HUNGER AND HUTZPAH — MOSES COMES TO GOD WITH BOTH

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

If I were called upon to narrow to one word, my reaction to God, as depicted in the Old Testament and about Whom Michael and I have been writing over the past 48 weeks, I would unhesitatingly choose the word, “Surprise.”

 

Michael, whose grasp of the LORD is both vast and deep, has experienced no such surprise at all. When he chose our study’s subject, “The God of Love in the Old Testament,” He expected to find on Scripture’s pages, exactly this infinitely loving God. As stated before, he also viewed Him as transcending the human dimension in which we often place Him. You recall Michael’s words:

 

“We must never think of God in human terms. He is so much more complicated than that.”

 

If you, like I, had a preconceived idea of God, during Old Testament times, as more heavily weighing in as powerful and even, at times, harsh, as well as absent the word “compromise,” in His divine lexicon, you may also find this week’s study a revelation – even a surprise.

 

When we left our story last week, the Israelites had thrown into doubt every hope and plan God had for them as His Chosen People. In a move that screamed rejection of both God and His hand-picked leader, Moses, the Israelites had substituted both with a golden calf, a strongly forbidden idol. No sooner was this new god formed from their gold earrings, than they set about worshipping it by wearing their finery, dancing and bowing down before it.

 

The sight of two million Israelites’ idolatry and celebration of same, understandably caused both God and Moses to become extremely angry. At the end of Exodus, Chapter 32, God sent a plague in retribution.

 

But, wait a minute, one might be saying, where’s the “surprise” that was just mentioned? God was greatly angered and punished accordingly. This is hardly unexpected. While God’s justice is clear and appropriate, where is His infinite patience, His matchless love?

 

In fact, once again, as we close out Exodus Chapter 32, what about the following exchange between God and Moses:

 

“So Moses went back to the LORD and said, ‘Oh what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin — but if not, then BLOT ME from the book you have written.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 32:31-32) NIV

 

Moses had begun to talk to God in what can only be described as almost unimaginable boldness. God reacts:

 

“The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I WILL BLOT OUT of my book.”

((emphasis added)

(Exodus 32:33)

 

Following this, came the aforementioned plague.

 

Chapter 33 opens with the continuation of the conversation between God and Moses. The Israelites are also listening to what is being said.

 

God instructed Moses to go ahead and take the Israelites to the land that God promised Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He even tells Moses that He will send an angel before him, Moses, and that He will even go so far as to drive out the enemies who inhabited this Promised Land. 

 

All looks well and good thus far. The problem is, it isn’t at all well or good. For just after God tells Moses to “go up to the land flowing with milk and honey, He delivers the news that voids all the beauty of what He had just said:

 

“BUT I WILL NOT GO WITH YOU.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 33:3) NIV

 

If there is worse news than these words, mankind does not know it. Certainly, the Israelites felt the full force of such a prospect:

 

“When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.”(jewelry)

(Exodus 33:4) NIV

 

Though already devastating, God had made His feelings even more explicit. Not even acknowledging the presence of the Israelites, God had spoken:

 

“For the LORD had said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.”

(Exodus 33:5) NIV

 

So the scene is set. How can such an utter disenfranchisement ever be mended? Enter Moses. Enter an example of human hutzpah unmatched in Scripture. Enter an example of God’s largesse also rarely rivaled in the Bible.

 

Why the great importance of Moses entering the picture — Moses, the reluctant, even recalcitrant, leader at the Burning Bush — Moses, the one who cried to God when the Israelites troubled him while trekking through the wilderness?

 

Yes, this same Moses. There is a reason for the pivot that was about to take place in the heartbroken God of the Universe and Moses was the key. Scripture describes their relationship:

 

“The LORD would speak to Moses FACE TO FACE, AS ONE SPEAKS TO A FRIEND.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 33:11) NIV

 

What is this passage saying? It is NOT saying that Moses saw the literal face of God. As Michael says, we must not humanize God. Scripture makes it clear that God is Spirit. What then is the meaning of this verse?

