God reveals his name to Moses in chapter 33. The personal name of God is Yahweh, and is associated with the verb “to be.” Existence and presence are both connected with the Lord’s personal name. God has always been, will always be, and he is everywhere. That is the Lord.
In addition to revealing his name, God also attached certain qualities to his name, particularly goodness, grace, and mercy. These traits are so central to what it means to be the Lord that they are part of proclaiming his name. He tells Moses that he will make his goodness pass before him as he proclaims his name. The goodness of the Lord precedes proclamation of his name! Then the Lord announces a specific declaration after his name. “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” So goodness goes before his name, and grace and mercy follow immediately. Two points of interest can be gleaned from God’s self-description of being gracious and merciful. First, that God, Yahweh, the one true god, is gracious and merciful is a cause to rejoice in him! We do not serve a malicious tyrant; we serve a merciful Father! Second, the grace and mercy of God flow from within the mind and heart of the sovereign freedom of God! He will be gracious to whom he will be gracious! So the grace of God is not earned. It is not a reward. We do not attract God’s grace by our goodness. No external influence outside of God sways his decisions to distribute grace and mercy as he pleases. That may at first sound harsh to our ears, but it is actually very good news about the Lord. In fact, it is part of our only hope! We could never have earned grace or persuaded God toward us by our goodness! We could only be graced by him if he so decided purely out of his good name!
I've read over your blog 3 times now and I am still taking it in. I'm too slow, I guess. But it sounds GOOD. I'll give it several more readings and ask my Father to help me understand!
ReplyDeleteWhat a curious thing Moses' behavior is about that veil over his shining face! (Ex. 34:29-35) After Moses meets with God on Mt. Sinai (or in his prayer tent outside the camp), his face shines from being in God's presence. Aaron and the Israelites are frightened and finally begin to treat Moses with a bit more respect as their mediator before God! But when he calls them to come listen to what God has told him, they recognize Moses' voice and are finally willing to come listen. But, here's what I think is curious: AFTER Moses speaks to them THEN he covers his face with a veil. If the veil was to keep the people from being terrified, shouldn't he have kept it on while he spoke to them? Or not used a veil at all? What was the veil for? Paul in the N.T. seems to say that Moses didn't want folks to see that the shining would wear off in between Moses' meetings with God. Maybe that's a wrong understanding of what Paul was saying? (II Cor. 3:7-18) If that IS what Paul was saying, then Moses' behavior seems way too hypocritical for the meekest man who ever lived (Numb. 12:3), doesn't it?
And that tent of meeting outside the camp, now I've got a bunch of questions about that
too. . .
I do love the idea that when I speak to my heavenly Father, all veils are off! He KNOWS me, and I can hide nothing. That is terrifying and beautiful all at the same time!
The veil: As I understand it, the first time Moses returned from the Lord, his face shone so that he knew he would have to do something. SO he put on a veil which was used from that time forward. The purpose of this according to Paul was so that the people would not become too attached to this temporary glory for it would one day go away with the coming of the glory of the New Covenant. Moses wore the veil to help the people not think that this was permanent, but their hearts were so hard, they still today think the Old Covenant is in place! But we behold the full glory of God in the face of Christ!
ReplyDeleteTent of meeting: I believe this was a temporary tent where Moses could speak with God until the tabernacle was complete and ready.
GREAT QUESTIONS!!!