Scripture Daily

Context No. 836 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 33:6-11: in context

6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward. 7Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The Tent of Meeting.” Everyone who sought the LORD went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. 8When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent. 9When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and the LORD spoke with Moses. 10All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door. 11The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.

After the disaster of the golden calf, Moses pitches a tent outside the camp and calls it the tent of meeting, and anyone who wanted to seek the LORD would go out to it, away from the settlement. When Moses walked out to the tent, all the people would stand at their own tent doors and watch him go, and when he entered, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the entrance, and the LORD would speak with Moses. The people saw the cloud and worshiped, each from his own doorway, at a reverent distance. And of Moses the text says something staggering: the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Not through fear and fire only, but as a friend.

But there is a small detail at the very end that is easy to walk past, and it belongs to a young man. When the meeting was finished, Moses would return to the camp, back to the demands of leading a nation. His young assistant Joshua, however, did not depart from the tent. Everyone else worshiped from a distance and then got on with the day; even Moses came and went as his work required. Joshua lingered. When the appointed conversation was over and the great man had gone back to business, the young one stayed behind in the place where God had been, reluctant to leave. There is a difference between visiting God's presence and not wanting to leave it, and scripture pauses to notice which one Joshua was. The man who would one day lead Israel into the land was, as a youth, the one who could not tear himself away from the tent.

When the meeting was over and everyone else went back to work, Joshua stayed in the tent, unwilling to leave God's presence. Do I visit God briefly and hurry back to my day, or is there in me any of Joshua's reluctance to leave?

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