The Pulpit Commentaries
Exodus 33:12-17
EXPOSITION
THE REVOCATION OF THE THREAT OF WITHDRAWAL. After some days' "wrestling with God" in the "tent of meeting," Moses prayed to know definitely what God had determined on. "Show me thy way," he said (Exodus 33:13)—"Whom wilt thou send with me?" To this demand, God made the gracious reply—"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" (Exodus 33:14). This was satisfactory, except that it did not distinctly include the conduct of the people—it might be merely a promise to himself. So Moses (Exodus 33:15, Exodus 33:16) requires a more explicit assurance, and, closely associating the people with himself, declares that he will not move a step further, unless God allows the people to find grace in his sight, and consents to "distinguish" them by "going up" with them. Then at length God yields and gives the assurance" I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken" (Exodus 33:17)—i.e. "I will go up visibly with the people and distinguish them." (See the comment on Exodus 33:16.)
See, thou sayest. Moses takes advantage of his privilege of speaking as friend with friend, and uses familiar terms—"See," he says, "thou hast told me to conduct the people to Canaan, yet thou hast not made it clear whom thou wilt send with me. If it is to be an angel, what angel? Why not the angel of the original promise (Exodus 23:20-2)? Thou hast distinguished me with thy favour—Consider that this nation is thy people, and extend thy favour to them. At any rate shew me thy way—tell me plainly what thou wilt do."
My presence shall go with thee. Literally," My presence shall go up"—my own presence, not that of an angel. That for which Moses had been so earnestly pleading is, seemingly, granted. God will go up. I will give thee rest.—i.e. "bring thee to Canaan." (Compare Deuteronomy 3:20; Hebrews 4:8.)
And he said. Still Moses is not quite satisfied. God had said—"I will give thee rest"—not "I will give you rest." Moses must see distinctly that the people are associated with him before he desists. So he replies—"If thy presence go not up, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us?" The reply in Exodus 33:17 sets his doubt finally at rest.
So shall we be separated. Rather, "So shall we be distinguished." God's presence with them would distinguish them from all the other nations of the earth—place them in a category alone and apart from all others. Angelic guidance would not have done this; for even heathen nations had their protecting angels (Daniel 10:13, Daniel 10:20; Daniel 11:1).
I will do this thing also. "I will extend my favour to thy people also, and distinguish them, as well as thee, by going up with them. I will do this for thy sake, because thou hast found grace in my sight." Moses' petition is at last fully granted—the threat of withdrawal cancelled—the promise of Divine guidance and protection renewed I know thee by name. It is a supreme favour for God to know us by name. It marks "a specifically personal relation to God" (Keil). The expression is perhaps taken from the phraseology of Oriental Courts, where not one in a hundred of the courtiers is known to the monarch by name.
HOMILETICS
Effectual importunity.
Our Lord Jesus Christ spake a parable to show "that men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). The present record is, we may be sure, inserted in the Old Testament for the same purpose. God wills to be importuned. Not, however, for his own sake, but for ours. He would have us fervent and persistent in prayer, for the improvement of our characters, the increase of our faith by exercise, the intensifying of our sense of dependence upon him. Especially he would have us persistent in intercessory prayer, because we are then exercising, not only faith, but love; and by increasing in love, we advance in resemblance to himself. For "God is Love." Note, that, to be importuned effectively, God must be importuned—
I. WITH FERVOUR. Mere repetition will not do. Cold prayers, repeated day after day for blessings on ourselves or others, are a mere battologia, no more effectual than the involuntary repetitions of a stammering tongue. God grants nothing to coldness, nothing to mere words, nothing unless it be earnestly desired by a fervid heart. The Buddhists, in many parts of Asia, erect praying-machines, which are turned by a small windmill, believing that in every revolution of the machine a prayer is offered, and that, after so many turns, Buddha is bound to grant it. As well expect God to respect the requests of a praying-machine, as the utterances of many who languidly repeat the prayers of the Church after the clergyman, or say a set form, with small thought and no heart, morning and evening. It is "the fervent prayer of a righteous man"—nay, even of a sinner—that is "effectual."
II. UNSELFISHLY. Moses postponed his now earnest desire to behold for his own satisfaction God's glory, until he had obtained the restitution of the people to favour. His importunity was for them. Let us importune God for the conversion of ore' relatives and friends, the forgiveness of their sins, the awakening of their consciences, their perseverance in well-doing, and their final entrance into his glory, and we may feel confident of prevailing with him. But, if we importune him for our own worldly advancement, or even if we ask increase of grace for our own sakes solely or mainly, we must not be surprised if our prayers remain unanswered. "Ye ask and obtain not, because ye ask amiss." The spirit of sacrifice is required to sanctify prayer. Those who in a spirit of self-seeking asked to sit on the right hand and left hand of Christ in his kingdom obtained no promise. Our prayers even for our spiritual advancement will scarcely be answered, unless we desire it to promote God's glory, or to help forward the salvation of our fellow-men.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
The third intercession. Moses on this occasion pleads with God to restore his presence to the people. Very noteworthy are the steps in his entreaty.
1. He veils his request under the form of a desire to know the divine intentions (Exodus 33:12). Will God go up with them or not? God has not yet told him—will he tell him now? What, underneath this form of expression, the heart of Moses really presses for, is, of course, the assurance that God will go with them.
2. He urges the friendship God has shown him as a reason for granting his request—"Thou hast said, I know thee by name," etc. (Exodus 33:12).
3. He entreats God to consider that Israel is his own people (Exodus 33:13). He has chosen them; he has redeemed them; he has declared his love for them; can he bring himself now to cast them off?
4. When God at length—reading in his servant's heart the thought which he has not as yet dared openly to express—says, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" (Exodus 33:14); Moses eagerly seizes on the promise thus given him, and pleads with God to make it good. "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence" (Exodus 33:15). This, in Moses' view, is the greatest distinction of Israel, that it has God in its midst, and if this distinction is withdrawn, he cares not what else remains (Exodus 33:16). The earnestness of his entreaty secures for him a confirmation of the promise, this time given without reserve. For in the utterance of Exodus 33:14, perhaps, a certain tone of distance is still to be detected. This disappears in Exodus 33:17. View the passage as illustrating—
I. THE PRIVILEGES OF FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD (Exodus 33:12, Exodus 33:13).
1. Friendship with God gives boldness of approach to him. It casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
2. Friendship with God admits to intimacy with his secrets (Exodus 33:13). "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (Psalms 25:14). Cf. God's words concerning Abraham—"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation," etc. (Genesis 18:17); and Christ's words to his disciples" I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:15).
3. The best use we can make of friendship with God is to intercede for others. So Abraham for Sodom (Genesis 18:23-1). So Moses here. So Daniel (Daniel 9:1.). So Christ for his disciples (John 17:1.).
II. THE BLESSING OF GOD'S PRESENCE (verses 14, 15).
1. God's presence is the highest blessing. Nought else can be compared with it (Psalms 73:25, Psalms 73:26).
2. It is the blessing which enriches all other blessings. It is that which makes earthly blessings truly worth having. They are not the same to us without it as with it.
3. God's presence, going with us, invariably conducts to rest.
III. THE POWER OF PERSEVERING PRAYER (verses 16, 17).—J.O.