Exodus 33:7-11

Transcript

00:00:01:21 – 00:00:27:34
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Glad you’re with us. Glad that you could make time today. We appreciate it and grateful to have you with us as we continue through the book of Exodus, the third chapter. Really interesting text yesterday, kind of working out the ongoing relationship between God and the people. Now that there has been this break of faithfulness, this kind of idolatry on behalf of the people.

00:00:27:34 – 00:00:51:16
Clint Loveall
And that has changed to some extent the relationship, not the promises, not the faithfulness of God, but it has it has put a damper on things. And I think we in some ways kind of leave that behind, at least for a moment, and then we actually jump back into it. So let’s go through this first part of verse seven here, Chapter 33.

00:00:51:16 – 00:01:15:00
Clint Loveall
Now, Moses used to take the seat and pitch it outside. I’m sorry. Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting, and everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meaning, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would rise and stand each of them at the entrance of their own tents and watch Moses until he had gone in.

00:01:15:27 – 00:01:38:07
Clint Loveall
When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of the clouds standing at the entrance, all the people would rise and fall down, all of them at the entrance of their own tent. Thus, the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.

00:01:38:47 – 00:02:10:39
Clint Loveall
Then he would return to the camp. But his young assistant, Joshua, son of none, would not leave the tent. This is interesting, Michael. I think we’ve not had we’ve had lots of instances throughout this book where God and Moses have interacted, but we haven’t gotten a lot of insight into sort of how that happens, and particularly the nature of their relationship.

00:02:10:39 – 00:02:30:27
Clint Loveall
We haven’t revisited that a while. For a while in the text and I think, you know, here we see this idea. There’s a spot outside of the camp. You might remember that yesterday that God said, I’m not going to be immediately with you. Moses would set up this tent. He’d go out if there were questions, if there was discernment that needed to happen.

00:02:30:45 – 00:02:54:30
Clint Loveall
And as a sign of God’s presence, the cloud would descend and Moses would be in there. Evidently, Joshua is also in there and the people are aware of this cycle. Each and every time it happens, they go to the entrance of their own tent. You know, the the image that comes to mind is in the spring when we have bad weather and you see everyone standing out on their porch, right?

00:02:54:36 – 00:03:20:47
Clint Loveall
I mean, they know something is happening. They’re aware of it. They wait for it. You hear it says they bowed down. And this is about as this is about the best scene we’ve seen in a while of the people showing reverence and faithfulness and of Moses, his own interaction with God. And it would be it would be nice to be able to sort of peek inside that tent.

00:03:20:47 – 00:03:36:50
Clint Loveall
And maybe we do get a short look at that in our next passage. But I think this is it. This feels after what we’ve been through, this kind of feels like a little bit of a weight being lifted. There’s almost a sense of taking a breath here.

00:03:36:50 – 00:03:56:30
Michael Gewecke
I think now I was going to use the word reset in a soft sense. I think that the text is giving us an opportunity to see that God is going to keep God’s word. God is not going to be in the midst of the people. The separation here, geographically, the idea that Moses is leaving the walls, he’s going outside.

00:03:56:31 – 00:04:17:05
Michael Gewecke
This isn’t the tabernacle he’s going to this is another thing. And in the midst of that movement, there’s a symbolic kind of keeping of God’s promise that he’s not going to be in the midst of the people. Our next section, our next conversation looks at a time when Moses is kind of grappling with God over, you know, well, God, if you’re not going to be with the people, then who is?

00:04:17:06 – 00:04:41:00
Michael Gewecke
And that’s an interesting question. But suffice it to say for today, when Moses is going to have these interactions, there is a kind of returning to the patterns that we’ve had before. Moses is once again the intermediary. In this case, he’s going to have conversations with God when he does that. Supernatural, spiritual, even natural forces are at play.

00:04:41:00 – 00:05:09:12
Michael Gewecke
We’ve seen that before. You know, the clouds on the mountain here now, the cloud that descends over the tent. And you know, Clint, I guess the only thing I really have to add here is I just think it’s fascinating, this idea that at the end of this session, the language is that they would speak as one speaks to a friend face to face, that if you know your scripture, know that that is not a common description of an encounter between humans and God.

