And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
God set Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand while His glory passed by, then took away His hand so Moses saw from behind after He had passed, but not His face. No one in this mortal state can look upon the unveiled glory of His face and live, so Moses was granted only a partial glimpse, as much as he could bear and endure. The glory revealed in that passing was His goodness and character proclaimed by name, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and sin yet by no means clearing the guilty. The hand that covered Moses was the hand of Christ, whose glory Moses longed to see and which was afterward veiled in the Child of Bethlehem, and to be hidden in the cleft is to be hidden in Christ and behold God's glory through Jesus, who revealed the Father as His perfect representation. The revelation answered Moses' importunate plea when burdened with leading Israel to the promised land, showing that earnest prayer is granted without rebuke, and it points forward to when redeemed servants made like Him in character will see His face.
Prayer and Historic Setting
The verse closes Moses' plea about God's presence while he was entrusted with leading Israel to the promised land. He brought his fear and burden to God rather than relying on human wisdom or seeking help from the people around him, and God strengthened his fainting heart. He lived in close communion with God and, having obtained assurance by holding fast God's promises, grew bold to ask still greater things, pleading to see God's glory because he must know God in order to represent Him to the people in all his ministry.
His advancing, importunate prayer to see God's glory was granted without rebuke or displeasure for presumption. He was not rebuked as presumptuous after being promised that God's presence would go with him, but was promised a revelation of divine goodness. Jesus waits to be gracious and answers earnest requests made known to God.
God set Moses in a place by Him upon a rock and summoned him again to the mountain summit. He put him in the cleft of the rock and with the hand that made the world covered him while His glory passed by. In this God brought him into sacred nearness on the mount.
Moses could be given this revelation only after forty years of discipline as a shepherd in the mountain solitudes. There he learned the character of God from nature, lost confidence in his own abilities and education, and came into a meek, humble position of trusting God alone. The revelation was uniquely great and specially favored, granted more fully than to anyone else on earth, with a full view of God withheld. Yet Moses speaking with God face to face, as a man speaks with a friend, means extraordinary closeness and directness, not sight of God's face.
Limited Sight Granted
God shielded Moses from the full sight of His glory by covering him with His hand as He passed by, then removing His hand so that Moses could see His back parts from behind after He had passed, but not His face. This was a gracious, limited manifestation granted to Moses as a fallen human being while he was entrusted with leading Israel to the promised land. The limit marked what Moses was permitted to see, for he could see only what God permitted and not God's face. He was placed as a man of faith in the cleft of the rock and looked upon his Lord from behind.
No one in this mortal state can look upon the unveiled glory of God's face and live, for the sight would consume him and extinguish his life, so the covering protected him. Moses was therefore assured he would behold only as much of the divine glory as he could endure, sheltered by the hand that made the world while the glory of God passed before him. The revelation was limited for this reason, with God sheltering him while His glory passed by and allowing him to see only His back parts. In contrast to this limit stands the promise that God's redeemed servants will one day see His face.
Moses beheld only as much of the divine glory as his mortal state could bear, a partial glimpse and not a full view, with a full view of God withheld even while God's presence was revealed to him in close communion. He was shielded from the full sight and allowed to see only what the verse calls His back parts, seeing only what God permitted. Being hidden in the cleft with the hand of Christ covering him was required first, so that he obtained only a partial view of His majesty.
Goodness and Character Revealed
The glory shown as God passed by was His goodness and His character portrayed and proclaimed by name as merciful and gracious, longsuffering and slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth and loving-kindness, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means clearing the guilty. Moses was sheltered in the cleft of the rock and saw from behind after God passed, receiving this protected proclamation of name and character rather than sight of the face. Christ afterward revealed the Father's character in the same way, as the perfect representation of the Father.
God's passing by is represented by His character of mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, and justice. The effects of His work remain in the path where He goes, with lasting influence. To follow Him and know His will turns sight from self to God.
