EXODUS LESSON 56


    We will begin in Exodus 33:1 "And the LORD said unto Moses,
Depart, [and] go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought
up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:"

    The Lord hadgiven them directions now to move on. It seems as
though He had at least accepted Moses' offer to give himself for the
people as a true sign of repentance. He would not allow Moses to give
his life for theirs, but He appreciated the offer. It seems as though
the Lord would not be with him in the same sense that He was before.
An angel would lead them. The quickest way to lose God's presence is to
get involved in a false religion.

    Exodus 33:2 "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:" Exodus 33:3 "Unto a land
flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of
thee; for thou [art] a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the
way."

    We see here that God's plan to lead them to the promised land had
not changed. His promise to Abraham still would be carried out. The
difference, as we said above, was that the presence of God would be
different. God would not be in direct contact with them anymore. He is
a Holy God and cannot look upon sin. He will burn it up. He knew that
these people were slow to learn the ways of God because they were so
stubborn ("stiffnecked"). God was still leading them, but from a
distance.

    Exodus 33:4  "And when the people heard these evil tidings, they
mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments."

    Suddenly true repentance and grief had struck the camp.  The
putting on of their ornaments was, probably, associated with gladness
and joy. This that they had done was similar to sackcloth and ashes in
that this was an outward show of their grief in learning that the Lord
Himself would not be in their presence now.

    Exodus 33:5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the
children of Israel, Ye [are] 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."

    This was a bit of a repetition of the verses above. God knew if He
travelled in their immediate presence, that He would utterly destroy
them. God knew that with their attitude, they would not be easily
taught the ways of God. "Stiffnecked" can mean so many things. Some of
them are arrogance, self-centeredness, unteachable, proud, stubborn,
and set in their ways. We will see all of these present as they
continued on their way to the promised land.

    Exodus 33:6 "And the children of Israel stripped themselves of
their ornaments by the mount Horeb." Exodus 33:7 "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,
[that] every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of
the congregation, which [was] without the camp."

    How sad that God would remove His presence.  Sometimes it is in
judgement, sometimes mercy, and sometimes a little bit of both. God
has always wanted to fellowship with man. In the garden of Eden, God
fellowshipped with Adam, but Adam's sin not only drove himself out of
the garden, but also drove God away from him. God will not dwell where
there is sin. The one really great promise about all of this is, if we
are still alive, God will allow us to repent, and He will open Himself
to us again. God never moves very far away. There is just sometimes a
cloud of sin between us and God. Prayer and true repentance can remove
this cloud and bring us into the very presence of God.

    Exodus 33:8 "And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the
tabernacle, [that] all the people rose up, and stood every man [at]
his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the
tabernacle."

    Finally, we see a little reverence for God from these people.
Moses was meeting with God to pray for them.

    Exodus 33:9 "And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the
tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood [at] the door of
the tabernacle, and [the LORD] talked with Moses." Exodus 33:10 "And
all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand [at] the tabernacle door:
and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man [in] his tent
door."

    We see that Moses was still communing with God. He was not only
communing with God for himself but for these people, as well. It seems
that the presence of God was probably staying on Mount Sinai and just
coming into the tabernacle when Moses was there. There was a visible
manifestation of God that hovered over the tabernacle when God was
there. It was a pillar of smoke.  God had removed Himself from the
people. The tabernacle was not in the camp.  Now they saw the need to
worship, and they worshipped in their tents as Moses communed with God.

    Exodus 33:11 "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."

    This just showed that beautiful fellowship that God had with Moses.
This "face to face" means that Moses was in the actual presence of
God, and that He and God conversed like two friends. It appears that
Joshua had become Moses' right hand man; and in the absence of Moses
in the tabernacle, Joshua was there to take care of things, until Moses
returned. Joshua seemed to be Moses' personal assistant at that time.
He served Moses on the side of the mountain as well as in the
tabernacle. Joshua had not even been in the camp when the idolatry
took place. He had no part in this sin.  He was near Moses at the
time. Joshua had not gone all the way to the top of the mount with
Moses, but had waited at a designated place where Moses told him to
wait. Here we see Joshua, again, near to serve Moses and God, as well.
You might even say Joshua was in training. We know that later on we
will discover that Joshua took over the leadership of the people at
Moses' death .

    Exodus 33:12  "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." Exodus 33:13 "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 [is] thy people."

    We see, that before Moses moved a single inch, he wanted to
know how and who would lead them. Moses was taking advantage of this
conversation with God, to get a better understanding of where they were
headed, and if God had completely given up on this, His people, or not.
He even reminded God that he was acting on God's orders to bring them
out. This just seems, again, to be a wonderful conversation between
two friends. Moses was almost pleading with God to go with them
Himself. He begged for the people's forgiveness, as well.

