The Command to Go Forward - The People Repent (Exodus 33:1-6).
It is quite clear that in this passage the putting off by the children of Israel of their ornaments is a deeply significant fact. Their earrings had caused them to stumble. We may possibly also see that their ornaments too were highly charged with religious significance. Thus we might see this as a putting off of their false gods (compare Genesis 35:1-4).
a Yahweh commands Moses to go forward, with the people whom he has delivered from Egypt, to the land which He swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying ‘To your seed I will give it' (Exodus 33:1).
b He promises that He will send His Angel before them to drive out the Canaanite nations, to a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 33:2-3 a).
c But He Himself will not go with them because they are a stiffnecked people, lest He consume them in the way (Exodus 33:3 b).
d When the people heard these evil tiding they mourned and no man put on his ornaments (Exodus 33:4).
c Yahweh tells Moses that he must inform the people that they are a stiff-necked people and that if He goes in the midst of them for one moment He will consume them (Exodus 33:5 a).
b He tells them to put off their ornaments so that He may know what to do with them (Exodus 33:5 b).
a The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onwards (Exodus 33:6).
This passage would seem to indicate a new beginning after the travesty that is behind them. In ‘a' they are to go forward as Yahweh's people to the land which Yahweh has sworn to give them as the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The parallel clearly therefore suggest that the permanent stripping themselves of their ornaments is an act of contrition and response, and turning to Yahweh. They will choose Him over their ornaments. They no longer have anything to do with them from Mount Horeb onwards. Thus in ‘b' when He promises to send His Angel with them to drive out their enemies and lead them into a land flowing with milk and honey, in the parallel He commands that they strip off their ornaments so that He may know what to do with them. If they do not He will be in doubt of what to do with them. While His promises are certain, the current fulfilment of them is dependent on obedience and rejection of idolatry. In ‘c' He tells them that He Himself will not go with them because they are a stiffnecked people, lest He consume them in the way, and in the parallel confirms this verdict. In a sense ‘d' is central to the whole. It was the moment when they faced up to their sinfulness so that Yahweh could respond to them.
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up hence, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “To your seed I will give it.” '
Yahweh repeats His command to be up and moving. Their time at Sinai is finished and they must move on. The verse maps out their history in brief. They have brought up from the land of Egypt by Moses, and are bound for the land promised to their fathers and their seed (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18; etc.). This is the midway point in their journey, or should have been. Note that Yahweh now renews the promises to the fathers of seed and land which these people had forfeited by their behaviour, and He renews His promise to drive out the Canaanites from before them.
“And I 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. To a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up among you, for you are a stiffnecked people, lest I consume you in the way.”
He promises that He will send an angel before them. In view of the fact that he here says that He will not be going with them it must be questionable whether we see in this angel the Angel of Yahweh. However the point in question may not be as to whether the angel of Yahweh will go before them but rather as to whether Yahweh will Himself dwell among them in His Dwellingplace. The question is rather academic as later He yields to Moses' intercession and Himself does go with them and promises His is presence with them (Exodus 33:14).
The sixfold nations are twice three, indicating intensified completeness. Compare Exodus 3:8. They represent the whole population of Canaan, and consistently indicate their diverse nature. The Canaanites and Amorites were terms for the general population of the country and the terms were often interchangeable. Each could be used for the inhabitants of the whole country. However there was sometimes some distinction in that often the Canaanites was the term for those occupying the coastlands and the Jordan valley, while the Amorites could be seen as dwelling in the hill country east and west of Jordan. The Hittites were settlers who had come from the Hittite Empire further north and had settled in Canaan. The Perizzites were hill dwellers (Joshua 11:3; Judges 1:4 on) and possibly country peasantry, their name being taken from ‘peraza' = hamlet. This is supported by the fact that they are not named as Canaan's sons in Genesis 10:15 on. The Hivites may have been the equivalent of the Horites (see on Genesis 36). Their principal location was in the Lebanese hills (Judges 3:3) and the Hermon range (Joshua 11:3; 2 Samuel 24:7), but there were some in Edom in the time of Esau (Genesis 36) and in Shechem (Genesis 34). The Jebusites were the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the hills round about (Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3; Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16). But Moses would know all the names. He had been brought up as an Egyptian administrator.
“ To a land flowing with milk and honey.” It was to be a good land for it would flow with milk and honey (Numbers 13:27; Deuteronomy 6:3). Milk flowed because there was good pasturage and, apart from in times of famine, plentiful rain. The honey would be from wild bees, (and later, domesticated bees, for it was tithed), and along with grape and date syrup, was plentiful and would later be exported to other countries (Ezekiel 27:17). Thus it provided both nourishment and sweetness.
“ For I will not go up among you, for you are a stiffnecked people, lest I consume you in the way.” An angel will go before them. But this time it is because Yahweh will not, lest because of their obstinacy and perverseness He be tempted to smite them. In other words they had lost out. His presence would not be so close and intimate. Their sin with the molten calf had burned deep. (However later the situation will be reversed at the intercession of Moses).
‘And when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned. And no man put on his ornaments. And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiffnecked people. If I go up among you for one moment I will consume you. Therefore now put off your ornaments permanently from you, that I may know what to do to you.” And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onwards.” ”
The people were upset by this bad news. They were deeply saddened, and revealed their repentance by leaving off their ornaments (armlets, bracelets, earrings) as a display of mourning. It was a hopeful sign that they were recognising their need for full dedication to Yahweh, for their ornaments would undoubtedly have had a religious significance. Possibly they hoped that by removing all their talismans and mascots they would win back Yahweh's favour. Or possibly they had even learned the lesson about religious symbols and recognised that they must have no more to do with them. Such religious symbols will regularly be seen as an indication of backsliding in the future. See Judges 8:22-27 where their use results in going astray; Hosea 2:13 where they are connected with idolatrous worship; see also Ezekiel 7:19-20; exe 16:17; 23:40. Christians today equally do themselves spiritual; harm when they wear or use lucky mascots and talismans.
This action brought Yahweh to speak to them again through Moses. He reminded them of their perversity as revealed in all the incidents surrounding the incident of the molten calf. Indeed He knows that they are such that He would inevitably at some point consume them. So it would not be fair on them for Him to remain near.
However, He approved of their putting off their ornaments. It was their talisman earrings that had been part of the cause of their downfall (Exodus 32:2-3). Thus they should put off permanently for the future all that might be a cause of offence in order to remind Him of their continual penitence, so that He would know how to behave towards them. And they obeyed and from that day on wore no ornaments. This was possibly why Yahweh did not fully carry out His threat.
We are probably justified in seeing here a situation parallel with that in Genesis 35:1-4. There is here also a putting off of the old ways and the old idols, and a turning in full dedication to Yahweh.
“ Mount Horeb.” Another mountain in the Sinai group. The whole area immediately surrounding Sinai was called Horeb.