Sermon Tone Analysis

In our salvation, our protection within the rock, our being hidden in Christ, it is not ultimately the schemes of Satan from which we are protected, but rather from God himself.

By the shear glory of God sinful man cannot bear to look upon his face, thus through Christ in this life we are given the grace of communion with God yet we are not consumed

But also, in Christ the Rock (), we are preserved from the just wrath of God due sinful man.

For God does not say “I will be angry with whom I will be angry,” for he is not angry by prerogotive, but rather his wrath is always just and holy.

Therefore anger is the universal and just response of God toward all who commit the apostasy of sin, that is, all men.

But it is his prerogative to show mercy to whomever he wills, all whom he purposes to save from destruction.

This salvation is not in accord with their righteous deeds, but rather in accord with the glory of God’s grace which he sovereignly purposes to pour out on those whom he decides to give mercy.

Paul defends this in .

He never damns by prerogative, but by prerogative he saves.

(MH Commentary)

NT Quotations

() () (; ; )

Exodus demonstrates that it can never be advisable to take one’s own direction if God is available to lead.

In Exodus, Israel learns that their proper role before God is that of follower.

Following a divine leader would provide the highest good for the followers.

Although Moses was Israel’s proximate leader, God was their supreme leader.

Tent of Meeting: this predates the Tabernacle, which came to be known by the same Hebrew term after it was erected.

It seems the significance of the tent of Meeting in is that it was not yet the “permanent” dwelling place of God, but rather was the means by which Moses had communion with him.

It illustrates Moses as the intercessor for the people, and is important that it was pitched outside the camp, that is, God’s presence was not with the people but outside the people at this point.

Compassion

Hebrew expression: racham

Pronunciation: raw KHAHM

Strong’s Number: 7355

KEY VERSES

Exodus 33:19; Isaiah 13:18; Jeremiah 21:7

It is not overstating the case to say that Israel exists because God is a compassionate God who lives and acts according to who He is.

Yet, in His sovereignty and divine wisdom He will show compassion (Exod.

33:19).

The word “compassion” translates the Hebrew verb racham in the Exodus passage.

The word also means “to have compassion, to show love, or to show mercy.”

Racham is a tender word that is formed from the noun rachamim or racham meaning “womb” or “compassion.”

God has a motherly feeling toward His people whom He made and the “womb” is a place of compassion and deep emotion.

Rachum is the adjective that describes God as a “compassionate” God (Exod.

34:6), and usually refers to God’s compassion toward His people (2 Kgs.

13:23),

In the time of Israel’s rebellion with the golden calf at Mount Sinai, the Lord showed Himself to be compassionate by forgiving His people and reestablishing the covenant on the basis of who He is, not who they were (Exod.

34).

Israel’s rebellion in the time of Micah had reached such proportions that again Israel was on the verge of destruction.

But, Micah humbly pleaded to a God who pardons and removes the sins of His people.

His plea was well informed; he knew the story of Israel’s rebellion and the responses of her “compassionate”—that is, rachum—God.

Perhaps He would again have compassion upon His people (Mic.

7:19).

In Jeremiah 6:23 and 21:7 the Babylonians and their King Nebuchadnezzar are depicted as having no compassion or pity towards Israel, desiring to utterly destroy them.

If it had not been for the compassion of the Lord towards His people, they would not have continued to exist.

But, He rescued them and remains eternally compassionate towards them.

This marvelous aspect of God’s character is exhibited clearly in the Bible.

It is incarnated in Jesus Christ, the compassionate, loving, supreme, God-Man.

When He saw crowds He was moved by compassion (, splagchizomai in Greek) for them.

As a result He healed the sick (; ).

He was also the compassionate one of Exodus ().

In Christ, the Father of compassion (, oiktirmos in Greek) and God of solace dwells.

There is no greater comfort than knowing that the Lord continues to show His compassion to us, working miracles of goodness and mercy out of every situation in our lives ().

.

Exodus 33:12–23 demonstrates that God is not merely present with His people to provide accurate directions and a safe trip.

Rather, His presence allows them to:

• know Him personally (33:11);

• know His favor (33:12);

• understand His character and will (33:13);

• be certain of His establishment as a people in their own land (33:14);

• know His special election (33:16);

• be aware of His personal interest and favor (33:13, 17);

• sense His glory (33:18);

• experience the goodness, mercy, and compassion associated with His glorious presence (33:19).