00:05:09:36 – 00:05:32:25
Michael Gewecke
And so it does have something very substantial to say about Moses. His unique relationship with God. That encounter on the mountain where the Lord was angry, and Moses, you know, talks, got out of it in some substantial way. And then Moses comes down and then Moses is angry, and then he calls for a purging of the sin in the people.

00:05:32:25 – 00:05:55:55
Michael Gewecke
All of this text that’s happened here, I think we almost do see here a moment of kind of relational reprieve where God and Moses are together. They’re talking, they’re communing with one another. And, you know, we’ll have time at the end. Here to talk about Joshua, who’s also being introduced again in this section. But I think it’s it’s a striking way of describing the relationship between God and Moses.

00:05:56:27 – 00:06:26:43
Clint Loveall
I think, you know, the word that comes to mind, Michael, is intimacy. This is a this is a look inside the relationship of God and Moses. At the end of Deuteronomy, there’s a a short section of of really gushing praise for Moses. And even even it doesn’t go so far, I think, as to use this language. The idea if you know a story that’s coming up later in the Old Testament, Moses says to God, I want to see your glory.

00:06:27:00 – 00:06:56:33
Clint Loveall
And God passes over and he says, Well, you can’t see me face to face, or you would die. And yet here in this language, which I don’t think we’re to take literal in the sense that God has a face and that Moses and God’s standard, it it it speaks to the relationship. It speaks to Moses, spent this time in the presence of God and that God would speak to Moses candidly, openly, clearly.

00:06:56:51 – 00:07:31:04
Clint Loveall
And that is high praise. I think this is one of a I can’t think of many affirmations throughout the rest of the Old Testament, really, that are equal to this. There are lots of places where characters are praised. This is among, I think, the highest praise that I can think of in the Old Testament. And yes, Joshua is there, but I mean, this this short sentence about Moses is really is is really impressive.

00:07:31:24 – 00:08:01:21
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. And maybe Clint, it is lost on us a little bit because in our own modern era, that language of God as friend has been far more popular than it has been historically in both the interpretation of the scriptures as well as in its use in the church. Of course, Christians have always looked to Jesus Christ and seen in his offer of grace and reconciliation a an invitational stance towards God that we are invited by grace through faith.

00:08:01:21 – 00:08:29:58
Michael Gewecke
But here the language of speaking face to face as one speaks to a friend is is truly a departure from the norm, scripturally and certainly in the Old Testament. I mean, God is creator, God is sovereign, God is judge. We’ve seen that numerous times, ranging from the flooding of the earth to the conquering of opposing nations to the destruction of Egypt.

00:08:29:58 – 00:08:58:31
Michael Gewecke
And the Pharaoh himself claim all of these are nods to the God who’s God. And so here the relationship with Moses that we’ve mentioned so many times now throughout the book of Exodus, how Moses stands very much in the middle. While that has created a tenuous location for him as it relates to the people Israel, it has also created this beautiful, deeply confessional relationship with God himself.

00:08:58:31 – 00:09:17:36
Michael Gewecke
And that’s the the give and take. It’s the mystery that exists in the middle of this story that you have all of this conflict and tension and struggle, and yet the same time you have a deeper intimacy and a beautiful kind of connection. And, you know, maybe that’s a way of describing a life lived as a person of faith.

00:09:17:36 – 00:09:23:43
Michael Gewecke
I mean, I think most people who have lived faith for some time have lived with that kind of tension and nuance.

00:09:24:25 – 00:09:54:16
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And I really think in some ways, Michael, maybe that’s the intention of this chapter, right, to affirm Moses. I mention this passage that’s coming up I that God shows Moses His glory. We’ll probably talk about that tomorrow. It’s a really interesting text. It’s a again, I don’t know of much like it in the Old Testament, but there is this focus.

