There’s a great deal happening here and I’ll only discuss a portion of it, so feel free to read the full chapter for yourself.
“For the Lord had said to Moses, ‘Say to the people of Israel, “You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you.” ‘ Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you say to me, “Bring up this people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.” Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ And he said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’ ” (v5a,12-17)
As difficult as this passage is to follow, I find it fascinating and important to understand. God declares Israel to be a “stiff-necked people” since they are in a nearly-constant state of rebellion and have hearts that are slow to change. God says He’ll send His angel to lead them into the promised land, however His presence will not go with them lest it consume (destroy) them (for He is a Holy God, and the people are impertinent). There are nearly 1.2 million people here, and they demonstrated through their idolatry that they didn’t want anything to do with Him – it’s no wonder God was ready to let the people go on without Him.
Moses intercedes for the people before God, asking that if God finds favor with him, He would not let the people move on without being fully present. Moses correctly identifies that God is the only distinguishing factor between Israel and the other people groups, and there isn’t any point in going forward if God is not with them. Despite the fact only a select few (almost exclusively Moses and Joshua at this point) had found favor in God’s eyes, God grants Moses his request and agrees to go with them.
Moses’ actions here are a critical part of the gospel – praying for and interceding for the lost. Moses is is God’s “fisher of men”, who does everything he can (in obedience to God) to reach these people, as well as doing everything he can to intercede for the people before God. God may have wiped out the entire nation if it wasn’t for Moses’ multiple intercessions, and the entire nation may have stayed lost (enslaved) if it wasn’t for Moses’ obedience.
We are called to a similar role in the NT – to be God’s representative to people here on earth, and a representative of the people before God. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Tim 2:1-6)
Paul makes it perfectly clear that we are called to be God’s people so we can pray for others, that they may come to the knowledge of the truth. Did you think we were called to be God’s people so that we as individuals could be saved? That’s only a small part of it – the bigger reason is so we can be God’s representatives and mouthpieces for others to meet Him. We are to take on Jesus’ mission: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Lk 5:32, 19:10) And Paul’s heart: “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” (Rom 10:1)
Father God, we come before You today on behalf of those who do not yet know You as Father, and those who once called You Father but have gotten lost along the way. Our heart’s desire is that You would please make Your face shine upon them, that the glory of Your presence be made known to them. May Your mediator, Jesus Christ be visible in and through each of us as we are Your hands and mouthpieces in this world. Please send us to those who You are preparing for Your kingdom, and please ransom those whose atonement has not yet occurred. May all come to knowledge of the Way, the Truth and the Life, and may You abundantly bless them with Your grace and mercy.
~ Conqueror in Training