Commentary for Exodus 33:13

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.

ועתה, since You had agreed that I should be the angel,

ואדעך למען אמצא חן, "in order that I will know You and continue to find favour in Your eyes." Seeing that it is not good manners for a servant to tell his master that he wants to get to know him better, Moses added the word למען, "for the sake of, etc.;" he explained that his request was not for his own satisfaction but in order for him to be a more effective leader of his people. This is what he meant when he referred to "finding favour in Your eyes."

הודיעני נא את דרכך, You Yourself ought to inform me of the way we should travel, by showing me the way we can follow You.

If it is so that I have found favor in Your eyes. . . Rashi is answering the question: Does the verse not imply that Moshe was unsure whether Hashem had said that he finds favor in His eyes? But earlier, Moshe told Hashem that He had said to him: “You have found favor in My eyes”! Rashi answers: Moshe surely knew it was true that [Hashem had said that] he found favor in His eyes. Moshe meant: “Is it really so that I have found favor? Perhaps when You said, “You have found favor in My eyes,” You were jesting as people have a manner of doing.

V. 13. ועתה וגו׳. Und nun, um dieses Volk in der nächsten Zukunft nach meiner eigenen Einsicht leiten zu können, bedarf ich zunächst einer Erkenntnis, die mir noch mangelt. Ich bedarf der Erkenntnis דרכך וגו׳. Es heißt nicht דַרְכֶך, auch nichtדרכין , sondernדרכך , es ist dies die Mannigfaltigkeit der Wege Gottes in ihrer Einheit begriffen. Es fehlt mir die Erkenntnis, wie du in aller Mannigfaltigkeit deiner verschiedenen Wege immer doch nur das eine Ziel verfolgst; in dem besonderen Falle: wie du auch bei der offenbar nun veränderten Leitung des Volkes doch deine ursprüngliche Absicht mit demselben nicht aufgegeben, vielmehr sicherlich dies eine Ziel auch auf diesem nun veränderten Wege verfolgst und erreicht wissen willst. Ich bedarf aber dieser Einsicht in die "Einheit der Mannigfaltigkeit deiner Wege", ואדעך, so, dass mir der Blick klar für deine Absichten bleibe, למען אמצא וגו׳, damit auch ferner ich mich deines Wohlwollens würdig zeigen, damit ich das Vertrauen, das du mir geschenkt, rechtfertigen, und die Aufgabe, die du mir gegeben und die nichts anderes sein kann, als das Volk deinen Absichten gemäß zu leiten, lösen könne. וראה וגו׳, ebenso wie oben ראה אתה וגו׳: und diese Bitte, die ich aus der Erwägung der mir erteilten Aufgabe heraus zu äußern gewagt habe, die wage ich auch ebenso auf die Erwägung der Bestimmung dieses Volkes zu begründen. הגוי הזה dieses Volk, auch wie es sich in der Gegenwart seiner Verirrung darstellt, ist ja und bleibt ja עמך, ist ja und bleibt ja die Gesamtheit, die du zu einem Volke geschichtlich geschaffen und deren Bestimmung, dein Volk zu werden, du bei ihrer Volksschöpfung ausgesprochen: ולקחתי אתכם לי לעם (siehe Kap. 32, 11). Seine Mängel waren dir bei seiner Erwählung gegenwärtig. Seiner Bestimmung ist es gewiss trotz seiner jetzt hervorgetretenen Unvollkommenheit nicht verlustig. Auch in seiner jetzt veränderten Beziehung zu dir soll es derselben Bestimmung entgegen gehen. Mir, der ich es dieser Bestimmung entgegen führen soll, tut eine Einsicht in diesen Weg zu diesem Ziele not, damit ich es diesem Wege gemäß zu diesem Ziele führen kann.

ועתה אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך,”and now, if I indeed have found favour in Your eyes;” Moses is hinting that perhaps plans indeed to go personally in front of the Israelites again, and he wishes to be given details of where and how they are going to continue journeying from now on.

הודיעני נא את דרכיך, “please instruct me in Your ways.” Moses wished G-d to instruct Him of His attributes. Once he had been instructed in those, he would be able to determine if he wished for the Jewish people to be led by one or more of G-d’ attributes or by is essence. (B’chor Shor)

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”.

הודיעני נא את דרכך, acquaint me with Your two miraculous ways, 1) how simply by Your knowledge of something You can make these figments of Your will or imagination become automatically a reality as demonstrated whenever You perform supernatural miracles, and 2) how by Your unfailingly accurate knowledge of future events, such knowledge does not impair the freedom of choice of man to do what he wants.

What reward do You give. . . [Rashi knows it means this] because otherwise, why did Moshe request this here?

וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה, "and consider that this nation is Your people." Moses carried on this conversation with G'd in complete privacy. He therefore reminded G'd that the souls of the Jewish people were part of G'd Himself, as I have explained in Deuteronomy 32,9 on the words: כי חלק ה׳ עמו, "for His people are a part of G'd." G'd Himself also alluded to this in Exodus 20,20 when He said: "I am the Lord your G'd." I have explained this more thoroughly in that context. When Moses said: וראה, he referred to this as a known fact, implying that inasmuch as there was something divine about the Jewish people, how could G'd despise something that was itself divine?

If informed of these details he will be certain that he has found favour in the Lord’s eyes.

ואדעך, “so that I will know You more intimately and be able to cleave to You more closely;” As result, I will be able to find favour in Your eyes.

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.

ואדעך, so that I will know You, as knowledge of Your actions does convey some inkling of the considerations which resulted in such actions.

What is this “finding of favor”. . . Explanation: This [phrase in the verse] is connected to “Please let me know Your way.” The verse conveys: Let me know what reward You give to those who find favor in Your eyes. Then I will understand the meaning of this favor which I have found in Your eyes.

וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה, “and consider that this nation is Your people.”

למען אמצא חן בעיניך, by possessing such knowledge and an appreciation of Your mode of operation I will myself attain favour in Your eyes. A similar thought has been expressed in Jeremiah 9,23 “let the one who wants to boast, boast about the degree of knowledge about Me that he has acquired for I, the Lord, am fond of those who make knowing Me better their principal objective.”

So that I may appreciate. . . I.e., so I may recognize and understand what benefit this finding of favor provides. And thereby I will know the degree to which You give reward for the favor which I have found in Your eyes.

וראה כי עמך הגוי הזה, for Your name will only be recognised among this people and not among the nations of the world. Compare psalms 76,2 on this subject, i.e. נודע ביהודה אלוקים בישראל גדול שמו, “G’d is known in Yehudah; His name is great in Israel (exclusively). Seeing that this is so it is not appropriate for You to withhold from me the answer to what I have requested on account of their sin “ Moses’ argument is in line with what we were told in Sanhedrin 11 and Baba Batra 134 that there were at different times (Hillel’s students) 30 people whose personal stature was such that they deserved that the Presence of G’d rest on them. If it did not, this was only because their contemporaries did not deserve that G’d’s presence manifest itself in their lifetime.

My reward for this people. . . Explanation: Just as I requested that You let me know what reward You will give me for the favor I found in Your eyes, so do I request that You let me know what reward You will give me for my leadership of this people. [Rashi knows it means this] because otherwise, why is this phrase here? (Re”m)