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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Exodus 33 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/exodus/33.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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In the “Book of the Covenant” He had promised to go up with them by an Angel, in whom was His Name (<a href="/context/exodus/23-20.htm" title="Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.">Exodus 23:20-23</a>): <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>by His Son, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. He now, to mark His displeasure, withdrew this promise, and substituted for the Divine presence that of a mere angel. “I will send an angel before thee” (<a href="/exodus/33-2.htm" title="And I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:">Exodus 33:2</a>); “I will not go up in the midst of thee” (<a href="/exodus/33-3.htm" title="To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the middle of you; for you are a stiff necked people: lest I consume you in the way.">Exodus 33:3</a>). Dimly the people felt the importance of the change, the vast difference between the angelic and the Divine, and “mourned” their loss (<a href="/exodus/33-4.htm" title="And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.">Exodus 33:4</a>). mourned with some touch of real godly sorrow, and, as was the custom of the Orientals in mourning (Terent. <span class= "ital">Heaut</span>. ii. 3, 47; Herodian. iv. 2, &c.), “put off their ornaments.”<p>(1) <span class= "bld">The Lord said unto Moses</span>.—In continuation and explanation of the words recorded in <a href="/context/exodus/32-33.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.">Exodus 32:33-34</a>, but probably at another time, after Moses had once more descended from the Ras Sufsafeh to the plain at its base.<p><span class= "bld">The land which I sware unto Abraham . . . —</span>The misconduct of Israel in their worship of the calf would not annul the promises of God to the patriarchs. These He was bound to make good. “The Lord sware, and will not repent” (<a href="/psalms/110-4.htm" title="The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.">Psalm 110:4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-2.htm">Exodus 33:2</a></div><div class="verse">And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:</div>(2) <span class= "bld">I will send an angel before thee.</span>—“An angel” is ambiguous. It might designate the Angel of the Covenant, the Angel of God’s presence, as in <a href="/exodus/23-20.htm" title="Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.">Exodus 23:20</a>; or it might mean a mere ordinary angel, on a par with those who presided over the destinies of other nations besides the Hebrews (<a href="/daniel/10-13.htm" title="But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, see, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.">Daniel 10:13</a>; <a href="/daniel/10-20.htm" title="Then said he, Know you why I come to you? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, see, the prince of Grecia shall come.">Daniel 10:20</a>). That here the expression is used in this latter sense is made manifest by the declaration of the next verse: <span class= "ital">“</span>I will not go up in the midst of thee.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-3.htm">Exodus 33:3</a></div><div class="verse">Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou <i>art</i> a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">A land flowing with milk and honey.</span>—See Note on <a href="/exodus/3-8.htm" title="And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good land and a large, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.">Exodus 3:8</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Lest I consume thee.</span>—Comp. <a href="/exodus/32-10.htm" title="Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation.">Exodus 32:10</a>; <a href="/leviticus/10-2.htm" title="And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.">Leviticus 10:2</a>; Ps. 88:21, 31, &c. “God is a consuming fire” (<a href="/hebrews/12-29.htm" title="For our God is a consuming fire.">Hebrews 12:29</a>). His near presence, if it does not cleanse and purify, scorches and withers. The conduct of Israel in the wilderness was such as continually to provoke Him to destroy them; and but for His amazing compassion and forbearance, the result here glanced at would assuredly have followed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-4.htm">Exodus 33:4</a></div><div class="verse">And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">When the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned.</span>—It was something that the people felt the tidings to be “evil.” It is natural for sinful men to shrink from the near presence of God (<a href="/matthew/8-34.htm" title="And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they sought him that he would depart out of their coasts.">Matthew 8:34</a>; <a href="/luke/5-8.htm" title="When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.">Luke 5:8</a>); and so the Israelites had shrunk from it a short time previously (<a href="/exodus/20-19.htm" title="And they said to Moses, Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.">Exodus 20:19</a>). Even now they would probably have feared a too near contact; but still, they were unwilling that God should cease to be the leader and guide of the host: they set a value on His presence and protection, which they felt that that of an angel would ill replace. Accordingly, when Moses communicated to them what God had said (<a href="/context/exodus/33-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Depart, and go up hence, you and the people which you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it:">Exodus 33:1-3</a>), they “mourned,” <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, not only grieved inwardly, but showed the outward tokens of grief—made a public and, as it were, national lamentation.