Exodus 33:18: “O’ Let me see your Glory.”
Do you ever find yourself asking something from God and then you stop and wonder, “What in the world am I asking for?” Asking to see the glory of God is something I find myself doing when in the heat of worship and then afterwards I am asking myself just what it is I was seeking. What is it that Moses wanted to see? Why did God have to protect Moses from seeing His goodness? Did he not just come from Mt. Sinai where he spoke with God face to face as a friend speaks to a friend?
If you are a Spirit filled Christian, I am confident that you have at one time or another contemplated this passage or you have even asked to see God’s glory. What were you asking for anyways? I am quite sure you have your own idea as to what was happening here. I mean you can speculate as much as I can and it is really a personal matter between you and God as to what seeing His glory is all about. So I do not intent to upset your apple cart. I am only putting together my own puzzle and if my pieces don’t fit into yours, don’t try to make it fit. Just reach a conclusion you are comfortable with.
As I am looking at this I find Moses asking to see (ra’ah) God’s Glory. This could be seeing through physical eyes, or spiritual eyes, or both. What Moses is asking for is something he had not yet seen, even on Mt. Sinai. We find in the context that Moses is seeking the assurance of God’s presence in his continuing journey in the mission that God assigned to him. God was more than happy to give Moses whatever he needed but said that as His goodness (tov) passes, he cannot look upon His face (panai) or you will die. So all Moses could see was the back side of God. Odd, did he just not finish speaking with God on the mountain top face to face as a friend speaks to a friend?
Interesting that Moses ask to see God’s Glory (kebodeka) but God says He will show him his tov (goodness, what is in harmony with Him) and not his panai (face). God does not say: “Ok, I will show you my glory.” It is like He misunderstood Moses request and offered to give Him something else. Of course this can not be the case so we can only assume that God breaks Moses request into two elements. Kebod (glory) consist of tov (goodness) and panai (face).
Tov is a complex word, so let’s just say for the sake of time, that we are talking about perfect harmony, unity, a perfect bandwidth so to speak. Panai comes from a Semitic root panah which is also very complex. It means, presence, face, appearance, before, towards, regarding, to turn, approach even future events. Take your pick as to which one of these words applies. Panah has many many uses in the Hebrew and you are at the translator’s mercy (or doctrinal view) when it comes to what you read in your English Bible. The word is spelled Pei, Nun and Hei. The ancient sages saw the Pei as a representation of speaking, or when referenced to God it is God speaking to your heart. The Nun, when used with God, represents the revelation of His light. Light is viewed as the bridge between the natural and supernatural. The Hei is often viewed as the presence of God, or the power of God, or it sometimes it represents the feminine nature of God or the revelation of God. Perhaps pani is a bridge between the natural and supernatural.
Assuming that God did not misunderstand Moses’s request and God broke his kebod (glory) into tov (goodness) and panah (face) we need to look further into Verse 20. Note God does not say that if man sees Him he will die (moth), He says: lo yire’ni haadam vachi which being interpreted is man of flesh or natural man can not see me and live. Does that not mean death? Not as we interpret death. Did Enoch die? No, but he did cease to live in the natural world. He crossed that pani or bridge from the natural to the supernatural world.
Could it be that what Moses was requesting was to experience what Enoch experienced? Was Moses asking to be translated into God’s presence permanently like Enoch, but God said, “No can do, you still have a job to perform.” With Enoch, well his job was over so he just tov’ed (came into perfect digital unity) together with God and crossed His panah (the bridge between the natural and supernatural). So God just gave Moses the best He could without Moses passing out of this world or as in the case of Enoch, being no more. If that is death then, as in the words D.L. Moody spoke moments before he died, “It is glorious.” Also, if that is death then everytime you enter into the presence of God, you feel His presence, His Power, His peace, you are getting pretty close to death and the Father, like Moses, just shows you his back side as He still wants you around this old earth for some reason.
Why does he just show Moses his backside? The word backside in Hebrew is ‘achori which means behind, left behind, or in a physical sense your literal back or your keester, but it is sometimes rendered as the past when used in conjunction with pani which is then rendered as the future. Perhaps God was telling Moses I will show you the past but not the future. That is a nice thought to tuck away and ponder during some worship service.
There is a rabbinical explanation. A king would often turn his back his ‘achor to his subjects when he wanted to weep. It was not proper for a king to show such emotion before his people. God wanted Moses in his presence so much, but knowing it was not yet time for Moses to enter his perfect presence, his panah, He turned His back to weep. I kind of like that explanation.
God wants you with Him in complete tov (perfect harmony with Him) a million times more than we do, and He weeps knowing that we must continue to live in this world not in perfect harmony with Him and to suffer the afflictions of this world to help fulfill His ultimate plan and bring others into His kingdom.
Then one day when our work here is done, like with Moses on the mountain top overlooking the promised land, He will show us His panah and we will, like Enoch and what eventually happened to Moses, cross that bridge between the natural and supernatural world and be in perfect harmony (tov) with God.
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