Last week, we left off in the middle of our story. We pushed right up against arguably the most famous, well-known verses in all of Exodus. And I just wanted to stop before I got to them, and give them the time they deserve.
At the same time, this is a really complicated passage. I could gloss over all the tricky parts, without you maybe realizing what I've done. But we are just going to take our time with it, and really wrestle with it. Some of what I teach, you'll find yourselves agreeing with. Other parts will be new, and you won't sure. Which is fine. But we will inch our way forward through the text, and we will assume that we don't perfectly understand everything up front. And if you find that the end result today feels too nit-picky, and complicated, I apologize in advance. From my perspective, this is one of the coolest passages in the entire Bible, and I want to do my very best to understand what exactly I'm reading. So let's put on our nerd glasses, take a big drink of coffee to get the caffeine flowing, and get at it.
Let's start, by backtracking a bit, and pick up from Exodus 33:7:
(7) Now, Moses would take the tent,
and he would pitch it outside of the camp, far off from the camp,
and he would call it "The Tent of Meeting,"
and then, everyone seeking Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting,
which [was] outside of the camp,
(8) and then, whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise,
and each one would stand at the opening of his tent,
and they would watch after Moses until he went to the tent,
(9) and then, whenever Moses went to the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend,
and it would stand at the opening of the tent,
and He would speak with Moses,
(10) and all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the opening of the tent,
and all the people would rise,
and each one would worship/bow down at the opening of his tent,
(11) and Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face,
just as a man would speak to his friend/neighbor,
and he would return to the camp,
while his servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, wouldn't leave from the midst of the tent.
(12) and Moses said to Yahweh,
"Look! You are saying to me,
'Bring up this people,
while you haven't revealed who you will send with me,
while you said, 'I have known you by name,
and, what's more, you have found favor in my eyes,'
and so then, if, please, I have found favor in your eyes, Reveal to me, please, your way,
that I may know you,
in order that I may found favor in your eyes,
and look/consider that your people, this nation [is]. ["your people" is focused],
Let me just pause here, and say one thing, because this is key to understanding today's verses. God knows Moses. God knows him by name. And Moses has favor in God's eyes.
What we see in verse 12, is that Moses doesn't feel like he knows God, the way that God knows him. There is a gap-- an imbalance-- in the relationship. Keep that in mind, because we will come back to this.
(14) and He said,
"My face/presence (plural?) shall walk/go,
and I will give rest to you,"
(15) and he said to Him,
"If your face/presence (plural!?) isn't going (plural!?), may you not bring us up from here,
(16) while how will it be known that I have found favor in your eyes-- I, and your people?
Is it not by your going with us?,
that we may be distinguished -- I and your people-- from every nation that is upon the face of the land?,
(17) and Yahweh said to Moses,
"What's more, this matter/word that you have spoken [about], I shall do,
because you have found favor in my eyes,
and I know you by name,"
So up to this point, Yahweh has given Moses what He's asked for. Despite what He had said earlier-- in contradiction to it, really-- God promises that He will go up with Moses and Israel, in their presence. Moses and Israel will be distinguished from every other nation, by God's presence among them.
And God tells Moses why He does this, in verse 17. God did all of this because of Moses. Moses has God's favor. Moses, God knows by name.
So God promises Moses that He will do what Moses has asked. God tells why He's doing this-- that it's because of Moses. And now we come to new verses. We get Moses' response. And let me just say, up front, that there is a total lack of scholarly consensus, at almost every point, on what's going on here. I'm going to give you my interpretation/reading. And if you want to explore the other options, I'd be happy to give you my more detailed manuscript. But there are so many different views, on so many different things, that I can't possibly begin to address everything [there would be zero flow]. So, verse 18:
(18) and he (Moses) said,
"Show me, please, your glory,"
Earlier, in verse 12, we saw that there is an imbalance between the way that God knows Moses, and the way that Moses knows God. Moses doesn't think that he truly, fully, knows God.
If we step back, and think about the book of Exodus as a whole, this should surprise us.
In Exodus 3, we are told that the messenger of Yahweh appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). And this messenger, is Yahweh (Exodus 3:6). So Moses there had an encounter with Yahweh, through the person of the messenger.
Throughout Exodus, we've seen conversations between God and Moses (Exodus 5:22-6:12; Exodus 7:14; etc.).