Moses was allowed to behold God's holiness, and seeking refuge in the cleft expresses the desire to behold His holy character. The glory revealed to Moses then reflected upon him, so that when he returned the skin of his face shone and the people could not look upon his countenance. He covered his face with a veil when speaking to them.
Together with the promise that the divine presence would attend him, the experience was assurance of success in the work before him. Moses counted this of infinitely greater worth than all the learning of Egypt and all his attainments as statesman and military leader. No earthly power or skill or learning can supply the place of God's abiding presence.
The revelation came before Moses carried out justice upon the idolaters. The Lord covered Moses so he could behold God and live and see the heavenly things revealed to him on the mount. This prepared and enabled him to direct the construction of the sanctuary according to the pattern shown him.
The revelation plainly delineates what God is, to teach human weakness and inefficiency, to show that strength is alone in God, and to remove all self-exaltation. This honor was meant to keep Moses humble despite his elevated position and childlike in faith despite his trust in God. It enabled him to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
Christ and Future Sight
The glory Moses longed to see was the glory of Christ, and that same glory was afterward veiled in the Child of Bethlehem. As an infant He was the living revelation of that glory, yet the priest who held Him did not recognize that this child was the One whose glory Moses had asked to see.
No one could look upon the unveiled glory of the face of Christ and live, so the honor of seeing God's glory required first being hidden in the cleft of the Rock. The hand that covered Moses in the cleft was the hand of Christ, His pierced hand sheltering the humble seeker while waiting reverently in bowed attitude to hear what the Lord says. Covering the face expresses reverence when God draws near in majesty and in the still small voice that follows whirlwind and tempest.
Being hidden in the cleft of the rock is being hidden in Christ, and it is what enables beholding God's majesty and love and beholding God's glory through Jesus. Moses was sheltered in the cleft and covered by God's hand and allowed to see only after the hand was removed, seeing God's back and not His face as the Lord passed by. That passing revealed God as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth, and Jesus reveals the Father in the same way as the perfect representation of the Father. By looking to Jesus in this way, believers are changed into His likeness.
In contrast to this mortal limit, God's redeemed servants will one day see His face. Moses could not see God's face and live, so God sheltered him in the cleft, covered him with His hand, and let him see only His back parts after He passed by. That encounter is joined to the declaration of His character as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth, and those who see His face must be like Him in character.
Shelter and Transformed Life
Hiding in the cleft of the Rock is the condition for seeing the glory of Jesus Christ, and what happened for Moses must happen for every believer. To be hidden in the Rock is to come into close relation to Jesus with the life hid with Christ in God, where the divine is united with the human. God hid Moses in the cleft and covered him with His hand so that he could behold the revealed glory, and the humble are still called to hide in God in the same way.
Seeking to see God calls for coming near in reverence and godly fear, waiting in bowed, humble attitude to hear what the Lord says to His servants. It calls for a meek and contrite spirit that trembles at His word, for those who value a holy walk with God earnestly seek this knowledge of Him. Genuine humility belongs with the desire for His glory, and those who truly desire to see it must cherish humility. When God draws very near in majesty and in the still small voice that follows whirlwind and tempest, all should cover their faces before Him, for covering the face expresses reverence when He draws near. Jesus Christ Himself is that hiding place, and the hand that covers the seeker sheltered in Him is His pierced hand.
When a person comes with the whole heart, casts every idol from the soul temple, surrenders to Jesus, and rolls the whole load of his own case upon Him, God makes all His goodness pass before him while hiding him in the cleft of the Rock. Those who put soul, body, and spirit wholly in God's hands to be moved by His will, controlled by His mind, and infused by His Spirit may likewise see heavenly things clearly and catch glimpses of the Holy One. Those connected with His work who make God their entire dependence, take time to pray and seek counsel, invite the heavenly Guest to possess and control them, cry after God in sincerity and soul-hunger, and wrestle with heavenly agencies until victory will have the eyes of their understanding anointed with heavenly eyesalve.
