Exodus 33 Summary

there are three main points I really appreciate in this chapter.

1. Moses moved the tent outside the camp, and those who saught Jehovah would go out of the camp to the tent.

2. Moses was called a comapnion of God.

3. Moses "barganing" with God 

Exodus 33:7 Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, some distance from the camp; and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

at that time, after the worshipping of the golden calf, Moses, who was a man knowing God's heart, realised that the whole camp of Isael was defiled and corrupted, which caused God no longer able to be in the midst of this camp. so he took the tent outside the camp, and he would go there to meet with and speak with God, also those who sought Jehovah. the situation is still the same today for us. the whole camp, Christianity has been defiled and mixed with all kinds of evil and wicked things, which our God, who is holiness and righteousness cannot tolerate. if we want to seek God and His presence, we need to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting. we need to forsake all the rituals, religions, mixtures in woship, etc. just to seek after God and God alone. 

Exodus 33:11 And Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion. And Moses would return to the camp, but his attendant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart out of the tent.

here Moses is mentioned as a companion of God, who spoke to Moses face to face. in Genesis 18, we have Abraham who was called a friend of God. here in Exodus 33, we have Moses, who is a companion of God. a companion is more than a friend. companionship, which also includes friendship but more than friendship, means that Moses was not only close and intimate with God, but also shared the same common interest, common goal and common aim with God. Moses could stay on mountaintop with God for forthy days and nights twice, which shows Moses had a very close and intimate relationship with God. both God and Moses enjoyed this time of staying together. it is also by spending so much time with God, Moses became a man knowing God's heart, knowing God's way, what God wanted to do, and he could join himself to God's desire and interest, which qualified Moses to become a companion, an associate with God. for us today, if we have a heart to serve the Lord, we also need to become companions to the Lord. we cannot serve the Lord without knowing what is on the Lord's heart, what the Lord desires. to serve the Lord is not a matter of methods or ways, but a matter of becoming a close and intimate companion with the Lord, so that the Lord can duplicate His heart in us, thus making us people accoding to His heart, to participate in His interest. we cannot become close to God without spending much time with Him. so everyday, we need to labor, to set aside adequate time, to be in the Lord's presence, to get to know the Lord's heart by reading His word, by praying to fellowship with the Lord. 

Exodus 33:12 And Moses said to Jehovah, See, You say to me, Bring up this people; but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.

Exodus 33:13 Now therefore if I have found favor in Your sight, please let me know now Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may continue to find favor in Your sight. Consider also that this nation is Your people.

Exodus 33:14 And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.

Exodus 33:15 And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

Exous 33:16 For how then shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, are distinct from all the other people who are on the face of the earth?

in this portion, we can see Moses 'bargaining" with God. Moses asked for God to go up with the people, asked for the presence of God. what makes us the believers different with the non-believers, is that we have the presence of the Lord. we need to treasure the prescence of the Lord more than anything else. when we have the Lord's presence, we have everything; if we lose the Lord's presence, we los all things. even the conversation here between God and Moses is very interesting, quite similar to the conversation between God and Abraham in Genesis 18. Moses did not pray religious prayer with God. rather here is like the conversation between two companions. Moses knew God's heart for His people, so Moses knew how to "bargain" with God. and Moses also knew the bottom line of God, which he would not go cross. this clearly shows the intimacy between God and Moses.