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Chapter 32
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Exodus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God’s Identity and Power
Redemption and Deliverance
The Covenant
Mediators and the Priesthood
Summary
Analysis
The LORD orders Moses to lead the people out of Sinai; it’s time to go to the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the land flowing with milk and honey. However, God will not accompany them, because they are “a stiff-necked people.” The people grieve because of this.
As Israel finally moves on from Mount Sinai, in fulfillment of the covenant with Abraham, God tells Moses that he will not go with such a stubborn, rebellious people. In the past, the Israelites met obstacles like hunger or battle, but now the obstacle to progress is their own misdeeds.
Themes
Whenever Moses goes out to the tent of meeting, and the people see the pillar of cloud descending and standing at the entrance to the tent, the people bow down at the entrances of their own tents. At the tent of meeting, Moses speaks to God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Then Moses returns to the camp while Joshua remains at the tent of meeting.
Moses goes to the tent of meeting (a temporary tabernacle, as the permanent one hasn’t been built yet) to speak to God about this obstacle. In contrast to the beginning of Exodus, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Moses now approaches God like a “friend.” He has grown stronger in his role as a stand-in between God and the people.
Themes
Moses tells the LORD that before leading the people to the promised land, he wants to see God’s ways, so that he may know God and find favor with him. He doesn’t want to travel onward without God’s presence. He prays that God will show him his glory. The LORD says he will grant Moses’s request. He will cause his goodness to pass before Moses, but he will not let Moses see his face, because nobody can see it and live. While the LORD passes by, he will hide Moses in the cleft of a rock; that way, Moses can see God’s back but not his face.