<p><span class= "bld">No man did put on him his ornaments.</span>—The Orientals, both men and women, have always affected ornament, and taken an extreme delight in it. Herodotus tells us that the Persians who accompanied Xerxes into Greece wore generally collars and bracelets of gold (<span class= "ital">Hist. ix.</span> 80). Xenophon says that the Medes indulged a similar taste (<span class= "ital">Cyropœd</span>. i. 3, § 2). In Egypt, at the time of the exodus, men of station wore generally collars, armlets, and bracelets, occasionally anklets. The Assyrians wore armlets, bracelets, and ear-rings. To strip himself of his ornaments was a great act of self-denial on the part of an Oriental; but it was done commonly in the case of mourning on account of a family bereavement, and sometimes in the case of national misfortunes. (See Note on <a href="/context/exodus/33-1.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Depart, and go up hence, you and the people which you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it:">Exodus 33:1-6</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-5.htm">Exodus 33:5</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye <i>are</i> a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.</div>(5)<span class= "bld">For the Lord had said unto Moses</span>.—Rather, <span class= "ital">And the Lord said unto Moses. </span>The message did not precede the repentance of the people, but followed it.<p><span class= "bld">I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">were I to go up in the midst of thee, even for a moment </span>(a brief space), <span class= "ital">I should consume thee. </span>The people learnt by this the reason of God’s proposed withdrawal. It was in mercy, that they might not be consumed, as there was danger of their being unless they repented and turned to God.<p><span class= "bld">Put off thy ornaments.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">leave off thy ornaments, i.e., </span>put them aside altogether; show thy penitence by giving up the use of them; then shall I know what to do with thee; then shall I be able to deal with thee in a way which otherwise were impossible.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-6.htm">Exodus 33:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>left off their ornaments, ceased to wear them altogether.<p><span class= "bld">By the mount Horeb.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">from mount Horeb, i.e., </span>from the time of their first discarding them in Horeb (= Sinai).<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-7.htm">Exodus 33:7</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, <i>that</i> every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which <i>was</i> without the camp.</div>MOSES ESTABLISHES A TEMPORARY TABERNACLE.</span><p>(7-11) Moses, having experienced the blessedness of solitary communion with God during the forty days spent on Sinai, felt now, as he had never felt before, the want of a “house of God,” whither he might retire for prayer and meditation, secure of being undisturbed. Months would necessarily elapse before the Tabernacle could be constructed according to the pattern which he had seen in the mount. During this interval he determined to make use of one of the existing tents as a “house of prayer,” severing it from the others, and giving it the name “Tent of Meeting,” which was afterwards appropriated to the Tabernacle. It would seem that he selected his own tent for the purpose—probably because it was the best that the camp afforded—and contented himself with another. God deigned to approve his design, and descended in the cloudy pillar on the tent each time that Moses entered it.<p>(7) <span class= "bld">Moses took the tabernacle.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Moses took his tent. </span>The Hebrew article, like the Greek, has often the force of the possessive pronoun. The LXX. translate <span class= "greekheb">λαβὼν Μωυσῆς τὴν σκηνὴν αὐτοῦ</span>; and so Jarchi, Aben-Ezra, Kurtz, Kalisch, Keil, Cook, &c.<p><span class= "bld">And pitched it without the camp.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">and pitched it for himself without the camp. </span>“For himself” means <span class= "ital">for his own use, </span>that he might resort to it. This was his special object.<p><span class= "bld">The Tabernacle of the congregation.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the tent of meeting. </span>(See Note <span class= "ital">on </span><a href="/exodus/25-22.htm" title="And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.">Exodus 25:22</a>.) He gave it—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, by anticipation—the identical name by which the “Tabernacle” was afterwards commonly known. It was, in fact, a temporary substitute for the Tabernacle.<p><span class= "bld">Every one . . . went out unto the tabernacle.</span>—Though he had designed it for his own special use, Moses allowed all Israel to make use of it also.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-8.htm">Exodus 33:8</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, <i>that</i> all the people rose up, and stood every man <i>at</i> his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">When Moses went out . . . all the people rose up.</span>—As a mark of respect and reverence. (Comp. <a href="/esther/5-9.htm" title="Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.">Esther 5:9</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The cloudy pillar descended.