Exodus 33:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is the message God sent through Moses to the children of Israel. It showed that his displeasure still rested on them, and that they were still on bad terms with him. Moses had to tell them this so they would feel the weight of their sin.

God first gives them a humbling name by speaking the truth about them: they are a stiff-necked people, meaning stubborn and unwilling to bend to his rule (Exodus 33:3, Exodus 33:5). “Go,” God says to Moses, “and tell them that.” The one who knows them better than they know themselves says it. God wanted to bring them under the yoke of his law and into the bond of his covenant, but their necks were too stiff to bow. He wanted to heal their crooked and sinful hearts and straighten them out, but they were willful and hard to correct. They did not want God to reign over them. God judges people by the state of their hearts. We see what people do, but God sees what they are. We see what comes from people, but God sees what is inside them. Nothing is more offensive to him than stubbornness, just as stubbornness is one of the worst traits in children.

God also tells them what they deserved. He could have come among them in a moment and destroyed them (Exodus 33:5). If he had dealt with them according to their sins, he would have wiped them out quickly. Those whom God forgives should be made to understand what their sin deserved, and how miserable they would have been if he had not pardoned them. Then his mercy is seen as even greater.

He tells them to leave and go up from there to the land of Canaan (Exodus 33:1). They were still at Mount Sinai, the place where God had meant to set up his tabernacle, his holy tent for worship among them. Since that had not yet happened, this command suggests that it would not happen there. “Let them move on as they are,” is the tone of it, and that showed God’s anger very clearly.

God also turns them over to Moses, the man who had brought them up out of Egypt, and leaves it to him to lead them to Canaan. He still promises to keep his covenant with Abraham by giving them the land, but he withholds the special signs of his presence that had gone with them before. He would send an angel before them to protect them, since otherwise hostile powers would quickly destroy them. But he would not go with them in their midst, lest he consume them (Exodus 33:2, Exodus 33:3). This does not mean an angel would be kinder than God. It means that offending an angel would be less serious than offending the visible presence of God himself. The more privileges we enjoy, the greater our danger if we do not use them well and live up to them.

God speaks here like one who is uncertain what to do next. Justice says, “Cut them off and destroy them.” Mercy says, “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” (Hosea 11:8). So God says, “Take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you” (Exodus 33:5). That is, put yourself in the posture of repentance, so the matter may end in your favor, and mercy may triumph over judgment. Calls to repentance are clear signs that mercy is still intended. If the Lord had chosen to kill them, justice would have known what to do with a stiff-necked people. But God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Let them return and repent, and then mercy, which otherwise seems at a loss, knows what to do.

The people heard this message with sorrow. It was bad news to them to learn that they would not have God’s special presence with them. So they mourned (Exodus 33:4). They mourned over the sin that had driven God away, and they mourned because this was the worst punishment their sin could bring. When 3,000 of them were killed at once by the Levites’ sword, we do not read that they mourned over that, perhaps because they hoped it might make up for their guilt. But when God refused to go with them in his favor, then they mourned and were bitter.

For true repentant people, one of the hardest and most feared results of sin is God’s withdrawal. God had promised them the land flowing with milk and honey, but they could take little joy in that without his presence. Even Canaan would not be a pleasant land without him. So they mourned.

As a sign of deep shame and humility, those who were not already dressed did not put on their ornaments (Exodus 33:4). Those who were dressed took off their ornaments by the mountain, or, as some read it, at a distance from the mountain (Exodus 33:6), standing far off like the tax collector in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:13). God had told them to lay aside their ornaments (Exodus 33:5), and they did so. They did it to show their deep grief, and also to punish themselves in a holy way for giving their earrings to make the golden calf. Those who had been willing to part with their ornaments to support their sin could do no less than lay them aside to show sorrow and shame for it.

When the Lord God calls for weeping and mourning, we must obey. We should not only fast from pleasant food (Daniel 10:3), but also lay aside our ornaments. Even things that are proper at other times are out of place in days of humbling or in public trouble (Isaiah 3:18).