The KJV Holy Bible

 

Exodus Chapter Thirty Three

 

1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:

2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.

4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

5 For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.

6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.

9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door.

11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

12 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, shew 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 said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

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

22 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:

23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

 

 

Esoteric Interpretation & Commentary

 

The Hermetic Blueprint of Exodus: The Isolation of the Will and the Cleft of the Rock

"Exodus Chapter Thirty-Three details the immediate Occult consequences of the Spiritual rebellion at the Golden Calf. Following the catastrophic regression, the human Temple is fractured. The Absolute must withdraw its immediate presence from the Center of the Unpurified Psyche to prevent the total annihilation of the ego. To maintain the connection, the Spiritual Will must establish a new, isolated point of communion far outside the 'camp' of daily Consciousness. Ultimately, this chapter reveals the profound Physics of Divine Revelation, explaining why the naked human Intellect cannot behold the full, unmitigated glory of the Universal Spirit without facing immediate death, necessitating the protective shielding of the 'cleft of the rock.'"

 

 

Verses 1-3: The Withdrawal of the Absolute and the Alchemical Friction - "And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I sware unto Abraham... And I will send an angel before thee... Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way." 

The Divine Spirit cannot dwell in the same energetic space as active corruption. Because the lower faculties (the stiffnecked people) have just engaged in base, material idolatry, the Absolute must withdraw its immediate presence from the Center of the Psyche. If the raw, blazing frequency of the Divine were to remain "in the midst" of this unpurified state, the resulting Alchemical friction would instantly incinerate the fragile human ego ("lest I consume thee"). The guidance is handed over to an "angel"—a mediated, stepped-down Spiritual frequency—allowing the Adept to continue the journey toward Spiritual nourishment (milk and honey) without being destroyed by the full weight of the Superconscious.

 

 

Verses 7-9: The Tabernacle Without the Camp and the Isolation of the Will - "And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp... And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses." 

To re-establish communication with the Divine, the Spiritual Will (Moses) must completely remove the center of meditation "afar off from the camp." The camp represents the normal, waking, worldly Consciousness, which is now tainted by the recent regression. The Adept can no longer find God amidst the noise and chaos of daily earthly life. True communion now requires a profound, deliberate Psychological withdrawal. Any faculty that seeks the Light must completely exit the mundane Mind and enter this isolated, silent State of Consciousness, where the "cloudy pillar"—the veiled presence of the Higher Self—can safely descend and commune with the Intellect.

 

 

Verses 18-20: The Demand for Ultimate Gnosis and the Fatal Frequency - "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live." 

The elevated Spiritual Will demands the Ultimate Esoteric Experience: to see the Absolute, Uncloaked "Glory" of the Universal Mind. However, the Divine issues the Supreme Law of Spiritual Physics. The "Face" of God represents the raw, Infinite, Undivided Absolute. No "man"—meaning no Individualized, earthly ego or physical vessel—can withstand the voltage of this Ultimate Reality and remain intact. Complete Gnosis requires the total dissolution of the physical illusion; to fully perceive the Absolute is to merge with it completely, which means the instantaneous death of the Individual, Separated Human Identity.

 

 

Verses 21-23: The Cleft of the Rock and the Afterglow of the Infinite - "And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand 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: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." 

This is the sublime Hermetic compromise for Divine Revelation. The "cleft of the rock" is the fortified, physical and etheric body of the Adept, providing a necessary, dense shield against the devouring Fire of Spirit. The Divine "hand" covering the Adept is the merciful limitation of human perception. The Adept is not permitted to see the "Face" (the Direct, Incomprehensible First Cause of Creation), but is allowed to see the "back parts"—the afterglow, the manifested effects, and the trailing energetic wake of the Divine operating in the Universe. The human Mind cannot comprehend the Infinite directly, but it can profoundly perceive its glorious, unfolding effects within the manifested world.