Exodus 33:11
Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun would not leave the tent.
Thus the LORD
The phrase "Thus the LORD" emphasizes the direct involvement of Yahweh, the covenant name of God, in the narrative. In Hebrew, "Yahweh" is the personal name of God, signifying His eternal existence and faithfulness. This highlights the personal and relational nature of God, who is not distant but actively engages with His people. The use of "LORD" in all caps in English translations signifies the sacred tetragrammaton YHWH, underscoring the holiness and reverence due to God.

would speak
The Hebrew verb used here is "dabar," which means to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, or sing. This verb indicates not just the act of speaking but the intention and authority behind the words. God's communication with Moses is intentional and authoritative, reflecting His desire to reveal His will and guidance to His chosen leader.

to Moses
Moses, whose name in Hebrew is "Mosheh," is a central figure in the Old Testament, chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. His unique relationship with God is highlighted throughout the Pentateuch. Moses serves as a mediator between God and the people, a role that foreshadows the ultimate mediator, Jesus Christ, in the New Testament.

face to face
The phrase "face to face" is a Hebrew idiom "panim el panim," which conveys intimacy and directness in communication. It suggests a level of closeness and transparency that is rare in human-divine interactions. This expression underscores the unique relationship Moses had with God, characterized by openness and mutual understanding, setting a precedent for the intimate relationship believers can have with God through Christ.

as a man speaks
This comparison to human interaction emphasizes the personal and relatable nature of God's communication with Moses. It suggests that God's revelation is not abstract or impersonal but is conveyed in a manner that is understandable and accessible. This anthropomorphic language helps readers grasp the depth of the relationship between God and Moses.

to his friend
The term "friend" in Hebrew is "rea," which denotes a companion or associate. This word choice highlights the mutual respect and affection in the relationship between God and Moses. It is a profound statement about the nature of God's relationship with those who are faithful to Him. In the New Testament, Jesus calls His disciples friends (John 15:15), indicating that this intimate relationship is extended to all believers.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who communicates directly with Moses, demonstrating a unique and intimate relationship.

2. Moses
The leader of the Israelites, chosen by God to deliver His people from Egypt and guide them through the wilderness. He is depicted as having a special relationship with God, speaking "face to face."

3. Joshua son of Nun
Moses' young assistant, who later becomes the leader of Israel after Moses. His presence in the tent signifies his future role and dedication.

4. The Tent of Meeting
A temporary place of worship and communication with God, set outside the camp, symbolizing God's presence among His people.

5. The Israelites
The chosen people of God, who are being led through the wilderness to the Promised Land. They witness Moses' unique relationship with God.
Teaching Points
Intimacy with God
Moses' relationship with God serves as a model for believers to seek a personal and intimate relationship with the Lord through prayer and obedience.

Leadership and Mentorship
Joshua's presence in the tent highlights the importance of mentorship and preparation for future leadership roles within the faith community.

The Presence of God
The Tent of Meeting symbolizes God's desire to dwell among His people. Believers are encouraged to create spaces in their lives where they can meet with God regularly.

Faithfulness in Service
Just as Moses was faithful in his service to God, believers are called to be faithful in their own callings, trusting that God will guide and equip them.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Moses' relationship with God in Exodus 33:11 inspire you to deepen your own relationship with God?

2. In what ways can you create a "tent of meeting" in your daily life to spend time with God?

3. How does the mentorship between Moses and Joshua inform your understanding of discipleship and leadership within the church?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's presence in a profound way. How did it impact your faith journey?

5. How can the example of Moses' faithfulness encourage you to remain steadfast in your own service to God, even when faced with challenges?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Numbers 12:6-8
This passage highlights the uniqueness of Moses' relationship with God, where God speaks to him directly, unlike other prophets who receive visions or dreams.

Deuteronomy 34:10
Reinforces the idea that no prophet in Israel has arisen like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

John 15:15
Jesus speaks to His disciples as friends, drawing a parallel to the intimate relationship Moses had with God.