00:09:54:16 – 00:10:17:43
Clint Loveall
I think one of the places that we kind of dial in and clarify here is God and Moses. And as we continue here with verse 12, you know, we see it again. Moses said to the Lord, See, you have said to me, Bring up the people, but you’ve not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you’ve also found favor in my sight.

00:10:18:09 – 00:10:38:54
Clint Loveall
If I found favor in your sight, show me your ways that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider, too, that this nation is your people. He said, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And he said to him, If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here.

00:10:39:25 – 00:11:02:52
Clint Loveall
For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight? I and your people. Unless you go with us in this way, we shall be distinct. I and your people from every people on the face of the earth. You know, here we have seen a conversation like this before as Moses and God were on the mountain and the people were down with the golden calf.

00:11:04:06 – 00:11:35:31
Clint Loveall
But this has a more spiritual side to it. I think this has a more devotional side to it. Michael, You know, if I let me know, I know you by name. And if you have found favor in my sight, show me your ways that I may know you. That’s the that’s sort of the heart cry of a person of faith in that moment of seeking and saying, Lord, I, I, I simply want to be a better follower.

00:11:35:31 – 00:12:08:31
Clint Loveall
I want to be a better disciple. I want to better live this covenant and this faith that I’m pursuing. Show me the path. Be with me. I want to know that you’re with me. I want to see it. I want to grow in it. It speaks to the deepening of relationship. And, you know, again, we see stuff like this in the Old Testament, but this is pretty flowery in some sense for the kind of language that the Old Testament often uses in in regard to leadership.

00:12:09:32 – 00:12:12:19
Clint Loveall
And I think this is a really interesting text.

00:12:12:48 – 00:12:37:37
Michael Gewecke
The language that’s probably most relation all here and in some ways maybe even outside the normal, as you’re saying. Is this the you language you have not let me you said I know you by name. You have found favor in my side. I mean, we know that the people have not found favor in God’s sight that we’ve seen with abundant clarity in the last few days.

00:12:37:37 – 00:12:58:06
Michael Gewecke
But here Moses has been faithful. And if you want to look at this from a leadership lens, Moses has done all that Moses could do. I mean, he has gone up the mountain to get the tablets. He’s come back down. He’s tried to appease the people. He’s tried to feed them when they’re hungry. He’s tried to administrate them rightly.

00:12:58:06 – 00:13:18:21
Michael Gewecke
I mean, you can say a lot of things about Moses, and the text does not present him as a perfect individual. It does not in any way present Moses to be infallible. But that said, Moses has indeed been faithful to show up, and he has indeed stood toe to toe with God for his people when he needed to do that.

00:13:18:21 – 00:13:39:57
Michael Gewecke
And I think the text, instead of showing Moses is somehow arrogant or self-centered or Moses in some way seeking his own glory or fame, I think it goes out of its way to show over and over that Moses truly cares about his people, that he’s been given charge of, and he truly seeks to honor God. He’s at his best.

00:13:39:57 – 00:14:02:47
Michael Gewecke
He’s doing both of those. And even at his worst, he’s generally failing just over emphasizing one over the other. I think Moses, especially when you come to texts like this where he’s having these kind of relational encounters with God, you have to recognize that there’s something special in Moses, in his leadership and in his character, and that’s being sort of brought to light here.

00:14:03:01 – 00:14:29:19
Clint Loveall
Yeah, way back when we covered that story early in the book, where Moses sees an Egyptian harming a Hebrew and is moved by it and it took him a while to get back to it. But Moses seems to have fully embraced his calling to be there in a intercede, hearing their leader. You know, this is really fascinating language, Mike.

00:14:29:20 – 00:14:56:45
Clint Loveall
My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And Moses response to that is, well, if your presence doesn’t go, don’t carry us up from here at all. We don’t we won’t do well where you are. Not we can’t do these things without you. How shall it be known that I found favor or that your people have found favor unless you go with us?

00:14:57:25 – 00:15:26:25
Clint Loveall
And so it’s interesting that in the very moment of being promised rest, Moses just turns that back into a conversation about the need for God to be with him and by extension, be with the people to distinguish them. And it’s not quite Moses going so far as to remind God of the covenant. I think that was more prevalent last time we saw a conversation like this.

