We take up the narrative at the point
where the Lord promised to send His angel to go before Israel, but said that He
Himself would not go up in the midst of them, lest He consumed them in the way. These were “evil tidings”, which brought
about a general mourning. No man put on
his ornaments, for the wearing of these was a sign of rejoicing, as abstention
therefrom was of mourning. The Lord said
to Moses: “Say unto the children of
Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people; if
I had come one instant among you, I had destroyed you (Horsley and De
Wett): therefore now put off thy
ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do with thee” (Exod. xxxiii.
5). Here we have, set forth in symbol,
the necessity for repentance.
Following this manifestation of repentance
came the removal of the “tent” without the camp, indicating the necessity for
separation from the prevailing ungodliness, a witness-bearing by active
association. This “tabernacle” must not
be confounded with the tabernacle already so fully described, for that was not
then made. This one is called “The
tabernacle of the congregation” (or “assembly”). The LXX translates this, “The tabernacle of
witness”, and although there is no apparent connection between “congregation”
and “witness”, we do not get the full intention of the Hebrew word moed
unless we include the idea of testimony.
Ed is the Hebrew word translated “witness” in Exod. xx. 16;
eduth is the word translated, “the tabernacle of witness” in Numb. xvii. 7. Moed,
translated “congregation” in Exod.
xxxiii. 7, is rendered in Gen. i. 14
“for seasons”, and in Gen. xvii.
21 “at this set time”; also “feasts”, “set feasts”, “solemnly”, etc.
This removal of the tabernacle “without the camp” was itself a witness,
and the congregation that worshipped there was no longer “all Israel”, but
“every one that sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the
congregation which was without the camp”.
It is plainly around this feature that
Heb.xiii.13 is written, and about
this self-same separation that the great cloud of “witnesses” are arrayed
in Hebrews xi. In this separated congregation we have in germ
the idea of a church, “a called-out
company” as ekklesia means.
Exodus xxxiii. 8-11 must be read
as a description of what happened subsequently, that is, when the true seeker
after God had given his testimony by going without the camp. Then, each time after that, when Moses
entered the tabernacle to communed with the Lord, these same men (and possibly
others following their example) rose and worshipped, every man in his tent
door. There is a precious lesson
here. By his act of separation and
devotion, each man turned his own dwelling-place into a sanctuary, much as the
early church worshipped in houses, remembering all the time that their great
Mediator was in the presence of God, and outside the camp.
There is strong emphasis here upon
communion with God: “And the Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Exod.xxxiii.11). What a glorious contrast to the
obscene worship of the golden calf! Here
is no visible image, just a small tent, and the cloudy pillar to indicate the
presence of the Lord.
This peculiar prerogative of Moses is
mentioned more than once, to show how specially favoured and honoured he was:--
“If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in
a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who
is faithful in all Mine house. With him
I will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he
behold” (Numb. xii. 6-8).
It is among the last things said of Moses,
at his death, that “there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses,
whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut.xxxiv.10).
Moses now faces the altered conditions,
and seeks of the Lord guidance and renewed assurance: “See Thou sayest unto me, Bring up this
people, and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and
thou hast also found grace in My sight” (Exod.xxxiii.12). Here we are permitted to hear the communion
of Moses with his God. How blessedly
simple, intimate and direct it is! Moses
neither overrated his own abilities, nor under-estimated the task before
him. How was it possible, he argued, to
reconcile such a task with the favour in which he stood with the Lord? So he continues: “Now, therefore, i pray Thee, if i have found
grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that i may know Thee, that i may find
grace in Thy sight: and consider that
this nation is Thy people” (verse 13).
Let us observe that Moses does not tell
the Lord what to do, nor does he even voice his own conscious need of the
Lord’s presence, but just asks, “Show me now Thy way”, adding, as an additional
plea, “Consider that this nation is Thy people”.
There is no reference in the Lord’s first
answer to the “way” or the “people”, but He met Moses’ initial fear and need by
saying: “My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest” (verse 14).