Communion with God enables His servants to see and understand more of Him through the power and light He gives, beyond what finite judgment could reach. When men walk with God and not with self, God hides them in the cleft of the Rock and lets them see Him in the way Moses saw Him, sheltering them in times of need while shielding them from the full manifestation of His glory. Thus hidden, they receive His presence and light to comprehend more than they deemed possible and to endure seeing Him who is invisible, though God remains invisible to ordinary sight. Walking with God lets people perceive more of Him through the presence and light He imparts.
God's goodness is seen as Christ is beheld, and looking steadfastly to Jesus in living faith beholds Him full of grace and truth. Beholding Him transforms the believer into His likeness, for beholding Jesus changes the beholder. By looking to Jesus believers are changed into His likeness, and this gives a right estimate of the character of God that produces faithful integrity in duty and keeps from careless indulgence in sin and regarding sin lightly. Fitness to see God is character built after the Pattern of Christ, who in human nature met every temptation without yielding and maintained the full perfection of heaven's character, for without Christ nothing can be done. Fallen man need not remain enfeebled and degraded through sin but may become a partaker of the pure and celestial element by looking daily at the manifestation of grace in Jesus and by daily assimilation to the Saviour's character, which gives a better understanding of what heaven is like.
Safety comes from God's protection and from being where God appoints a person to be, for Moses was sheltered in the cleft and covered by God's hand when God passed by. The cleft is a place of refuge under God's protection and of safety from which to contemplate God's character. Choosing a place or undertaking without a call from God leaves a person exposed to temptation. All who know the truth are called to hide in the Rock and view God's glory in the time of trial, chastisement, and danger. The night of trial is nearly spent and Satan is bringing in his masterly power because his time is short, so the truth must not be muffled but plain, unvarnished truth must be spoken in leaflets and pamphlets scattered like the leaves of autumn. Those who refuse humility and spiritual sight will be caught unprepared when the day of God comes and in the day of their visitation.
God's presence is given as His goodness revealed to one who takes hold of Him by faith, as Moses was not satisfied to go without it and received what he wanted and needed when God took him as an atom of humanity, put him in the cleft, covered him, made His goodness pass before him, and then took away His hand. That presence comes to one who goes directly to Christ the Fountain Head for strength in trouble and opposition instead of reaching to human agencies, and when God lets His goodness pass before believers they can carry that goodness to the world. Clinging to Jesus and praying to be hidden in the cleft of the Rock while beholding His glory gives spiritual power, for trusting in the Lord with all the heart and standing fast in the faith in that hidden place enables going forward in the name of the Lord God of Israel, overcoming without doubting with eyes fixed on Jesus as helper, standing up in His strength as more than conqueror, and stopping worry over betrayal of trust. The work God gives makes His worker a target for the enemy and brings trials, and calls for meekness that never shows overmastering passion.
Being hid in the cleft means catching distinct views and glimpses of Jesus as sin-bearer and all-sufficient sacrifice and beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Those who look to the Lord with undivided hearts are greatly blessed with the greatest, truest joys, earnestly seeking the living God and seeing Him who is invisible, and being quickened by His Holy Spirit. The live coal of pardon is placed upon their lips and their lips are tuned to the highest themes of praise, counting the suspension of other work as no loss, with the Lord's presence distinguished and His work acknowledged and rejoicing that the salvation of God is among His people as the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine into the chambers of heart and mind to draw souls in an ingathering to Jesus Christ. Closeness to God and a clearer view of His character come with humility and trust, for His servant is sheltered in the cleft, hidden from view yet able to see and hear the proclamation of His character. Seeing and feeling His glory belongs with successful work for Christ, yet because Moses was given very great privileges and much trust, his taking glory to himself was highly displeasing, proportionately aggravating and far more offensive than the same defects in those less favored, while also giving others who see his failure license to sin and shelter their own defective characters.
