Commentaries:
No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Exodus 33:18.
Exodus 33:12-23
Excerpted from: Where God Places His Name (Part Two)What this does, this really neat conversation between God and Moses, is it brings up a question. Moses raises it to Him essentially. And this question is: How can a holy God, as wonderful and glorious and pure as our God is, be in the presence of a sinful nation? How can these two coexist? One is perfectly righteous, holy character, and He is supposed to be in the midst of these very sinful, very hypocritical, as was explained earlier, up and down people who at times could not care less about God. They showed that through the whole wilderness journey, that they forgot Him, just like that [snaps fingers]. And then He had to kill 26,000 or 22,000 or whatever to get their attention. So how can a holy God be in the presence of a sinful nation?
What God does, in this passage, is that He makes a very careful distinction between His presence and His glory, on the one hand, and His name and His goodness on the other. He kind of divides them into two separate categories. So on the one side, you have His glorious presence and His holiness and everything that is just so profound and awe-inspiring and dramatic when we see it. And on the other side, we have His name and His character typified by the word goodness. Goodness comes from God. God is the originator of goodness. So what is good originally meant what is godly.
We will just break it down. You have glory on the one hand, all this bright effulgence from God, and on the other hand, you have His name. His glory, His presence, is holy, awesome, and unapproachable. What does He say? "No man shall see My face and live." He had to cover Moses' face while His glory passed by and then he could see His back. He could see the backside of His glory, as it were, but not that front side, because no man could see His glory and live.
Sinners, even as righteous a man as Moses was, have to be shielded from exposure to His glory. Moses did not have what it took to see His full glory, even though he asked for it. Moses was really reaching when he asked the question, "Show me Your glory." As if he and God had such a good relationship that God would open that up to him. And God says, "Not yet. No. This is not the time. I'll let you see the backside of My glory. But I have something more important to tell you for the time being." God reassures Moses, though, that as a weak mortal human, he could experience the name and goodness of God, but not His glory, not His full presence. Full presence would be overwhelming and deadly. But you, Moses, He says, "You can experience My name and My goodness."
Exodus 33:18-20
Excerpted from: Holiness (Part 1)He is telling Moses, I know you inside and out. I know you intimately. I'm not just acquainted with you, Moses. I know everything about you. And so Moses jumped at that.
God obliged to Moses' request; but how did He do it? How did He show Moses His glory? He preached him a sermon on His name! I might change that and say, He preached him a sermon on the third commandment. He expounded before Moses. And I say expounded here because I feel certain that all that we have is just the barest evidence of what God said - the notes, as it were, of what He talked about more fully. I am sure that He preached him a sermon on eleven names of God: Yhwh, El, the Merciful Being, the Gracious One, the Longsuffering One, the Mighty One, the Bountiful One, the True One, the Preserver of Bountifulness, He who bears away iniquity, and He who visits iniquity.
What He did before Moses was rehearse His nature. And that was so encouraging to Moses, because he knew then that they were not abandoned - that He would be with him - because of what He is (what God was, and what God is). Not because Israel deserved in any way, shape, or form for God to be with them, because every single one of them deserved to be dead! But because God is God, He would continue through with His purpose; and these names exemplified what He would be doing.
So God did not give Moses a vision of His majesty and power, but of His love, of His way of relating to His creation. The glory of God is the manifestation of His nature, of His character, of His way of relating to His creation - especially to His children. His names are signposts of His nature. They are reminders to you and me of what we can expect Him to do. That is why Moses was so encouraged.
Normally, one cannot see God. And, even when we read it in God's Word, what we read here was originally said in Hebrew, and it is translated rather vaguely into English. Now where does that leave you and me?
What did Exodus 33 and 34 say the glory of God is? It is the revelation of His nature. Certainly there is glory in a revelation of His power and majesty - if He should choose to do it in person. But, to you and me, that is not what He is interested in. He is interested in our understanding His nature - that we are conversant with it, that we perceive it, that we understand it, that we can act wisely upon it, and that we can call upon God because we understand His nature.
Exodus 33:18-20
Excerpted from: The Fear of God (Part 2)"Yes God, show me all Your splendor." That is pretty bold! I think that he had to feel very close to God to be able to ask something like that. When God said, "I will show you all My goodness," it carries the connotation with it: "I will withhold nothing." Remember that. When He said, "I will proclaim the name," it was similar to saying, "I will announce My presence."
What is He implying here by answering Moses the way He did? Well, the lesson to you and me is that His glory is in what He is! It is not what He looks like, but it is His character! It is His holiness. It is His righteousness. It is His love. It is His mercy. It is His kindness. That is where His glory resides.
Exodus 33:17-23
Excerpted from: The Glory of God (Part 1): The ShekinahNow did you notice God's own definition of His glory? Moses asked, "Please show me your glory!" And how does God respond? "I will make all my goodness pass before you." And then He says He will proclaim the name of the Lord as He does so. Very interesting!
How does God define His glory? God's glory to Him is His holy, righteous, perfect character. It is the essential essence of God! That is what is glorious to God: His goodness, His character—that's what makes Him God.
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Exodus 33:18:
Exodus 34:5-7
Deuteronomy 32:1-43
1 Kings 19:10-18
<< Exodus 33:17 Exodus 33:19 >>
Join 138,745+ readers
A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning
Consistent Bible study is hard to start.
The Berean gives you the starting point: one scripture and a focused commentary in your inbox each morning — read it in minutes, or go as deep as you like.
Free, daily, and spam-free. We never share your address. Unsubscribe anytime.