THE HUMILIATION OF THE PEOPLE AT THE THREAT OF GOD’S WITHDRAWAL.

(1-6) If God consented at all to renew His covenant with the people, after they had so flagrantly broken it, the terms on which He would renew it were, in strict justice, purely optional. In the “Book of the Covenant” He had promised to go up with them by an Angel, in whom was His Name (Exodus 23:20-23): i.e., by His Son, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. He now, to mark His displeasure, withdrew this promise, and substituted for the Divine presence that of a mere angel. “I will send an angel before thee” (Exodus 33:2); “I will not go up in the midst of thee” (Exodus 33:3). Dimly the people felt the importance of the change, the vast difference between the angelic and the Divine, and “mourned” their loss (Exodus 33:4). mourned with some touch of real godly sorrow, and, as was the custom of the Orientals in mourning (Terent. Heaut. ii. 3, 47; Herodian. iv. 2, &c.), “put off their ornaments.”

(1) The Lord said unto Moses.—In continuation and explanation of the words recorded in Exodus 32:33-34, but probably at another time, after Moses had once more descended from the Ras Sufsafeh to the plain at its base.

The land which I sware unto Abraham . . . —The misconduct of Israel in their worship of the calf would not annul the promises of God to the patriarchs. These He was bound to make good. “The Lord sware, and will not repent” (Psalm 110:4).

In the day when I visit ... - Compare Numbers 14:22-24. But though the Lord chastized the individuals, He did not take His blessing from the nation.

Ex 33:1-23. The Lord Refuses to Go with the People.

1. the Lord said—rather "had" said unto Moses. The conference detailed in this chapter must be considered as having occurred prior to the pathetic intercession of Moses, recorded at the close of the preceding chapter; and the historian, having mentioned the fact of his earnest and painful anxiety, under the overwhelming pressure of which he poured forth that intercessory prayer for his apostate countrymen, now enters on a detailed account of the circumstances.God refuseth to go with the people as formerly, Exodus 33:1-3. The people mourn, Exodus 33:4. God’s command what to say to the children of Israel, Exodus 33:5. They mourn, and lay by their ornaments, Exodus 33:6. Moses pitcheth the tabernacle without the camp, Exodus 33:7; and going in, God speaks to him, Exodus 33:8,9. A cloudy pillar descendeth on it, Exodus 33:10. God speaks to Moses face to face, Exodus 33:11. He prays for his guidance and presence, Exodus 33:12-16. God promises him, Exodus 33:14,17; proclaims his name, Exodus 33:19. His face can be seen by no man, Exodus 33:20-23.

No text from Poole on this verse.

thou, and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt; though his wrath was in some measure mitigated, and he had so far forgave their sin, that he would not cut them off from being a people; yet still he does not call them his people, or own that he brought them out of Egypt, as he does in the preface to the commands they had now broke, as if they were not under his care and conduct; but speaks of them in a different manner, as a people that Moses had brought out from thence, and whom he orders to go on with:

unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed will I give it: meaning the land of Canaan, which as he had promised with an oath to their fathers to give it to them, he would faithfully observe it, though they were unworthy of such a favour.

(a) The land of Canaan was surrounded by hills: so those who entered it, must go up by the hills.