Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Jack,

> We both agree that Moses did not see Yahweh s face during
> the Ex 33 encounter on the mountain.  We seem to disagree
> on whether the text says that Moses saw Yahweh s glory. I
> will grant you that the text is less fully clear.  However, 
> Ex 33:19 makes no sense unless it was a very indirect NO. 
> If in fact Yahweh plans on showing Moses His glory, then
> what is the point of Ex 33:19?

HH: God's goodness is His glory. It was Roger Federer's goodness as a 
tennis player that was his glory yesterday as he won the U.S. Open 
championship. That's what people came out to see. What makes God 
wonderful and glorious is His goodness.

> Further, in Ex 33:22 it is hard to read that as allowing
> Moses to see Yahweh s glory.  Again Yahweh picks up Moses,
> puts him into a crevice of a rock, and covers the crevise
> with His hand.  Only after Yahweh has moved to some other
> location that only allows Moses to see Yahweh s backside
> does Yahweh remove His hand.

HH: In 33:22 God is only explaining what He is going to do. The verbs 
are future-oriented.

> Did Moses see Yahweh s glory before he was placed in the
> crevice?  Since the first two verbs are qal perfect with
> the subejct being glory and Moses respectively and the 1st
> verb followed by an infinitive construct of to pass, it
> would seem that the action of putting (Moses) was complete
> before the action of passing (glory) was completed.

HH: This is how the NIV translates it, and it is a normal translation 
of the B plus infinitive:

Ex. 33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the 
rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

HH: So the putting in the cleft and the covering can be simultaneous 
with the passing by. The verbs are not waw consecutives but simple 
copulative waws.

> Did Moses see Yahweh s glory after he was placed in the
> crevice?  The text does not say he does, it merely says he
> saw Yahweh s backside.  Certainly, there were plenty of
> other occations where Moses saw Yahweh s glory and the text
> said so (e.g. Lev 9:23).

HH: Yes, but God's glory was passing by. So Moses evidently saw it, 
though God's hand shielded him from seeing God's face and so dying.

HH: It's apparent to me that chapter 34 is the fulfillment of chapter 
33, which only says what God is going to do. The fulfillment is given 
in chapter 34. In 34:5 the Lord descends in His cloud of glory and 
stands with Moses, as He said He would in chapter 33. Ex 34:6 says 
that God passed by before him, just as chapter 33:19, 22 promised. 
Exodus 34:6-7 give content to the "glory" discussed in chapter 33. 
What is glorious about God above all is His character and its 
manifestation in His dealings with mankind.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard