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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Exodus 33:11-23
  • Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 07:34:43 -0500

Dear Jack,

Would someone be so kind as to help me out with Exodus
33:12-23.

HH: Why start with verse 12? The puzzle starts at least in verse 11 (as you yourself notice below), and it continues after verse 23, since the climax is in 34:6-7.

Moses: I am uncomfortable being the leader of these people
because I am uncertain if I really know how to continue to
please you, no matter how much success I have had in the
past. Teach me your ways so I can always please you.

Yahweh: My FACE (presence) will go with you, which will
make you comfortable.

Moses: But what if your FACE does not go with me, how will
people know you favor me? How will our people be
distinguished from the other people on the FACE of the
earth.

Yahweh: I will do what you ask because you please me. [At
this point the only thing Moses has asked is to be taught
Yahweh?s ways]

HH: Moses has also by implication asked that God go with Him and Israel (33:15-16), and that is part of what God responds to in saying that He would do what Moses asked.

Moses: Show me your glory. [This seems like a non-
sequitur unless it means to be taught Yahweh?s ways]

HH: And it does. But Moses has already hinted that He wants to know God
better:

Ex. 33:12 ¶ Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.'

HH: God knows Moses, but Moses wants to know the one who will go with him. Verse 12 probably arises because of verse 2:

Ex. 33:2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

HH: The word "angel" is ML)K, or messenger, a somewhat ambivalent word in Hebrew. Seeing God's glory would help Moses to know God better. Wanting to know God's ways includes wanting to know God better. This messenger is later defined as the messenger (angel) of God's FACE, really His presence:

Is. 63:9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Yahweh: I will pass my goodness by your FACE and cry out by
the name Yahweh to your FACE. [Moses did not ask to see
his goodness or hear him cry out].

HH: His goodness is part of His glory. His name is expression of his Person.

I favor who is the favorite (vehanotiy et-asher ahon) and I
love who is the beloved (verihametiy et-asher arahem).
[This seems to parallel Ex 3:14 eheyeh asher eheyeh.]

HH: This is not a good translation. The standard translations are correct. The phrasing alludes to the Lord's liberty in showing favor and compassion. It is an idiomatic expression. Here it particularly refers to His liberty in showing favor to Moses and Israel, despite the fact that Israel might deserve His wrath:

Ex. 33:3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

No man may see my FACE and live. [Yet in Ex 33:11, just a
few passages earlier Yahweh and Moses spoke paniym el-
paniym as a man does with a friend]

HH: This just shows that the word FACE is used more than one way (see below). In verse 11 it is evidently part of an idiom "face to face" (one that we still use today), but in the OT the idiom is applied to human relations with God:

Gen. 32:30 ¶ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
Ex. 33:11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Deut. 34:10 ¶ Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
Judg. 6:22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"
Ezek. 20:35 I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.

Stand on this rock near me. When my glory passes I will
put you into a crevice (fissure or hole) in the rock and
cover you with my hand.

When I finish passing by I will remove my hand you can see
my backside but not my FACE.

Yahweh is pleased with Moses and will grant his wish.
Moses asked to be taught the ways of Yahweh or to see his
glory. Moses wasn?t taught anything and did not see
Yahweh?s glory.

HH: Actually, God did see the glory of God, although He did not see His face. And he did learn about God, since God declared to him key characteristics of His nature (Ex 34:6-7).

God went to great lengths to ensure that
Moses did not see Yahweh?s face despite the fact Moses did
not ask to see it (although Moses seems to have seen in Ex
33:11 and Deu 34:10).

HH: Ex. 33:11 evidently involves an idiom for a personal, direct interchange, but something short of the sight of God's face that would cause death (a direct perception of the unveiled glory of God's face).

Moses did see Yahweh?s goodness,
hear Yahweh cry out, and saw his backside from a hole in a
rock.

What happened here? Did I mistranslate something or do I
simply not understand what the words mean? Is there some
literary or historical context I missing? Also, there has
to be some reason the author used the word FACE (paniy,
paneyka) at every possible opportunity. Thanks in advance.

HH: I don't know how important some occurrences of the word FACE are, because it is an exceedingly common word, especially in the prepositional form it has in verse 19. But if anything, it suggests how close God draws near to Moses.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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