We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
What is the significance of Exodus 33:1–3, 14?
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites…Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people…’” Moses then pleads with the Lord to stay with the Israelites [vs. 12–13] and the Lord responds, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
For several centuries God had planned on leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan. Now, however, he was so disgruntled with his people that he was considering a “Plan B,” as it were. He wouldn’t destroy them, as he previously threatened. Nor would he cancel his promise to give them the land flowing with milk and honey. Indeed, by sending his angel to lead them he would continue to help them in acquiring this land. But he was now considering withdrawing his presence from them. They would continue on without him, and he would help them do this! Only Moses’ pleading (once again) caused God to change his mind and remain with the Israelites.
I do not see how the classical view can account for a straightforward reading of this fascinating passage. Very clearly we find the Lord offering Moses a rather elaborate “Plan B” in light of the remarkable obstinacy of his people. If the future is eternally settled in God’s mind, however, there really can never be a “Plan B,” however things may appear. That is, if God eternally knew he would never do what he told Moses he was planning on doing, then he wasn’t really planning on doing what he told Moses he was planning on doing. So far as I can see, the entire episode is thereby reduced to a rather elaborate charade. Why go to the bother of distinguishing between his presence and the angel as well as mentioning all the various people he would help drive out (33:2) if it was certain all along that he will never carry out such a plan?
A straightforward reading of this text would rather suggest that God in fact seriously considered this “Plan B” until Moses moved him to do otherwise. And the only way this divine consideration could be serious was if the future was open to the possibility of what God was considering.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Exodus 33
Related Reading
Why have you consistently stressed the need for the Western Church to learn from the African Church?
Question: I’ve heard you argue that the white Western church has a lot to learn theologically from African cultures. What is it specifically that you’re referring to? Response: I do strongly believe that the western church needs to humbly sit at the feet of our fellow Christians in Africa. My conviction is based on four…
The Future is Not Like the Past For God (or Us)
Image by seier+seier via Flickr Everyone agrees that we are not free to change the past. No sane person would claim, for example, that I can now make any free choices about whether John F. Kennedy will be assassinated or not on November 22, 1963. This deed, like all past deeds, has already been accomplished. Now consider,…
Good From Evil
The Bible is very clear that God has nothing to do with evil. There is “no darkness” in God. (I Jn 1:5). Far from intentionally bringing about evil, God’s “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Hab. 1:13). All evil, therefore, must be ultimately traced back to decisions made by free agents other than…
In a democracy, don’t Christians have a responsibility to participate in politics?
Question: You’ve argued that Christians shouldn’t try to gain power in government on the grounds that Jesus didn’t try to gain power in the political system of his day. But his government didn’t allow for such power. Caesar and Pilate weren’t elected by anyone. Our government allows for this. So don’t we have a responsibility…
How can we determine what is and is not “open” about the future?
Question: You believe that the future is partly open. You’re writing has pretty much convinced me this is true, but I’ve still got some serious questions about it. For example, how does anyone determine what part is open and what part is not? If we can’t determine what is and is not open, isn’t the…
How do you respond to Isaiah 45:7/Lamentations 3:37–38?
The Lord says,“I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7) “Who can command and have it done if the Lord has not ordained it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” (Lamentations 3:37-38) Calvinists…