A nation in garb of penitence.
On this section consider—
I. THE CONDITIONED PROMISE (Exodus 33:1-4). God has consented to spare the nation. They are to set out forthwith on the journey to Canaan. But his presence is no longer to go with them. He would send an angel. Notice—
1. Everything, in one sense, remains the same. The people are to be conducted to Canaan. They are to inherit the promises. God will drive out their enemies before them. The land will still flow with milk and honey. It will still be able to be said of them, that there is no nation on earth so favoured as they are. Yet,
2. Everything, in another sense, is different. Blessings without God in them are not the same blessings. They want that which gives them their chief value. See below, on Exodus 33:15.
II. THE SUMMONS TO REPENTANCE (Exodus 33:4-7). A command is next given to the people to strip off their ornaments. They are to humble themselves before Jehovah that Jehovah may know what to do with them. This command they obeyed. From this time forward they ceased to wear ornaments. On this observe,
1. Repentance for sin is an indispensable condition of restoration to God's favour. It was required of Israel. It is required of us. There can be no salvation without it (Luke 17:5). "Cease to do evil; learn to do well" (Isaiah 1:16, Isaiah 1:17). Had Israel not repented, Moses would have interceded in vain.
2. Repentance, if sincere, must approve itself by appropriate deeds.—"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8). The people put off their ornaments. Ornaments do not become those with whom God is displeased. This act of the people was a first step in obedience.
3. A very imperfect repentance is sometimes accepted by God as a reason for forbearance with the sinner. The people mourned; but their repentance, as events showed, did not amount to a real change of heart. They mourned for "the evil tidings." It was the consequences of their sin which distressed them, more than the sin itself. Yet do them justice. The "evil tidings" was not the loss of any material blessings, hut, solely, the loss of God's presence. There is still good in a heart which feels the withdrawal of God's presence to be a loss to it.
4. It is well that the remembrance of great sins should go with us all our days. Those who have committed them should go softly ever after.
III. THE WITHDRAWAL OF JEHOVAH'S PRESENCE FROM THE CAMP (Exodus 33:7-9). Moses, we are next informed, took a tent, possibly his own, possibly one which had hitherto served as a sanctuary, pitched it "without the camp, afar off from the camp," and called it "the tent of meeting." Thither came out every one that sought the Lord. The act was,
1. A symbol of Jehovah's formal withdrawal from the midst of the people.
2. A token that a final decision had not yet been come to as to how God meant to deal with them. Communications were not wholly broken off. Space was left for repentance. God might still be entreated of them. Learn
IV. THE TOKEN OF FAVOUR TO MOSES (Exodus 33:9-12). The cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle. There the Lord talked with Moses, as a man talketh with his friend. This was