</span>—During the stay of the Israelites in the plain at the foot of Sinai, the ordinary place occupied by the pillar of the cloud was the summit of the mount (<a href="/exodus/19-16.htm" title="And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.">Exodus 19:16</a>; <a href="/exodus/19-20.htm" title="And the LORD came down on mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.">Exodus 19:20</a>; <a href="/exodus/20-21.htm" title="And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.">Exodus 20:21</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/24-15.htm" title="And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.">Exodus 24:15-18</a>; <a href="/exodus/34-5.htm" title="And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.">Exodus 34:5</a>). At this time, whenever Moses entered the temporary tabernacle, the cloud came down from Sinai, ascending again when he quitted it.<p><span class= "bld">And the Lord talked with Moses.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">and talked with Moses. </span>The “cloudy pillar” is the subject of the verb “talked.” It is here identified with <span class= "ital">God, </span>who manifested Himself through it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-11.htm">Exodus 33:11</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Face to face.</span>—Comp. <a href="/numbers/12-8.htm" title="With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?">Numbers 12:8</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/34-10.htm" title="And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like to Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,">Deuteronomy 34:10</a>. This is clearly spoken of as a privilege peculiar to Moses; but in what exactly the peculiarity consisted is not apparent. Some special closeness of approach is no doubt meant—some nearness such as had been enjoyed by no mortal previously. In later times, Isaiah (<a href="/context/isaiah/6-1.htm" title="In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.">Isaiah 6:1-5</a>) and Ezekiel (<a href="/ezekiel/1-28.htm" title="As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.">Ezekiel 1:28</a>) were perhaps equally favoured.<p><span class= "bld">His servant Joshua.</span>—Comp. <a href="/exodus/24-13.htm" title="And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.">Exodus 24:13</a>, where Joshua is called Moses’ “minister,” the word employed in the Hebrew being the same.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-12.htm">Exodus 33:12</a></div><div class="verse">And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.</div>MOSES OBTAINS A RENEWAL OF GOD’S PROMISE TO GO UP WITH THE PEOPLE.</span><p>(12-17) The self-humiliation of the people (<a href="/context/exodus/33-4.htm" title="And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.">Exodus 33:4-6</a>) had appeased God’s anger. He was now ready to be entreated. Moses therefore renews his supplications on their behalf, and especially prays for a revocation of the threatened withdrawal of the Divine Presence, and substitution for it of a mere angel. Taking advantage of his privilege to speak to God as friend with friend (<a href="/exodus/33-11.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.">Exodus 33:11</a>), he ventures to expostulate, uses familiar terms, and persists until he at last obtains a distinct declaration that his request is granted (<a href="/exodus/33-17.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken: for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.">Exodus 33:17</a>).<p>(12) <span class= "bld">Thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send.</span>—Moses finds the promises of <a href="/exodus/32-34.htm" title="Therefore now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you: behold, my Angel shall go before you: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin on them.">Exodus 32:34</a>; <a href="/exodus/33-2.htm" title="And I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:">Exodus 33:2</a> ambiguous. What is meant by “mine angel” and “an angel?” Is it the “Angel” of <a href="/context/exodus/23-20.htm" title="Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.">Exodus 23:20-23</a>, or no? If not, who is it?<p><span class= "bld">I know thee by name.</span>—God had shown this knowledge when He called on Moses out of the burning bush (<a href="/exodus/3-4.htm" title="And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.">Exodus 3:4</a>), and again, probably, when he “called unto him out of the midst of the cloud” (<a href="/exodus/24-16.htm" title="And the glory of the LORD stayed on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud.">Exodus 24:16</a>); but the exact phrase had not been used previously. It implies a very high degree of Divine favour. God “knows by name” only those whom He greatly regards. (See Note on <a href="/exodus/31-2.htm" title="See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:">Exodus 31:2</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-13.htm">Exodus 33:13</a></div><div class="verse">Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation <i>is</i> thy people.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Shew me now thy way</span>—i.e., Thy course—Thy intention. Let me know if Thou really intendest to withdraw Thyself from us, and put a created being in Thy place or no.<p><span class= "bld">Consider that this nation is thy people.</span>—Moses glances back at God’s words recorded in <a href="/exodus/32-7.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Go, get you down; for your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:">Exodus 32:7</a>, and reminds God that the Israelites are not merely his (Moses’) people, but also, in a higher sense, God’s people. As such, God had acknowledged them (<a href="/exodus/3-7.htm" title="And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;">Exodus 3:7</a>; <a href="/exodus/3-10.htm" title="Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.">Exodus 3:10</a>; <a href="/exodus/5-1.htm" title="And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus said the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.">Exodus 5:1</a>; <a href="/exodus/6-7.htm" title="And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.">Exodus 6:7</a>; <a href="/exodus/7-4.htm" title="But Pharaoh shall not listen to you, that I may lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.">Exodus 7:4</a>, &c.).