Hebrews 3:1-6
Compares Moses' faithfulness in God's house to that of Jesus, emphasizing the importance of faithfulness and intimacy with God.
Mercy Vailed in JudgmentJ. Urquhart Exodus 33:1-11
A Nation in Garb of PenitenceJ. Orr Exodus 33:1-12
The Restoration to Divine Favour CompletedD. Young Exodus 33:1-23
Communion with GodExodus 33:9-11
Friendship with GodExodus 33:9-11
Friendship with GodExodus 33:9-11
Speaking to GodThe StudyExodus 33:9-11
People
Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Isaac, Jacob, Jebusites, Joshua, Moses, Nun, Perizzites
Places
Mount Horeb, Sinai
Topics
Aide, Attendant, Camp, Depart, Departed, Departeth, Didn't, Face, Friend, Joshua, Leave, Minister, Nun, Return, Returned, Servant, Spake, Speak, Speaketh, Speaks, Spoke, Spoken, Tabernacle, Talk, Tent, Tents, Thus, Within, Youth
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 33:11

     1145   God, transcendent
     1255   face of God
     5103   Moses, significance
     5104   Moses, foreshadower of Christ
     7922   fellowship, with God
     8122   friendship, with God
     8604   prayer, response to God

Exodus 33:7-11

     6606   access to God

Exodus 33:9-11

     7474   Tent of Meeting

Exodus 33:10-11

     5578   tents

Library
The Mediator's Threefold Prayer
'And Moses said unto the Lord, See, Thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight. 13. Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight: and consider that this nation is Thy people. 14. And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15. And he
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

June the Seventeenth the Invisible Presence
"Show me Thy glory." --EXODUS xxxiii. 12-23. Moses wist not what he asked. His speech was beyond his knowledge. The answer to his request would have consumed him. He asked for the blazing noon when as yet he could only bear the quiet shining of the dawn. The good Lord lets in the light as our eyes are able to bear it. The revelation is tempered to our growth. The pilgrim could bear a brightness in Beulah land that he could not have borne at the wicket-gate; and the brilliance of the entry into
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Election no Discouragement to Seeking Souls
However, whether we all of us agree to the doctrine that God is sovereign or not, is a very little matter to him, for he is so. De jure, by right, he should be so; de facto, as matter of fact, he is so. It is a fact, concerning which you have only to open your eyes and see that God acts as a sovereign in the dispensation of his grace. Our Saviour, when he wished to quote instances of this, spake on this wise: many widows there were in Israel in the time of Elias the prophet, but unto none of these
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

A view of God's Glory
THAT WAS A large request to make. He could not have asked for more: "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." Why, it is the greatest petition that man ever asked of God. It seems to me the greatest stretch of faith that I have either heard or read of. It was great faith which made Abraham go into the plain to offer up intercession for a guilty city like Sodom. It was vast faith which enabled Jacob to grasp the angel; it was mighty faith which enabled Elijah to rend the heavens and fetch down rain from
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 54: 1908

Of the Way to Attain Divine Union
Of the way to attain Divine Union It is impossible to attain Divine Union solely by the activity of meditation, or by the meltings of the affections, or even by the highest degree of luminous and distinctly-comprehended prayer. There are many reasons for this, the chief of which are as follow:-- First, According to Scripture "no man shall see God and live" (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Now all the exercises of discursive prayer, and even of active contemplation, while esteemed as the summit and end of the
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

After the Preceding Ways, There Remains an after Way, Preparatory to Divine Union, in which Wisdom and Justice Make the Passive Purification of the Soul, All
It is impossible to attain divine union by the way of meditation alone, or even by the affections, or by any luminous or understood prayer. There are several reasons. These are the principal. First, according to Scripture, "No man shall see God and live" (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Now all discursive exercises of prayer, or even of active contemplation, regarded as an end, and not as a preparation for the passive, are exercises of life by which we cannot see God, that is, become united to Him. All that
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Let us Now Examine the Conditions under which a Revelation May be Expected To...
2. Let us now examine the conditions under which a revelation may be expected to be given to the original recipients. It may be observed in the first place that a revelation must possess some distinctive character. Even, if it should turn out that there is no such thing in reality at all, at least the notion which we form in our minds must possess such points of difference as to distinguish it from all other notions. It appears needful to bear this in mind, obvious though it is, because there
Samuel John Jerram—Thoughts on a Revelation

Whence Also the Just of Old, Before the Incarnation of the Word...
18. Whence also the just of old, before the Incarnation of the Word, in this faith of Christ, and in this true righteousness, (which thing Christ is unto us,) were justified; believing this to come which we believe come: and they themselves by grace were saved through faith, not of themselves, but by the gift of God, not of works, lest haply they should be lifted up. [2679] For their good works did not come before God's mercy, but followed it. For to them was it said, and by them written, long ere
St. Augustine—On Patience

Ninteenth Lesson. I Go unto the Father!'
I go unto the Father!' Or, Power for Praying and Working. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do.'--John xiv. 12, 13. AS the Saviour opened His public ministry with His disciples by the Sermon on the Mount, so He closes it by the Parting Address preserved to us by John. In both He speaks more than once of prayer.
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

