Exodus 33:22, commentary and pictures

After Israel's sin with the golden calf Moses interceded that God's presence must go with them to Canaan, and seeking fuller assurance he asked to see God's glory, so God set him in a cleft of the rock and shielded him with His hand as He passed by. No mortal in his present state can look on unveiled glory and live, so Moses was allowed to behold only as much as he could bear, seeing after the hand was removed but not the face. The glory that passed before him was God's goodness and character proclaimed as merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity yet by no means clearing the guilty. The cleft rock is Christ, the Rock of Ages cleft for sinners to hide in, and the covering hand is His own pierced hand, so that veiled humanity shields frail mortals from consuming majesty. Beholding that goodness transforms those hidden in Christ into His likeness, as Moses' face shone so brightly the people could not look on it, and steadfast looking to Jesus still fits character to endure the sight of the invisible God.

Historical Setting Explained

The setting is God's answer after Israel's sin with the golden calf, when Moses was perseveringly interceding that God's presence would go with Israel amid their unbelief and repeated murmurings. Moses insisted they could not go forward without the Lord's presence, and as he led them toward Canaan his intercession prevailed so that God's presence was pledged to him. He took his fear and burden directly to God, who strengthened his fainting heart and sustained him with presence and care.

His plea to be shown God's glory sought assurance and a fuller revelation than the promise of presence alone, for he was not satisfied with that promise but desired what he wanted and needed. Holding fast the promises and having obtained assurance, he was emboldened to ask still greater things. The realization of his inability to do the work given him drove him to God to plead for the people under his leadership, and he talked with God face to face as a man talks with a friend.

Summoned again to the mountain summit, he was brought into sacred nearness with God and communed with Him there. This communion came before he carried out justice and judgment on the idolaters. There God promised to proclaim His name before him as His glory passed by.

Protective Sheltering Described

As His glory passed by, God Himself put Moses in a cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand, sheltering him from the full force and direct exposure of the divine presence. That covering shielded him from the danger of looking directly upon glory no one could see and live to tell. In that protected shelter God could reveal His glory to Moses while still withholding His face.

No mortal in his present mortal state can look upon God's unveiled glory or see His face and live. Therefore Moses was promised he should behold only as much of the divine glory as he could bear and endure. When the hand was removed he was permitted to see the back parts, but not the face.

The hand that covered him was the Creator hand that made the world, that holds the mountains in their places and removes mountains. With that hand God mercifully took Moses, a man of dust, a mere atom of frail humanity, and hid him in the cleft so His glory could pass before him without consuming him. Yet that creature of dust was also a man of mighty faith.

The sheltering was no rebuke for presumption, even though no human had made such a request before. It was favor shown to firm, persistent faith that would not cease importuning for a larger revelation of favor and presence to lead Israel. In answering so graciously God showed He is waiting to be gracious to those who make their request known.

Hidden and covered in that sheltered state, Moses was permitted to see the bright light and excellent glory surrounding the Father. He was allowed to look upon his Lord and live. There he was also permitted to behold the heavenly things that served as the pattern for the sanctuary.

Glory as Goodness Revealed

The glory that passed before Moses in answer to his plea to be shown that glory was God's own goodness proclaimed as His character — merciful and gracious, longsuffering and patient, abundant in goodness and truth and loving-kindness, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty. He was placed in the cleft of the rock and covered by the hand while the glory passed by, then the hand was removed so that he saw the back parts but not the face, because no mortal can see God's face and live. That sheltering was not a rebuke for presumption but favor to firm, persistent faith that would not cease importuning for a larger revelation of favor and presence to lead Israel. The protection from the full force of the glory is what made it possible for goodness and character to be revealed to him, and those so hidden and covered hear what the Lord says to His servants as Moses did. The event belonged to his communing with God before carrying out justice and judgment on the idolaters, and the passing glory leaves a lasting influence wherever He goes.

That proclamation revealed the Father in His true character of mercy and love and light, and of holiness beheld from a place of refuge. Jesus fully and perfectly revealed and represented that same character of the Father to the world. As the Lord had revealed Himself to Moses, so Christ revealed the Father to Philip, His tenderness and compassion and love toward humanity being the Father's own attributes. Because the unveiled light and radiance of divine love would extinguish man, Christ's taking humanity upon divinity serves the same shielding purpose as the hand over Moses, that His humanity might touch humanity and His divinity reach divinity without destroying man.

To the transgressor it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but Moses was not afraid to be alone with the Author of the law spoken from Sinai because his soul was in harmony with the will of his Maker. Those who see God's face must be like Him in character.

Privilege Graciously Granted

The sheltering in the cleft was an exceptional privilege and special favor, a revelation of excellent glory granted to Moses as to no other person on earth while God prepared him to lead Israel to the promised land. It was unlike any privilege given to anyone else, a special manifestation of glory to favor him for that work.

