And Jehovah said to Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, into the land that I swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it,
Israel has just made a golden calf, and now God tells Moses to move on toward Canaan. But God calls Israel Moses' people, not His own, and the journey goes on only because of the oath He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The phrase "the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt" is not a slip. It picks up Israel's own words. They gave a man the credit for their rescue, not God. One writer follows that echo through three chapters:
God will not call them His people any more. The people had said, "As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him" (32:1). And God says, "This people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves" (v. 7). So in verse 11 Moses says, "whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt." In chapter 33:1 the Lord says, "the people whom you [Moses] have brought up out of the land of Egypt." And in chapter 34:10 God again calls them "your [Moses'] people."
Nothing in this chapter cancels Canaan. God has not taken them back, yet He still names the land as theirs. The reason goes back further than Sinai:
First, the Lord did not yet take the people back into the relationship with Himself that they had forfeited by their sin. They had rejected Him, and He keeps them, as it were, on that footing. So He still says to Moses, "you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt." Second, He still promises them the land. Moses had secured this by his first intercession, when he appealed to the absolute and unconditional promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
God offers an escort in place of the presence that had gone with them since Egypt. This marks the difference between how God saves and how He governs:
Until now He had been in their midst, and His presence had been with them by night and by day. Now He says, "I will send My angel." He withdraws… Grace is one thing, and government is quite another. You can see both principles in God's ways with Israel. He brought them out of Egypt in pure sovereign grace. They put themselves under law, and under that, God's government must come in. If you and I do wrong, the wheels of government will roll on even though God forgives us.
Compare how God described Israel at the start of the book with how He describes them here. The change of description explains the change of treatment:
At the start of this book, when the people were suffering in Egypt, the Lord could say, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings." But now He has to say, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people." An afflicted people is an object of grace; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled.
By handing the nation over to Moses, God links the mediator's standing to theirs. He does not protest the link — he uses it:
God viewed Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, as connected with the people of Israel. They made the calf while Moses was on the mountain with God. There the lawgiver learned from God about their sin, and that God connected him with them… Moses, clear of the sin of the calf, then intercedes for them… Again, in Ex. 33:1-3 God speaks in a similar way, identifying Moses with the people. Moses accepts the position, and again intercedes for the people.
The command to go on is not good news if God Himself is not going. Picture the same order given to us:
Suppose the Lord told us as believers to make our way to heaven as best we can, without His presence. How should we react? If that would be true of our own lives, how much more helpless would Moses feel? He had to lead over two million people through the wilderness.
- Disowned. Israel gave a man the credit for their rescue. God takes them at their word: they are now "the people whom you brought up," not His own.
- Promised. The march goes on only because of the oath God swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their sin could not cancel it.
- Distanced. God sends an angel ahead but no longer goes with them Himself. Grace forgives, yet government still runs its course.
- Humbled. A suffering people was an object of grace; a stiff-necked people must be humbled.
- Mediated. God ties Moses to the guilty nation. Moses accepts the tie and pleads for them.
(and I will send an angel before thee, and dispossess the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,)
Israel has just made the golden calf, and God still sends them on toward the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. An angel will go ahead of them to clear out the six nations, but something has been taken away along with that gift.
The land is still promised, but the reason has shifted. Writers point out that the ground of the gift was never Israel's performance.
Exodus 33 opens with the command that the people get ready to go forward to the land. That land was to be theirs, not because they deserved it under the law, but because of the unconditional covenant God first gave to Abraham. God would still act for them, driving out the nations before them and bringing them in. But the Angel would do it.
The promise held because Moses had already pleaded for the people, appealing to the word God gave their fathers.
First, the Lord did not yet take the people back into the relationship with Himself that they had forfeited by their sin. They had rejected Him, and He keeps them as it were on that footing. So He still says to Moses, "you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt." Second, He promises them the land anyway. Moses had secured this by his first prayer for them, when he appealed to the absolute and unconditional promises God made to the fathers.
This messenger is not a new figure. He appears again and again as Israel's guide, and what Scripture says about Him fits no creature.
