Exodus 29:45-46

29:45 I will reside ¹  among the Israelites, and I will be their God, 29:46 and they will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the Lord their God.

Exodus 33:12-14

33:12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ ²  but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, ³  and also you have found favor in my sight.’ 33:13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me ⁴  your way, that I may know you, ⁵  that I may continue to find ⁶  favor in your sight. And see ⁷  that this nation is your people.”

33:14 And the Lord ⁸  said, “My presence ⁹  will go with you, ¹⁰  and I will give you rest.” ¹¹ 

Exodus 34:8

34:8 Moses quickly bowed ¹²  to the ground and worshiped

Exodus 34:10

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ¹³  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ¹⁴  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ¹⁵ 

[29:45]  ¹ tn The verb has the root שָׁכַן (shakan), from which came the word for the dwelling place, or sanctuary, itself (מִשְׁכָּן, mishkan). It is also used for the description of “the Shekinah glory.” God is affirming that he will reside in the midst of his people.

[33:12]  ² tn The Hiphil imperative is from the same verb that has been used before for bringing the people up from Egypt and leading them to Canaan.

[33:12]  ³ tn That is, “chosen you.”

[33:13]  ⁴ tn The prayer uses the Hiphil imperative of the verb “to know.” “Cause me to know” is “show me, reveal to me, teach or inform me.” Moses wanted to know more of God’s dealings with people, especially after all that has happened in the preceding chapter.

[33:13]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense of the verb “to know” with the vav follows the imperative of this root, and so this indicates the purpose clause (final imperfect): “in order that I may know you.” S. R. Driver summarizes it this way: that I may understand what your nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, so that I may find grace in your sight, and my future prayers may be answered (Exodus, 361).

[33:13]  ⁶ tn The purpose clause simply uses the imperfect, “that I may find.” But since he already has found favor in God’s eyes, he is clearly praying that it be so in the future as well as now.

[33:13]  ⁷ tn The verb “see” (an imperative) is a request for God to acknowledge Israel as his people by providing the divine leadership needed. So his main appeal will be for the people and not himself. To underscore this, he repeats “see” the way the section opened.

[33:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:14]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[33:14]  ¹¹ 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.

[34:8]  ¹² tn The first two verbs form a hendiadys: “he hurried…he bowed,” meaning “he quickly bowed down.”

[34:10]  ¹³ tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ¹⁴ tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ¹⁵ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.