Exodus 33:13

Exo 33:13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation [is] thy people.

Ver. 13. That I may know thee.] Moses knew more of God than any man; he was but newly come down from the mount, and at the tabernacle door God spake with Moses "face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." {Exo 33:11} The more a man knows of God, the more desirous he is to know him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 33:13. Now, if I have found grace in thy sight — What favour God had expressed to the people they had forfeited the benefit of; and therefore Moses lays the stress of his plea upon what God had said to him. By this, therefore, he takes hold on God; Lord, if thou wilt do any thing for me, do this for the people. Thus our Lord Jesus, in his intercession, presents himself to the Father as one in whom he is always well pleased, and so obtains mercy for us, with whom he is justly displeased. Show me thy way — What course thou meanest now to take with us; that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight — That by proof and experience I may know how good thou art to them that seek thee, and may be assured that I have found grace in thy sight. He intimates that the people also, though most unworthy, yet were in some relation to God; consider that this nation is thy people — A people that thou hast done great things for, redeemed to thyself, and taken into covenant with thyself; Lord, they are thy own, do not leave them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:13 let me know your ways: Moses did not merely want God’s blessings; he wanted to know God’s nature and character, as well as the manner of and reasons for his actions. God’s goal of revealing himself was beginning to be realized, at least in one person. • Moses wanted God himself to accompany them, because they were the Lord’s own people.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. Show me now thy way] Let me know the manner in which thou wouldst have this people led up and governed, because this nation is thy people, and should be governed and guided in thy own way.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) Shew me now thy way—i.e., Thy course—Thy intention. Let me know if Thou really intendest to withdraw Thyself from us, and put a created being in Thy place or no.

Consider that this nation is thy people.—Moses glances back at God’s words recorded in Exo_32:7, and reminds God that the Israelites are not merely his (Moses’) people, but also, in a higher sense, God’s people. As such, God had acknowledged them (Exo_3:7; Exo_3:10; Exo_5:1; Exo_6:7; Exo_7:4, &c.).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. if, &c.] A common Heb. phrase: Gen_18:3; Gen_30:27 al.

shew] lit. make me to know. ‘Shew’ in Old English meant not only to let see, but also to let know, or tell: see on Dan_2:2; Dan_4:2 in the Camb. Bible, or the writer’s Parallel Psalter, p. 481. Cf. Psa_103:7.

ways] His ways of dealing with men, Deu_32:4 : see Exo_34:6 f.

that I may know thee, &c.] understand what Thy nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, that so I may find grace in thy sight, and my future prayers may be answered.

is thy people] and should not, therefore, be left by Thee without a leader.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight,.... Which he said, not as doubting whether he had or not, but as taking it for granted he had, and so argues from it, and improves his interest in it, in his pleading with God:

shew me now thy way: either the way which he himself would take, the way of his providence in bringing the children of Israel into the land of Canaan; or the way he would have him take, the way of his duty, how he would have him behave in conducting them thither; unless he means the Messiah, Christ, the way to the heavenly Canaan, to whom he seems greatly to have respect in the following part of this chapter:

that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight; by which he might have a further evidence of his being acceptable to God, and having a share in his good will; as well as he would better know in what way grace is communicated, Christ being the way both of access into the grace of God, and of acceptance with him, and of the communication of grace from him:

and consider that this nation is thy people; though they had sinned against him in the manner they had done, they were a people he had chosen above all people to be his; he had made a covenant with them, and was their covenant God; he had redeemed them out of Egypt, and had called them from thence, and had wrought a great salvation for them, and had bestowed many peculiar favours upon them; and though for this their gross idolatry and sad apostasy from him they were unworthy of the relation, and he had thought fit not to call them his people, but the people, or the people of Moses, yet they still were his people, and he entreats he would consider the relation they stood in to him, and show mercy to them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thy way - He desires not to be left in uncertainty, but to be assured, by Yahweh’s mode of proceeding, of the reality of the promises that had been made to him.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Face. Hebrew, "way." Be thou our guide. --- Thy people. Acknowledge them again. Moses begs not for any special favour for himself, but only for the Hebrews. (Salien.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Show me now thy way; the course and manner of thy dealings with men, and particularly thy purpose and will concerning me and thy people, and the method which thou wilt choose for the fulfilling of thy promise, and the course which thou wouldst have me take, and the way by which I shall conduct thy people to the Promised Land.

That I may know thee, i.e. thy mind herein; men are said to know God when they know his mind and will; or that I may experimentally know thee to be what thou hast promised thou wilt be to me and to thy people; or rather,

that I may thereby know thee, namely, that I shall find grace

in thy sight, as it follows; that I may be assured that thou wilt be reconciled to and present with me and thy people.

Thy people, both by thy own choice and purpose, and promise to their parents, and by their recognition of thee for their God, and their returning to thee again.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Show me now thy way — The way thou wilt lead us; the manner in which the guiding Angel will direct our ways, and drive out our enemies before us.

That I may know thee — Notwithstanding all the communion face to face between Jehovah and Moses, (Exo_33:11,) this leader of the chosen nation feels that he does not sufficiently know Jehovah. He prays for a fuller, clearer revelation of his nature and his glory.

This nation is thy people — Jehovah had spoken to Moses of Israel as “the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, (Exo_33:1, comp. Exo_32:7;) Moses now insists that Jehovah had called this nation as his own. Thus had he called them when he first appeared to Moses at the bush, and sent him unto Pharaoh. See Exo_3:7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now therefore, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me thy way - What favour God had expressed to the people they had forfeited the benefit of; and therefore Moses lays the stress of his plea upon what God had said to him. By this therefore he takes hold on God, Lord, if thou wilt do any thing for me, do this for the people. Thus our Lord Jesus, in his intercession, presents himself to the Father, as one in whom he is always well-pleased, and so obtains mercy for us with whom he is justly displeased, Shew me thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight - He insinuates that the people also, though most unworthy, yet were in some relation to God; consider that this nation is thy people; a people that thou hast done great things for, redeemed to thyself, and taken into covenant with thyself; Lord, they are thy own, do not leave them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ועתה וגו׳ NOW THEREFORE etc. — If it is true that I have found favour in Thy eyes, הודיעני נא את דרכך LET ME KNOW THY WAY — let me know what is the reward which Thou givest to those who find favour in Thine eyes.

ואדעך למען אמצא חן בעיניך means, that I may know by this (by Your letting me know Your way) the nature of the reward You bestow — what is this “finding of grace” which You have granted to me (Hebrew: which I found in Your eyes). The explanation of למען אמצא חן accordingly is: that I may find out (אמצא) how great is the reward attendant on this “finding of grace”.

וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה AND CONSIDER THAT THIS NATION IS THY PEOPLE so that You should not say, as You have said, (Exodus 32:10) “And I will make thee a great nation”, whilst these (the whole people) You will abandon! Consider that they are Your nation from of old, and if You reject them, surely I cannot rely upon it that those who are born of me will endure — rather let me know through this people the reward that is to be paid me (by sparing them). Our Rabbis have given a Midrashic explanation of this in Treatise Berakhot 7a but I come (my purpose is) to explain the verses in a manner fitting to them and in their context.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.