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Exodus 33:21

in Exodus 33

The LORD continued, “There is a place near Me where you are to stand upon a rock,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock:

KJV

And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

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This verse in Exodus 33

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

I beseech thee, show me thy glory--This is one of the most mysterious scenes described in the Bible: he had, for his comfort and encouragement, a splendid and full display of the divine majesty, not in its unveiled effulgence, but as far as the weakness of humanity would admit. The face, hand, back parts, are to be understood figuratively.

This site's exposition

Behold, there is a place by me

on Exodus 33:21-23

The answer to the request is a place, a rock and a hand. Moses is put in a clift of the rock and covered while the glory passes, so the covering is what makes the sight survivable, and what he is left with at the end is the back parts. Horeb is where a rock was struck for water at 17:6, and 1 Corinthians 10:4 says that Rock was Christ. Reading this particular cleft as a shelter in Christ is a tradition rather than a claim of the text, and Augustus Toplady carried the image into English hymnody in Rock of Ages.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Pacian of Barcelona

Commentary (church-history corpus) · Written before 391.

proposed

The place is the church, the rock is the Lord, Moses is the multitude of the people of Israel, who did not believe in the Lord when he preached on the earth. So that multitude stood on the rock and beheld the back parts of …

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Paterius

EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 58 · Written before 606.

proposed

The place is the church, the rock is the Lord, Moses is the multitude of the people of Israel, who did not believe in the Lord when he preached on the earth. So that multitude stood on the rock and beheld the back parts of …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

God himself will protect those that are thus hid. And it is only through Christ that we have the knowledge of the glory of God. None can see his glory to their comfort but those who stand upon this rock, and take shelter in it.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

IT has frequently happened that good men in times of great trial have asked God either to give them a signal token of His love, or a special Revelation of Himself, that they might be strengthened and encouraged thereby. I suppose of many here present it is true that when called by the Master to great labor or deep affliction, you have been conscious of the same inward desire—your heart has craved after some extraordinary dispensation of Grace to counterbalance the extraordinary visitation of suffering that has overtaken you. Were you indulged with singular nearness to God and unusual glimpses of His Glory, you feel it would then be easy to leave all matters in His hands and acquit yourselves valiantly—strong for service, whatever there is to do—and patient in enduring whatever there may be to bear. That prayer, "I beseech You, show me Your Glory," is a natural yearning, a spontaneous impulse of the soul. Albeit, I know that there is a grievous incredulity, a sinful unbelief which asks to see signs and wonders—and without them men will not believe— yet I think there is a desire which springs up in the breasts of Believers from an earnest childlike feeling of dependence upon the great Father God which is not sinful, and which God accepts—and to which He often sends a gracious reply. Now we will not linger over any preliminary reflections. Our text is rather long, and our time this evening is very short. Let us draw your attention, in the first place, to the fact that— I. GOD'S GLORY EVIDENTLY LIES IN HIS GOODNESS.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

IT has frequently happened that good men in times of great trial have asked God either to give them a signal token of His love, or a special Revelation of Himself, that they might be strengthened and encouraged thereby. I suppose of many here present it is true that when called by the Master to great labor or deep affliction, you have been conscious of the same inward desire—your heart has craved after some extraordinary dispensation of Grace to counterbalance the extraordinary visitation of suffering that has overtaken you.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Behold, there is a place by me - There seems to be a reference here to a well-known place on the mount where God was accustomed to meet with Moses.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • הִנֵּ֥הthere!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • מָק֖וֹםa place

    makomH4725 →401 times

  • אִתִּ֑י[is] with me

    ʾitiH854 →929 times

  • וְנִצַּבְתָּ֖and you will stand

    venitzavtaH5324 →75 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַצּֽוּר׃the rock

    hatzurH6697 →78 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

6 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Zechariah 3:7“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, then you will govern My house and will also have charge of My courts; and I will give you a place among these who are standing here.3 worksDeuteronomy 5:31But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.”3 worksIsaiah 56:5I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.2 worksJoshua 20:4When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before its elders, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.2 worksLuke 15:1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.1 works1 John 3:18Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.-1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Luke 15:1

    Now all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around to listen to Jesus.

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 1:15

      This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.

    • Matthew 9:10–13

      Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples.

    • Luke 5:29–32

      Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.

  • Through

    Isaiah 56:5

    I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 3:12

      The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the…

    • Revelation 3:5

      Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His…

    • 1 John 3:1

      Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is…

    • Isaiah 55:13

      Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up; they will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

    • John 1:12

      But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 33 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3448: “God's Glory and His Goodness” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pacian of Barcelona, Commentary (church-history corpus) and Paterius, EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, EXODUS 58.

Read on in Exodus 33 →