An angel was to go before them for guidance and safe conduct. He is often referred to in this connection. (Ex. 14:19, Ex. 33:2; Num. 20:16, etc.) The prophet Isaiah calls Him the angel of His (Jehovah's) presence... It is said for example here, "My name is in Him."... So it is clear that He is divine. The fair conclusion, one that godly students of the Word have drawn in every age, is that this angel is none other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah.
Even so, this is a step back. Commentators read the sending of the angel as God pulling back from a camp He had walked in until now.
Up to this point He had been in their midst, and His presence had been with them by night and by day. Now He says, "I will send my Angel." He withdraws... Grace is one thing, and government is quite another. You can see both principles in God's ways with Israel. He brought them out of Egypt in pure sovereign grace. They put themselves under law, and under that, God's government must come in.
The offer still includes guidance, safe conduct and the land itself. One writer asks what we would make of the same offer.
Suppose the Lord told us, as believers, that we must make our way to heaven as best we can, without His presence. How should we react?
Moses is not satisfied with an angel. He asks for God Himself to go with them, and God agrees.
Afterwards Moses intercedes for the people, and Jehovah offers to send an angel to bring them into the land of Canaan that He had promised them... But this could not satisfy the heart of Moses. He is troubled, and asks Jehovah to show him His way and to go with them Himself. "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us?" And the Lord said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name."
Israel can no longer claim anything under the law. That leaves only one basis for going forward.
The people are to be sent forward, under the mediatorship of Moses, by the hand of an angel. This was very unlike the state of things that held good from Egypt to Sinai. They had forfeited all claim on the ground of law. So nothing was left but for God to fall back on His own sovereignty and say, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
That sovereignty is not a narrowing but a widening.
With everything ruined, God would now act in His sovereignty and show mercy to whom He would. That sovereignty extends mercy to Gentiles as well as Jews: see Romans 9:14-15. God promised to be gracious, so that now mercy was added to law.
- Promise — The land is still given. Not as wages earned under law, but on the unconditional covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Escort — God had walked among them. Now He offers an angel ahead of them instead: the gift stays, the nearness goes.
- Angel — Writers identify this guide as the angel of His presence, divine, with God's own name in Him.
- Refusal — Moses will not move without God Himself. He asks for God's presence, and God grants it.
- Mercy — Every claim is forfeited. So God falls back on His own mercy, and that mercy is wide enough to reach beyond Israel.
into a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, -- lest I consume thee on the way.
Israel has just made the golden calf, and Moses has pleaded for them. God still promises the land, but He will not go up among them — so is the gift worth having without the Giver?
The promise itself sounds generous: a land flowing with milk and honey. Then comes the line that takes the comfort out of it:
But the Lord added a statement that devastated Moses. He said, "I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people" (v. 3). Could Moses think of leading the people on these terms? Suppose the Lord told us as believers to make our own way to heaven, as best we can, without His presence. How should we react?
God's holiness is the reason. A people who had rejected Him could not have Him living in the middle of the camp and survive:
First, the Lord did not yet take the people back into the relationship with Himself that they had forfeited by their sin. They had rejected Him, and He keeps them, as it were, on that footing. Second, He promises them the land anyway. Moses had secured that by his first plea, when he appealed to the absolute and unconditional promises God made to Israel's forefathers. But, third, He announces that He will not go up among them. "For," He said, "you are a stiff-necked people; lest I consume you on the way." A holy God, to speak in human terms, did not know how He could now live among a nation of transgressors.
God had seen Israel's affliction in Egypt and heard their cry. What He sees now is different:
At the opening of this book the people were suffering in Egypt. Then the Lord could say, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows." But now He has to say, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people." An afflicted people is an object of grace; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled.
Forgiveness does not cancel consequence. God brought Israel out of Egypt by grace alone. Then they put themselves under law. This verse is what follows:
Until now He had been in their midst, and His presence had been with them by night and by day. Now He says, "I will send my Angel." He withdraws... Grace is one thing, and government is quite another. You see both principles in God's ways with Israel. He brought them out of Egypt in pure sovereign grace. They put themselves under law, and under that, God's government must come in. If you and I do wrong, the wheels of government roll on, even though God forgives us.
