“The Glory of the Lord”


BIBLE READING: Exodus 38-40

                Upon completion of the tabernacle, Moses records “a cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40.34).   Like me, you have probably heard the phrase “Glory of the Lord” all of your life, but I’m not sure many of us understand what exactly that was.  The word “glory” used in the text is the Hebrew word “kabod”, which means “Honor, great quantity; multitude, wealth; majesty and splendor”.  However, the word “kabod” also refers to the “great physical weight or quantity of a thing” as in the treasures of the House of David being weighty in Isaiah 22.24.  Having a clearer picture of the word that Moses used to describe this “glory”, what was it that he saw?  We know that whatever he saw had something to do with the cloud that settled on the tent of meeting,  yet as to what he saw that could be described as a “heavy splendor of honor that consisted of a large quantity of majesty”; we may never know this side of eternity.  Although it does baffle us as to what exactly it was that Moses and the Israelites saw, perhaps the best way to compare it is to what John saw in his vision of Revelation.  As John looked upon the Holy City of the New Jerusalem, notice how he described it, “… the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” (Revelation 21:18).   I don’t know about you but when I think of clear glass, I think of something I can clearly see through; not pure gold, which would seem to be solid if it was pure.   How can something be like clear glass and pure gold at the same time.  This was John way of describing what he saw and putting into human words as best as his physical mind could do.  I believe that when I get to Heaven and see the New Jerusalem for myself, I will have a clearer understanding of John’s description.  Maybe that is what Moses did as He is trying to describe what He saw, “glory” might have been the only word he could use to describe.  I can’t fully understand what they saw in Exodus 40, but I bet that when I do see it in Heaven, I will know exactly what it is when I see it.

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