Above all else, with the promise that the divine presence would attend him, the experience assured him that God hears prayer and would give success in the work before him. He counted that assurance of infinitely greater worth than all the learning of Egypt and all attainments in military science, statesmanship, earthly power, skill, or learning. No earthly power or skill or learning can ever supply the place of God's immediate and abiding presence.

The meaning is that intimate communion with God is man's privilege. Moses talked with God face to face as a man talks with a friend, and was taken into close relation to God in seeing and feeling His glory.

That special sight was meant to give him elevated views of God while keeping him humble and childlike in faith. He must know God that he might represent Him to the people in all his ministration, and he learned to trust in God rather than his own abilities.

Because God trusted Moses so much and manifested so great glory to him, his sin in taking glory to himself was proportionately aggravating and highly displeasing to God. Defects in one so honored are far more offensive than in those less favored, because they lead others to take license to sin and to shelter defective characters behind him.

Christ the Hiding Rock

The cleft rock is Christ, the Rock of Ages cleft open for His people and for sinners to hide in, bearing up a ruined world, and to hide in the riven Rock is to hide in Christ. The covering hand is His own pierced hand, whose wounded side supplies the water and the blood that cleanse from the guilt and power of sin, and being covered is being covered with Christ's righteousness. No human effort, zeal, or tears can meet the demands of the law or atone for sin, for salvation comes from Christ alone, who remains the sinner's refuge in death and before the judgment throne. Those who hide there in helpless trust are received and pardoned and stand on the sure foundation, with no need for any false dependence beside God. God shelters Moses in the cleft as His glory passes by, and so the humble seeker bows and waits in bowed attitude to hear what the Lord says to His servants, hearing after the whirlwind and tempest that moves rocks the still small voice when all should cover the face. Those so covered hear what the Lord says to His servants, and God reveals Himself to them as He did to Moses, as merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, finding safety in Christ amid the power of evil by doing the works of Christ and being yoked with Him.

Christ taking humanity upon divinity serves the same shielding purpose as the hand over Moses, so that His humanity might touch humanity and His divinity reach divinity and perfectly represent the Father without destroying man. The unveiled light and radiance of divine love would extinguish man, so God put Moses in the cleft and covered him with His hand while He passed by. Even Moses could not look upon God's unveiled glory and live, but had to be hidden in the cleft of the Rock and covered by Christ's hand, receiving only a partial view of divine majesty. In that passing by God revealed the Father in His true character as full of mercy, love, and light, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

The glory Moses longed to see was Christ's, veiled in the infant Jesus presented at the temple. That infant was greater than Moses, the Majesty of heaven and King of glory.

Moses pleading for God's presence as he leads Israel toward Canaan prevails, God's presence is pledged to him, and his intercession presents him as a type of Christ, the great Intercessor whom the Father always hears. To be put in the cleft is to hide self in God, and God Himself must do the placing and the covering. This keeping holds the worker in trying work as a target for the enemy, keeping him from self-exaltation and from showing overmastering passion.

Transformed by Beholding Glory

The reflected excellent glory from Omnipotence shone in Moses' face with such brightness that the people could not look upon it when he returned to them. The impress of God upon him made him appear as one of the shining angels from the throne. He had to cover his face with a veil when talking with them.

If men will walk with God He will hide them in the cleft of the Rock, and thus hidden they can see God even as Moses saw Him. God's goodness passes before those who look steadfastly to Jesus, who is full of grace and truth, and He hides them in the rock. Beholding Him enables them to endure the sight of the invisible God and transforms them into Christ's likeness. Being hidden in Christ in this way enables those whose hearts are purified by the Holy Spirit to behold God's majesty and love, fitting character to see God.

With the presence and light God gives there, they receive power to understand and accomplish more than their own judgment deemed possible. Hidden there they comprehend more than they deemed possible and endure the seeing of Him who is invisible. The eyes of their understanding are anointed to see heavenly things clearly when workers live in close association with God, make God their entire dependence, pray first before the day's work, invite Christ to take possession and control, cry after God in sincerity and soul-hunger, wrestle until victory, and yield soul, body, and spirit as living consecrated agencies moved by His will and infused by His Spirit.

Fitness to see God comes only from a character built after the Pattern, the full perfection of heaven's character that Jesus maintained in assailed humanity without yielding though assailed by every temptation of men. This requires coming into close relation to Jesus, with life hid with Christ in God and hidden in the cleft of the Rock, for without Christ nothing can be done, and God designs the divine to be united with the human so that fallen man need not remain enfeebled and degraded through sin but becomes a partaker of the pure and celestial element. Character is formed in this life by looking daily at the manifestation of grace and heavenly attributes in Jesus, beholding Him and becoming changed into His likeness in daily assimilation to the Saviour's character, full of grace and truth. Hiding in the cleft is the way perfection is obtained, for God's perfection is revealed in Christ's humanity, and by looking to Jesus and receiving Him and His Word believers reveal His character. People must fall on Christ, the Rock, and be broken of pride, sin, and corruption so that Christ's love can abide in them and His image be revealed in them.

