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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Exodus 33:12 - 33:12
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Jehovah had commanded Moses to lead the people to Canaan, and promised him the guidance of an angel; but He had expressly distinguished this angel from His own personal presence (Exo 33:1-3). Moreover, though it has not been mentioned before, Jehovah had said to Moses, “I have known thee by name,” - i.e., I have recognised thee as Mine, and chosen and called thee to execute My will (cf. Isa 43:1; Isa 49:1), or put thee into “a specifically personal relation to God, which was peculiar to Moses, and therefore was associated with his name” (Oehler); - “and thou hast also found grace in My eyes,” inasmuch as God had granted a hearing to his former intercession. Moses now reminded the Lord of this divine assurance with such courage as can only be produced by faith, which wrestles with God and will not let Him go without a blessing (Gen 32:27); and upon the strength of this he presented the petition (Exo 33:13), “Let me know Thy way (the way which Thou wilt take with me and with this people), that I may know Thee, in order that I may find grace in Thine eyes, and see that this people is Thy people.” The meaning is this: If I have found grace in Thy sight, and Thou hast recognised me as Thy servant, and called me to be the leader of this people, do not leave me in uncertainty as to Thine intentions concerning the people, or as to the angel whom Thou wilt give as a guide to me and the nation, that I may know Thee, that is to say, that my finding grace in Thine eyes may become a reality;
(Note: Domine fac ut verbis tuis respondeat eventus. Calvin.)
and if Thou wilt lead the people up to Canaan, consider that it is Thine own people, to whom Thou must acknowledge Thyself as its God. Such boldness of undoubting faith presses to the heart of God, and brings away the blessing. Jehovah replied (Exo 33:14), “My face will go, and I shall give thee rest,” - that is to say, shall bring thee and all this people into the land, where ye will find rest (Deu 3:20). The “face” of Jehovah is Jehovah in His own personal presence, and is identical with the “angel” in whom the name of Jehovah was (Exo 23:20-21), and who is therefore called in Isa 63:9 “the angel of His face.”
With this assurance on the part of God, the covenant bond was completely restored. But to make more sure of it. Moses replied (Exo 33:15, Exo 33:16), “If Thy face is not going (with us), lead us not up hence. And whereby shall it be known that I have found grace in thine eyes, I and Thy people, if not (lit., is it not known) in Thy going with us, that we, I and Thy people, are distinguished (see at Exo 8:18) before every nation upon the face of the earth?” These words do not express any doubt as to the truth of the divine assurance, “but a certain feeling of the insufficiency of the assurance,” inasmuch as even with the restoration of the former condition of things there still remained “the fear lest the evil root of the people's rebellion, which had once manifested itself, should bread forth again at any moment” (Baumgarten). For this reason Jehovah assured him that this request also should be granted (Exo 33:17). “There was nothing extraordinary in the fact that Moses desired for himself and his people that they might be distinguished before every nation upon the face of the earth; this was merely the firm hold of faith upon the calling and election of God (Exo 19:5-6).”