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there presses upon his soul a sense of the terrible results should God
leave Israel to hardness and impenitence of heart. They would not
hesitate to kill Moses, and through their own rashness and perversity
they would soon fall a prey to their enemies and thus dishonor the
name of God before the heathen. Moses presses his petition with such
earnestness and fervency that the answer comes: “I will do this thing
also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and
I know thee by name.”
Now, indeed, we would expect the prophet to cease pleading; but
no, emboldened by his success, he ventures to come still nearer to God,
with a holy familiarity which is almost beyond our comprehension.
He now makes a request which no human being ever made before:
“I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” What a petition to come from
finite, mortal man! But is he repulsed? does God reprove him for
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presumption? No, we hear the gracious words: “I will make all My
goodness pass before thee.”
The unveiled glory of God no man could look upon and live; but
Moses is assured that he shall behold as much of the divine glory as he
can bear in his present, mortal state. That Hand that made the world,
that holds the mountains in their places, takes this man of dust—this
man of mighty faith—and mercifully covers him in a cleft of the rock,
while the glory of God and all His goodness pass before him. Can we
marvel that “the excellent glory” reflected from Omnipotence shone in
Moses’ face with such brightness that the people could not look upon
it? The impress of God was upon him, making him appear as one of
the shining angels from the throne.
This experience, above all else the assurance that God would hear
his prayer and that the divine presence would attend him, was of
more value to Moses as a leader than the learning of Egypt or all his
attainments in military science. No earthly power or skill or learning
can supply the place of God’s immediate presence. In the history of
Moses we may see what intimate communion with God it is man’s
privilege to enjoy. To the transgressor it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God. But Moses was not afraid to be alone
with the Author of that law which had been spoken with such awful
grandeur from Mount Sinai, for his soul was in harmony with the will
of his Maker.