Dex’s Notes
CH 33
This chapter is delicious, and full of philosophy/theology, and considerable profundity.
So, in response to Moses’ plea, God will still fulfill his promise to the patriarchs, and bring the Israelites to the Promised Land. The land is described in two ways: (a) full of other peoples (description to Abraham); and (b) flowing with milk and honey (description to Moses.) And remember that milk meant goats’ milk and honey meant date-jam. The “go up” in v 1 is in contrast to the “go down” in 32:7, there’s been a reversal, the anger has been diminished.
It’s now “the people” as opposed to Moses’ people (32:7).
“But I will not go with you because you are a stiffnecked people.” So there has not yet been reconciliation/forgiveness for the sin of the golden calf. The original idea of the tabernacle was for God to dwell there, and this seems not going to happen. The promise to be with them was made to Abraham, and is renewed; but the promise to dwell with them was made to Moses and is shattered by the golden calf episode. The purpose of the tabernacle is to provide a place for God to dwell, so at this point it would seem that the order for the tabernacle has been cancelled.
Paradoxically, in v 3, we see that the withdrawal of God’s presence is merciful, to avoid destruction.
V 4 is the only mention in the Torah of mourning without an actual death. Symbolically, their old identity, their old selves, must die. As part of mourning, they take off any fine clothes or jewelry. God tells them to remain in mourning. The “I will decide” [NIV] is actually “I will know” [remember how the word “to know” echoed and re-echoed through Egypt?]
In v 11, Moses speaks to God “face to face” (as opposed to “stiff-necked” meaning turning away), but they are in the cloud, so Moses can’t actually see anything.
Joshua is the custodian of the tent of meeting. This is NOT the tabernacle, which has not yet been built, but a private tent. Joshua remains outside, and is not privy to the private conversation about to happen.
Verse 12 – 23 are unique, the only private, intimate conversation between God and a prophet. Because he took initiative (in smashing the calf, etc), Moses has earned the right to be closer to God. This isn’t simply a revelation with God issuing orders or warnings, this is an intimate conversation between the human and the divine.
My first comment: the text is (to me) extremely subtle, especially when compared to other early literature. In Homer, for example, feelings and thoughts of the characters are all explicit. Here, the text of the Torah describes only the surface, and the richer interpretations are beneath the surface. Hence, lots of analysis (sorry.)
V 12: Moses is essentially saying: where do I stand? What is our relationship now?
V 13: “Teach me your ways:” This is really a question, not a statement, meaning tell me how the world is governed? Why is it that the righteous aren’t always rewarded and the wicked aren’t always punished? What are God’s essential characteristics? What is life all about? Moses needs to ask, because he’s starting from scratch: the contract was broken. And, like Abraham (Gen 18:25), the assumption is that God is not whimsical or capricious, but acts according to standards of justice and mercy that humans can try to understand (but ultimately can not understand.)
“This nation is your people.” Contrast to God’s statement in 32:7, that they belong to Moses, and in 33:1 where it’s just “the people.” Moses is challenging God not to disown them.
V 14: God’s reply is addressed to Moses’ first question, where do I stand? And not to his second (theological) questions. The Torah rarely (if ever) discusses theology or the nature of God.
V 15: Moses notices that God doesn’t mention the people Israel, and reacts immediately by stressing their needs: “… do not send us up from here.” Note the “us.” If God’s presence doesn’t go with us, let us all die in the desert. This, and verse 16, lead to the notion that God accompanies the Jews wherever they go. In 586 BCE, when the Temple was destroyed and the Jews exiled to Babylonia, this notion that God could even be with them in Babylon, is what sustained them, where most other conquered peoples (and their localized religions) disappeared.
V 17: The verb “to know” appears yet again. Knowing someone by name implies an intimacy, exclusive and unique. God does not say this about anyone else in the bible. He says He will indeed tell Moses the deepest mystery, how the moral universe works, but then He doesn’t. Instead, He says, “I have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” That is to say, none of your business, it is what it is, I am what I am.
Note that the emphasis here is on the goodness; Moses last conversation with God was of anger and plague, now supplanted by divine goodness.
V 18: “Show me your glory” but it’s difficult to translate. The word kavod that means “glory” also means heaviness, profundity, or presence. At Sinai (24:17) the Lord’s glory (kavod) appeared as “consuming fire on top of the mountain.” Moses is asking for a profound, intimate moment: let me see You undressed. Maimonides interprets this figuratively, that Moses wants intellectual understanding of God’s essential reality. Rambam interprets this literally, Moses really wants to see the divine presence.
Every other appearance of a visible kavod is experienced by a large number of people, in the distance; and the occasion is initiated by God. Here, Moses is asking for a unique individual experience, close by, in response to his request.
V 21: NIV’s “stand on a rock” misses some subtleties. Better is “Station yourself on the craggy rock,” it means stand at attention, hold your place. The word is used for Jacob at the ladder-dream, Miriam at the river, and Israel at covenantal moments.
“My hand” is a poetic term, for some sort of screening, perhaps the cloud. The anthropomorphic “my back” is in contrast to “my face.” Sarna says “the term means the traces of His presence, the afterglow of His supernatural effulgence.” (Ah, scholars.)
“My face must not be seen” means that no human being can ever understand God’s Being, but can only have glimpses of divine reality. And God passing before Moses is a ceremony that implies the covenant will be renewed. (I would like to know the Christian interpretation of this sequence, if there’s anyone who knows it?)
This encounter effectively separates Moses from humanity. He is never again seen with wife or children. His relationship with God is too intense for him to have normal relations with human beings.