Exodus 33.12-17-Moses Requests The Lord's Continued Presence
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday September 23, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 33:12-17-Moses Requests the Lord’s Continued Presence
Lesson # 53
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 33:12.
This morning we will study Exodus 33:12-17, which records Moses making two requests of the Lord.
Exodus 33:12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. 16 For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” 17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” (NASB95)
In verses 12-17, Moses wants reassurance that the Lord would continue to go with him and the Israelites on the way to Canaan because the Israelites were such a difficult group of people to lead.
In Exodus 33:5, the Lord told Moses He would not go up in their midst for one moment, or He would destroy them.
The prospect of not having the Lord’s presence not only upset the Israelites but also Moses since this would mean that Moses would be leading the people on his own.
The job of leading the Israelites had already proven to be extremely difficult with the Lord’s presence and would be unbearable for Moses if he had to go the rest of the way alone.
Thus, we have him requesting that the Lord would continue to be present with him as he led the people.
In Exodus 33:12, we have Moses making an unusual statement that the Lord had not let him know whom He will send with him when in Exodus 33:2, the Lord promised him that He would send His angel to lead Israel.
This angel was the Lord’s presence and was the preincarnate Christ and not an elect angel like Michael.
Notice that in Exodus 33:12, Moses complains that the Lord had not let him know whom He will send “with” him whereas in Exodus 33:2, the Lord promises to send His angel “before” him in order to drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
Going “before” Moses and the Israelites is a promise to lead Israel militarily whereas going “with” Moses and the Israelites contains the idea that the Lord would guide, protect and take care of the Israelites.
The Lord told Moses in Exodus 33:5 that He would not personally be in the presence of the Israelite camp as He had been prior to the golden calf episode since He might destroy the Israelites.
So we have the Lord promising to go ahead of the Israelites in order to lead them to military victory over the inhabitants of Canaan but is refusing to be dwelling in their midst as He had before the golden calf episode.
So in Exodus 33:12-17, we have Moses pleading with the Lord to be in their presence, i.e. in their midst as He had before the golden calf episode.
Thus, logically, we could expect the statements in Exodus 33:12-17 to have been placed immediately after 33:1-6 but such is not the case since Moses is employing a stylistic feature that he used throughout the Genesis and Exodus narratives, namely delayed response.
This means that the historical timing of the events recorded in Exodus 33:12-17 took place after the events recorded in Exodus 33:1-6.
Therefore, Moses’ intercession in Exodus 33:12-17 is in direct response to the Lord saying He would no longer be present in the midst of the Israelite camp but would only go in front of their camp to lead them militarily to victory over the inhabitants of Canaan.
Now, notice in Exodus 33:12-17, four times Moses talks to the Lord about having favor in His sight (verses 12, 13 twice; 16).
The Lord mentions that Moses found favor in His sight in verse 17.
Moses does this since he had two requests to make of the Lord that are based upon the Lord’s declaration that Moses had found favor in His sight.
These requests were not selfish or self-centered.
The first request was to know God more intimately by being taught His ways with result of pleasing God.
The second was for the Lord to continue to be present with Moses and the Israelites as they moved toward Canaan.
Moses’ first request appears in verses 12-13 and was to know God more intimately, which the Lord responds favorably to according to verse 14.
Notice to know the Lord more intimately required that Moses be shown or taught the Lord’s ways!
This reveals the spiritual principle that those who are on intimate terms with the Lord are knowledgeable of His ways as a result of being taught His ways.
The second request appears in verses 15-16 and was to have the Lord be present in the midst of the Israelite camp as they made their way to Canaan.
The Lord responds favorably to this request as well as recorded in verse 17.
These two prayer requests are instructive and exemplary for pastors today in the church age.
In Exodus 33:14, the Lord responds favorably to Moses’ first request by telling Moses that His presence would go with them and give him rest.
Thus, through Moses’ intercession, we have the restoration of the Lord’s promise He originally made in Exodus 3:8, 12 and 17 to personally bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the land promised to the patriarchs.
The Lord agreed to Moses’ requests not only because He is compassionate and gracious and forgives sin but also because Moses was in fellowship with the Lord because he was obedient.
Thus, the Lord also granted Moses’ request because Moses was obedient.
This principle of God granting prayer requests to those who are obedient to Him and as a result experiencing fellowship with Him is found in the New Testament as well.
The Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples in John 15:7 in the Vine and the Branches Metaphor that “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
In Exodus 33:14, the Lord promises Moses that “I will give you rest.”
In this promise, “you” is in the singular.
However, throughout the Bible, God often addresses the nation of Israel as a corporate unit with the singular pronoun.
It appears that the Lord is addressing Israel as a corporate unit rather than Moses personally.
It therefore, does not mean that the Lord would make Moses’ job easier since he had numerous problems later on with the Israelites as recorded in Numbers 11, 12, 12 and 25.
Thus, when the Lord promises to give Israel rest He is reiterating the promise of giving them the rest in the land of Canaan (compare Deuteronomy 12:10; 25:19; Joshua 1:13–15; 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; See also Hebrews 3–4; Numbers 13-14; Numbers 14:20-23).
In Exodus 33:15-16, Moses pleads with the Lord that He would personally go with him and the Israelites to the land of Canaan.
He bases his appeal on God’s concern for His own glory and reputation.
Moses uses this approach again in Numbers 14:13-16.
God’s desire to maintain His reputation and manifest His glory is for evangelistic purposes meaning He wants to use the nation of Israel to lead the heathen nations of the earth to forsake their gods and worship Him.
Therefore, Moses is requesting the Lord’s presence in the midst of the Israelite camp as they head to Canaan in order that these heathen nations might exercise faith in the Lord.
Moses is saying that this cannot take place if the Lord is not present. Moses is saying that success depends on the Lord being present with Israel.
Moses is also saying in verses 15-16 that God’s presence and all which this implied, is what made Israel special and distinguished her from the rest of the nations.
In Exodus 33:17, the Lord grants Moses’ two requests on the basis that Moses found favor in His sight.
This again reiterates the principle the Lord Jesus taught in John 15:7, that God grants prayer requests on the basis of obedience to Him.
In Exodus 33:17, the Lord says He knows Moses by name, which Moses mentions in Exodus 33:12.
This expression means that Moses was on intimate terms with the Lord as a result of his obedience.
This is manifested in Exodus 33:7-11.