Scripture Daily

Context No. 4113 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 33:1-5: in context

1The LORD spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ 2I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.” 4When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewelry. 5The LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’”

After the golden calf, God tells Moses to lead the people on to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, but he adds a devastating condition: I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way. God offers the gift, the land, but threatens to withhold the Giver, his own presence.

And when the people hear this hard word, they mourn, and no one puts on his ornaments. What is striking is their grief. They were being offered the promised land, everything they had journeyed toward, but the thought of receiving it without God's presence filled them with sorrow. They understood, in that moment, that the land itself was not the true treasure; God's presence was. A land flowing with milk and honey, without God, was cause for mourning, not celebration. It is possible to have all the blessings, the land, the prosperity, the good gifts, and to lack the one thing that makes them worth having: God himself. Better the presence of God than every blessing without him.

Do I treasure God's presence itself above all the blessings he might give, so that, like the people who mourned, I would grieve the loss of his presence more than the loss of any gift, seeking the Giver more than his gifts?

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