After the apostasy manifested in making a molten calf, Jehovah said to Moses, Depart with the people, &c., and I will send _an_ angel before thee; for I will not go up in the midst of thee, lest I consume thee, &c. Moses having removed the tabernacle out of the camp, the cloudy pillar _descended and stood_ at the door of the tabernacle; and Jehovah talked with Moses. And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Moses having expressed his great anxiety at the proposed substitution of _an_ angel, and prayed for further instruction, Jehovah said, "My presence shall go with thee;" and he said, "If thy presence [_i. e._, thou, thyself] go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in _thy_ sight? Is it not in that _thou goest with us_? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." Moses, for further assurance, desired to see the splendor of Jehovah's person, and, in a modified degree, his request was granted. Jehovah descended--his glory passed by, &c. Exod. xxxiii. 34. This whole scene implies his local personal presence, in distinction from his universal, invisible presence. The visible Deity is intended in all such phrases as, "before the Lord," "being seen," "going with," "among you," "in the midst of you," &c., a local reference being manifest. "Ye have despised Jehovah which is among you." Numb. xi. 20. The Egyptians "have heard that thou, Jehovah, art among this people; that thou, Jehovah, art seen face to face; and that thy cloud standeth over them; and that thou goest before them by day-time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night." Numb. xiv. 14. Thus Moses argued to avert the destruction threatened on occasion of the murmuring at the report of the spies. The passage clearly imports that it was Jehovah himself who was seen face to face, and who went in the cloud. So when a portion of the people resolved presumptuously to proceed, Moses says, Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you. Numb. xiv. 42; Deut. i. 42. "The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp." Deut. xxiii. 14. In the future misery and desolation of the people they will say, "Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?" Deut. xxxi. 17. When the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan to Jericho, Joshua, referring to the miracle by which they were to pass over dry-shod, says, "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you." Moses is directed to exclude lepers, "that they defile not the camp in the midst of which I dwell." Numb. v. 3. "The sons of God came to present themselves _before_ Jehovah; and Satan came also amongst them." Job i. 6. The context shows that a local personal presence is intended.