 

It denotes the amazing familiarity between God and Moses. While “face to face,” is figurative language, the closeness they enjoyed is literal. As stated, it will be the key to God’s reconciliation with the terribly rebellious Israelites. Their extraordinary conversation continues:

 

“Moses said to the LORD, ‘You have been telling me,’ ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me. IF YOU ARE PLEASED WITH ME, TEACH ME YOUR WAYS SO I MAY KNOW YOU and continue to find favor with you. REMEMBER THAT THIS NATION IS YOUR PEOPLE.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 33:12-13) NIV

 

Seriously? The God of Heaven and Earth is allowing Moses, of reluctant leader fame, to speak to Him in a way that leaves boldness in the dust and borders on cheekiness! Really? How patient and loving is God, as Michael said in the beginning, when we come to him in good faith and with even a semblance of holiness and cooperation with His will.

 

As this passage and Michael’s and my title for this week’s study make clear, Moses might not have had many answers, but he certainly had all the right questions, something God greatly honors. For he implored God to TEACH ME YOUR WAYS SO THAT I MAY KNOW YOU! Moses was nothing if not HUNGRY to know God.

 

How relevant this is for us living in 2023. God wants to know our appetite for Him. Are we satisfied to have the occasional hors d’oeuvre or are we deeply hungry for a divine meal, soup to nuts? Most of us are starved to know the ways of our partners, family, friends, bosses and worldly icons, but where do we stand when it comes to knowing the only ways and personality traits that will make a bit of difference in a hundred years? God help us!

 

God allowed Moses to be cheeky with Him because He, of course, recognized his deep hunger to know Him.

 

Have you ever had someone you like or love approach you with a sincere heart but an entirely cheeky attitude?  What do we often lovingly and patiently say with true forbearance toward that person? Don’t we just excuse their tone by saying, “Oh, you’re just tired.”It’s code for, “You’ve overstepped your bounds but it’s ok because you’re frustrated and, besides, I like/love you.”

 

How beautifully endearing of our loving, patient God, that He does the same thing with Moses:

 

“The LORD replied, My Presence will go with you and I WILL GIVE YOU REST.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 33:14) NIV

 

In other words, “You’re just tired.”

 

Moses seemingly is so worked up that he doesn’t really let what God has just said register. God has agreed but Moses doesn’t hear it:

 

“Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

(Exodus 33:15-16) NIV

 

Once again, God capitulates, repeating what He had already told him:

 

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

(Exodus 33:17) NIV

 

Now, Moses finally wakes up to actually hear God’s words. What happens next? Does Moses fall on his knees and thank God for His great concession, despite the Israelites’ idolatry and rejection of Him as their God? No! Moses thinks, “I have the favor of God Almighty. He has acquiesced. He is going with us after all. I have His favor. He knows my name. NOW, therefore, I’m going to grab this moment and run with it. I’m going to press my advantage!

 

And, in this state of mind, what does Moses say to God?

 

“Then Moses says, ‘NOW SHOW ME YOUR GLORY.”

(emphasis added)

(Exodus 33:18) NIV

 

In the name of all that is holy, Moses has hutzpah!

 

And, our friends, you, so hungry for the LORD that you are still reading in this extended blog, GOD HONORS HUTZPAH.

 

In the next two paragraphs, God, in His own beautiful and protective way, shows Moses His glory:

 

“When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

(Exodus 33:22-23) NIV

 

As stated, God honors hutzpah! We can come boldly to the throne of God when we come hungry to know Him — hungry to find His favor.

 

What is the heart of Scripture’s lesson for all of us this week? We need look no further than this: What caused great mourning among even the golden calf worshipping Israelites? — the announcement by God that the world was their oyster with one exception — He wasn’t going to go with them.

 

What was the one thing that caused Moses to threaten complete abandonment of his leadership of the Israelites? — God’s stating His Presence would not go with him. To remedy this, Moses begged, threatened and stepped out boldly. It was the one thing he could not live without.

 

It is no different today. We must have God’s Presence. How comforting, how full of bliss, then, are the words of this story. As Michael says, this God of the Old Testament is a God of love. Even when replaced, in the minds of the Israelites, by a ridiculous idol, a golden calf, God did not take His Presence from them. Even when Moses came to Him so boldly that he flirted with going too far, God listened and was merciful and loving.

 

Why? It is because, at the end of the day, in Michael’s words, God does not possess human limits. “He is more complicated than that.” He doesn’t throw in the towel when mankind would. He created us, and, like Moses, He knows our names.