About a week ago I was one of millions who traveled to experience a rare opportunity: a total solar eclipse. I had heard that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and indeed, it was amazing. While I gazed at the spectacle above, I couldn’t help but think of what Moses might have felt in Exodus 33:18-23. There, Moses asked to see God’s glory. God responded by eclipsing himself while he passed by, allowing Moses only a glimpse at his back. Even that limited encounter (and time with God atop Mount Sinai) caused an afterglow (or “horns”) on Moses’ head days afterward when he descended the mountain (Exodus 34:29-35).
What is glory?
We often use that word “glory” (Hebrew kavod) in worship songs and church circles. While the word normally makes us think of radiance or power, it more literally means “weight” or “heaviness”. It carries the idea of significance or impact, as the characters of Back to the Future quipped at the gravity of their situation, “Whoa, this is heavy!” “There’s that word again: heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth’s gravitational pull?”
In the ancient world, resources were scarce. Most people lived day-to-day just trying to have enough food to survive. If you had an abundance of food, you tended to put on a few extra pounds. Kings with wealth, therefore, had glory: an abundance of resources that made them weigh more, and by extension, have more influence on others. Some cultures today still view being more heavyset as honorable, a sign of God’s blessing.
Special significance
However, God’s glorious significance isn’t like any powerful abundance you or I typically experience. Just like we can’t stare at the sun without going blind, God’s presence is so powerful that we couldn’t survive one percent of his raw glory. Briefly gazing at the sun’s dim atmosphere during the eclipse allowed me to appreciate the thousands of times stronger its power is during a sunny day.
The Bible uses the word “holy” (Hebrew kadosh) to describe this unique sacredness. Holiness isn’t strictly tied to having moral virtue but being “set apart” or “other”. To not be holy isn’t necessarily bad or sinful. By definition, it’s what’s commonplace compared to what is unique and holy. What is sinful, however, is to treat something holy as if it’s common.
Remember when Isaiah had a vision of God’s glory in Isaiah 6:1-4? In Hebrew, the common way to emphasize something is to repeat it. The seraphim in Isaiah’s vision proclaimed God’s powerful glory as holy, not once or even twice, but threefold – more unique or sacred than anything you could imagine. This immense weightiness was too much for Isaiah to bear.
Covering filters
Without special precautions, it’s dangerous to look directly at the sun. Only when something fully blocks your view (such as eclipse glasses or the moon) is it safe to take a peek. The difference between totality and a 99.9% eclipsed sun is night and day. Likewise, even a small fraction of God’s uneclipsed glory would crush us.
In Ezekiel 1:28, the prophet experiences God’s glory so powerfully that he can only begin to describe “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD”. God’s glory was so breathtaking that even a few metaphors removed from reality were still more than he could process. It’s no wonder Adam and Eve felt the need to cover up and hide after their sin (Genesis 3:7, 21).
Similarly, when Isaiah experienced God’s triple holy glory, he exclaimed, “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5). Like Moses, the only way Isaiah could withstand God’s glory was for something to cover him: a seraph intervened to atone his sin (Isaiah 6:6-7). To “atone” (Hebrew kippur) means to cover over. As eclipse glasses can temporarily shield your eyes from the sun’s blinding power, the only way to safely experience God’s majestic glory is the atonement of Jesus’ sacrifice that covers our sins.
Carrying God’s glory
After God “eclipsed” Isaiah’s sin, Isaiah responded to God’s call to proclaim a prophetic message (Isaiah 6:8). Similarly, Moses brought the tablets of God’s Torah down the mountain after his encounter. God also calls each of us to carry his message to the world.
As part of the instructions Moses carried down, God commanded us not to “misuse the name of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:7). More literally, the verse tells us not to “carry the LORD your God’s name lightly”. One’s name encompasses one’s reputation and attributes. As we’ve seen, God’s reputation is infinitely heavier than the sun. His glory is so significant that we should not handle it lightly or treat it as common.
More than abstaining from profanity, we are to carry the weighty glory of God wherever we go. Remember Moses’ face continued to shine after witnessing God’s glory. Moses walked as an image of God with an impression of God’s glory weighing on his head, requiring him to eclipse his face with a veil.
How have you experienced God’s glory in your life? Do you carry it responsibly so others can see God’s presence? May our sins be eclipsed by the atoning work of our Messiah, allowing us to experience God’s powerful, unique significance and carry that glorious light to others.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:1-5
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
So glad you got to experience this Matt! And that you chose to write down all these thoughts. Jim and I have sung an anthem with the words of Psalm 8. Of the hundreds of choir anthems we have sung, it remains a favorite. Try looking for it on YouTube for a special treat.