7:8 The Lord said 1 to Moses and Aaron, 2
33:18 And Moses 3 said, “Show me your glory.” 4
40:1 5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 6
1 tn Heb “And Yahweh said.”
2 tn Heb “said to Moses and Aaron, saying.”
3 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (
4 sn Moses now wanted to see the glory of Yahweh, more than what he had already seen and experienced. He wanted to see God in all his majesty. The LXX chose to translate this without a word for “glory” or “honor”; instead they used the pronoun seautou, “yourself” – show me the real You. God tells him that he cannot see it fully, but in part. It will be enough for Moses to disclose to him the reality of the divine presence as well as God’s moral nature. It would be impossible for Moses to comprehend all of the nature of God, for there is a boundary between God and man. But God would let him see his goodness, the sum of his nature, pass by in a flash. B. Jacob (Exodus, 972) says that the glory refers to God’s majesty, might, and glory, as manifested in nature, in his providence, his laws, and his judgments. He adds that this glory should and would be made visible to man – that was its purpose in the world.
5 sn All of Exod 39:32-40:38 could be taken as a unit. The first section (39:32-43) shows that the Israelites had carefully and accurately completed the preparation and brought everything they had made to Moses: The work of the
6 tn Heb “and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying.”