We shall have a lively sense of the awfulness of this message, when we call to mind what passed between God and his servant Moses in the Mount, when the Lord was giving him directions for the building and furniture of the tabernacle. This tabernacle was not begun; and, therefore, to bid the people go towards Canaan, before the tabernacle service was even set about, carried with it the strongest testimony of the divine displeasure. God will perform his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; yet he will not grant them the visible tokens of his presence and favour. Reader! remark with me, that all blessings, in order to become blessings indeed, must be made such by the Lord himself sanctifying them, and making them sweet. See Deu_28:2-12; Deu_28:15-23.
Related Commentaries of Exodus 33:1
Exodus 33:1-3
1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.