The Blessed Privilege of Seeing God Explained
They shall see God. Matthew 5:8 These words are linked to the former and they are a great incentive to heart-purity. The pure heart shall see the pure God. There is a double sight which the saints have of God. 1 In this life; that is, spiritually by the eye of faith. Faith sees God's glorious attributes in the glass of his Word. Faith beholds him showing forth himself through the lattice of his ordinances. Thus Moses saw him who was invisible (Hebrews 11:27). Believers see God's glory as it were
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Moses the Type of Christ.
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Wonderful.
Isaiah ix:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah ix:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges xiii:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Appendix viii. Rabbinic Traditions About Elijah, the Forerunner of the Messiah
To complete the evidence, presented in the text, as to the essential difference between the teaching of the ancient Synagogue about the Forerunner of the Messiah' and the history and mission of John the Baptist, as described in the New Testaments, we subjoin a full, though condensed, account of the earlier Rabbinic traditions about Elijah. Opinions differ as to the descent and birthplace of Elijah. According to some, he was from the land of Gilead (Bemid. R. 14), and of the tribe of Gad (Tanch. on
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Epistle xxviii. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [136] . Gregory to Augustine, &c. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke ii. 14); because a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, has died, that it might not reign in heaven alone; even He by whose death we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose suffering we are rescued from suffering, through whose love we seek in Britain for brethren whom we knew not, by whose gift we find those whom without knowing them we sought.
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Personality of Power.
A Personally Conducted Journey. Everyone enjoys the pleasure of travel; but nearly all shrink back from its tiresomeness and drudgery. The transportation companies are constantly scheming to overcome this disagreeable side for both pleasure and business travel. One of the popular ways of pleasure travel of late is by means of personally conducted tours. A party is formed, often by the railroad company, and is accompanied by a special agent to attend to all the business matters of the trip. A variation
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the works of John Bunyan. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis. "What,"
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Great Commission Given.
(Time and Place Same as Last Section.) ^A Matt. XXVIII. 18-20; ^B Mark XVI. 15-18; ^C Luke XXIV. 46, 47. ^a 18 And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. ^b 15 And he said unto them, Go ye ^a therefore, ^b into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. ^a and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Covenanting a Privilege of Believers.
Whatever attainment is made by any as distinguished from the wicked, or whatever gracious benefit is enjoyed, is a spiritual privilege. Adoption into the family of God is of this character. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power (margin, or, the right; or, privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."[617] And every co-ordinate benefit is essentially so likewise. The evidence besides, that Covenanting
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Winsome Jesus.
The Face of Jesus: Jesus drew crowds, men, women, children, bad people, enemies--His personality--face--impress of experiences--the glory of God in that face, 2 Corinthians 4:6. Hebrews 1:3. The Music of God in the Voice of Jesus: the eye--Jesus' eyes, Luke 4:16-30. John 8:59. 10:31. 7:32, 45, 46. 18:6. Mark 10:32. 9:36. 10:13-16. Luke 19:48.--His voice, Matthew 26:30. personal touch, Matthew 8:3, 15. 9:29. 17:7. 20:34. Mark 1:41. 7:33. Luke 5:13. 22:51. (John 14:16-20). His presence irresistible.
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

The Angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch, and the Book of Joshua.
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself, filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was committed the direction
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Jesus Calls Four Fishermen to Follow Him.
(Sea of Galilee, Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. IV. 18-22; ^B Mark I. 16-20; ^C Luke V. 1-11. ^a 18 And walking ^b 16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee [This lake is a pear-shaped body of water, about twelve and a half miles long and about seven miles across at its widest place. It is 682 feet below sea level; its waters are fresh, clear and abounding in fish, and it is surrounded by hills and mountains, which rise from 600 to 1,000 feet above it. Its greatest depth is about 165 feet], he [Jesus]
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Mercy of God
The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy. Mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness. Psa 33:5. So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy. The most learned of the heathens thought they gave their god Jupiter two golden characters when they styled him good and great. Both these meet in God, goodness and greatness, majesty and mercy. God is essentially good in himself and relatively good to us. They are both put together in Psa 119:98. Thou art good, and doest good.' This
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Links
Exodus 33:11 NIV
Exodus 33:11 NLT
Exodus 33:11 ESV
Exodus 33:11 NASB
Exodus 33:11 KJV

Exodus 33:11 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Exodus 33:10
Top of Page
Top of Page