Exodus 33:12-33 - Moses Pleads Israel’s Case
Exodus 33:12Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but 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 favor in my sight.’ 13Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. 16For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” 17The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” 19And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” 21And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Context: This morning’s passage begins with Moses’ response to God’s speech in chapter 33:1-6. In those verses God, still angered and pained by Israel’s faithlessness with the golden calf, tells Moses that he and the people are to leave Sinai and head for the promised land, but that God will not go with them. The people are devastated. As much as they long for the land of promise, they know that there is no life and no people without the presence of God. It is Presence that makes them a people and gives them identity. They are so crushed that they take off all of their jewelry and ornaments and refuse to wear them anymore. Terrified at the prospect of pushing on without God’s leading and weakened by the grief and remorse of the people, Moses goes to plead Israel’s case to God. Please read these verses carefully and prayerfully! In these days of violence in the land of promised blessing, all of the millennia long animosities and the damage done by conquest in the name of God, it can be truly hard to puzzle over these verses, cut away the pain of the centuries, and find the beauty. Still, there are dazzling, brilliant theological insights into relationship with God and into God’s very nature and character in these verses. Please do not ask these verses to do what they do not and cannot do, that is to make God’s love exclusive to the people of Israel and a justification for current animosity and violence.
Glory, Face, Presence. These terms function as near synonyms in this passage. They do not refer to physical aspects, but rather to the experience of God’s nature, character and nearness, and mystery. Moses wants a glimpse of the totality of God, but, for Moses’ good, that revelation can only come on God’s terms. What he really wants is assurance and reassurance. That is provided.
Favor. In the Hebrew Scriptures the word favor is often used in the way we use the word grace in the New Testament. While favor in Hebrew is not always unmerited, as grace is in the New Testament, it grows out of the same loving intimacy that God offers. God’s favor is God’s steadfast commitment to someone or something. It includes attention, priority, mercy, intimacy and protection. As God is not limited, neither is God’s favor. Because God promises favor to Moses and the people if Israel, does not mean that God does not promise favor to the rest of God’s children. Remember that in Genesis, God also favors and promises to make a great nation of Ishmael and his line who largely become the Arab and Muslim peoples. In many ways the term favor has the flavor of the New Testament word election. Both are about the specific calling of God’s people, and indeed each individual person, for the furthering of the will of God and the blessing of all people.
Word Study
Vs. 12 – see – emphatic, almost accusatory.
Let me know – revealed to me. Moses knows that only God can give him the answers he needs for this journey. His wits will be of no use to him here.
Whom you will send with me – God has said (vs. 33:1-6) that God will not accompany Moses and the people on this journey. Moses is frantic to know if there will be an emissary or another kind of presence or leader to help him.
I know you by name – For God to say this means that God knows every aspect of a person, the total being. It implies great intimacy and shared life. It also implies that God has a measure of control. There is nothing hidden.
Vs. 13 – your ways – purpose, direction, intention. In addition to wanting to know God’s will, Moses wants to know what God intends to do with the people. See vs. 5.
Your people - literally “your very own people”
Vs. 14 – presence – see above
Rest – quiet, refreshment. The concept of rest and refreshment are at the heart of Sabbath and God’s will for God’s people.
Vs. 16 – known – as a fact
Distinct – distinguished from all other peoples. Moses realizes that it is only the Presence of God that makes the community distinctive, that is, gives it identity that shapes it’s life and ethics.
Vs. 17 – I will do the very thing that you have asked – This sentence is rendered in two words in Hebrew. It is the simple acknowledgement by God that without God’s presence there is no People.
Vs. 18 – show me your glory – Moses wants a demonstration of God’s presence as an assurance of God’s promise.
Vs. 19 – goodness – God is not interested in showing Moses sights. God wants to show Moses God’s own character. God is goodness.
Proclaim before you the name, YHWH – In saying aloud the holy name of God, YHWH (see Ex. 3:15) God reveals God’s complete nature.
Gracious – same word translated as “favor”.
Mercy – to act positively toward another for their benefit
Vs. 20 - No one shall see me and live – there is a wide gulf between the finite creature and the infinite Creator. To see the fullness of God would be more than the human being could comprehend or endure.
Vs. 21 - Rock – rocky cliff
Questions for Discussion
1. Has there ever been a time when you felt like you really blew it in your relationship with God? What did it feel like to feel estranged from God? How have you experienced God’s forgiveness in your life?
2. In what ways do you experience God’s presence? How does believing that God is with you shape your identity?
3. Based on this passage, how would you describe God’s character? What evidence do you see in your life, and in the world, of God’s goodness? Mercy? Favor? Graciousness?