Moses had before him, perhaps a task more gigantic than has ever since
fallen to man to perform, but here, at the outset, he is assured of rest. From now onward he may enjoy a continual
sabbath, for the word for rest here is used by the Lord in Exod. xx. 11. So, when Moses responded to this gracious
word of God, he did not speak of “bringing” up the people of Israel himself,
but of the Lord “carrying” them: “If Thy
presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (verse 15).
“I will give
you rest.”
Here service takes on a new form — a more
blessed form — it becomes fellowship. We
cannot do better than turn to Matthew
xi. to obtain an illustration of the
principle set forth here. The whole
setting of this chapter is one of doubt, disappointment and triumphant trust,
John the Baptist had sent from prison saying:
“Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?”. The generation that had seen the Lord’s
miracles and heard His words is next compared to fractious children who will
neither mourn at funerals nor rejoice at weddings. The cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida are
rebuked for their unbelief, and it is then, at that time, and in these
circumstances, that we read: “At that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (verses
25, 26). It is in this setting and
context that the words of comfort follow:
“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and
learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. For My yoke is easy, and My
burden is light” (verses 28-30).
The following sentences taken from With
Christ in Palestine, by A.T.Schofield,M.D., are suggestive:--
"I was looking at a very good commentary
as to what ‘yoke’ is supposed to mean here, and I found it means ‘fellowship,
restraint, and subjection’. No doubt
these are three minor uses of a yoke . . . . . but the chief great primary use
of a ‘yoke’ is seldom grasped by Christian people; most are so occupied with the secondary uses
I have named that its great purpose is entirely missed. A yoke first of all is a contrivance to
enable oxen to pull a load along the road or across the field; ‘yoke’ is simply another word for
‘harness’. Harness is not put upon an
animal primarily for subjection or restraint or fellowship; it is put on to enable it to draw a load.
Speaking now for a moment as a physician,
who sees a great many nervous and broken-down people of all sorts, I find that
the greater number are not only sick in their bodies, but also sick in their
minds, and what they mostly suffer from is a complaint which I call ‘sore
neck’.
What, then, had made the neck sore? It is that the collar either does not fit, or
it has not been properly padded . . . . . Christ has come to us and says, It is
not enough for you to come to Me as weary and heavy laden and find rest for
your conscience in Myself: you want some
means of shielding your heart from all the petty worries and troubles . . . . .
and all the contrariety and meaningless vexations of this world of sorrow . . .
. . When the yoke is easy then the burden is light.
What, then, is this yoke padded with? The two materials mentioned are meekness and
lowliness of heart . . . . . I take it, meekness is our attitude towards man,
and lowliness is the attitude towards God."
It is something of this that we find
in Exod. xxxiii. 15: “And he said unto Him, If Thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence”. Now it
is in connection with the very fact that the Lord had spoken to Moses face to
face, that we meet the statement: “Now
the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the
earth” (Numb. xii. 3). It is evident
that this meekness is displayed on many occasions when lesser souls would have
given way to impatience. But alas for
human nature! the meekest man on earth
spoke unadvisedly with his lips and failed;
One only could ever be the “perfecter of faith”. Moses reasoned that the presence of the Lord
was the great evidence of His favour:--
“For wherein shall it be known here that I
and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight?
Is it not in that Thou goest with us?
So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people
that are upon the face of the earth” (Exod.xxxiii.16).
The
positive side of
sanctification.
“So shall we be separated.” — Here
is a word in season for us all.
Separation is, too often, a matter of “separation from”, a
negative thing, whereas it should be “separation to”, the positive
truth. Fellowship
with the Lord is the great antidote to worldliness, but separation from
worldliness alone has produced Pharisees and founded monasteries. Hebrews xiii. 13, the oft-quoted passage, does not merely
say: “Let us go forth therefore without
the camp”. What it does say is: “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without
the camp.”