Hiding in Christ Today

To be hidden in the cleft is to be given more distinct views of Jesus as sin-bearer and all-sufficient sacrifice, beholding the Lamb of God who takes away sin and catching glimpses of Him who is invisible. When His all-sufficient sacrifice is sensed, pardon comes as a live coal placed upon the lips, and the lips are tuned to the highest, loftiest themes of praise. To stop other work in order to behold Jesus in this way is no loss, for those who look to Him with undivided heart and earnestly seek the living God are greatly blessed with the greatest, truest joys and are quickened by His Holy Spirit. The cleft of the Rock is a place of refuge from which to behold God's glory and holiness of character amid His chastisement upon the world and the coming time of trial and judgment. Those who know the truth must hide there as the night of trial is nearly spent, while those who refuse this shelter, unsanctified and unhumbled, rejecting His messages and following their own ways, will be caught unprepared and surprised when the day of God comes.

Safety is found where God has called a person to be and to serve, not by placing oneself in unnecessary danger apart from duty and without His call, which leaves one exposed to temptation. To climb out of the cleft signifies leaving that protection and in time revealing a hardened character shaped by corrupt influences. Seeking a glimpse of glory belongs with a meek and contrite spirit that trembles at His Word, earnestly praying to see His glory out of valuing fellowship with God, for genuine humility accompanies that desire. To be put in the cleft means to cling to the Mighty One and entwine about Him like a clinging vine, making Him strength, shaken and cut off from earthly sympathy and support. Remaining there requires depending wholly on God as the source of wisdom, sanctification, and righteousness, subduing self, guarding against speaking and acting from impulse, working humbly, laying off natural independence, and climbing perseveringly, which renews mind, thoughts, and words in meekness and cuts away self-esteem, confidence in human wisdom, haughtiness, self-exaltation, and pride of talent and intellect, or there will be no place in the kingdom.

In trouble, discouragement, and perplexity believers must go directly to Christ the Fountain Head by faith rather than reaching to human agencies, receive His presence and goodness made to pass before them, and then carry that goodness to the world. Praying to be hidden in the cleft while beholding His glory means clinging to Jesus with the whole heart, trusting in the Lord, standing fast in the faith, keeping the eyes fixed on Jesus as helper, and going forward without worry, doubt, discouragement, or murmuring, casting every idol from the soul temple, surrendering as a living sacrifice, and rolling the whole load upon Jesus instead of gathering burdens again in self-made yokes. Looking steadfastly to Jesus in living faith to behold Him full of grace and truth gives endurance in seeing Him who is invisible and transforms by beholding, producing a right estimate of God's character and faithful integrity in duty, whereas not seeing and experimentally knowing Jesus leaves sin regarded lightly and duty estimated lightly. God hides the believer from self so the believer can behold His glory, and only by keeping self hidden in God can people have a correct view of God their Saviour. That passing by is revealed in His character of mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, and just judgment, whose lasting influence goes wherever He goes, and it calls for giving self to God, relying on Him, letting faith grow stronger and shape words and actions, and meditating on God through careful study of His Word to guide moral character and intellectual culture.

The church must rely on Him alone to strengthen, shield, and hide it from Satan's delusions and deceptive powers, for He is its source of strength and protection. The atoning sacrifice is a refuge, and those who trust in Him are secure from Satan's power and schemes. Those who helplessly cast themselves on Christ's mercy, the Rock of Ages cleft open for His people to hide in, are received and pardoned and stand on the sure foundation, needing nothing beside God, securing everything the soul requires, keeping hope and peace in Jesus, and unmoved by any power of earth or hell. To be put in the cleft is to hide self in God, and God Himself must do the placing and covering, which keeps His worker, even a physician as a target for the enemy in trying work, from self-exaltation and overmastering passion. When faithful workers face suspicion and condemnation they are to hide in Christ and respond with gentleness rather than passion, and those connected with His work who make God entire dependence through prayer before the day's work, inviting Christ to take possession and control, crying after God in sincerity and soul-hunger, wrestling until victory, and yielding soul, body, and spirit as living consecrated agencies will have anointed understanding to see heavenly things clearly. This refuge is to be held before sinners and the plain unvarnished truth spoken in leaflets and pamphlets scattered like autumn leaves, for God's chastisement calls all who know the truth to hide and view His glory as Satan brings in masterly power knowing his time is short.

God's protection in times of need enables His people to discern Him as Moses did, hiding them in God and depending on His protection in order to see His glory. The cleft is a place of shelter near His presence where, hidden from view, they can seek Him, perceive the Invisible, contemplate Him in safety, and see and hear the proclamation of His character. It is a refuge in Christ where a soul can hide and find hope and protection from perdition. To be put there means to hide in Christ for salvation, seek the favor of the Saviour who loved sinners and gave Himself for them, present to Jesus the acceptable offering of the heart, and fly to His bosom for refuge while billows roll and tempest is high, and holding this refuge before sinners deepens the sense of needing Christ and inspires fresh zeal for the Master.