Bible Challenge Day 32: The Face of God (Exodus 33)

The last few days were pretty rough going—I did not find much of interest in all the material about the tabernacle and the priestly vestments!! But the reading for today is great.

Two things particularly strike me. The first is God’s moodiness. God contemplates wiping out the idolatrous Hebrews. God says to Moses, “Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them” (32:10). Moses pleads with God, and God relents. Then God decides to send the Hebrews to the promised land, but not to go with them. “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” (33:3). Again Moses pleads with God, and God agrees to stay with the people after all (33:14). I like this image of a passionate God emotionally engaged with the people of God, angry but ultimately forgiving. I also like seeing God open to human prayers. I suspect that God knew all along that Moses would intercede for the people and also that God would grant Moses’ request. But the story certainly is an incentive to pray!

The other thing I found thought-provoking was Moses’ relationship with God. At one point, we are told that “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (33:11). Just a few verses later, Moses asks to see God’s glory. God responds, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (33:20). Whatever else is going on here, these verses challenge a strictly literal reading of the Bible. It is hard to see how both verses can be literally true. It is also striking that the ancient author did not worry about the apparent contradiction. Certainly there is no effort to reconcile the two verses in Exodus.

But we can move away from a literal reading to ask the question, what does this tell us about our relationship with God? And the answer is profound. On one hand, we can know God intimately. Go is close to us, like a best friend. On the other hand, God is MUCH bigger than we are, so big that simply glimpsing the glory of God is more than we can take. Both are true.

This is the meaning of the incarnation, as I understand it. God, the very creator of the universe, elects to become human and dwell among us. Christ is fully human—thus accessible to us as a friend—and also fully divine—thus so powerful that we cannot come too close without peril. Our reading from Exodus says something very similar. I love seeing the Old Testament anticipate basic Christian claims!
Fr. Harvey