We are in chapter thirty-three of Exodus with our word for today. כְּבֹדִ֔י my glory, my honor. This noun construct of the noun כָּבוֹד we have already looked at several times. The noun glory is used 200 times. Our word is a noun construct “my glory” is used 22 times in the Old Testament. A good example of this noun construct is the instructions Joseph gives his brothers after he reveals himself to them and sends them back to get their father. Genesis 45:13 You must tell my father of all כְּבוֹדִי֙ my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Here we see that our word is used to describe all of what comes with Joseph’s power and position being second in charge of all of Egypt. This helps us understand how our word is used to describe God. It is all encompassing power and position packed in a single word. This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 33:18-23 Moses said, “Please show me כְּבֹדֶֽךָ 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 כְּבֹדִ֔י 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.” What is interesting is that earlier in the chapter a few days ago we saw God’s special relationship with Moses described in this way. Exodus 33:11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. So we have Moses speaking to God face to face but later in the chapter you cannot see my face and live? So which one is it because these seem to contradict each other. If we look at the context, which by the way is always a good thing to do, it will show us what is mean by each of these statements. Earlier in the chapter God just explains how he speaks with Moses in the pillar of cloud in that it is a closer way to speak to God unlike anyone else had available to them at the time. So in this way the pillar of cloud allows Moses to be in close proximity to the way God made part of himself visible at that time to Moses. Then later in the chapter we see that God is talking about something else. Moses wants to see his glory and God responds I will make all my goodness pass before you but you can’t look at my face because no one can do this and live because it is just too much for created beings to handle. So God will pass by showing his back to Moses so he will not see all of God’s glory and goodness. He will shield him in the cleft of the rock and cover his hand until all of his glory passes by. So we are talking about to different things but both are described with this idea of God’s face or presence which is another way the original word can be translated as we have seen previously when we look at this word for face, presence. Our word is also used in that God shares his glory with us so that he becomes our glory that is the best of who we are to become. And when this happens God is glorified because people see that it is God working in and through us. This is not something that we have done on our own. Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created וְלִכְבוֹדִ֖י for my glory, whom I formed and made. This theme is seen throughout the Bible. I’ll close with two great psalms that remind us that make this very point. Psalm 3:1-4 Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, כְּ֝בוֹדִ֗י my glory, and the lifter of my head. Psalm 62:7-8 On God rests my salvation וּכְבוֹדִ֑י and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people ... God is a refuge for us.
