Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee (see the note at Exodus 23:20 ): behold, mine Angel shall go before thee. Though the Israelites should still continue an elect people, and the promise of their settlement in Canaan be fulfilled, they were threatened, as a punishment of their heinous offence, with a privation of their most distinguished honour-the presence and guidance of their covenanted Lord and King. [The term mal'aakiy (H4397), indeed, is used here, which has already occurred in various passages (Exodus 14:19; Exodus 23:20-23) in application to the Revealing Angel, Yahweh; but it appears (Exodus 33:3) He who had hitherto accompanied them announced His intended withdrawal in future, leaving the office of guide to be performed by some inferior agent (cf. Exodus 33:2-3, with Exodus 23:21) - whether the cloudy pillar alone or a created angel cannot be determined.] This threatened calamity, however, at the intercession of Moses, and on the repentance of the people, was averted.
Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. [The verb paaqad (H6485), when spoken of the divine procedure to His people, frequently signifies to visit with kindness (Exodus 3:16; Exodus 4:31; Genesis 21:1; Genesis 50:24; 1 Samuel 2:21; Psalms 8:5; Isaiah 23:17); but sometimes in the afflictive dispensations of Providence (Job 31:14; Job 35:15); at other times in a judicial manner (Psalms 59:5; Isaiah 26:14; Jeremiah 9:25; Jeremiah 44:13), especially the idolatry of the Israelites (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Psalms 89:32-33); Hosea 1:4; Hosea 2:15; Hosea 4:9; Amos 3:14). It is used in the latter sense here; and "the day" when judgment is inflicted denotes a period when, by a long accumulation of national sins, and the festering of deep-seated corruption, a people's iniquities being full, the vials of divine wrath are poured out upon them with overwhelming destruction.] Several such crises of desolating judgments occurred in the national history of Israel (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:51). "I will visit (this) their sin upon them." The Jewish people themselves believe that this denunciation was carried into effect; for it has been a traditional saying among them, handed down from that time to the present, that no national disaster ever befel the nation, but it had an ounce of the golden calf in it.