Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Did Moses See God's Glory? Ex 33

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Did Moses See God's Glory? Ex 33
  • Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 06:08:56 -0500

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






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page