God set Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand while His glory passed by, then took away His hand so Moses saw from behind after He had passed, but not His face. No one in this mortal state can look upon the unveiled glory of His face and live, so Moses was granted only a partial glimpse, as much as he could bear and endure. The glory revealed in that passing was His goodness and character proclaimed by name, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity and sin yet by no means clearing the guilty. The hand that covered Moses was the hand of Christ, whose glory Moses longed to see and which was afterward veiled in the Child of Bethlehem, and to be hidden in the cleft is to be hidden in Christ and behold God's glory through Jesus, who revealed the Father as His perfect representation. The revelation answered Moses' importunate plea when burdened with leading Israel to the promised land, showing that earnest prayer is granted without rebuke, and it points forward to when redeemed servants made like Him in character will see His face.
Prayer and Historic Setting
The verse closes Moses' plea about God's presence while he was entrusted with leading Israel to the promised land. He brought his fear and burden to God rather than relying on human wisdom or seeking help from the people around him, and God strengthened his fainting heart. He lived in close communion with God and, having obtained assurance by holding fast God's promises, grew bold to ask still greater things, pleading to see God's glory because he must know God in order to represent Him to the people in all his ministry.
His advancing, importunate prayer to see God's glory was granted without rebuke or displeasure for presumption. He was not rebuked as presumptuous after being promised that God's presence would go with him, but was promised a revelation of divine goodness. Jesus waits to be gracious and answers earnest requests made known to God.
God set Moses in a place by Him upon a rock and summoned him again to the mountain summit. He put him in the cleft of the rock and with the hand that made the world covered him while His glory passed by. In this God brought him into sacred nearness on the mount.
Moses could be given this revelation only after forty years of discipline as a shepherd in the mountain solitudes. There he learned the character of God from nature, lost confidence in his own abilities and education, and came into a meek, humble position of trusting God alone. The revelation was uniquely great and specially favored, granted more fully than to anyone else on earth, with a full view of God withheld. Yet Moses speaking with God face to face, as a man speaks with a friend, means extraordinary closeness and directness, not sight of God's face.
Limited Sight Granted
God shielded Moses from the full sight of His glory by covering him with His hand as He passed by, then removing His hand so that Moses could see His back parts from behind after He had passed, but not His face. This was a gracious, limited manifestation granted to Moses as a fallen human being while he was entrusted with leading Israel to the promised land. The limit marked what Moses was permitted to see, for he could see only what God permitted and not God's face. He was placed as a man of faith in the cleft of the rock and looked upon his Lord from behind.
No one in this mortal state can look upon the unveiled glory of God's face and live, for the sight would consume him and extinguish his life, so the covering protected him. Moses was therefore assured he would behold only as much of the divine glory as he could endure, sheltered by the hand that made the world while the glory of God passed before him. The revelation was limited for this reason, with God sheltering him while His glory passed by and allowing him to see only His back parts. In contrast to this limit stands the promise that God's redeemed servants will one day see His face.
Moses beheld only as much of the divine glory as his mortal state could bear, a partial glimpse and not a full view, with a full view of God withheld even while God's presence was revealed to him in close communion. He was shielded from the full sight and allowed to see only what the verse calls His back parts, seeing only what God permitted. Being hidden in the cleft with the hand of Christ covering him was required first, so that he obtained only a partial view of His majesty.
Goodness and Character Revealed
The glory shown as God passed by was His goodness and His character portrayed and proclaimed by name as merciful and gracious, longsuffering and slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth and loving-kindness, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means clearing the guilty. Moses was sheltered in the cleft of the rock and saw from behind after God passed, receiving this protected proclamation of name and character rather than sight of the face. Christ afterward revealed the Father's character in the same way, as the perfect representation of the Father.
God's passing by is represented by His character of mercy, grace, patience, goodness, truth, forgiveness, and justice. The effects of His work remain in the path where He goes, with lasting influence. To follow Him and know His will turns sight from self to God.
