Keluaran 33:14-19

33:14 And the Lord ¹  said, “My presence ²  will go with you, ³  and I will give you rest.” ⁴ 

33:15 And Moses ⁵  said to him, “If your presence does not go ⁶  with us, ⁷  do not take us up from here. ⁸  33:16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” ⁹ 

33:17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know ¹⁰  you by name.”

33:18 And Moses ¹¹  said, “Show me your glory.” ¹² 

33:19 And the Lord ¹³  said, “I will make all my goodness ¹⁴  pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name ¹⁵  before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” ¹⁶ 

[33:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:14]  ² sn Heb “my face.” This represents the presence of Yahweh going with the people (see 2 Sam 17:11 for an illustration). The “presence” probably refers to the angel of the presence or some similar manifestation of God’s leading and caring for his people.

[33:14]  ³ tn The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[33:14]  ⁴ sn The expression certainly refers to the peace of mind and security of knowing that God was with them. But the expression came to mean “settle them in the land of promise” and give them rest and peace from their enemies. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 434) observes how in 32:10 God had told Moses, “Leave me alone” (“give me rest”), but now he promises to give them rest. The parallelism underscores the great transition through intercession.

[33:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:15]  ⁶ tn The construction uses the active participle to stress the continual going of the presence: if there is not your face going.

[33:15]  ⁷ tn “with us” has been supplied.

[33:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “from this.”

[33:16]  ⁹ sn See W. Brueggemann, “The Crisis and Promise of Presence in Israel,” HBT 1 (1979): 47-86; and N. M. Waldman, “God’s Ways – A Comparative Note,” JQR 70 (1979): 67-70.

[33:17]  ¹⁰ tn The verb in this place is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive, judging from the pointing. It then follows in sequence the verb “you have found favor,” meaning you stand in that favor, and so it means “I have known you” and still do (equal to the present perfect). The emphasis, however, is on the results of the action, and so “I know you.”

[33:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:18]  ¹² sn Moses now wanted to see the glory of Yahweh, more than what he had already seen and experienced. He wanted to see God in all his majesty. The LXX chose to translate this without a word for “glory” or “honor”; instead they used the pronoun seautou, “yourself” – show me the real You. God tells him that he cannot see it fully, but in part. It will be enough for Moses to disclose to him the reality of the divine presence as well as God’s moral nature. It would be impossible for Moses to comprehend all of the nature of God, for there is a boundary between God and man. But God would let him see his goodness, the sum of his nature, pass by in a flash. B. Jacob (Exodus, 972) says that the glory refers to God’s majesty, might, and glory, as manifested in nature, in his providence, his laws, and his judgments. He adds that this glory should and would be made visible to man – that was its purpose in the world.

[33:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ¹⁴ sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  ¹⁵ tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  ¹⁶ sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.