CHAPTER 33 Feb.21 
The Tent of Meeting
Yahweh spoke to Moses, Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed’. 2I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way. 4When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewellery. 5Yahweh said to Moses, Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up into your midst for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewellery from you, that I may know what to do to you’. 6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewellery from Mount Horeb onward. 7Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it The Tent of Meeting. It happened that everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. 8It happened that when Moses went out to the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, each one at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent. 9It happened, when Moses entered into the Tent, that the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and spoke with Moses. 10All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door. 11Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart out of the Tent.
Moses Asks to Feel God’s Presence
12Moses said to Yahweh, Behold, You tell me, ‘Bring up this people’ and yet You haven’t let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight’. 13Now therefore, if I have found grace in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may find grace in Your sight; and consider that this nation is Your people. 14He said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. 15He said to Him, If Your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. 16For how would people know that I have found favour in Your sight, I and Your people? Isn’t it in that You go with us, so that we are separated, I and Your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth? 17Yahweh said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favour in My sight, and I know you by name. 18He said, Please show me Your glory. 19He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20He said, You cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live. 21Yahweh also said, Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22It will happen, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand until I have passed by; 23then I will take away My hand, and you will see My back; but My face shall not be seen.

Commentary

33:1 The manifestation of God in a person leads to a mutuality between them. Here God says that Moses brought up Israel out of Egypt; but in 32:11, Moses says [as frequently] that God brought Israel out of Egypt. And we too can experience this mutuality in relationship with the Father.
33:5 God told Moses that because Israel were stiff-necked, therefore He could not go up with them. Moses agrees the people are stiff-necked, but he knows God well enough to ask Him to still go up in the midst of them (34:9). And God did! He acted according to how broad was Moses’ conception of God’s grace. If Abraham’s conception of grace had been even broader, perhaps Sodom would’ve been saved…
33:13 God assures Moses that he has found grace in His eyes, and yet Moses doubts this…  as if the voice of God telling him wasn’t enough! And maybe there is even the implication that he mistakenly thought that he needed more knowledge of God before he could find that grace… as if it depended upon his own mental faculties. And yet God patiently assures Moses yet again: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” (:19) was said specifically to Moses, given the context of Moses’ doubts about his receipt of God’s grace. The coming down of Yahweh to pronounce His Name was, in the context, to show how far God would go to assure Moses that yes, His grace towards Moses was real. We too struggle with really believing God’s grace, it seems too good news; and we too are given, also by grace, this undeserved assurance upon assurance.
I will give you rest- But they did not enter that rest- Heb. 4:8,10. “Rest" was defined as the land being subdued before God with all the tribes driven out (Josh. 1:13,15; Num. 32:21,22; 1 Chron. 22:18). This being conditional on Israel's faithfulness, we conclude that when the Angel said "I will give you rest" He was speaking of what was possible in prospect; so much peace, victory and salvation have been prepared for us in prospect.