Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 33:12-17
Moses Wrestles With Yahweh About His Decision Not To Go With Them (Exodus 33:12).
The general fact about Moses' relationship with God having been made clear, Moses now comes to Yahweh to plead for a reversal of His decision not to go with them in person any more. All hope rests in this friend of God. We may assume that this conversation takes place at one of Moses' visits to the Tent of Meeting. It is because we know that Yahweh speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can fully appreciate this conversation between two friends. Had we not known that, what follows would lose a lot of its power.
We may analyse the passage as follows:
a Moses complains that although Yahweh has told him to take His people up from this place He has not told him who will go with him (all he has been told is that it will be an anonymous angel). Yet Yahweh claims to know his name and that he has found grace in Yahweh's sight (Exodus 33:12).
b He asks therefore that if this be true Yahweh will now show him His ways so that he may know Yahweh in return, and still find grace in His sight, and that Yahweh will consider the fact that this nation are His people (Exodus 33:13).
c Yahweh says, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).
c Moses declares, “If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up to that place” (Exodus 33:15).
b For how will it be known that he and Yahweh's people have found grace in His sight except by His going with them so that they are separated, he and Yahweh's people, from all the nations that are on the face of the earth (Exodus 33:16).
a Yahweh says to Moses, “I will do this thing that you have said, for you have found grace in My sight and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:17).
Note that in ‘a' Moses' complaint is that Yahweh claims to know his name and that he has found grace in Yahweh's sight, but does not show him His ways, in the parallel Yahweh confirms that he has found grace in His sight and He does know him by name, and confirms that He will therefore do as he asks. In ‘b' he asks that Yahweh will now show him His ways because he knows His name and has found grace in His sight, and asks Him to remember that these are His people, while in the parallel he claims that it will only be known that they have found grace in His sight by His going with them and thus proving that they are a specially separated people. In ‘c' Yahweh promises that His presence will go with Moses, and in the parallel Moses counters that if it is not so he does not want to forward to the place ahead.
‘And Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people'. And you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name and you have also found favour in my sight.' Now therefore I pray you, if I have found favour in your sight, show me now your ways that I may know you, to the end that I may find favour in your sight. And consider that this nation is your people.” '
Moses comes again in intercession for his people. He points out to God that He has told him to bring this people to Canaan. And yet all He has promised is the accompaniment of an anonymous angel. Why will He not send the original angel in whom was Yahweh's name? (Exodus 23:21). He is indicating that this failure does not seem to fall in line with His statement that He knows Moses by name (that is, intimately knows him, knows him as a friend) and that Moses has found favour in His sight. He feels he is being given a raw deal.
So he argues that if he really has found favour in His sight then let Yahweh show it by showing him the full facts about what His ways are going to be so that he may really know Him as He is, and what His plans are. Then he will truly know that he has found favour in His sight.
Without the knowledge gained in verse 11 especially, these words would not have sounded right. It is only because we know that God speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can appreciate how he could speak to God like this so obstinately. What he is asking God to do is lay all the facts on the table. Then he adds a postscript.
“ And consider that this nation is your people.” Suddenly all is light. What Moses really wants is for Yahweh to rescind His statement that He would no longer go with them. He has put it in a roundabout way, but that is at the bottom of it. Yahweh's response to His friend is immediate.
“My presence shall go (with you), and I will give you (singular) rest.”
Yahweh relents for what He has previously said and promises His friend that He will still go with him, and that He will certainly bring him into the promised rest. Whatever the people have done, and whatever happens to them, He will not fail to keep His promise to, and show favour to, His friend. So Moses' future is secure. But Moses is not satisfied with that. If the people are not to go up with him he really does not want to go.
‘And he said to him, “If you presence does not go with us, do not carry us up hence. For in what way will it now be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people. Is it not in that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth?” '
Notice how Moses insists on linking himself with his people, those even who had recently planned to do away with him. If God will show favour to him He must also do so to his people. For he is bound to them as one. Indeed Moses makes it clear that if God will not go with them in person, and do so faithfully to the end, then he does not want to go up. For it is only by God going with them all the way that the world will know that they are a people separated to Yahweh and that He has really shown favour to Moses. (compare Exodus 15:16; Exodus 19:5). It is only by this that Moses will be vindicated. For then the world will know that they are His holy nation (Exodus 19:6). And if they are not to be known as that then his going up and their going up is a waste of time. Moses realised, if the people did not, the huge privilege that was theirs in being God's ‘separated ones', with Yahweh Himself as their companion. And he refused to consider any other possibility.
The cheek and nerve of Moses in making these statements gains its significance from the fact that Moses is God's special friend. That is why he can be obstinate to the end. God had originally called him to deliver this people and lead them into the promised land (Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:16), and this he intended to do. If he could not there was no deal. And yet he is also submissive. He remembers Whom he is speaking to. He uses persuasion, not arrogance.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found favour in my sight and I do know you by name.” '
Yahweh agrees to all Moses' requests, and points out that He does so precisely because Moses has found favour in His sight and because Yahweh does know him as a friend, by name. He is God's servant in whom He delights (a type of one yet to come - Isaiah 42:1).