The Lord told Moses to depart and go up from here with the people of Israel to the land the Lord had promised them. The Lord would send an angel before them to drive out the others who lived there. However, the Lord said that He would not go with them, lest he consumed them on the way; because they were a stiff-necked people. Stiff-neck is in reference to the unresponsive way an oxen or horse would act. When the people heard they were to leave Sinai, they mourned and no one put on their ornaments as a sign of mourning.
Moses used to take a tent and pitch it far outside of the camp, can called it the tent of meeting. This was not the tabernacle. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, people would ride up and stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.
“When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
-Exodus 33:9-11
When looking at my study Bible it said that the pillar of cloud symbolized God’s communication with Moses. I was taking the “face to face” statement very literal in the sense of Moses would see God’s face and they would have a conversation. Is that what was happening? Did anyone actually ever really see God, or just symbols representing His presence?
While Moses was in the tent, his assistant, a young man named Joshua, son of Nun, would not leave the tent. This was his way of protecting him.
Moses was questioning the Lord on whom He would send with him when he was to bring the people up.
“Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
“And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But, ” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
-Exodus 33:13-23
So, has Moses seen God’s face or not? This was so confusing!
The Lord told Moses to get two new tablets and the Lord would write the words of the first two on them. So, Moses cut two new stones and took them up the mountain to the Lord.
Moses bowed his head and worshiped, asking the Lord to pardon their iniquity and sin, and to take them for their inheritance.
The Lord told Moses that He would renew the covenant and the people would have to follow His commandments. They were to tear down their altars and break the pillars “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
The people were to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Ingathering, and the Feast of the Passover.
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”
-Exodus 34:27-28
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony and his face was shining because he had been talking to God. When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and the way his skin shone, they were afraid of him. Moses spoke with them and all the people came near, and he commanded them with the words the Lord had spoken. When he finished speaking, he put a veil over his face.
My understanding of the veil, was to hide the fading of the shine of his face, so the people would still listen to him as God’s representative.
When they were asking for contributions for the Sanctuary/Tabernacle, it was all very repetitive from previous readings. It gave specific items and jobs people could give and do to contribute.
It said “everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him” would bring their contribution. It was emphasized that whoever “was willing” to contribute would be through volunteering with free will offerings.
Good question: Did Moses see God face to face. Hang in there with the repetive stuff. You’re still in the first five books; you’ll find a lot of that.