Commentary - Exodus 33:18-23

Bird's-eye view

In this profound exchange between Moses and Yahweh, we are brought to the very heart of what it means for a finite, sinful man to approach an infinite, holy God. The context is crucial. Israel has just committed idolatry on an industrial scale with the golden calf. God has threatened to abandon them, to send an angel in His place, lest His unfiltered presence consume such a stiff-necked people on the way (Ex. 33:3, 5). Moses has been interceding, pleading for God's presence, and has found favor. But finding favor is not enough for Moses. He wants assurance, and not just any assurance. He wants the ultimate assurance. He wants to see God's glory.

What follows is a staggering condescension. God agrees to Moses' audacious request, but with necessary, life-preserving modifications. God will reveal His goodness, His name, His sovereign character, but not His face. The absolute, unveiled holiness of God is lethal to sinners. And so, in a profound picture of mediated salvation, God tucks Moses into the cleft of a rock, covers him with His hand, and allows him to see only the afterglow of His passing glory. This is not a divine tease; it is an act of supreme mercy. It demonstrates that man can only know God on God's terms, through God's gracious provision, a provision that points directly to the ultimate Cleft of the Rock, who is Christ Jesus our Lord.

Outline

Commentary

18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

This is not the request of a spiritual thrill-seeker. This is the plea of a man who understands the weight of his calling. He is to lead a rebellious people into a promised land, and he knows he cannot do it without the manifest presence of God. After the golden calf apostasy, everything is on the line. God has just promised that His presence will go with Moses (Ex. 33:17), but Moses, in a display of what can only be described as sanctified boldness, pushes in for more. He wants to see the very thing that makes God, God. He wants to see His glory, His weight, His substance, His intrinsic worth. This is the cry of every true saint, to know God more, to see Him more clearly. It is a dangerous prayer, because you cannot see God's glory and remain unchanged. It will either kill you or transform you.

19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

God's answer is remarkable. He does not rebuke Moses for his audacity. He grants the request, but defines what the revelation will consist of. Notice, God equates His glory with His goodness. The glory of God is not some abstract, impersonal power, like a nuclear reactor. It is the radiant display of His moral perfection, His goodness. When Moses asks to see glory, God promises to show him goodness. This is a foundational truth. To see God rightly is to see that He is good, through and through.

Furthermore, God will "proclaim the name of Yahweh." In the ancient world, a name was not a mere label; it was a revelation of character. God is going to unpack the meaning of His covenant name, Yahweh. And what is the core of that name? It is sovereign grace. "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion." This is the bedrock of reality. God is not obligated to anyone. His grace and mercy are not distributed based on human merit, but flow from His own free and sovereign will. Paul picks this very text up in Romans 9 to establish the doctrine of election. Before Moses can see even a sliver of God's glory, he must understand that the God he is dealing with is absolutely free and sovereign in the distribution of His favors. This is not a terror to the humble, but a profound comfort. Our only hope lies not in our deserving, but in His sovereign good pleasure.

20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

Here is the necessary limitation. The prohibition is not arbitrary. It is a mercy. The fullness of God's glory, what the text calls His "face," is a lethal glory for sinful creatures. The unmediated, unfiltered holiness of God is an all-consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). For a sinner to stand before the face of God would be to be undone completely, to be annihilated. This is why Adam and Eve hid after their sin. It is why Isaiah, upon seeing a vision of the Lord, cried out, "Woe is me! For I am lost" (Is. 6:5). The glory of God was once death for us. This fundamental truth establishes our absolute need for a mediator, for someone who can stand in that fiery presence on our behalf.

21 Then Yahweh said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

God does not just say "no." He says, "No, you can't see My face, but here is how you can see what I will show you." He provides the way. He designates the place. "There is a place by Me." This is a place of gracious nearness, a place prepared by God Himself. And this place is "on the rock." The imagery is potent. A rock signifies stability, security, a firm foundation. While the glory of God passes by, a glory that could shake the very cosmos, Moses is to be on a rock. This is a picture of our salvation. We cannot stand in the presence of God on our own shifting sands of self-righteousness. We must be placed on the Rock, and that Rock is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4).

22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

The provision becomes even more specific, more intimate. God Himself will take Moses and place him in a "cleft of the rock." A cleft is a fissure, a break in the rock. Moses is hidden in the rock. He is surrounded by it, protected by it. This is more than just standing on it; it is being enveloped by it. And as if that were not enough, God adds another layer of protection. He will "cover" Moses with His own hand. The very hand that forged the mountains will now serve as a shield for His servant. This is a stunning picture of God's tender, protective care for those He brings near to Himself. He does not expose us to more of His glory than we can bear. He shelters us, hides us, protects us, all so that we might have fellowship with Him and live.

23 Then I will remove My hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

Only after the central intensity of the glory has passed does God remove His hand. And what does Moses see? He sees God's "back." This is anthropomorphic language, of course. God does not have a literal front and back. The language is meant to convey that Moses saw the effects, the afterglow, the trailing remnants of God's glorious presence. He did not see the essence, the "face," but he saw the results. He saw where God had been. This is often how we experience God's glory in our own lives. We look back on a trial, a deliverance, a season of life, and we see His hand, we see the trail of His goodness and glory. We see His "back."

But the ultimate fulfillment of this is in the gospel. Moses, hidden in the rock, saw the afterglow of God's glory. But we, who are hidden in Christ, the true Rock that was cleft for us on Calvary, now "with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). What was forbidden to Moses is granted to us in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). The glory of God is no longer lethal to us, because in Christ, we have died already and been raised to new life. In Jesus, the Word made flesh, we have seen His glory, "glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This entire event on Sinai was a magnificent, foreshadowing sermon, pointing to the day when God would put us in the Cleft of the Rock, Jesus Christ, and show us His glory in a way that brings not death, but everlasting life.

Application

First, we must cultivate a holy desire to see God's glory. Moses' prayer should be our prayer. We are far too easily contented with small thoughts of God. We fool around with the mud pies of worldly success and religious respectability when a holiday at the sea of God's infinite glory is offered to us. We should pray with audacity, asking God to show us His glory in His Word, in His church, and in His world.

Second, we must recognize that the glory of God is found in His goodness and His sovereign grace. A true vision of God's glory will humble us to the dust. It will cause us to abandon all pretense of our own merit and cast ourselves entirely on His free and unmerited favor. To know that He is gracious to whom He will be gracious is to find our only security in His character, not our performance.

Finally, we must flee to the Rock and hide ourselves in the Cleft. There is no other place of safety in the presence of a holy God. We cannot stand before Him in our own righteousness. We must be found "in Christ." He is the Rock that was struck for us, the refuge where we are shielded by God's own hand. It is only from within that shelter that we can behold God's glory and not be consumed, but rather be transformed from one degree of glory to another.