Exodus 33:12
And Moses said unto the LORD, 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 grace in my sight. And Moses said unto the LORD, 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 grace in my sight.
After Israel's idolatry with the golden calf, Moses intercedes for the people and lays his commission before God, that he must lead a vast, murmuring multitude to Canaan without being told who will go with him to help him bear it. He pleads on God's own personal assurance to him, that He knows him by name and he has found grace in His sight. He refuses to be separated from the people or to let them be cut off, but presses step by step for more, to be shown God's way so he may know Him and lead acceptably, and to have assurance that Israel is still His people and that His presence will go with them and give rest. The Lord communes with him as a friend without reproof for his urgency, and answers with the promise that His presence will go with him and give him rest and guide the journey onward to Canaan. God's workers are therefore to come in the same way, unwilling to go forward in their own strength or by human help but seeking Christ directly until they know Him and His presence goes with them, and this intercession stands as a type of Christ the great Intercessor whom the Father always hears.
Context and Wording
The words belong to Moses pleading with God for Israel after the transgression of making the golden calf, and verses 12-23 are to be studied together as his intercession after that idolatry. He speaks while charged with bringing a vast multitude through the wilderness toward the promised land of Canaan. Their march was hindered by repeated murmurings and disputings, and he was discouraged by envy and jealousy even though God's glory was displayed in the tabernacle. It was a time when Israel was privileged and responsible to represent God's character to the world.
He knew those placed under his care, knew the perversity of the human heart and the difficulties to be contended with. He was heartsick from the people's repeated murmurings and feared both the vast multitude and being left to his own human wisdom. He had a deep sense of his own unworthiness and unfitness for the great work to which he was called. He carried overwhelming responsibility and suffered keen remorse when the people sinned, as though he himself were guilty. Faced with the responsibility of leading so difficult a people, he needed God's help, guidance, and assurance of His presence.
The verse lays before God the commission to bring up the people. It states that he had not been told whom God would send with him. It asks who will accompany him in leading Israel onward.
At the same time it appeals to God's personal assurance that He knows Moses by name. It appeals to the assurance that Moses has found grace or favor in His sight. Those assurances ground his plea and mark him as specially favored by God.
Plea and Divine Response
Moses pleaded not for himself but for the people, asking for one spiritual blessing after another and advancing step by step while taking Israel with him. He encircled them with the arm of faith, refused to be separated from them, and would not let their transgression cut them off from God. Though manifestly favored, he gained much yet would not stop, longing to come still nearer to God for further revelation of divine favor and stronger assurance of His abiding presence.
Grounded on God's assurance that He knew Moses by name and that Moses had found grace and favor in His sight, Moses asked who would accompany him and pressed for clearer guidance. He asked God to show him His way and course so that he might know God, teach Israel wisely, and lead in a way God would approve. He sought assurance that Israel still remained God's people, with His favor and continued hold upon them despite their perversity. That plea looked for God's presence to go with both Moses and the people and to give rest.
The Lord read the sincerity and unselfish purpose of his heart and communed with him face to face as a man speaks with a friend. Moses cast himself and all his burdens fully upon God and freely poured out his soul before Him, and the Lord stooped to listen to his supplications and burdens. There was no reproof, no rebuke, and no displeasure for pressing his case, even with intense earnestness and fervency. At the same time God tested and proved the quality of his love and faith.
God answered with the promise that His presence would go with Moses and give him rest, and that appeal prevailed for the rest of the journey to Canaan. That presence was marked by the cloud over the tabernacle and by the cloud by day and fire by night, which guided the journey. By that guiding presence Moses was helped to lead the people toward right actions.
Pattern for God's Workers
God's workers are to come to God in the same way Moses did, with persistent faith that refuses to move forward without His presence, seeking Him until they know Him more and trusting that He will walk among them with power. Moses told God he could not go before the people unless the Lord went with him, and God promised to go with him, and that exchange sets the pattern for all who labor for souls to gather rays of light from the divine glory to press back the darkness enshrouding souls while standing on the borders of the eternal world and waking to their responsibilities and holy privileges. No one should attempt in his own strength to meet the opposition Satan devises, nor reach out to human agencies for strength, but in trouble and discouragement and perplexity should go directly to Christ the Fountain Head for strength. Becoming acquainted with Jesus Christ by faith gives knowledge of His matchless love and the power of His grace, and when God lets His goodness pass before a person that goodness can then be carried to the world.
Moses brought his fear and burden over leading Israel directly to God rather than seeking help from anyone in the multitude, for he was heartsick from the people's repeated murmurings and feared both the vast multitude and being left to his own human wisdom. His experience had taught him to place little confidence in human faithfulness, so he earnestly sought God's presence for the rest of the journey to Canaan, and as he turned to God his fainting heart was strengthened and his plea prevailed. His example shows that God honors those who honor Him and serve Him with a perfect heart, and that His servants need not carry their burdens in their own strength. His intercession also serves as a type of Christ, the great Intercessor whom the Father always hears.