Commentaire sur L’Exode 33:17

גם את הדבר הזה THIS THING ALSO — that My Shechinah shall not rest henceforth upon the other nations of the world, אעשה I WILL DO. And thus He did, for the prophetical words of Balaam (the heathen prophet) were not uttered by reason of the Shechinah resting upon him, but, as Scripture describes it, (Numbers 24:4) “[he saw the vision of the Almighty] fallen, but with eyes uncovered” (i. e. whilst fallen into a sleep his mental eyes were open and he saw in a dream what the Almighty was to reveal unto him) in a state of mind similar to that described by Job (Job 4:12) “a word was by stealth conveyed (יגנב) to me” — they (the heathen prophets) used to hear God’s message through a medium.

I WILL DO THIS THING ALSO THAT THOU HAST SPOKEN. Perhaps this manifestation of G-d’s good-will was at the end of the second [period of] forty days, in accordance with the opinion of our Rabbis,⁴⁹¹See above in Verse 7 where Ramban quotes the Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, that Moses went up to the mountain for forty days only twice, the second time culminating on the Day of Atonement. This is Ramban’s intent in writing here “at the end of the second forty days according to the opinion of our Rabbis.” Rashi, quoted there, holds that there were three such periods. when the Holy One, blessed be He, became completely appeased with him, and He said to him, Hew thee two Tablets of stone like unto the first.⁴⁹²Further, 34:1.

כי מצאת חן בעיני ואדעך בשם. "for you have found favour in My eyes and I have become intimate with you by My revealing to you My attribute י־ה־ו־ה." When Moses had previously referred to his having found favour in G'd's eyes he had reversed the relationship of his finding favour and his being granted an insight into the meaning of the Ineffable Name (verse 12). The Torah revealed here that the revelation of the meaning of the attribute of the name י־ה־ו־ה was the mark of the highest degree of finding favour in G'd's eyes. After all, even Noach had found favour in G'd's eyes (Genesis 6,8) but G'd's attribute י־ה־ו־ה had not been revealed to him.

גם את הדבר הזה אשר דברת, your request to distinguish you in a visible manner I will also comply with, something in addition to the fact that I, personally, will accompany you on your journeys. The result of G’d granting Moses’ request was that his face radiated light when he descended from the Mountain the third time, as we know from 34,10. I will explain this in still greater detail there.

V. 17. כי מצאת וגו׳ ואדעך בשם: seitdem ich dich erwählt, hast du dich deiner Erwählung und immer größerer Begabung würdig gezeigt.

גם את הדבר אשר דברת אעשה, “also the request you have made (now) I will fulfill;” “you have requested to take you into My confidence concerning My attributes, I will reveal them to you.” G-d did so by revealing the 13 attributes.

The Torah also wanted to make it abundantly clear that the reason G'd had revealed this most elusive attribute of His to Moses was because he had found favour in His eyes. There was a causal relationship between these two experiences. This relationship had not been recognisable when Moses referred to this in verse 12. If not for the present verse, we would have assumed that one could become privy to the revelation of G'd's supreme attribute without first having found favour in His eyes.