Moses was allowed to behold God's holiness, and seeking refuge in the cleft expresses the desire to behold His holy character. The glory revealed to Moses then reflected upon him, so that when he returned the skin of his face shone and the people could not look upon his countenance. He covered his face with a veil when speaking to them.
Together with the promise that the divine presence would attend him, the experience was assurance of success in the work before him. Moses counted this of infinitely greater worth than all the learning of Egypt and all his attainments as statesman and military leader. No earthly power or skill or learning can supply the place of God's abiding presence.
The revelation came before Moses carried out justice upon the idolaters. The Lord covered Moses so he could behold God and live and see the heavenly things revealed to him on the mount. This prepared and enabled him to direct the construction of the sanctuary according to the pattern shown him.
The revelation plainly delineates what God is, to teach human weakness and inefficiency, to show that strength is alone in God, and to remove all self-exaltation. This honor was meant to keep Moses humble despite his elevated position and childlike in faith despite his trust in God. It enabled him to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.
Christ and Future Sight
The glory Moses longed to see was the glory of Christ, and that same glory was afterward veiled in the Child of Bethlehem. As an infant He was the living revelation of that glory, yet the priest who held Him did not recognize that this child was the One whose glory Moses had asked to see.
No one could look upon the unveiled glory of the face of Christ and live, so the honor of seeing God's glory required first being hidden in the cleft of the Rock. The hand that covered Moses in the cleft was the hand of Christ, His pierced hand sheltering the humble seeker while waiting reverently in bowed attitude to hear what the Lord says. Covering the face expresses reverence when God draws near in majesty and in the still small voice that follows whirlwind and tempest.
Being hidden in the cleft of the rock is being hidden in Christ, and it is what enables beholding God's majesty and love and beholding God's glory through Jesus. Moses was sheltered in the cleft and covered by God's hand and allowed to see only after the hand was removed, seeing God's back and not His face as the Lord passed by. That passing revealed God as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth, and Jesus reveals the Father in the same way as the perfect representation of the Father. By looking to Jesus in this way, believers are changed into His likeness.
In contrast to this mortal limit, God's redeemed servants will one day see His face. Moses could not see God's face and live, so God sheltered him in the cleft, covered him with His hand, and let him see only His back parts after He passed by. That encounter is joined to the declaration of His character as merciful, gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth, and those who see His face must be like Him in character.
Shelter and Transformed Life
Hiding in the cleft of the Rock is the condition for seeing the glory of Jesus Christ, and what happened for Moses must happen for every believer. To be hidden in the Rock is to come into close relation to Jesus with the life hid with Christ in God, where the divine is united with the human. God hid Moses in the cleft and covered him with His hand so that he could behold the revealed glory, and the humble are still called to hide in God in the same way.
Seeking to see God calls for coming near in reverence and godly fear, waiting in bowed, humble attitude to hear what the Lord says to His servants. It calls for a meek and contrite spirit that trembles at His word, for those who value a holy walk with God earnestly seek this knowledge of Him. Genuine humility belongs with the desire for His glory, and those who truly desire to see it must cherish humility. When God draws very near in majesty and in the still small voice that follows whirlwind and tempest, all should cover their faces before Him, for covering the face expresses reverence when He draws near. Jesus Christ Himself is that hiding place, and the hand that covers the seeker sheltered in Him is His pierced hand.
When a person comes with the whole heart, casts every idol from the soul temple, surrenders to Jesus, and rolls the whole load of his own case upon Him, God makes all His goodness pass before him while hiding him in the cleft of the Rock. Those who put soul, body, and spirit wholly in God's hands to be moved by His will, controlled by His mind, and infused by His Spirit may likewise see heavenly things clearly and catch glimpses of the Holy One. Those connected with His work who make God their entire dependence, take time to pray and seek counsel, invite the heavenly Guest to possess and control them, cry after God in sincerity and soul-hunger, and wrestle with heavenly agencies until victory will have the eyes of their understanding anointed with heavenly eyesalve.