Israel’s separation from the nations was
evidence by their observance of clean and unclean meats: “I am the Lord your God, which have separated
you from other people. Ye shall
therefore put a difference between clean and unclean” (Lev. xx. 24, 25). Israel’s separation brought about this
observance. It was because the Lord had
separated them, that “therefore” they made the difference. Israel were not permitted to intermarry with
the Canaanite, but this abstention did not make them separate. They abstained because they had been separated: “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them
. . . . . for the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. vii.
1-6).
The sanctification which is summed up in a
series of negatives is not the real thing.
That is not scriptural sanctification which merely does not do
this, does not go there, does not drink this, for we are solemnly
warned against the false system which says:
“Touch not, taste not, handle not.”
Our positive sanctification is found in Him, and proceeds from this
alone.
The
Lord’s answer to Moses reveals the value, in His sight, of true
intercession: “I will do this thing also
that thou hast spoken: for thou hast
found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name” (Exodus.xxxiii.17).
Show
me Thyself!
Answered prayer beget prayer. The Lord’s promise of His presence stimulates
Moses to a further request: “And he said, i beseech Thee, show me Thy glory”. What is the true burden of Moses’
request? Together with Israel, he had
seen the glory of the Lord manifest upon Sinai, and in the cloud. Moreover, he had entered into the presence of
the Lord, and the Lord had talked with him face to face, and the similitude of
the Lord he had seen. Yet, upon the
gracious promise of the Lord’s presence with him, he is emboldened to press
further and say: “Show me Thy glory.”
The word “show” involves seeing. A similar request is found in Song.of.Solomon.ii.14, “Let me see Thy countenance”. Moses said, “Let me see Thy glory”. He evidently sought something fuller than he
had experienced hitherto. He had been
“shewed” the pattern of the tabernacle;
this was something he had “seen”, and in the Lord’s answer to this
request he uses the same word, saying, “My face shall not be seen”
(Exod. xxxiii. 23). Earlier in Exodus we
have means adopted “lest the people break through … to gaze”. When Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the
seventy elders ascended the Mount, we read that “they saw the God of
Israel”. In the passage we are
considering Moses must have desired something more than had been vouchsafed on
the earlier occasion. Moses said, “Let
me see Thy glory”. The Lord
answered:--
“Thou canst not see My face” (Exod.
xxxiii. 20).
“While My glory passeth by, I will put
thee in a clift in the rock, and will cover thee with My hand, while I pass
by: And I will take away Mine hand, and
thou shalt see My back parts: but My
face shall not be seen” (Exod. xxxiii. 22, 23).
Does it seem evident that in this passage
“glory” and “face” are interchangeable in some way? Spurrell translates Exod. xxxiii. 18-23 as follows:--
“Furthermore he said: O show me, I pray Thee, THINE OWN SELF! ... then will I turn aside . . . . . this the hollow of My hand, and thou shalt
behold Me retiring, but My face shall not be seen.”
This was the fullest revelation that could
then be given to any mortal man.
The prayer of Moses is answered for us all
in II Cor. iv. 4 & 6:--
“The light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, Who is the image of God . . . . . the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.”
That this is connected with Exodus xxxiii. & xxxiv. is seen by a reference to II Corinthian iii. There we read of the passing glory of the
old covenant, and the failing glory of the face of Moses (II.Cor.iii.7). All that the Lord could do for Moses was to
let His goodness pass before him and proclaim the Name of the Lord before
him. Moses needed protection from the
fuller personal revelation of the Lord, and the clift in the rock and covering
hand might well speak to Moses of his need of Christ. The glory of the law fades in the presence of
“the glory that excelleth” (II Cor. iii. 10, 11). It was nevertheless a gracious revelation to
Moses. The proclamation of the Name, its
effect upon Moses, the altered covenant, and the summary of its terms given
in Exodus xxxiv., must be reserved for our next paper.
No comments:
Post a Comment