Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 33

The Lord said unto Moses.—In continuation and explanation of the words recorded in Exodus 32:33-34, but probably at another time, after Moses had once more descended from the Ras Sufsafeh to the plain at its base.

The land which I sware unto Abraham ... — The misconduct of Israel in their worship of the calf would not annul the promises of God to the patriarchs. These He was bound to make good. The Lord sware, and will not repent (Psalms 110:4).

If God consented at all to renew His covenant with the people, after they had so flagrantly broken it, the terms on which He would renew it were, in strict justice, purely optional. In the “Book of the Covenant” He had promised to go up with them by an Angel, in whom was His Name (Exodus 23:20–23): that is, by His Son, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity.

He now, to mark His displeasure, withdrew this promise, and substituted for the Divine presence that of a mere angel: I will send an angel before you (Exodus 33:2); I will not go up in the midst of you (Exodus 33:3).

Dimly the people felt the importance of the change—the vast difference between the angelic and the Divine—and mourned their loss (Exodus 33:4). They mourned with some touch of real godly sorrow and, as was the custom of Eastern peoples in mourning (Terence, Heauton Timorumenos 2.3.47; Herodian 4.2, etc.), put off their ornaments.

I will send an angel before thee. —“An angel” is ambiguous. It might designate the Angel of the Covenant, the Angel of God’s presence, as in Exodus 23:20; or it might mean a mere ordinary angel, on a par with those who presided over the destinies of other nations besides the Hebrews (Daniel 10:13; Daniel 10:20). That here the expression is used in this latter sense is made manifest by the declaration of the next verse: “I will not go up in the midst of thee.”

A land flowing with milk and honey. See Note on Exodus 3:8.

Lest I consume thee. Compare Exodus 32:10; Leviticus 10:2;Psalms 88:21, 31, etc. God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). His near presence, if it does not cleanse and purify, scorches and withers. The conduct of Israel in the wilderness continually provoked Him to destroy them; and but for His amazing compassion and forbearance, the result alluded to here would assuredly have followed.

When the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned.—It was significant that the people recognized this news as "evil." It is natural for sinful men to shrink from the near presence of God (Matthew 8:34; Luke 5:8), and so the Israelites had shrunk from it a short time before (Exodus 20:19).

Even now they would probably have feared too close a contact. Still, they were unwilling for God to cease being the leader and guide of the host; they valued His presence and protection, which they felt an angel could not adequately replace. Accordingly, when Moses communicated to them what God had said (Exodus 33:1–3), they "mourned"—that is, they not only grieved inwardly but also showed the outward signs of grief, making a public and, so to speak, national lamentation.

No man did put on him his ornaments.—Peoples of the East, both men and women, have always been fond of ornaments and taken extreme delight in them.

Herodotus tells us that the Persians who accompanied Xerxes into Greece generally wore collars and bracelets of gold (Histories 9.80). Xenophon says that the Medes indulged a similar taste (Cyropaedia 1.3.2). In Egypt, at the time of the Exodus, men of high rank generally wore collars, armlets, and bracelets, and occasionally anklets. The Assyrians wore armlets, bracelets, and earrings.

To strip oneself of one's ornaments was a great act of self-denial for people from these Eastern cultures. This was commonly done in mourning for a family bereavement and sometimes in cases of national misfortune (See Note on Exodus 33:1-6).