הִנְנִ֣י עֹמֵד֩ לְפָנֶ֨יךָ שָּׁ֥ם ׀ עַֽל־הַצּוּר֮ בְּחֹרֵב֒ וְהִכִּ֣יתָ בַצּ֗וּר וְיָצְא֥וּ מִמֶּ֛נּוּ מַ֖יִם וְשָׁתָ֣ה הָעָ֑ם וַיַּ֤עַשׂ כֵּן֙ מֹשֶׁ֔ה לְעֵינֵ֖י זִקְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Io sono per precederti ivi sopra un masso, in Orèb, e batterai quel masso, e n’usciranno acque, ed il popolo berà. - Mosè fece così, alla presenza degli anziani d’Israel.
Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis
[4] Let us see next how a man is said actually to hide himself from God. Were one not to take the language as figurative, it would be impossible to accept the statement, for God fills and penetrates all things, and has left no spot void or empty of His presence. What manner of place then shall a man occupy, in which God is not? The prophet elsewhere bears witness of this saying, “God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath and there is none else but He” (Deut. 4:39). And again, “Here stand I before thou (wert made)” (Exod. 17:6); for before every created thing God is, and is found everywhere, so that no one could possibly hide himself from God. And why should we marvel at this?
On the Birth of Abel and the Sacrifices Offered by him and by his Brother Cain
[67] But if the word has proved swifter than all, much more is it so with Him who speaks, as He testifies in another place. “Here I stand there before thou wast” (Exod. 17:6). He shows hereby that His subsistence is before all created being, and that He who is here exists also there and elsewhere and everywhere, for He has filled all wholly and entirely and left nothing where His presence is not.
On the Confusion of Tongues
[138] But this divine nature which presents itself to us, as visible and comprehensible and everywhere, is in reality invisible, incomprehensible and nowhere.… And so we have the words “Here I stand before thou wast” (Ex. 17:6). “I seem,” He says, “the object of demonstration and comprehension, yet I transcend created things, preceding all demonstration or presentation to the mind.”