In Exodus 24, Moses, along with the elders, saw God, and ate a meal in God's presence (Exodus 24:10). These are verses we need to reread, starting at Exodus 24:9 (NRSV Updated no reason):
9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 God[a] did not lay his hand on the chief men of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there; I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
So picture Moses eating a meal at the table, in God's presence. Everyone there "sees" God. That's verse 9-11. Out of that, Yahweh calls to Moses, and tells him to come up "to me" on the mountain. Yahweh is at the top of the mountain, and He wants Moses to join him.
The best explanation for this (building off Michael Heiser's book The Unseen Realm, and probably off Alan Segal, Two Powers in Heaven-- but I haven't read that one), is that there are two Yahwehs. There is a Yahweh who appears on earth. He was in the messenger. He was at the dinner table. This Yahweh can be seen. And there is an invisible Yahweh of heaven, who is never seen. This Yahweh hides behind dark clouds. This Yahweh speaks, from seemingly nowhere. Somehow, there is still one Yahweh. It's complicated. But there is an invisible Yahweh of heaven, and a visible Yahweh on earth. The easiest explanation for this, is that the invisible Yahweh of heaven is God the Father, and the visible Yahweh on earth is God the Son.
At this point, let's reread Exodus 34:18:
(18) and he (Moses) said,
"Show me, please, your glory,"
Moses here is speaking to the invisible Yahweh of heaven-- the Yahweh who hides, and conceals himself. Moses wants to see his glory. Moses wants God to take away the dark cloud that hides God.
I think the reason Moses feels like he doesn't yet fully know God, is because God hides. Can you really fully know someone, who you never see? Can you really ever feel like you know God, if you never see his glory?
That's what Moses is missing. What God and Moses have is something like a long-distance relationship. And this may work just fine for God, because He doesn't feel that distance. God doesn't have Moses' limitations. But Moses wants more. And when God tells Moses that God is pleased with Moses, and has favor with him-- what better time to try to fix this (and here, I'm agreeing with the traditional interpretation, following William Propp and Rashi, against Duane Garrett, C.H. Wright, and Durham)? Moses here sounds like a lastborn child, who has a developed a perfect sense of when and how to ask her father for what she wants.
Now, what is God's glory? What exactly is Moses asking for here?
To answer that, let's turn to Psalm 49:16-17 (English Bible numbering):
(16) Don't be afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases/multiplies,
(17) because when he dies, he doesn't take any [of it],
his glory doesn't go down after him--
A rich man's glory, is his wealth. As people grow wealthy, they grow in possessions. Over time, they accumulate more stuff. They get bigger houses, and boats, and trucks, and RVs, and private jets, and jewelry, and shoes, and better clothes. So a rich man's glory is his wealth. An athlete's glory, might be their muscle, or speed, or vertical leap. A grandma's glory, might be her grandchildren, all come home for Christmas.
"Glory" is the external, visible evidence of your stature, and importance. There are different types of glory, and some people have more than others.
What is God's glory?
That's the question we should be asking ourselves, and keeping in mind as we read. What is God's glory?
At this point, we are ready for verse 19. Here, we get Yahweh's response. What does He think of Moses' request, and how does He hear the word "glory?" Verse 19:
(19) and He [God] said,
"I will cause to pass by all my goodness before your face/presence,
and I will call/proclaim by the name of Yahweh before your face/presence,
and I will show favor to whom I show favor,
and I will show compassion/love to whom I will show compassion/love,"
Moses asked to see God's "glory." And God responds, by telling Moses that He will show Moses "all his goodness."
Is God offering Moses, what Moses wants?
I think the answer is "yes" (with Terence Fretheim, against many others).
From God's perspective, the thing that gives God glory, the thing that radiates off him, and shows his power, and importance, and majesty, is God's goodness. [If I could have one thing grab people today, it'd be this.]
So God will cause all of his goodness to pass by Moses, and as He does this, He will call out his name Yahweh. Goodness, and the name of Yahweh, go hand in hand. And when you hear the name "Yahweh," you should think about "goodness."
I can't possibly do this justice. This is the kind of verse you need to take home with you, and meditate on. But just imagine being Moses, and having God pass all of his goodness by you, as you hear his name Yahweh.
God then talks about two other things-- his favor, and his love. God shows favor, and love, to whomever He wishes. I think God is signaling to Moses here, that the reason He is giving this to Moses, is because God loves Moses, and "favors" him.
[And by introducing this, we probably find ourselves wondering if God's favor and love will carry over from Moses to Israel as a whole, but maybe I won't talk about that. That, though, is the underlying question that drives these chapters].