Later, Moses asks God to go with them. He gives God's own reason back to Him:
The reason God gives for destroying the people is the very reason Moses gives for God to go with them, once grace has come in... So God's reason for consuming me would be my sin. And my reason for asking God to be with me, now that grace has come in, is that sin is in me. What infinite mercy!
The refusal is not the end of the story. Moses moves the tent outside the camp, and God answers with more than Israel had ever had:
He calls them a stiff-necked people once more. He will not go up among them, in case He should consume them on the way. The people then mourn, and Moses takes a remarkable step. He takes the tabernacle and pitches it outside the camp, far off... After this, two things follow that deserve full attention. First, the Lord and His servant talked with a closeness never known before. Second, and greater still, God secured for the people a blessing they had never had before.
- Withdrawal. God keeps every promise about the land. But He steps out of the middle of the camp. The gift stands; the Giver withdraws.
- Mercy. "Lest I consume you" is a restraint, not a threat. His holiness among transgressors would destroy them, so distance is kindness.
- Diagnosis. The word now is "stiff-necked." An afflicted people draws grace. A stiff-necked people must first be humbled.
- Government. Forgiveness and consequence run on different tracks. God forgave Israel and still changed how He walked with them.
- Reversal. Once grace is known, God's reason for staying away becomes Moses' reason for asking Him to come near. Out of the refusal came a closeness Israel had never had.
And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned; and no man put on his ornaments.
Israel had just made the golden calf. The word that reached the camp was that God's presence among them would destroy them, so the jewellery came off and a whole nation stood mourning, waiting to hear what God would do with them.
The report itself was the blow. One writer reads verses 4-6 as the record of a nation that had almost been wiped out. He names the one attitude left to them.
Verses 4-6 show how near they had been to complete destruction. Their only fitting attitude was to stand mourning in the presence of God, stripped of all that they might imagine made them beautiful.
Nobody had to inspect their hearts. The jewellery told the story.
Moses passed the shocking news on to the people. He also passed on the demand that they put off their ornaments, because God was considering what further judgment would be needed. If they had truly repented over the horror of idol worship, surely they would not be decorating themselves with ornaments. The flesh has been guilty of great evil, so no one should be decorating it with ornaments! There ought to be some clear sign of self-judgment.
This writer defines repentance by where a person agrees to stand, not by the strength of the feeling.
Let them strip themselves of their ornaments and wait for His judgment in the attitude of repentance. For to take the place of condemnation is repentance. So the people strip themselves of their ornaments at the mount.
These were not neutral trinkets. One writer ties them to Egypt and to the dance around the calf.
The Lord told them to put off their ornaments. So, with the sign of humiliation and grief upon them, they watched for His words to come true: "that I may know what to do with you." We cannot doubt that these ornaments carried the mark of Egypt and its idol worship. Nor can we doubt that when Israel danced around the golden calf, the emblems of Egypt's gods worn on their bodies carried a dark meaning with them.
The order matters, and it holds far beyond Sinai. God does not add His covering on top of ours.
It is only when we are really stripped of all nature's ornaments that God can deal with us. A naked sinner can be clothed; but a sinner decked in ornaments must be stripped. This is always true. God must strip us of all that belongs to self before He can clothe us with what belongs to Him.
The words "that I may know what to do with you" describe a delay God takes on Himself. Sin in front of Him demands a blow, yet He holds back and gives the people room to humble themselves.
God had first said that He would come up in a moment in their midst to destroy them. Moses had pleaded for them, and that prayer turned aside this present cutting off of the people in judgment. The Lord now calls on Israel to put off their ornaments, so that He might know what to do with them. The holy grace of God! If He sees the insolence of sin before His eyes, He must strike. Yet He wants the people at least to strip themselves of that. And He wants time — to speak as men speak — to consider what He should do with the sin of a people now humbled for having forsaken Him.
