Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Exodus 33:18: “O’ Let me see your Glory.”
I am constantly being drawn back to this passage. 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. I am also sure you have your own idea as to what was happening here. 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 God’s mission that was 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 (panay) or you will die. So all Moses could see was the back side of God. Interesting, Moses ask to see God’s Glory (kebodeka) but God says He will show him his tov and not his panay. 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 consist of tov and panay.
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. Panay from the root panah is also very complex. It means, presence, face, appearance, before, towards, regarding, to turn, approach. Take your pick as too which use 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. In it’s primary state the pe represents 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. That which is the bridge between the natural and supernatural. It could be the presence of God, or the power of God, or it sometimes represents the feminine nature of God or the revelation of God. In a midrash the rabbis will discuss all these possible associations and draw a conclusion and Amen it. Since we are not together to midrash and discuss the possible conclusions, I would recommend that you meditate on this and see what conclusion you feel comfortable with. Since I am writing this I will give you my conclusion and you can either Amen it or toss it out of the preverbal window.
My tentative conclusion at this time is subject to change without notice, This is particularly true if some Yamon Ki Yesepar comes up with something to show that I’ve wandered too far down the bunny trail.
However, assuming that God did not misunderstand Moses’s request and God broke his kebod into tov and panah 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” 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.
Here’s my suggestion, toss it around, don’t wander too far down the bunny trail or like Alice you may fall into Wonderland. But 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. Enoch, his job was over so we just tov’ed (came into perfect digital unity) together and he crossed my 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, in the words of D.L. Moody; “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 his back, well here is a rabbinical explanation. A king would often turn his back 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.
God wants you with Him in complete tov a million times more than we do, and weeps knowing we must continue to live in this world not in perfect tov with Him and to suffer the afflictions of this world to help fulfill His ultimate plan and bring others into His kingdom.
But, one day, my friends, one day when we finished the task He gave us, He will show us his panah and we will like Enoch and like Moses eventually did, cross that bridge and be in perfect tov with Him.
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