Commentary: On Exodus

Moses said to the Lord: See, you say to me . . . and now, if I had found grace in your eyes. (Exodus 33:12–13)

He [R. Maymūn] said: It seems to me, in my humble opinion, that the meaning of these passages is the following:

When the incident of the [golden] calf happened, due to the sins [of the people], and God said to the messenger [Moses], “Leave me alone, for my wrath is burning against them” (Exodus 32:10), the messenger had not yet learned about the [thirteen] attributes of the Holy One [since they are first mentioned in Exodus 34:6–7], such that he might have interceded with Him on behalf [of the people] by mentioning before Him and referring to [the attributes]. Instead, he [Moses] was obliged to intercede by [mentioning] the patriarchs, and he said, “Remember your servants, Abraham, etc.” [Exodus 32:13; see also Deuteronomy 9:27], and he interceded [successfully] then, as it is said [in the next verse]: And the Lord repented of the evil, etc. (Exodus 32:14). 

But the text does not say that He let him [Moses] know that He pardoned them for the punishment they were expecting [to receive], as He did in the case of the spies: “I have pardoned, as you have said” (Numbers 14:20). So he [Moses] was still waiting for their punishment. The proof that he was unaware that [God] had pardoned them is in what he said later: “Now I will go up to the Lord, [perhaps I may win forgiveness for your sin]” (Exodus 32:30). And then he said before God, “But now, if you forgive their sins” (Exodus 32:32), and he continued with, “And if not, blot me out, etc.” (ibid.). And then came God’s answer: “Who is he who sinned against Me, etc.?” (Exodus 32:33)—meaning: don’t rush to their punishment. This did not mean that He would destroy them, as it appeared from His statement: “I will destroy them” (Exodus 32:10), but He did not explain to the messenger that He had already pardoned them. So he [Moses] thought that he had not interceded [successfully], and that the reason was that He did not value intercession through [mentioning] created beings—namely, the patriarchs—as much as He did through [mentioning] the divine attributes. Moreover, God made him even more anxious by making the shekhinah [i.e., the divine presence] depart from them, for He said to him: “I will not go up in your midst, etc.” (Exodus 33:3). Therefore, because of all this, he [Moses] was convinced that he had not interceded [successfully] and wished to know which of the divine attributes could be used for intercession; perhaps he might find grace in His eyes if he interceded before Him by means of these.

And so he tried to win over [God] by beginning with an introduction [see Exodus 33:12–16] before God that might inspire Him to help him with his request, since the introduction was related to God, and not to intercession through created beings.

Before this introduction, he alluded to what he would ask at the end—I mean, the presence of the shekhinah [as Moses wanted the divine presence to continue leading the people]. Therefore, he said, “Now, see, etc.” (Exodus 33:12). Summing up his speech, it was as he said: “You told me: Bring up the people!—This proves that You are concerned with them to some extent. But You did not inform me about the extent and scope of this concern, and it seems to be very little compared with what You told me in the past: I send an angel before you, etc., because I will not go up with you, etc. (Exodus 33:2, 3).” And when he made this allusion, he stopped. He did not announce the request concerning the presence of the shekhinah until he had finished presenting the introduction that would bring [God’s] help with his request. This introduction is what he said: “You [God] said, ‘I know you [Moses] by name, and you have found grace in My eyes.’ That means You have told me this, and it spread among the people, just as it spread among the nations that Your people found grace in Your eyes when they came out of Egypt and when they were promised to enter the land of Canaan. And these words have to be carried out, for God is not a man that He would lie; . . . will He not do what He has said? (Numbers 23:19).”

When he [Moses] had presented this introduction, which necessarily elicited [God’s] help with his request, he began by asking what he aimed at in the first place, that is, to know about the attributes of the Holy One. Therefore, he said: “And You, if I have found grace in Your eyes, as You said to me yourself, show me Your ways (Exodus 33:13), that is, Your attributes—in human terms, mercy or severity, contentedness or anger, slowness or hurry, and the like—that I may know You, so I may find grace in Your eyes, that is, so I may know what Your attributes are and how You therefore behave, so that I may intercede with You by means of them, so that this [intercession] may be stronger and more compelling; regarding if I have found grace in Your eyes, so You grant my request when I ask it from You.”

That is what appears [to me] regarding the saying show me Your ways.