6.3 - Show me Your glory! (Exodus 33:18)
Moses is called the man of God, to whom the Lord used to speak “face to face, just as a man
speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). In what can be described as their most intimate
encounter in the Bible (33:7-34:9), Moses and God are alone on Mount Sinai. He is begging
God to remain with Israel even though she had just left Him for a golden calf. He was speaking
his heart and knew God would hear him because God’s Spirit was in him (Numbers 1:17). At
some point, Moses appears to be overcome with so great an ardor for God, he can no longer
contain it. His passion erupts and he cries out, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” God
responds by giving His most precious of revelations. He showed His glory to Moses while
hiding him in the cleft of a rock and covering him with His hand, so that His presence would
not overcome and kill His child. After witnessing His glory, Moses quickly bows low and
worships Him. It is hard to imagine any other response to so beautiful a glory
What does God reveal to Moses? “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you . . .” (33:19). Moses saw God’s goodness in the way God alone could make him see, by opening the eyes of his heart and spirit to know and experience the blessing of God’s goodness. Beyond all our judgments of Him and our limited abilities to perceive His presence and ways, the glory of God’s goodness is over all and in all. He is not restricted by our limited awareness of Him. Moses witnessed the unlimited goodness of God right after the golden calf disaster. He saw God’s good after a most ugly and evil corporate sin against Him. However great is the problem or weakness we are suffering, it cannot taint or destroy God’s goodness. The King of Israel blessed Moses with His enduring goodness, assuring him: His good will never pass away
“I Myself. . .will proclaim the name of the Lord before you” (33:19) so that Moses would not only hear God’s name but see it. The Hebrew word before is the word for face, the same word that is also translated as God’s presence. God spoke His name that is the presence of His face. God’s name identifies with Him so profoundly that His third commandment to Israel is to not use His name in vain, never lightly or with disrespect. Do not vainly use God’s name because there is nothing vain or empty about it. God’s name speaks the great weight of His glory. Glory translates from the Hebrew word kavod, which literally means heavy with great weight. It was hearing God’s name that assured Moses of His authority to deliver Israel (Exodus 3:13). It is for His name’s sake that God is faithful to Israel (1Samuel 12:22). Prophets speak in God’s name and their words come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22). It was for God’s holy name that Solomon built His Temple (2 Samuel 7:13) to worship God whose name is honored and awesome (Deuteronomy 28:58). The name of the Lord resonates with God’s life that is holy and the blessing of Israel (I Chronicle 23:13)
The name of God does not merely distinguish Him from other gods. His name is one with His nature. Names for God mean much more than those we give one another. “I have known you by name” (33:17) God told Moses, who He calls by a name that is most probably not Moses but one that the man called Moses vitally responds to, a name that communicates pure knowing of the man we call Moses. When God proclaimed His name to Moses, the One who intimately knows Moses made Himself known. The eternal I AM and His humble servant came together in holy communion, face to face
Names in our world aren’t able to penetrate the surface. They don’t reveal or influence whatever they are associated with. A rose is a rose regardless of its name. The word rose is little more than a random label with no intrinsic association to the flower. But with God, names have great weight and substance. One of the few things we know Adam did in the Garden of Eden was to give names. God brought all the living creatures to Adam “to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name” (2:19). God gave Adam the joy of naming his companions as he willed, reflecting God’s sovereign will that personally shapes and identifies all that He makes by name. I suspect God was very pleased as He listened to Adam naming all His creatures, surprised with the joy of a Father watching His child follow in His creative footsteps
God spoke further to Moses: “. . .and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion” (33:19). God showed Moses His unnatural way of choosing whomever He wills to favor. No one or thing can compel God to choose for Himself. No extenuating circumstances can sway His decision or alter His purpose. God has no conflicts of interest or ulterior motives to influence Him. There are no strings attached to His choices. Whatever He chooses is for its own sake. God freely gives His favor and compassion and will give in no other way. Nothing and no one can explain why He chooses who He does, except that He chooses who He wills. Such absolute freedom can alone express the unconditional good of His will. God always chooses freely and His chosen one will always be blessed by both the freedom in which it is given and the freedom that is possible because of it
For Moses, God’s revelation of His glory was more than enough to inspire his worship for all his life. But many of us looking on from the outside may not be convinced. God’s reason for choosing among us as He does is not at all reasonable. He makes no effort to justify Himself and explain why He chooses as He does. The little He says doesn’t satisfy our reason at all. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” What kind of explanation is that? What are His motives? What is He hiding from us? Is God capricious? Does He mean to say that He chooses on a whim, however His mood strikes? We want to know what motivates His choices because good elections must be both free and fair. Where is the proof of God’s fairness and justice if He freely chooses just because He says so? However much we try to force God to stand trial, He never consents. It is not in His nature to justify Himself on our terms
God as the holy Other is most evident in His unique will that is essentially different from anything found in His creation. To remember that He is not like us helps orient our view of Him, so we better positioned to find Him past our frustrations. God will never justify or prove Himself as human justice requires. He will never explain as we want Him to explain why He elects and rejects as He does. The way God proves His good is simply by being good, never by trying to convince our reason or fit our definition of good. Our reason or judgments can never apprehend God, but when His Spirit speaks in our heart, we begin to understand: God IS good