The Israelites made it to Sinai by following God.

Likewise, they could only leave Sinai (33:1) and get to the promised land by following God.

Only He could make them—a vulnerable, newly formed people—into a great nation in their own land, living lives centered on the only true God.

CHAPTER XXXIII

PREVAILING INTERCESSION

Exodus 33

At this stage the first concession is announced.

Moses shall lead the people to their rest, and God will send an angel with him.

We have seen that the original promise of a great Angel in whom was the Divine Presence was full of encouragement and privilege (23:20).

No unbiassed reader can suppose that it is the sending of this same Angel of the Presence which now expresses the absence of God, or that He Who then would not pardon their transgression “because My Name is in Him” is now sent because God, if He were in the midst of them for a moment, would consume them.

Nor when Moses passionately pleads against this degradation, and is heard in this thing also, can the answer “My Presence shall go with thee” be merely the repetition of those evil tidings.

Yet it was the Angel of His Presence Who saved them.

All this has been already treated, and what we are now to learn is that the faithful and sublime urgency of Moses did really save Israel from degradation and a lower covenant.

It was during the progress of this mediation that Moses, distracted by a double anxiety—afraid to absent himself from his wayward followers, equally afraid to be so long withdrawn from the presence of God as the descending of Sinai and returning thither would involve—made a noble adventure of faith.

Inspired by the conception of the tabernacle, he took a tent, “his tent,” and pitched it outside the camp, to express the estrangement of the people, and this he called the Tent of the Meeting (with God), but in the Hebrew it is never called the Tabernacle.

And God did condescend to meet him there.

The mystic cloud guarded the door against presumptuous intrusion, and all the people, who previously wist not what had become of him, had now to confess the majesty of his communion, and they worshipped every man at his tent door.

It would seem that the anxious vigilance of Moses caused him to pass to and fro between the tent and the camp, “but his minister, Joshua the son of Nun, departed not out of the tent.”

The dread crisis in the history of the nation was now almost over.

God had said, “My Presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,”—a phrase which the lowly Jesus thought it no presumption to appropriate, saying, “I will give you rest,” as He also appropriated the office of the Shepherd, the benevolence of the Physician, the tenderness of the Bridegroom, and the glory of the King and the Judge, all of which belonged to God.

But Moses is not content merely to be secure, for it is natural that he who best loves man should also best love God.

Therefore he pleads against the least withdrawal of the Presence: he cannot rest until repeatedly assured that God will indeed go with him; he speaks as if there were no “grace” but that.

There are many people now who think it a better proof of being religious to feel either anxious or comforted about their own salvation, their election, and their going to heaven.

And these would do wisely to consider how it comes to pass that the Bible first taught men to love and to follow God, and afterwards revealed to them the mysteries of the inner life and of eternity

Filtering God

Study Hosea Like a Pro

The Old Testament tells us that no person can see the face of God and live (Exod 33:20).

The New Testament echoes this prohibition (John 1:18).

The prophet Hosea, however, seems to disagree.

In Hosea 12:3–4, the prophet revisits the story of Jacob as told in Genesis:

In the womb he [Jacob] deceived his brother, and in his manhood he struggled with God.

He struggled with the angel and prevailed; he pleaded for his mercy.

He met him at Bethel, and there he spoke with him.

If we turn back to Genesis, we find that Jacob “struggled” (sarah) with “a man” in a physical scuffle (Gen 32:27).

The same Hebrew word is also used in Hosea 12:3 for Jacob’s struggle with God, thereby linking these two passages.

As Jacob wrestled the stranger, he came to realize he was struggling with God (elohim) in human form (Gen 32:28).

He named the place “Peniel” (“the face of God”), expressing amazement that he had been allowed to live (32:30).

This incident led Jacob to rededicate himself to God at Bethel (35:1–7), where he had first seen God in a vision (28:10–22).

Hosea 12:3–4 summarizes this series of events in Jacob’s life and confirms the divine identity of his opponent by saying Jacob “struggled with God.”

But Hosea takes it one step further: Jacob “struggled with God” and with an angel (mal’ak) during that combat.

Yet again, the word “struggled” is another form of the same Hebrew word (sor).

Here, Hosea is asserting that a certain angel in the Old Testament was the God of Israel in human form.

Later in Genesis, when Jacob was at the end of his life, he blessed the sons of Joseph.