Exodus 33 · The Lantern

The Command to Leave Sinai

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, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it:

And I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiffnecked people: lest I consume you in the way.

And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

For the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of you in a moment, and consume you: therefore now put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what to do to you.

And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

The Tent of Meeting

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it happened, that every one which sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

And it happened, when Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.

And it happened, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

The whole life of the saints and of the blessed, the example of the Lord himself while he was with us in the flesh, are aids to us in this matter. Moses, through long perseverance in fasting and prayer, received the law and heard the words of God, "as a man is inclined to speak to his friend."

Fasting these forty days and nights holy Moses too merited to speak with God, to stand and stay with him and to receive the precepts of the law from his hand. For although this human condition prevented him from seeing God, yet the grace of his fasting drew him into close contact with the Divinity.

"But the young man Joshua departed not from the tent, but was there continually in the service of Moses;" and he that was free from going out and coming in among the multitude was especially nigh unto simplicity.

The Promise of God’s Presence

And Moses said to the LORD, See, you say to me, Bring up this people: and you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in my sight.

Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people.

As a result Moses, convinced that God will never be known to human wisdom, says, "Reveal yourself to me," and finds himself forced to enter "into the darkness" where the voice of God was present; in other words, into the unapproachable, imageless, intellectual concepts relating to ultimate reality. For God does not exist in darkness. He is not in space at all.

Moses says to him, "Show me yourself." You see that then also the prophets saw Christ, that is, in the measure each was able. "Show me yourself, that I may see you clearly." But he said, "No one sees me and still lives." Therefore, because no one could see the face of the Godhead and live, he assumed the face of human nature, that seeing this we might live.

Again, in ancient times, in the case of the faithful servant of God, Moses, who was destined to labor on this earth and to rule the chosen people, it would not be surprising that what he asked was granted: that he might see the glory of the Lord, to whom he said, "If I have found favor before you, show me yourself openly." He received an answer adapted to present conditions: th…

And he said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.

And he said to him, If your presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

For in which shall it be known here that I and your people have found grace in your sight? is it not in that you go with us? so shall we be separated, I and your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken: for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.

And he said, I beg you, show me your glory.

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

So if the whole world was being detained in captivity, it was quite in order to say, "I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and show mercy to whom I will show mercy." If the whole world is in captivity, the whole world in sin, the whole world very justly sentenced to punishment, but part of it set free through mercy, who can say to God, "Why do you condemn the world?" H…

Turning back again, let us say: because therefore the most pure and absolute being, which is simply being, is the first and the last, therefore it is the origin and consummating end of all things. Because eternal and most present, therefore it encompasses and enters all durations, existing as it were simultaneously as their center and circumference.

And he said, You cannot see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

No one sees the power itself alone, for "no one has ever seen God." And since power is life in repose and knowledge in repose but life and knowledge are actions, if someone were to see God he must die, because the life and knowledge of God remain in themselves and are not in act. But every act is exterior.

"Who shall see my face and live?" Scripture said, and rightly so. For our eyes cannot bear the sun's rays, and whoever turns too long in its direction is generally blinded, so they say.

Such love divides, puts to sleep, and lifts up. It divides, since it cuts away from any other love because of the single love for the Spouse; it puts to sleep and appeases all the powers and imposes silence; it lifts up, since it leads to God. And so man is as dead, wherefore it is said: "Love is strong as death," because it cuts away from all things.

And the LORD said, Look, there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon a rock:

And it shall happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a clift of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by:

And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Exodus33

The Command to Leave Sinai

The Tent of Meeting

The Promise of God’s Presence