    Exodus 33:14 "And he said, My presence shall go [with thee], and I
will give thee rest."

    Here, God reassured Moses that He would go with him, and Moses would
have nothing to fear, or be disturbed about. God was giving Moses
perfect rest.

    Exodus 33:15 "And he said unto him, If thy presence go not [with
me], carry us not up hence." Exodus 33:16 "For wherein shall it be
known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? [is
it] not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that [are] upon the face of the
earth."

    If these people were to be a separated people, then there had to be
some way that the world could tell the difference. The presence of the
Lord needed to be visible. This applies to us, as well. If we are no
different than the rest of the world in our behavior, how can they
tell that we are Christians? Here we see Moses telling God that he
did not want to go forward without His presence. It is important to
God for the world to recognize that God's people are different,
because He is with them.

    Exodus 33:17 "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."

    Here is a beautiful forgiveness statement by the Lord. This
forgiveness came, because the Lord was Moses' friend.  This was an
answer to Moses' request, not because these people deserved forgiveness.

    Exodus 33:18 "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory."

    Moses had talked with the Lord numerous times, but He had been
hidden in the cloud. Moses wanted to see his friend now, and prayed
"beseech" for just that.

    Exodus 33:19 "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."

    Here the Lord was explaining to Moses that He did not have to
explain why He blessed someone. He could bless anyone He wanted to.
We see that He is about to reveal more of Himself to Moses than He
ever had to anyone else. God's goodness is beyond man's comprehension.
God has a hidden name, and perhaps this will be revealed to Moses as
God passed very near. The Lord was not obligated to show Moses
anything. He just did, because Moses had found favor with Him.

    Exodus 33:20 "And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there
shall no man see me, and live."

    Whatever this presence is, flesh cannot look upon Him and live.
We do know that God is spoken of as a consuming fire.  Whether this is
what is meant here or not, we do not know. We do know that some danger
exists in a mere mortal seeing the face of God. If we are Christians,
we will see Him in heaven.

    Exodus 33:21 "And the LORD said, Behold, [there is] a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock:" Exodus 33:22 "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:" Exodus
33:23 "And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back
parts: but my face shall not be seen."

    All sorts of ideas of what God looks like go racing by in a
person's imagination. There are a few things we do know about God.
Many times He showed Himself associated with fire such as "the burning
bush", etc. We know that Jesus said He was the Light of the world. We,
also, know that Jesus told the disciples if they had seen Him, they had
seen the Father. Beyond this, it is not good to speculate. We do know
that the Lord put Moses in a crack in the rock and passed close enough
to him that the Lord covered Moses with His Hand to protect him. When
He removed His hand, Moses saw the reflection of His glory. Anything
besides that, we will have to wait for in heaven. This presence of the
Lord this close to Moses had to cleanse him even further than before.
The cry of all mankind is "Oh, to see God".  There have been songs
written about the "cleft of the rock". "Hide me, Oh, Lord in the cleft
of the Rock" (Jesus).

                          Exodus 56 Questions

1.  Where did God tell Moses to take the people?
2.  Who would lead them?
3.  What is the quickest way to lose God's presence?
4.  What people did God promise to run out of the land for the
    children of Israel?
5.  What two things made the land inviting?
6.  What kind of people did the Lord call the children of Israel?
7.  Why had God not changed His mind to give them the promised land?
8.  What does "stiffnecked" mean?
9.  What caused these Israelites to mourn?
10. Taking off their ornaments was similar to what other outward show
    of repentance?
11. What had the Lord threatened to do, if He came among them?
12. Where did Moses pitch the tabernacle?
13. What was the tabernacle called?
14. What two things caused God to remove His presence?
15. God never moves very far away from His people. Sometimes there is
    a ----------- of -------------between us and God.
16. When Moses went into the tabernacle, what did the people do?
17. What did this show these people have finally done?
18. As Moses entered the tabernacle, how did God show His presence?
19. What did face to face mean in V-11?
20. Who had become Moses' servant?
21. In V-11, Moses was called the Lord's ---------------.
22. Why was Joshua allowed in the temple?
23. In V-12 and V-13, what was Moses pleading for?
24. What was God's answer in V-14?
25. How could the world know these were God's people?
26. What makes us different from the world?
27. In V-17, the Lord gave Moses two reasons why He would do what
    Moses asked.  What were they?
28. In V-18, Moses asked the Lord for what?
29. What did the Lord tell Moses would pass before him?
30. The Lord said," There shall no man ---   --------------------,
    ------    -------.
31. Where would the Lord put Moses to protect him while He passed by?
32. What was the only part of the Lord that Moses saw?
33. The cry of all mankind is what?