inauthentic worship. Mindful of the Israelites' sin in worshiping the Golden Calf, verses 13-17 focus on Israel's recent sin by defining apostasy and ordering safeguards that will ensure Israel's distinctive holiness as Yahweh's covenant people.
Question: What is the warning in verse 12 that is a repeat of Exodus 23:32?
Answer: The Israelites must make no covenant treaties with the Canaanite population.
Yahweh demands absolute faithfulness in His covenant union with His people in the same way a husband expects absolute faithfulness in his marital union with his wife. Yahweh's "jealously" is in the protective exclusivity of His relationship with his people individually and collectively that He will not share with other gods "whether supposed spiritual beings or material possessions. Nothing is to come before one's covenant relationship with God.
Exodus 34:29-35: Moses Returns to the Israelites
As a result of Moses' intimate encounter with the Divine Presence, his face emitted a reflected radiance of God's glory. A number of other passages in Scripture attest to the radiant light of God's glory ( Num 6:25; Is 2:5; Ez 1:27-28; Ps 4:7; 31:17; 36:10; 44:4; 67:2; 80:20; 89:16; 104:2; 118:27; 119:135; Job 29:3; Hab 3:4).
Question: Why did Moses wear the veil? Why did he wear it only after speaking to the people after being in God's presence and remove it when speaking with God?
Answer: Every time Moses came into Yahweh's presence his radiance was recharged and the people had a visible sign of his authority. He may have worn the veil so they would not see that the radiance was diminished over time, fearing they might interpret the lessening of his radiance as a lessening of his authority.
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Agape Bible Commentary
Leviticus Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Instruction for the Holy Place and Death Penalty Offenses
Chapter 24 is a short collection of various religious laws and civil laws governing blasphemy and other crimes in which innocent life is taken or injury occurs. This section also includes a restatement of lex talionis, the "law of retaliation," a concept previously introduced in the Book of the Covenant (Ex 21:23-25) and which will be addressed again in the Deuteronomic Code (Dt 19:21).
The chapter begins with commands concerning two continual offerings in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle. The next section deals with a case resulting in a death penalty judgment for a man who blasphemed God's name, followed by a list of five laws pertaining to death or violence. The section ends with the execution of the man who was guilty of blaspheming God's divine name.
Leviticus 24:1-4: The Menorah's Perpetual Flame
Notice the progression of the day from sundown to the daylight hours. The instructions for creating the lamp-stand were given in Exodus 25:31-40 and the instructions for the olive oil to fuel the lamp were given in Exodus 27:20-21. The lamp-stand had seven braches and seven lamps that sat atop the seven branches. Seven is the number of perfection and fullness, especially spiritual perfection. The lamp-stand symbolized the presence of God within the Tabernacle.
Question: Where was the Menorah lamp-stand located? See Exodus 40:24.
Answer: On the south side of the Holy of Holies across from the golden table of the Bread of the Presence.
Question: In Catholic churches how is God's presence in the Sanctuary Tabernacle signified?
Answer: By a permanently burning candle/oil lamp.
Leviticus 24:5-9: The Permanent Offering of the Loaves of the Presence
The twelve loaves are known as the "Bread of the Presence (lechem ha-panim) or the "Bread of Permanent" display (lechem ha-tamid) and were to be placed on the golden table across from the lamp-stand on the north side of the Holy Place (Ex 40:22). They were a symbolic offering, displayed but not sacrificed. They represented the twelve tribes of Israel in the presence of Yahweh enthroned in their midst in the Holy of Holies above the cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant.
Leviticus 24:10-14: A Case of Blasphemy against the Divine Name
This brief narrative provides "case law" as example for the application of the death penalty for blaspheming God's name (Ex 20:7; Lev 19:12; Dt 5:11).
Question: Can you name three men in Scripture who were falsely accused of blaspheming God? See 1 Kings 21:8-16; Matthew 25:59-65 and Acts 7:55-58.
Answer: Naboth, Jesus of Nazareth and the deacon St. Stephen were all falsely executed for blasphemy and were executed.
Leviticus 24:15-23: Death Penalty Cases, Other Offenses and the Conclusion
Question: Why were the witnesses to lay hands on the man's head before the execution? See Leviticus 4:13-15 and 16:21.
Answer: To lay hands upon the condemned person was like laying hands on a sacrificial animal. The defilement of the community caused by the man's sin will be transferred solely to the life of the condemned man and the community will be cleansed by his just execution.
The court of elders who heard the evidence presented by witnesses were the ones who were responsible for deciding what is equal and fair in the way of compensation for personal injury or loss of property, or in deciding if the evidence warranted the death penalty according to the Law. The individual or the family that was wronged was not permitted take justice into their own hands by committing acts of vengeance against the perpetrator's family, and the same laws for Israelites also applied to resident aliens.
Question: What was the procedure for condemning someone to death under the Law? See Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy17:6-7 and 19:15-21.
Answer:
- In a case of homicide or in any other death penalty case, a death sentence can only be passed on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- A single witness is not enough to sustain capital punishment.
- The witnesses must cast the first stones.
- A court of priests and judges (elders) will hear the cases and make a fair and equitable decision based on the testimony of witnesses and the severity of the crime.
- Crimes within the community were crimes against the entire community, and in executing a criminal the community acted as one entity in stoning the condemned individual.
CHALLENGE: “The Catholic practice of praying for the dead is unbiblical.”
DEFENSE: The practice is not just Catholic and it is biblical. First, it isn’t only Catholics who pray for the dead. Except in the Protestant community, prayer for the dead is universal among Christians. Further, prayer for the dead has been practiced by Jews since before the time of Christ and continues to be practiced by them today.
In Scripture, Judah Maccabee and his men were retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades when they discovered the men who had fallen were wearing pagan amulets, and so “they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out” (2 Macc. 12:42).
Protestants may not regard this passage as Scripture, but Catholics do, and it is thus legitimate for them to appeal to it. Whether one regards it as Scripture or not, it constitutes evidence of prayer for the dead among Jews before the time of Christ, and Jews continue to pray for the dead today, particularly using a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish.
The New Testament also contains a plausible instance of prayer for the dead. After praying for the household of a man named Onesiphorus, Paul goes on to pray “may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day” (2 Tim. 1:18).
Paul twice mentions “the household of Onesiphorus” (2 Tim. 1:16, 4:19), but does not greet him with the rest of his household and speaks of him only in the past tense.
Many scholars have concluded that Onesiphorus had passed away and thus Paul was praying for the departed. Many Protestants, too, spontaneously ask God to bless their departed loved ones. Thus the Protestant apologist C.S. Lewis writes: “Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. . . . At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him?” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107). It is a natural human impulse to pray for our loved ones, even when they have passed from this life.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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