00:15:26:45 – 00:15:58:44
Clint Loveall
But but I think it’s an undertone there. I think that is an undercurrent. And I think this is one of Moses’s best moments. I think both of these passages we’re looking at today, we see, you know, imagine what he’s just been through. Two chapters ago, he had to call people to go through the camp with swords and and killed those who wouldn’t be under control.

00:15:59:36 – 00:16:26:15
Clint Loveall
And and here Moses is getting praised for his relationship with God, speaking to God as a friend and now advocating on behalf of the people to God that they will not succeed. They cannot live this life, this promise without him. I think this this is a real moment of affirmation for some of Moses, his leadership.

00:16:26:36 – 00:16:50:24
Michael Gewecke
Well, when he uses this language of distinct you’ll see this in verse 16, he’s not talking about light special. He’s not talking about, you know, having special privileges on the playground. He’s talking about being distinct because of their relationship with God, that they have received the covenant. They’ve received this gift of salvation, literally from Egypt. And so Moses, when he talks about this, we shall be distinct.

00:16:50:24 – 00:17:13:03
Michael Gewecke
I and your people from every people on the face of the earth. That’s a statement about God. We want to be your people. We want we want to be that distinct people who you call and you love. And by the way, this is essential information to understand the New Testament, to understand Jesus and the Pharisees and Paul and this whole image of what it means to be called by grace.

00:17:13:06 – 00:17:37:26
Michael Gewecke
This was a large part of the problem, is because people always read Moses and this this heart prayer that Moses had, that the people of Israel would be distinct, they would be God’s people, they would be separate. So when Jesus comes and proclaims the Kingdom of God has come, the Pharisees read that through a text like this, and they say, Well, we’re the distinct ones.

00:17:37:26 – 00:18:05:33
Michael Gewecke
We’re the ones who’ve been given the covenant, we’re the ones who have followed in Moses his way, and Jesus does something which no one had anticipated. And quite frankly, I think you can make the case the church didn’t understand until Paul and Peter and until there was this time of reflection and returning. So this idea of being distinct of Moses, his relationship with God in many ways provides the pathway of what that looks like with the giving the law, the leadership of the people.

00:18:05:45 – 00:18:18:14
Michael Gewecke
CLINTON This is going to set the tone and tenor. This is going to lay out the path for the Israelites, for generations, hundreds of years. And it’s worth noting that we’re seeing it happen in real life right in front of us.

00:18:18:14 – 00:18:50:51
Clint Loveall
Yeah, And I think I think you’re right, Michael. Christians adopt that language. I mean, we talk about the idea and I think different would be a defensible translation there that they will stand out as different from the world around them. And what is the thing that we preach over and over again that as Christians, it ought to be noticeable, that we follow Christ, that ought to be something observable and something that distinguishes us makes us distinct or different from the world around us.

00:18:50:51 – 00:19:15:43
Clint Loveall
Not in a not in a privileged way, not in a look at us way, but that there ought to be something in the character of the Christian life, in the life of faith, that that strikes a different note then those who live without that at this point. And I think, you know, that pattern becomes really important, not just throughout the rest, the Old Testament, but I think in the whole life of the church.

00:19:15:43 – 00:19:23:45
Clint Loveall
And remains remains its soul for not only Christians, but Jews who would continue to be moved by that language as well.

00:19:24:09 – 00:19:38:56
Michael Gewecke
There’s a lot here. You know, this is a text that if you were just reading quickly, you might quickly read past it. But I think that there’s a lot to learn and hope that there’s been something that maybe encourages you to dig deeper as well. Thanks for being with us here today. We look forward to being with you.

00:19:38:56 – 00:19:47:59
Michael Gewecke
I hope you’ll share this. Also, subscribe if you’d like to get more of that. Like it. If you would find it helpful, others might find it helpful. And we’ll see you all tomorrow.

00:19:48:00 – 00:19:55:03
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.