Exodus 33:12-17

GOD REVOKES THE THREAT OF WITHDRAWAL

"And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found favor in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein now shall it be known that I have found favor in thy sight?, I and thy people? is it not that thou goest with us, so that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? And Jehovah said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found favor in my sight, and I know thee by name."

Moses' bold and insistent intercession did not cease until God agreed to restore the covenant in its entirety. Through both the last chapter and this one there is a continual play upon the words "thy people," as used by both Moses and by God. God was apparently ready to write off the whole effort as a failure, and addressed Moses concerning "thy" people, that is, the people of Moses; but Moses insisted throughout that the people were not his, but God's (Exodus 33:13,16).

"If thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence ..." In this, Moses declared that the wilderness of Sinai with God was far better than the promised land could ever be without God! So it is with all the beautiful and desirable things on earth. To possess or win them without God is far worse than doing without them. As Unger put it, "Sinai at its worst with God was better than Canaan at its best without God."[15] "The tempo of intercession is increased here. Moses had asked, and now he is seeking (Exodus 33:13), then knocking (Exodus 33:15,18)."[16] Jesus himself commanded us to "Ask ... seek ... knock ..." (Matthew 7:7,8).

"My presence shall go with thee ..." Orlinsky noted that the import of this is, "My Divine Presence (the [~shekinah]) will go, namely, I will not send again any angel; I Myself will go."[17]

"I will give thee rest ..." The true "rest" promised here was not the sabbath day, nor even their entry into Canaan, but "that God's face would lead men to that rest in which unhindered communion and wholeness will become a reality."[18] Truly to be "in Christ" provides the earnest of that rest which shall finally be fully achieved only when men have entered into that higher and better land where all the problems of earth are solved in the light and bliss of heaven. At this point, it appears that Moses had won from God all that he had requested. And yet, apparently, Moses was concerned that God had promised him (Moses) God's Presence and God's rest, but that God had not specifically included Israel in these promises. Therefore, he did not desist until that too was granted (Exodus 33:17). It is of marked significance that God gave Moses no other assurance of the certainty of these great promises, other than God's Word itself, which was all that was needed. Clements comment on this was, "The assurance of this Presence is shown to rest on God's promise to Moses, and not on any image, or representation, of God Himself. God's Word, and not His visible image, provides the guarantee that He is with Israel."[19]

All of the marvelous conversations with God "face to face," and as one converses "with a friend," did not fully satisfy Moses. In all of the previous revelations he had not been permitted to "see God," actually. Moses proceeded to request that also!