# Exodus 33 📖: God's Presence Goes with Israel [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Exodus Overview]] | [[Exodus 32]] | [[Exodus 34]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’  [[#Verse 02.]] I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.  [[#Verse 03.]] Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.” [[#Verse 04.]] When the people heard this troubling word they mourned; no one put on his ornaments.  [[#Verse 05.]] For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments that I may know what I should do to you.’” [[#Verse 06.]] So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb. ### The Presence of the Lord [[#Verse 07.]]  Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone seeking the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. [[#Verse 08.]] And when Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent.  [[#Verse 09.]] And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.  [[#Verse 10.]] When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship.  [[#Verse 11.]] The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. [[#Verse 12.]] Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, and also you have found favor in my sight.’  [[#Verse 13.]] Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight. And see that this nation is your people.” [[#Verse 14.]] And the Lord said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” [[#Verse 15.]] And Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here.  [[#Verse 16.]] For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” [[#Verse 17.]] The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” [[#Verse 18.]] And Moses said, “Show me your glory.” [[#Verse 19.]] And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious; I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”  [[#Verse 20.]] But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”  [[#Verse 21.]] The Lord said, “Here is a place by me; you will station yourself on a rock.  [[#Verse 22.]] When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.  [[#Verse 23.]] Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The people removed their ornaments as a sign of mourning (33:4-6). 2. Before the tabernacle was built, Moses pitched a tent of meeting outside the camp (33:7). 3. "Face to face" (33:11) describes direct, personal conversation. It does not mean Moses saw God's full glory (33:20). 4. Joshua stayed at the tent even after Moses returned to the camp (33:11). 5. Moses argued that God's presence is what sets Israel apart from every other nation (33:16). 6. The Hebrew word for "presence" (33:14) is literally "face," which ties into God's words about His face in 33:20. 7. Paul quotes 33:19 in Romans 9:15. 8. God placed Moses in a cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand (33:22). 9. God's "back" (33:23) is human language used to describe what Moses could see of God's glory. 10. Elijah later stood at the same mountain, Horeb, in a cave as the Lord passed by (1 Kings 19:9-13). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the glory of God made visible. Moses could not see God's face and live (33:20), but God has shone the light of His glory in our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6; John 1:18). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Moses would not go forward without God's presence (33:15). How much do you value God's presence over His blessings? 2. The Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with a friend (33:11). What does friendship with God look like (John 15:15)? 3. Moses asked to see God's glory, and God showed him His goodness (33:18-19). How are God's glory and His goodness connected? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 11: The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. - 📖 verse 14: My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. - 📖 verses 18-19: Moses asks to see God's glory, and God promises to make His goodness pass by. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 04#Verse 06.|2 Corinthians 4:6]] - The glory of God in the face of Christ. - 🔗 [[John 01#Verse 18.|John 1:18]] - The only one, Himself God, has made God known. - 🔗 [[John 15#Verse 15.|John 15:15]] - I have called you friends. - 🔗 [[Romans 09#Verse 15.|Romans 9:15]] - I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. - 🔗 [[1 Kings 19#Verse 09.|1 Kings 19:9-13]] - The Lord passes by Elijah at Horeb. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Exodus 33- SOAP|Spending Time with the LORD]] ## 📂 Internal Notes