Exodus 33:1-6

The Command to Leave Sinai

1 The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you 1and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To 2your offspring I will give it.'
2 I will send an 3angel before you, 4and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3 5Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; 6but I will not go up among you, 7lest I consume you on the way, for you are a 8stiff-necked people."
4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they 9mourned, and 10no one put on his ornaments.
5 For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a 11stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would 12consume you. So now 13take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'"
6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

Exodus 33:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 33

This chapter informs us, that the Lord refusing to go with the people, only sending an angel with them, they are filled with concern, and troubled, Ex 33:1-6. Moses upon this pitched the tabernacle without the camp, where everyone that sought the Lord went; Moses entered into it himself, and the Lord talked to him in a friendly manner in the cloudy pillar that stood at the door of it, and the people worshipped, every man at his own tent door; all which foreboded good, and tended to reconciliation, Ex 33:7-11. Moses improved the opportunity, and entreats the presence of God to go with them, which was granted, Ex 33:12-17 and that he might have a sight of the glory of God; and this is promised to pass before him, he being put into the cleft of the rock, Ex 33:18-23.

Cross References 13

  • 1. Exodus 32:7
  • 2. Exodus 32:13; See Genesis 12:7
  • 3. See Exodus 14:19
  • 4. See Exodus 13:5
  • 5. See Exodus 3:8
  • 6. [ver. 15-17]
  • 7. Exodus 32:10; Numbers 16:21, 45
  • 8. See Exodus 32:9
  • 9. Numbers 14:39
  • 10. [Ezekiel 24:17, 23; Ezekiel 26:16]
  • 11. [See ver. 3 above]
  • 12. Exodus 32:12
  • 13. [See ver. 4 above]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.