NOTES for Exo 23:1-33
Try to keep hearing what the one walking ahead is saying. To do this, you will have to stay close behind him almost all the time. The Angel is the one who walks ahead of us; we do not see his face. His task is not that we should know him by sight, but that we should reach the place God has prepared for us. He must keep us safe along this way. Our task is to watch ourselves, listen to his voice, and not be stubborn. Is it easy not to be stubborn when you are told what must be done but do not want to do it? Is it easy to listen to the one who walks ahead of you, making the way? So many interesting things appear along the road, yet you must look at his back, keep walking, and do what you are told. It is very difficult for them to lead those who are always trying to turn aside and hear nothing. How can such a stubborn creature be kept safe, how can it be helped to reach the place where everything has been prepared for it, if it does everything possible not to get there?.. The Angel must show the way; he cannot put us in front of him and keep driving us onward from behind. Walking ahead, he takes the first blow upon himself and warns us of danger. It must be very difficult for them, though we can never fully understand this. All that remains is to rejoice that we are being guarded along the way.