In verse 20, I think Yahweh explains how exactly this is going to work:
[His speech is divided into two sections through the repeated "and he said." It's "and," not "but," fwiw. Another way to understand this, would be as a second unpacking. Part of God's glory is his goodness. And part of it, is the glory/light that simply radiates off his face.].
(20) and He said,
"You aren't able to see my face
because humans ("the adam/human") can't see, and live,
Moses had started all this by asking to see God's glory. And here, God says that Moses isn't able to see God's "face." Here again, scholars understand everything in different ways. It's complicated, and this is the part I'm a little less sure about.
I think "face" here doesn't mean "face," like you and I have a face. I think "face" here has the sense of "head-on." It's contrasted to God's "back." So Moses can't see God frontally, like you're seeing me. The only way that this will work, is if God reveals his glory to Moses indirectly. [The strength of this reading, in my mind, is that the entire passage logically fits together perfectly then.]
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If I'm wrong, then Terence Fretheim's explanation is the one you want. Paraphrasing him, the idea is that God knows that Moses could've asked for even more-- not simply to see God's glory, but to see God himself. And God would be willing to let Moses see him, but He can't-- it would kill Moses. Basically, God tells Moses that He can't reveal to Moses, something that Moses never asked for.
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If I'm right, then leads to a profound conclusion:
If you experienced the entirety of God's goodness, all at once, it would kill you.
So God is going to do his very best to say "yes" to Moses' request. He will reveal as much of himself to Moses, as He possibly can, without killing Moses. But no human-- not even a Moses-- can see God's glory directly and live.
There's only so much God can reveal.
So Yahweh explains how this work, starting in verse 21:
(21) and Yahweh said,
"LOOK! A place by me,
and you shall stand upon the rock,
(22) and then, when my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock,
and I will cover with my hand over you until I have passed by,
(23) and I will take away my hand,
and you will see my back,
while my face shall not be seen.
The only thing I really want to point out here, I think, is what will "pass by" Moses. In verse 19, God says that "all of his goodness" will pass by Moses. In verse 22, God says that his "glory" will pass by. This, from my perspective, proves that God's glory is his goodness [God isn't offering his goodness, as a substitute for his glory, as some argue]. If you have your own Bibles open, I would underline these two words-- glory, and goodness. God's glory is his goodness.
It's on this note, that I think we should stop reading for today, and just reflect on these verses.
There's a well-known, controversial Christian author and pastor, who I won't name. His books, and the church he pastors, are a weird mix of truth and error. Super controversial. But at the same time, God has revealed himself to that pastor, and to that church, in ways I've never experienced. God's "glory cloud" has been seen there, and God does mighty signs and wonders through that church. Even though I think they get lots of things wrong, that pastor, and church, have God's favor. God knows them by name.
That pastor has written a book about God's goodness that I found incredibly helpful (even though I could pick it apart, and disagreed with half the book). Who is God, at the core of his being? What is God like?
Where do you start, in answering a question like that?
Maybe, you could say that God is fundamentally a holy God. And you could explain holiness (in ways the Bible doesn't, maybe; see Andrew Case, "Toward a Better Understanding of God's Holiness: Challenging the Status Quo") in terms of transcendence, and power, and moral uprightness. If you take this road, you usually end up thinking about God in terms of this huge gap between you and God. God is "Other." He's remote. He's different. He's far. When I was at a more impressionable age, I read a book by R.C. Sproul called "The Holiness of God," and for many years, this sort of thinking dominating my own views of God. Yahweh is the kind of God, who, if you touch the ark to keep it from tipping, will flash in anger, and kill you.
Another option, would be to say that God is fundamentally "love" or "light." When you think about God, you'd first think about these things.
How you view God, makes a huge difference in how you relate to him. It changes how you live, how you pray. And it changes how you view the world around you.
This pastor argues that God is fundamentally a good God.
And based on this passage, God agrees with this pastor. For all the things the pastor gets wrong, he gets this absolutely right.
The thing that radiates off of God, that shows his majesty, that gives him glory, is God's goodness. And if you were exposed to all of God's goodness, all at once, face-to-face, it would overwhelm you, and kill you.
Some of you, perhaps, are in a place I was 20 years ago. You tend to view God as kind of stern, and far off, and holy, and transcendent. You approach God with fear and trembling. Kind of scared. When bad things happen to you, you tend to give God "credit" for that. And when bad things happen in the world, you tend to give God "credit" for that, as well.
