And he said, my presence, &c.— Condescending to the intercession of Moses, the Lord promises that his presence, as usual, shall go with him, and give [Israel] that rest in the promised land which they sought. Le Clerc renders this verse, if my presence shall go with thee, wilt thou be at rest? Wilt thou be satisfied? Which, though rather a harsh translation of the Hebrew, seems to agree well with the answer of Moses; who, expressing (Exodus 33:15.) the highest estimation for the Divine Presence, entreats that, if this be denied, they might not stir from the place where they now were: for, he goes on to observe, it was by Jehovah's presence alone that their grand distinction and separation from other people was discovered: and in this view, the 16th verse should be rendered thus, For, whereby shall it be plainly known, that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Will it not be by thy going with us?—So shall we be distinguished or separated, (i.e. by thy going with us,) I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. We subjoin what Houbigant observes on this passage, of which the following is an exact translation: "My presence," says he, "is the same as myself. God had before denied, in the 3rd verse, that he would go in the midst of this stiff-necked-people; therefore something else is now treated of, or God would contradict himself: wherefore Moses subjoins, unless thy Presence go with us, carry us not hence: as much as to say, 'To have brought us out of Egypt by a thousand miracles, would not be of great consequence, unless thou thyself wouldst come and dwell among us; for this people, whom thou refusest to bring up, is not worthy of such mighty miracles.' In consequence of which, Moses wishes that God would be with us, עמנו immanu; and afterwards in the 17th verse God grants his petition, saying, even this thing which thou hast spoken will I do; promising not only that his Presence should go before them, (for that was granted to Moses in the 14th verse; and the words, even this thing, prove that something new was promised,) but also that he would be God with us or Emmanuel; and would hereafter have a people, whom he would make far more glorious above other people, than they who now were the adumbration of them. After God had promised this to Moses, he earnestly entreats the Lord that he would shew him his glory; i.e. that he would shew himself to him in that character of Emmanuel, in which he was hereafter to appear: to which petition God immediately replies, Exodus 33:19 that he would cause all his goodness to pass before him, i.e. would represent to him all that beneficence which, as God with us, he would exhibit in future times; and then, that he himself would invoke, or call upon the name of Jehovah; that is, would himself pray for mortals; and, sustaining this Person, would be gracious to whom he would be gracious; not only to that people from whom Moses departed, fixing his tabernacle without the camp; but to others, whom he would choose from the whole world as his peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9. Lastly, in the 20th verse, he declares that his face cannot be seen by any mortal; for he who is the Brightness of his Father's glory, dwelleth in light unapproachable: he assents therefore so far to the last petition of Moses, as to shew himself such to him, as he was to be seen by mortals in after-times; Thou shalt see my back-parts, or that last state in which I shall be seen by mortals, the last revelation of myself; as the ancient writers of the church understood the words: which adumbrations of future things they who do not see, have the vail upon their hearts; denying that which Christ affirmed, that Moses wrote many things concerning him."
Le Clerc very much admires here the inconstancy of the Hebrew language, Moses requesting to see the glory of God, though he had before his eyes that cloudy pillar, which is every where called the glory of God: but, upon our interpretation, that objection is removed: besides, 1st, the cloud is called in this chapter the pillar of cloud, and not the glory of God: and, although it were called so, Moses would signify, by his desire to see the glory of God when this cloud was present, that another glory of God was adumbrated in the cloud or obscurity: nor, secondly, is a language to be accused of inconstancy, because it does not always use the same word for the same thing; for this is the nature of all languages.