King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 9 notes
1And 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:
2And 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:
3Unto 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.
Was the angel therefore more forgiving or considerate than the Lord? Or, probably and more likely, the holiness of the Lord could not coexist with the rebellion of the people.
Letting an angel guide them was an act of mercy, though it meant they lost the privilege of the LORD himself being in the midst of them.
No wonder they wept when they heard the Lord's decisions.
4And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.
5For 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.
And that moment they did not know. They were kept on edge. It's like being on death row without knowing the day of your death ☠.
That itself was torturous.
6And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.
So they committed these atrocities on none other than Mount 🗻 Horeb, the mount of the Lord, and from where the Lord had spoken not too long ago in an audible voice from Sinai.
Human beings, we are so someway.
Such — not just disobedience but blatant disrespect of God and his word.
This was a serious moment.. This was not a time to look pretty, and with the very ornaments of their gross disrespect...
A painful reminder of the sin they had committed before the Lord.
7And 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.
8And 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.
9And 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.
10And 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.
11And 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.
No wonder he (Joshua) later inherited Moses.
God spoke to Moses face to face. Was it that he appeared as a man and spoke to him, or he appeared in the cloud so that his figure is masked in a sense?
If so, that will not be face to face, will it?
Whatever the case may be, this form in which God appeared to Moses was different from his appearance in glory. I am sure Moses had seen that glorious form faintly or very shortly in time past and wanted a fuller, much more personal encounter with him.
How did Moses know there was a glorious form different from what the Lord was currently showing him? Or maybe it came up in conversation with God.
12And 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.
Of course the Lord had told him who was going with him — an angel — but Moses wanted the Lord himself to go with them.
13Now 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.
14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
16For 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.
17And 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.
18And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
19And 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.
20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
While Israel's relationship with the Lord had turned sour, Moses's was getting better and deeper.
Awesome indeed.
21And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
22And 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:
23And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
No wonder ever so often visions of God or the Lord are those of bright light. He is shrouded in light.