Communion with God enables His servants to see and understand more of Him through the power and light He gives, beyond what finite judgment could reach. When men walk with God and not with self, God hides them in the cleft of the Rock and lets them see Him in the way Moses saw Him, sheltering them in times of need while shielding them from the full manifestation of His glory. Thus hidden, they receive His presence and light to comprehend more than they deemed possible and to endure seeing Him who is invisible, though God remains invisible to ordinary sight. Walking with God lets people perceive more of Him through the presence and light He imparts.
God's goodness is seen as Christ is beheld, and looking steadfastly to Jesus in living faith beholds Him full of grace and truth. Beholding Him transforms the believer into His likeness, for beholding Jesus changes the beholder. By looking to Jesus believers are changed into His likeness, and this gives a right estimate of the character of God that produces faithful integrity in duty and keeps from careless indulgence in sin and regarding sin lightly. Fitness to see God is character built after the Pattern of Christ, who in human nature met every temptation without yielding and maintained the full perfection of heaven's character, for without Christ nothing can be done. Fallen man need not remain enfeebled and degraded through sin but may become a partaker of the pure and celestial element by looking daily at the manifestation of grace in Jesus and by daily assimilation to the Saviour's character, which gives a better understanding of what heaven is like.
Safety comes from God's protection and from being where God appoints a person to be, for Moses was sheltered in the cleft and covered by God's hand when God passed by. The cleft is a place of refuge under God's protection and of safety from which to contemplate God's character. Choosing a place or undertaking without a call from God leaves a person exposed to temptation. All who know the truth are called to hide in the Rock and view God's glory in the time of trial, chastisement, and danger. The night of trial is nearly spent and Satan is bringing in his masterly power because his time is short, so the truth must not be muffled but plain, unvarnished truth must be spoken in leaflets and pamphlets scattered like the leaves of autumn. Those who refuse humility and spiritual sight will be caught unprepared when the day of God comes and in the day of their visitation.
God's presence is given as His goodness revealed to one who takes hold of Him by faith, as Moses was not satisfied to go without it and received what he wanted and needed when God took him as an atom of humanity, put him in the cleft, covered him, made His goodness pass before him, and then took away His hand. That presence comes to one who goes directly to Christ the Fountain Head for strength in trouble and opposition instead of reaching to human agencies, and when God lets His goodness pass before believers they can carry that goodness to the world. Clinging to Jesus and praying to be hidden in the cleft of the Rock while beholding His glory gives spiritual power, for trusting in the Lord with all the heart and standing fast in the faith in that hidden place enables going forward in the name of the Lord God of Israel, overcoming without doubting with eyes fixed on Jesus as helper, standing up in His strength as more than conqueror, and stopping worry over betrayal of trust. The work God gives makes His worker a target for the enemy and brings trials, and calls for meekness that never shows overmastering passion.
Being hid in the cleft means catching distinct views and glimpses of Jesus as sin-bearer and all-sufficient sacrifice and beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Those who look to the Lord with undivided hearts are greatly blessed with the greatest, truest joys, earnestly seeking the living God and seeing Him who is invisible, and being quickened by His Holy Spirit. The live coal of pardon is placed upon their lips and their lips are tuned to the highest themes of praise, counting the suspension of other work as no loss, with the Lord's presence distinguished and His work acknowledged and rejoicing that the salvation of God is among His people as the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine into the chambers of heart and mind to draw souls in an ingathering to Jesus Christ. Closeness to God and a clearer view of His character come with humility and trust, for His servant is sheltered in the cleft, hidden from view yet able to see and hear the proclamation of His character. Seeing and feeling His glory belongs with successful work for Christ, yet because Moses was given very great privileges and much trust, his taking glory to himself was highly displeasing, proportionately aggravating and far more offensive than the same defects in those less favored, while also giving others who see his failure license to sin and shelter their own defective characters.