The Command to Leave Sinai: Exodus 33.1-6
The first three verses of Exodus 33 contain a nice recap of the Exodus story so far.
The Lord commands Moses to leave Sinai with the people who he brought out of Egypt. They are to go to the land that God swore would be held by the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promises to send an angel before the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. They are to go to a land flowing with milk and honey.* God's anger still burns hot, apparently, though he refrains from going with his people so that they will not be destroyed.
Exodus 33.3-6 contains a beautiful rippling repetition of phrasing:
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey;
but I will not go up among you,
or I would consume you on the way,
for you are a stiff-necked people.’
When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned,
and no one put on ornaments.
For the Lord had said to Moses,
‘Say to the Israelites,
“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,
and I will decide what to do to you.” ’
Therefore the Israelites
stripped themselves of their ornaments,
from Mount Horeb onwards.
That's kind of pretty with all the colors, right?
The gray parts are the parts that don't echo. Notice the rephrasing from "among/consume/stiff-necked" to "stiff-necked/among/consume." The sentence is restructured for effect. Likewise, the objects of "Israelites" and "ornaments" are interwoven within the speech, the ornament phrasing appearing to either side of both Israelite phrases. It is amazing how poetic you can get with just some reworded sentences! The text ripples with additions and distortions, like water that has been struck by a stone.
The Israelites strip themselves of ornaments as a sign of mourning, by the way.
*[Historical Information: The angel of the Lord driving out Israel's enemies is mentioned in Ex. 23.28, but there the only enemies mentioned are the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites. Earlier in the chapter, in Exodus 23.23, God promises that an angel will lead Israel and that God will blot out all six of the peoples mentioned in Exodus 33. All six peoples, along with the promise of milk and honey, are presented in Exodus 3.8.]
The Tent Outside the Camp: Exodus 33.7-11
This section interrupts the narrative to offer some information on Moses' communication with God off of the mountain.
In the absence of a ritually pure tent of meeting, Moses would pitch his tent far outside of the camp and people would go to him to find out about the Lord. When Moses would go to his tent, people would rise and watch him, standing at the entrance of their tents. When Moses was inside, a pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance so Moses could speak to God. (God appears as a cloud earlier in the narrative as well.) The Israelites would bow down at the tent when God spoke to Moses.
"Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his young assistant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the tent" (Ex. 33.11). Moses is quite a special character to speak with God face to face. In other sections those who see the face of God die. In fact...read on.
Moses' Intercession: Exodus 33.12-23
Here the narrative resumes, and from the description it does not seem that Moses is in fact speaking to God in his tent. Rather, he seems to still be on the mountain.
Moses pleads on behalf of the people for God to go with the Israelites. Moses argues that God has not let him know the angel that will lead them - and yet Moses has found favor in God's sight, so why should God not demonstrate this to Moses and Israel, God's people, by leading them himself?
God concedes, agreeing to go with the Israelites. The scene is then repeated with slightly varying language.
Moses then says to God, "Show me your glory, I pray" (Ex. 33.18). God agrees to show Moses his Glory and proclaim God's true name, YHWH. In expansion of the the first repetition of the divine name: "I am who I am," (Ex. 3.14), the Lord says, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy" (Ex. 33.19).
However, Moses will not be able to see God's face (see contradictory statement above! - clearly two source have been interwoven). God will put Moses in the cleft of a rock, and then cover Moses with God's hand until God's glory passes. Then God will remove the hand, and Moses will be able to see God's back.
The sanctity of God's name and face is an integral part of the story, but as we have seen, not all traditions agree on this. The traditions in which humans speak with God are folkloric, whereas the ones that assert the sanctity of God's name and image are priestly or at least trying to emphasize the proper practice of religion through stories.
Tomorrow: New Tablets, Renewed Covenant.
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