The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your offspring I will give it.' I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
Exodus 33:1-6
The full force of the change of relationship between God and the people is seen in a comparison between 2 and 3 here and 23:20-23, where He had promised to go up with them by an Angel in whom was His Name. This latter signified the divine presence, whereas now it was to be a mere angelic presence and protection, more than adequate still for protection and safety, but with the priceless privilege of intimacy of fellowship withheld. We shall see later in the chapter how this dark judgment was turned away from the people - again by the intercession of Moses - but the very statement of it here underlines the solemn possibility of its happening, and the very real danger of its happening, in spiritual life. It is possible for God's people to forfeit the inestimable blessing of His presence through sin. This needs to be carefully distinguished from such an experience as is expressed in the words 'When we in darkness walk, nor feel the heavenly flame ...', which refers to the loss of only the sense of the divine presence which, however, may be nearer than ever at such a time, though we do not realise it. Rather, what is indicated is what David bears witness to when he cries, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me', and Paul when he voices his dread of becoming 'a castaway' or 'disqualified'. It is possible, he indicates elsewhere (1 Corinthians 3:15), for a believer to suffer loss by the carelessness of his life, and what is spoken of here is some indication of the nature of the loss. How solemnly this word warns believers against carelessness and complacency in the things of God! We lose far more than our integrity when we sin against Him.