A few of you, perhaps, even take it a step further. Or you grew up, hearing it taken a step further. There is a type of Calvinist who believes in something called "double predestination." That's the idea that when God made people He chose them in advance, for either heaven or hell. God picked some people for heaven, and some people for hell.
Why would God make some people, for the purpose of sending them to hell? Well, the argument goes that God did this to give himself glory. God receives glory, when he punishes wicked people for all time, by throwing them in the lake of fire. So God receives some glory by saving us. And He also receives glory by sending others to hell. And if we struggle with this, we are supposed to realize that we are the clay, and God is the potter, and God can do what He wants with his creation. And if God wants to be praised for his justice, and holiness, as well as his love, then that is God's choice.
In my opinion, people who defend this view, have moved far beyond what the Bible supports. It only "works" by
starting from a few random verses, and trying to push them logically far beyond where the Bible takes it.
But the biggest problem with this view, maybe, is the way it twists God's glory.
God's glory is his goodness. So let me let me just encourage you, in all your thinking about God, to start here.
Now, what if you feel like Moses? What if you feel like God knows you, way better than you know God, and that your relationship with God is imbalanced? What should you do?
Find a quiet place, and ask God to show you his glory. Ask God to reveal his goodness to you, up the point that it's all you can handle. Ask God to cause all of his goodness to pass by you.
If/when God answers that prayer, I promise you that you will never again feel like you don't really know God. God may or may not give you something to see. Perhaps, He will testify to you through his Spirit, about who He really is. Perhaps He will overwhelm you with his goodness, in some other way. But if God shows you his goodness, then you will truly know God.
And one day, somehow, we will see God face to face. That's the promise Jesus gave: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). God will change us, somehow, and make it so that we can see God, and live. But in the meantime, understand that God's glory is his goodness. And I pray that all of his goodness will pass by you, as much as you can handle.
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Scholars disagree on how to answer three big questions in this passage:
(1) Why does Moses ask for this?
It's often argued that Moses asks to see God's glory as a reassurance. Moses struggles to believe that God will keep his promise, and go with his people. And so Moses is asking for confirmation. This is well-argued by C.H. Wright, Duane Garrett, and Durham, but I think it ultimately falls apart. Earlier in Exodus, when Moses needs reassurance, he isn't shy about asking God for confirmation (Exodus 3-4). And if that's why he was asking here, I think he would've simply said so: "Show me your glory, that I may know that you will go with us." So I don't think Moses is seeking a sign, or confirmation, or reassurance. I think Moses is seeking the missing piece, that keeps him from fully knowing God-- I think his request builds off Exodus 34:12. None of my commentators make this connection, but I struggle to believe that this is a new contribution to Exodus studies.
When I prayed this myself, I found myself expecting a theophany-- I expected God to reveal himself in some way. I was hoping for a "private mystical experience." So I think Duane Garrett's view simply doesn't hold:
"The request to see YHWH’s glory is therefore not from a desire for a private mystical experience but more concretely springs from a need that God reassure him, by another visible manifestation of his presence, that YHWH was Israel’s God and that he would see Israel and Moses through this crisis." Duane A. Garrett, A Commentary on Exodus: Commentary, Kregel Exegetical Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2014), 649.
(2) What is God's glory?
The main debate here centers around the relationship between God's "glory," "presence," and "goodness." Some argue that God's glory IS his presence (Durham in particular). But I think Brueggemann (who I rarely agree with, and rarely read), does a really nice job here. Glory is the thing that radiates off of God, but glory isn't God. It's like you'd come to fully see God in three steps-- you'd move from (1) the cloud that hides God's glory, to (2) seeing his glory, to (3) seeing God.
(3) What exactly is Moses asking for?
How we answer this, broadly depends on how we answer the first two questions.
One thing I wrestled with, is if Moses understands that he is asking God to reveal his goodness. If he understands that God's glory is his goodness, then that puts a different angle on the entire passage. But I think he doesn't.
Translation:
(18) and he (Moses) said,
"Show me, please, your glory,"
(19) and He said,
"I will cause to pass over all my goodness before your face/presence,
and I will call/proclaim by the name of Yahweh before your face/presence,
and I will show favor to whom I show favor,
and I will show compassion/love to whom I will show compassion/love,"
(20) and He said,
"You aren't able to see my face
because humans ("the adam/human") can't see, and live,
(21) and Yahweh said,
"LOOK! A place by me,
and you shall stand upon the rock,
(22) and then, when my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock,
and I will cover with my hand over you until I have passed by,
(23) and I will take away my hand,
and you will see my back,
while my face shall not be seen,"