The scene is a loss — glory gone, ornaments gone, the tabernacle, God's tent among them, taken away. Yet one writer sees the humbling itself as the good sign. It puts the people where a mediator can act for them.
First we see their present loss of visible glory. The tabernacle is taken away from the middle of them. They stand in the attitude of repentance, stripped of their ornaments, listening to the righteous rebukes of the Lord. But there is still blessing among them, because they are humbled. They willingly take the place of shame and dishonour. They worship and wait while the mediator settles the great question between them and their offended God.
- The news. The word from God was that His presence among them would destroy them. The report alone put a whole nation into mourning.
- The mourning. The only fitting response was grief in God's presence over what their sin had cost.
- The stripping. The ornaments came off, so the repentance could be seen. To take the place of condemnation is what repentance means.
- The pause. "That I may know what to do with you" shows God holding back the blow while a humbled people stand waiting.
- The outcome. Stripped is the position God can work with. A naked sinner can be clothed. Israel, shamed and mourning, waits while the mediator settles the matter.
Now Jehovah had said to Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people in one moment I will come up into the midst of thee and will consume thee. And now put off thine ornaments from thee, and I will know what I will do unto thee.
Israel has just worshipped the golden calf, and God will no longer travel among them. His message here is part sentence, part summons: take the jewellery off, "that I may know what to do with you."
Ornaments say celebration. Celebration was the last thing that fitted a people who had just bowed to a calf.
Moses passed this shocking news on to the people, along with the demand that they take off their ornaments. God was considering what further judgment was needed. If they had truly repented of the horror of idol worship, surely they would not be decorating themselves with ornaments. The flesh has been guilty of great evil. It should not then be decorated! There ought to be some clear sign of self-judgment.
The ornaments also carried a history. Israel had worn them out of Egypt.
Israel was indeed saved from destruction. But they were still separated from the Lord their God, who had brought them out of Egypt and out of slavery. They could no longer wear the glad ornaments they wore when they left Egypt free, joined to Jehovah as a bride to her husband. Jehovah told them to take off their ornaments. So they waited, wearing the sign of humiliation and grief, to see His words fulfilled: "that I may know what to do with you." We cannot doubt that these ornaments carried the mark of Egypt and its idolatries. When Israel danced around the golden calf, the emblems of Egypt's gods worn on their bodies carried a dark meaning.
Stripping is not God's last word. It is His first move: until self-decoration goes, He has nothing to work with.
God can deal with us only when we are stripped of all nature's ornaments. A naked sinner can be clothed; but a sinner decked in ornaments must be stripped. This is always true. We must be stripped of all that belongs to self, before we can be clothed with what belongs to God.
God speaks as though He were undecided. The writers read that pause as mercy, not weakness.
God had first said that He would come up among them in a moment to destroy them. Moses's intercession had turned aside this present cutting off of the people in judgment. Jehovah now calls on Israel to take off their ornaments, that He may know what to do with them. Holy grace of God! If He sees the insolence of sin before His eyes, He must strike. But He wants the people at least to strip themselves of it. Then He may have time — to speak in human terms — to consider what He should do with the sin of a people now humbled for having forsaken Him.
God waits. Moses does not.
He makes them stand convicted of their sin, with all their ornaments stripped off. God as it were says, "I will think what I will do." And while God is thinking what He will do, Moses, so to speak, says, "I know what I shall do." Read on. "Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp... And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp."
The most striking turn comes one chapter later. The very words God used as a reason to stay away, Moses uses as a reason for God to come near.
God had first threatened to consume them by coming into their midst in a moment (chapter 33:5). Then He said (verse 3), "I will not go up among you... for you are a stiff-necked people." Yet Moses says in chapter 34:9, "If now I have found favour in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people." Grace had come in during the interval; God's goodness had passed before him. This changed everything... Once grace comes in, we feel that our very sinfulness is a reason why we cannot do without the presence of God.
- Charged. "Stiff-necked" is God's own verdict on them. It makes His nearness deadly: one moment among them would consume them.
