When God spoke, and a person answered
God and Moses in the Cleft of the Rock
After the golden calf, Moses will not go on unless God goes with him, and then he asks for more than any man had asked: to see God's glory. God's answer is a hiding place in a rock and the proclamation of His own name.
“And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.”Exodus 33:18
The conversation
The conversation. Emboldened by God's promise that His presence would go with Israel, Moses makes the great request: "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." God's reply reframes glory as goodness: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." But there is a limit set in love: "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." So God provides a way to receive as much as a man can bear: "Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." Then, in the next chapter, God descends and proclaims His name: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."
What God was doing
What God was doing. God was answering a desperate hunger to know Him, not rebuking it. Moses wanted more of God, and God met the longing, though He measured it to what a mortal could survive. He was protecting Moses even in revealing Himself; the hand that hides is mercy, for unveiled glory would be death. He was defining His glory as goodness and, above all, as mercy; when God tells His own name, He leads with grace, patience, and forgiveness, and only afterward with justice. This is one of the clearest self-portraits God ever gives: merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving. He was also restoring; this comes just after Israel's idolatry, and God's response to a people who broke covenant is to proclaim how forgiving He is. The whole exchange reveals a God who wants to be known, who shields us from what we cannot yet bear, and whose deepest glory is His steadfast love.
How it leads to Christ
How it leads to Christ. Moses could see only God's back parts, for no man could see His face and live, yet John says, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The glory Moses glimpsed from a cleft, we behold full-faced in Jesus. The name proclaimed on the mountain, "merciful and gracious... abundant in goodness and truth," is embodied in the Son who is "full of grace and truth." Paul writes that God has shone in our hearts to give "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6); the very thing denied to Moses is given in Christ. And the cleft rock that sheltered Moses while glory passed becomes a picture of the crucified Christ, our hiding place, in whom we are covered while holy glory passes by.
Questions people ask
Why could Moses not see God's face?
God said, "there shall no man see me, and live." The unveiled glory of the holy God is more than mortal life can bear, so God mercifully shielded Moses, showing him His goodness and back parts while covering him with His hand.
What did God reveal when He proclaimed His name?
He declared Himself "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." It is God's own summary of His character, leading with mercy and grace.
How is the cleft of the rock a picture of Christ?
Moses was hidden in the rock and covered by God's hand while glory passed. Christians have long seen in this a picture of being safely hidden in Christ, the rock, where the glory and holiness of God no longer condemns but shelters us.