Moses asked to see the glory of God. God told him that his request was beyond mortal capacity, “for there shall no man see me, and live.” However, God was going to oblige him the rare experience, so He asked Moses to go stand at a particular spot, somewhere “upon a rock … And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by” (Exodus 33:20-23). In other words, God was saying to him, “I will take you up and put you in a cleft, a crack in the rock, then cover you with my hand while I pass by, until you can see only my back when I am far gone.”
My worry with that conversation is this: With what hand was God going to pick up Moses and put him into the cleft of the rock? Was He going to be unseen in the process of that physical interaction? How mighty might the hand have been, to be able cover a grown man in a hole? As big and broad as a mighty parachute? Where would be the hand while Himself passed by? Is not the hand a part of the body? Does not the hand follow the body?
Don’t try that at home, for your hand will surely follow you away, or you would have to remain with your hand, to keep covering Moses up – even if Moses were just a tiny little toy.
From The Preacher’s diary,
June 9, 2023.