- Stripped. Decoration and repentance cannot be worn together. Taking the ornaments off was the visible sign of self-judgment.
- Suspended. "That I may know what to do with you" is holy grace pausing before it strikes, giving a humbled people time.
- Served. God's pause is Moses' opportunity. He pitches the tent outside the camp, and everyone who seeks the Lord goes out to it.
- Reversed. Once grace comes in, the same stiff neck that argued God away becomes Moses' plea for God to come with them. We are too bad to do without Him.
And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments at mount Horeb.
Israel has just made the golden calf, and God has announced that He will not travel in the middle of such a people. Before He decides what to do with them, He orders the ornaments off. The people obey at the foot of the very mountain where He gave them the law.
The command removes what stands between a guilty people and God's dealing with them.
"You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you." It is only when we are really stripped of all nature's ornaments that God can deal with us. A naked sinner can be clothed; but a sinner decked in ornaments must be stripped. This is always true. We must be stripped of all that belongs to self before we can be clothed with what belongs to God.
God says He wants to "know what to do" — language that pictures Him weighing the case. One writer reads the delay itself as mercy.
God had first said that He would come up in a moment in the midst of them to destroy them. Moses' intercession had turned aside this present cutting off of the people in judgment. Now the Lord calls on Israel to put off their ornaments, so that He might know what to do with them. Holy grace of God! If He sees the insolence of sin in front of Him, He must strike. Yet He wills that the people should at least strip themselves of it. And He wills to have time — to speak the way men speak — to consider what to do with their sin. They are a people now humbled for having forsaken Him.
Stripping was not a fashion change but a posture. It put the people where God's verdict could fall on them. That posture has a name.
Let them strip off their ornaments. Let them wait for His judgment in the attitude of repentance. For to take the place of condemnation is repentance. So the people strip themselves of their ornaments at the mount.
One writer links the jewellery to Egypt — to the joy of leaving it, and to the idols they carried out with it.
Israel was indeed saved from destruction. But they were still separated from the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and the house of slavery. They were no longer to be adorned with joy, as they had been when they left Egypt in their freedom and bridal relationship to Jehovah. Jehovah told them to put off their ornaments. So they wore the sign of humiliation and grief, and waited for Jehovah's words to come true: "that I may know what to do with you." We cannot doubt that these ornaments smelled of Egypt and its idolatries. Israel had danced around the golden calf wearing the emblems of Egypt's gods on their bodies, and those emblems carried a dark meaning.
The verse names the spot, and marks a change that lasts from that mountain onward. Stripped, they stood where they had feasted — and Moses acted on what he saw.
"Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward." There they stood beneath that famous mountain. Their feasting and singing had turned to bitter grief. Their ornaments were gone, and the tablets of testimony lay in pieces. Such was their condition, and Moses at once acts in keeping with it. He could no longer own the people in their corporate character. The assembly had become entirely defiled. They had set up an idol of their own making in the place of God — a calf instead of Jehovah. So Moses pitched the tent outside the camp, disowning it as the place of God's presence. God was not — could not — be there. A human invention had displaced Him. So there had to be a new gathering point.
Self-judgment does not end in loss. What the women gave up became a vessel for washing.
As a sign of humiliation, all the people were to strip themselves of their ornaments. Those who sought the Lord went out to the tent of meeting outside the camp (Ex. 33:4-7). The mirrors of the repentant women of Israel served to make the bronze basin. They acknowledged their sin and humbled themselves. They stripped off what until then had served their vanity. How could they still enjoy looking at their natural faces?
- Stripped. Ornaments had to come off first. God clothes a naked sinner, but a decorated one He must strip.
- Paused. "That I may know what to do with you" is God holding back the blow. Holiness that must strike gives room to a humbled people.
- Placed. To strip was to stand under God's verdict. Taking the place of condemnation is what repentance means.
- Peeled of Egypt. The jewellery carried the smell of Egypt's idols. Taking it off gave up what they had just danced around.
- Repurposed. What self-judgment gave up came back as a vessel of cleansing. The women's mirrors became a basin for washing.