Commentaries:

No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Exodus 33:21.

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 33:20-23
Excerpted from: God's Sea of Glass (Part 2)

The "seeing" in Exodus 24:10 was something different from that of Exodus 33:20 and 23, which may denote a partial, as opposed to a full and complete, vision of God. The description of the clear surface that they saw under his feet, in Exodus 24:10, may indicate that this is all they saw of God. It may be that all they saw was a reflection of the image of God, or it may be that this was just a vision in their minds only and not literal.

When Exodus 24:10 says that the four leaders and the seventy elders "saw God,"this does not mean that they beheld God in His essential being or the way that He is in His fullest, because this is not possible for humans. John 1:18 says, "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." The knowledge of God that we have in Jesus Christ is real just as sight is real. It is not complete, but it is genuine and true knowledge. Therefore, in one sense, we see the Father by observing the way and teachings of Jesus Christ who represents and is one with the Father.

Exodus 33:19-23
Excerpted from: The Glory of God (Part 2): In Christ

So we have two things here that make up His glory. First was His goodness. And second, was the name of the Lord. In many ways they are similar.

We've seen here that God Himself defines His glory not necessarily as His splendor. That was part of it because God put Moses into the cleft of the rock, and shielded his eyes from His frontal splendor, and allowed him to see the splendor of His rear parts.

So, obviously, that radiance that God has—the light that shines from Him—is a part of God's glory. Remember that was part of the definition; the stunning beauty and brilliance is a glory. And that is part of what we will receive in the resurrection, a body like unto His. But God emphasizes a different part of His glory here. In a way, the radiance of God was a minor thing compared to what He was trying to get across to Moses as to what His real glory is.

Exodus 33:17-23
Excerpted from: The Glory of God (Part 1): The Shekinah

Now 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 33:21:

Deuteronomy 32:1-43
1 Kings 19:10-18
Matthew 24:30

 

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