Exodus 33

Read Exodus 33 here or at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraphs:

33:1-11 {p} The command to leave Sinai without YHVH’s presence / Moses pitched his tent for the tabernacle of meeting
33:12-16 {p} Moses intercedes for YHVH’s presence also / YHVH agrees
33:17-23 {p} Moses asks to see YHVH’s glory / YHVH agrees

Immediately prior to the golden calf incident, we had ten chapters of instructions in tabernacle blueprints and furnishings. The reason for it is so that God may dwell with and among His people. It has been the desire of His heart to dwell with His people, ever since Adam was exiled from the His presence in Gen 3.

Now by breaking the covenant and falling into idolatry, Israel has caused God to withdraw. It is not because He does not love them anymore, but …

“But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you …” Isa 59:2

YHVH gives Moses the bad news, as the Scripture calls it, that His Presence will not go with them. This has been the bad news since the day of Adam’s fall! But then Scripture interrupts the narrative with a seemingly unrelated detail, of Moses pitching the tabernacle of meeting, and how God talked with Moses face to face (Exo 33:7-11).

In fact, this is not an unrelated detail. In Hebrew, the phrase that is used here and throughout the rest of the Torah, for “tabernacle of meeting” or “tent of meeting,” is moed: the tabernacle of moed. Moed is first used in Scripture during Creation week:

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons (moed), and for days and years;” Gen 1:14

Moed is an appointment, like an appointment on a calendar. The sun and the moon mark the appointed seasons. So,

And YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts (moedim) of YHVH, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts (moedim).” Lev 23:1-2

The festivals, or holy days (holidays) of YHVH (not of the Jews) are His set times of appointment.

But most of the time that moed occurs in Torah, it is as the tabernacle of moed – of meeting. Moed is an appointed or set time or an appointed or set place, that He has reserved in order to meet with His people. The Hebrew reveals the purpose of the appointment: that they draw near to each other until they meet.

It is not an accident that the seemingly out of place detail about Moses pitching the tabernacle of moed, of meeting, is sandwiched between the bad news of God’s Presence separated from Israel, and the good news (“gospel”) of “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest,” (Exo 33:14). The tabernacle of moed, which is a prophetic picture of Messiah and the new birth, of God’s Presence dwelling with the believer through Messiah, brings us to the good news!

In fact, Moses’ intercession is not another example of Moses getting God to change His mind, but the way God interacted with Moses throughout this incident, He did purposely for our sakes, to paint a prophetic picture of the bad news, and the good news! And once again it is Moses’ (as a type of Messiah, so Messiah’s) intervention that brings about the good news!

If there are questions, these are good resources:

Moed, “Set time or place,” Strong’s H4150 – Christine Miller
The Law of Love – Christine Miller