Read | Exodus 33
The LORD spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring. I will send an angel ahead of you and will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up with you because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.” When the people heard this bad news, they mourned and didn’t put on their jewelry.
For the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.” So the Israelites remained stripped of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.
Now Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a distance from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the LORD would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand up, each one at the door of his tent, and they would watch Moses until he entered the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. As all the people saw the pillar of cloud remaining at the entrance to the tent, they would stand up, then bow in worship, each one at the door of his tent. The LORD would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend, then Moses would return to the camp. His assistant, the young man Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the inside of the tent.
Moses said to the LORD, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’ Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.”
And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
“If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here. How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.”
The LORD answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”
He said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the LORD’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.” The LORD said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”
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What about God’s presence makes Moses declare that he does not want to lead the people forth without it? In what area(s) of your life do you need to be willing to say “I do not want to do this without your leading and presence, Lord”?
Focus
When the term behold is used in Scripture it means to fix the eyes upon, to see with attention, to observe with care, as when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said “Behold.”
View or behold this work of art, titled A Way Made, by Lauren Stevens, connected to Sunday’s sermon passage.
Visio Divina, or “divine seeing”, is a way of praying and reflecting through art. As you look at this week’s piece, take a few quiet moments to go through a three-step process. First, observe what you see in the image, from colors to composition to recognizable elements, without trying to understand what it is supposed to mean. Then read about the work, using these details to help you interpret the work of art. Ask God what he might be saying through the image, and listen for his insight in your thoughts, feelings, or prayers. Finally, take a moment to respond, through prayer or journaling, to what God showed you in this image.
Commentary:
Lauren Stevens is a printmaker and artist who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2021 with a BFA in printmaking. She has collaborated several times with the local musical group, Poor Bishop Hooper, and in 2018 Stevens created this highly detailed copper etching as a part of their project Firstborn.
This highly complex and symbolic work is at first glance a lush garden. Stevens leads the viewer’s gaze from two trees at the top of the composition down to a constricted ram, and from there leads us meandering through a garden of various plants and items that symbolize the many figures in the lineage of Christ that are mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel. The meandering ends at the feet of a trussed lamb, a symbol of the passover and of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. This is how the way to our salvation is made—not only through Christ, but through God’s work in generation after generation of the people in his lineage.
This work of art reflects the intricacy and beauty of God’s plan to make a way out of sin and bondage, not just for the Israelites, but for all who would join the paschal feast and recognize their need for Jesus as their deliverer. We are not saved just to escape punishment, we are saved to be part of a flourishing garden-family, welcomed into his lineage as adopted children.
From June 5–August 30, 2026, Four Chapter Gallery at the Downtown Campus will host an exhibition of Stevens’ work. Two of her etchings are also in the permanent collection at the Downtown Campus.
Art Source: A Way Made, Lauren Stevens, 2021. Used by permission. laurenstevensart.com
Pray
O Lord, you see that all hearts are empty unless filled by you, and all desires are frustrated unless they point to you. So give us light and grace to seek and find you, that we may be yours, and you may be ours, forever.
-Christina G. Rossetti, from Prayers Ancient and Modern
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.
