Exodus 33:1-12 And the LORD said to Moses, Depart, and go up hence, you and the people which you have brought up out of the land of Egypt… On this section consider - I. THE CONDITIONED PROMISE (vers. 1-4). God has consented to spare the nation. They are to set out forthwith on the journey to Canaan. But his presence is no longer to go with them. He would send an angel. Notice - 1. Everything, in one sense, remains the same. The people are to be conducted to Canaan. They are to inherit the promises. God will drive out their enemies before them. The land will still flow with milk and honey. It will still be able to be said of them, that there is no nation on earth so favoured as they are. Yet, 2. Everything, in another sense, is different. Blessings without God in them are not the same blessings. They want that which gives them their chief value. See below, on ver. 15. II. THE SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE (vers. 4-7). A command is next given to the people to strip off their ornaments. They are to humble themselves before Jehovah that Jehovah may know what to do with them. This command they obeyed. From this time forward they ceased to wear ornaments. On this observe, 1. Repentance for sin is an indispensable condition of restoration to God's favour. It was required of Israel. It is required of us. There can be no salvation without it (Luke 17:5). "Cease to do evil; learn to do well" (Isaiah 1:16, 17). Had Israel not repented, Moses would have interceded in vain. 2. Repentance, if sincere, must approve itself by appropriate deeds. - "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8). The people put off their ornaments. Ornaments do not become those with whom God is displeased. This act of the people was a first step in obedience. 3. A very imperfect repentance is sometimes accepted by God as a reason for forbearance with the sinner. The people mourned; but their repentance, as events showed, did not amount to a real change of heart. They mourned for "the evil tidings." It was the consequences of their sin which distressed them, more than the sin itself. Yet do them justice. The "evil tidings" was not the loss of any material blessings, hut, solely, the loss of God's presence. There is still good in a heart which feels the withdrawal of God's presence to be a loss to it. 4. It is well that the remembrance of great sins should go with us all our days. Those who have committed them should go softly ever after. III. THE WITHDRAWAL OF JEHOVAH'S PRESENCE FROM THE CAMP (vers. 7-9). Moses, we are next informed, took a tent, possibly his own, possibly one which had hitherto served as a sanctuary, pitched it "without the camp, afar off from the camp," and called it "the tent of meeting." Thither came out every one that sought the Lord. The act was, 1. A symbol of Jehovah's formal withdrawal from the midst of the people. 2. A token that a final decision had not yet been come to as to how God meant to deal with them. Communications were not wholly broken off. Space was left for repentance. God might still be entreated of them. Learn (1) iniquities separate between man and God (cf. Isaiah 59:2); (2) the withdrawal of God's presence is not necessarily the end of the day of grace. There is an "accepted time" during which, if the sinner repents, he will be forgiven, and God's presence will be restored to him (2 Corinthians 6:2). Meanwhile, even God's keeping back from him has its side of mercy. God's near presence would consume (cf. ver. 5). (3) The day of grace which sinners enjoy is won for them by the intercession of another. Israel's "accepted time" was based on the intercession of Moses. Ours, as the passage above referred to implies, rests on the intercession of Christ. "I have heard thee (Christ) in a time accepted" (cf. Isaiah 49:8) - "Behold, now is the accepted time" - for men (2 Corinthians 6:2). (4) it is our duty to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call on him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6). IV. THE TOKEN OF FAVOUR TO MOSES (vers. 9-12). The cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle. There the Lord talked with Moses, as a man talketh with his friend. This was (1) a mark of favour to Moses himself; (2) an honour put upon him before the people; (3) an encouragement to further intercession. - J.O. Parallel Verses KJV: And 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: |
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