Exodus 33:3

Exo 33:3 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.

Ver. 3. I will not go up,] sc., By those visible signs of my gracious presence as heretofore.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 33:3. I will not go up in the midst of thee — By my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof, God removes his tabernacle without the camp. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no particular and further kindness to thee. Lest I consume thee in the way — Lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So God shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that he, even in his judgment, remembers mercy to them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:3 land that flows with milk and honey: Although Canaan was not as fertile as the Nile Valley in Egypt, it was a great deal more productive agriculturally than the Sinai Desert where they were. • stubborn and rebellious: They were covenant-breakers. • I would surely destroy you: As the Covenant Lord (see study note on 23:20-33), he would enforce the terms of the covenant that called for the destruction of covenant-breakers (see 24:7-8 and study notes).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will not go up . . . lest I consume thee--Here the Lord is represented as determined to do what He afterwards did not. (See on Exo 32:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. I will not go up in the midst of thee] Consequently, the angel here promised to be their guide was not that angel in whom Jehovah's name was: and so the people understood it; hence the mourning which is afterwards mentioned.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) A land flowing with milk and honey.—See Note on Exo_3:8.

Lest I consume thee.—Comp. Exo_32:10; Lev_10:2; Ps. 88:21, 31, &c. “God is a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29). His near presence, if it does not cleanse and purify, scorches and withers. The conduct of Israel in the wilderness was such as continually to provoke Him to destroy them; and but for His amazing compassion and forbearance, the result here glanced at would assuredly have followed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. a land flowing, &c.] See on Exo_3:8.

in the midst of] v. 5, Exo_17:7, Exo_34:9, Num_11:20; Num_14:14; Num_14:42.

a stiffnecked people] Exo_32:9.

lest I consume thee, &c.] in consequence of some outburst of wilfulness or rebellion on thy part.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unto a land flowing with milk and honey,.... Abounding with all the necessaries and good things of life, a description of the land of Canaan frequently made, see Exo 3:8,

for I will not go up in the midst of thee; would not grant them his presence in so near, visible, and respectable a manner as he had before done, though he would not utterly forsake them: the tabernacle was before in the midst of the camp, that is, that which was erected until the large one, ordered to be made, was finished, but now it was removed without the camp, Exo 33:7.

for thou art a stiffnecked people; See Gill on Exo 32:9,

lest I consume them in the way; in the way to the land of Canaan, and so never get there; the meaning is, that the Lord being in the midst of them, their sin would be the more aggravated to be committed in his presence, before his face; and the glory of his majesty would require that immediate notice be taken of it, and just punishment inflicted; so that by this step God both consulted his own honour and their safety.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will not go: "in majesty" (Chaldean) and "brightness," Arabic. The angel shall go in his own name, and shall not perform such great miracles. My tabernacle shall be removed to a respectful distance, lest, not being able to endure the barefaced impiety of the people, I slay you in my fury. God addresses Moses, as the representative of the nation, (Menochius) and adopts the language of men, appearing as a king, who cannot bear to be insulted to his face. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I will not go up in the midst of thee by my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof God removes his tabernacle without the camp, Exo 33:7. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no peculiar and further kindness to thee.

Lest I consume thee in the way; lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So he shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that God even in his judgment remembers mercy to them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. I will not go up in the midst of thee — This distinction between Jehovah and his Angel is not inconsistent with our doctrine of the Angel of Jehovah, as set forth in note on Gen_16:7. But Jehovah’s Angel might not at all times so bear his name (Exo_23:21) or exhibit his power as to be a consuming fire in the midst of Israel. He was rather of the nature of a mediator between Moses and Jehovah, and the statement of this verse is designed to enhance the infinite holiness of God. The hardness of the people’s heart is such that some consideration may be shown, (comp. Mat_19:8,) but the demands of infinite holiness are such that Jehovah here represents himself as withdrawing from the stiffnecked people, lest the immediate gaze of his holy eye consume them in the way. The whole manner of thought is anthropomorphic, for how else could such conceptions be then conveyed to such a sinful people? The mediating Angel may show mercy when holy wrath would destroy; and Israel may have an angel like other nations, (comp. Dan_10:13,) but lose the special presence of Jehovah himself.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unto a land. Ver. 2 is parenthetic, and ver. 3 coheres with ver. 1 up hence, thou and the people, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham unto a land flowing," etc. On the milk and honey of Canaan, see the comment upon Exo_3:8. For I will not go up in the midst of thee. At length there was an end of ambiguity God"s purpose was made plain the people had shown themselves unfit for his near presence, and he would withdraw himself. So it would be best even for them; since, if they were about to show- themselves as perverse in the future as they had in the past, his near presence could only lead to their entire destruction. Some day they would so provoke him, that he would consume them in the way.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ארץ זבת חלב ודבש UNTO A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY do I bid you to bring them up.

כי לא אעלה בקרבך BECAUSE I WILL NOT GO UP AMONG THEE, therefore I say to thee, I will send an angel before thee.

כי עם קשה ערף אתה FOR THOU ART A STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE, and if My Shechina were in thy midst and thou rebelledst against Me, I might become exceedingly angry with thee and destroy thee on the way.

אכלך is an expression for ‘‘destroying”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

[You will then] enter a land. In the desert they had to be sustained through open miracles of which they were no longer worthy. Therefore they were commanded to enter the Holy Land where miracles would no longer be required.

For I will not go up. God informed them that He would not even accompany them to tell them when to camp and when to move onת

because if He went with them the punishment for every infraction would be much greater and they might be destroyed.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.