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-14.htm">Exodus 33:14</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, My presence shall go <i>with thee</i>, and I will give thee rest.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">My presence shall go with thee.</span>—There is no “with thee” in the original, and consequently the phrase is ambiguous. Moses could not tell whether it was a personal promise to himself, or a renewal of the old engagement to go with the people. He consequently requires something more explicit. Will God go, not merely with him, but with the people? (<a href="/context/exodus/33-15.htm" title="And he said to him, If your presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.">Exodus 33:15-16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-17.htm">Exodus 33:17</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken.</span>—At length the promise is unambiguously given. Moses is rewarded for his importunity. God’s people have found grace in His sight. He will “go up” with them, and so “separate them,” or distinguish them, from “all the people that are on the face of the earth.” Now at last Moses is satisfied.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-18.htm">Exodus 33:18</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.</div>MOSES’ REQUEST TO SEE GOD’S GLORY, AND GOD’S REPLY TO IT.</span><p>(18-23) Not till he had received full assurance of the people’s restoration to favour did Moses prefer any request for himself. Then, however, he made use of the privilege granted him to speak with God, “as a man speaketh unto his friend,” in order to obtain a blessing for which his spiritual nature craved, and than which he could conceive nothing more desirable. “Shew me,” he said, “I beseech thee, thy glory.” All that he had yet seen of God was insufficient—only raised his desire, only sharpened his appetite to see more. He craved for that “beatific vision” which is the final reward of them that are perfected in another world. God could not grant his request in full, for it is impossible so long as we are in the flesh that we should look on God and live. “No man hath seen God at any time” (<a href="/john/1-18.htm" title="No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.">John 1:18</a>). But He granted all that could be granted. He made “all his goodness pass before” Moses; He gave him a fresh revelation of His name (<a href="/context/exodus/34-6.htm" title="And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,">Exodus 34:6-7</a>); and He even let him see some actual portion of His “glory”—as much as mortal man could possibly behold—more than any son of man had ever beheld before—more, probably, than any other son of man will ever behold until the consummation of all things (<a href="/context/exodus/33-22.htm" title="And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by:">Exodus 33:22-23</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-19.htm">Exodus 33:19</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.</div>(19) I will make all my goodness pass before thee.—It is not clear how this was fulfilled. Perhaps, as God announced His name—“the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” &c. (<a href="/context/exodus/34-6.htm" title="And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,">Exodus 34:6-7</a>)—a revelation of God’s ineffable goodness was miraculously flashed into his inmost soul, and the thousand instances of it which he had known brought distinctly to his recollection, so as to “pass before him.”<p><span class= "bld">And will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.</span>—It is not meant that God’s favour is bestowed arbitrarily, but only that it is in any case <span class= "ital">favour—</span>a free gift, not earned nor merited.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-21.htm">Exodus 33:21</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said, Behold, <i>there is</i> a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:</div>(21) <span class= "bld">There is a place by me.</span>—A place on the summit of Sinai, where God had been manifesting Himself, is clearly intended; but it is impossible to fix the place with any certainty. Speculations like those of Dr. Robinson (<span class= "ital">Biblical Researches, </span>Vol. 1, p. 153) are of little value.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/33-22.htm">Exodus 33:22</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:</div>(22) <span class= "bld">And will cover thee with my hand.—</span>Kalisch observes with justice that the mysteriousness of this obscure section “attains its highest climax in the three last verses” (<a href="/context/exodus/33-21.htm" title="And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on a rock:">Exodus 33:21-23</a>). Human language is, by its very nature, unfit for the expression of sublime spiritual truths, and necessarily clothes them in a materialistic garment which is alien to their ethereal nature. All that we can legitimately gather from this verse and the next is that Moses was directed to a certain retired position, where God miraculously both protected him and shrouded him, while a manifestation of His glory passed by of a transcendent character, and that Moses was allowed to see, not the full manifestation, but the sort of after-glow which it left behind, which was as much as human nature could endure.<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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