The Perishat this week begins with Ex 33:12 and the brash request of Moshe: Who are you sending to lead us? For in Ex 23:20 Yhwh says to Moshe, "I will send a Malach to lead you." But Moshe wanted Yhwh only and not a messenger or archangel Michael (as Ramban suggests) because he knows according to Rashi that only Yhwh can bestow "Chen" (33:13). “Only you can give us stiffnecked people Chen." Chen is Mercy from straying … only You Yhwh are able to bring us back to the path.
So Yhwh and Moshe don’t end negotiating Yhwh says “my face (pne) will go with you but Ramban says this means Shekinah, "But still Moshe is not satisfied. "We need more". Yhwh is not angry and says Gam (Also) I will lead you, because I have singled you out for mercy (Chen).
But then still Moshe isn’t done! He says: I want to see your cavod (glory/shining), YHWH says “I will make my tovim (goods) pass before you (col tovim- all of my goodness) And you will receive Chen and Rachama (mercy and the love like a mother for her child (compassion))
So Chen is stated by Yhwh to Moshe three times
Vs 13, 17,19. Yhwh gives three measures of Chen:
Chen with his face (vs. 14)
Chen with his singling us out (vs. 17)
Chen with putting his name on us (vs. 19)
When he “puts his name on us”, then the Rachama attaches- He loves us with an everlasting love and one that is not possible to ever be broken (mother’s love for her baby - Rachama comes from the birth vocabulary)
Moshe wants more, he wants sensory overload by seeing the Cavod. Rashi comments further and says "Maqom (the place in the rock) isn’t 'I am in the place', but 'The place is by me' meaning that Yhwh isn’t in a place." Yhwh is the place because, the Holy One blessed be He, is the universe or the infinite and cannot inhabit a place or location. “Because the senses only feel or see that which is transient” -Ibn Ezra. “The Messenger only speaks for the one who sent the Messenger.” “Therefore it was not Yhwh in the burning bush but a messenger.” Rabbi Ibn Ezra argues, why would Moshe keeps asking to see Yhwh if he already saw him in the burning bush?
You will see my back? "Achoree" Rabbi Chizkuni says, this was an aura of light (as in why Moshe’s face shown or the light emanated up like horns on his head- Michaelangelo’s interpretation). So Yeshua’s words in John 3 are interesting, "No one has seen Yhwh …" Moshe still only saw the light emanating from Yhwh passing by - as if Yhwh can pass by (a very human response or description). No one has seen Yhwh even Moshe even at the burning bush and even in the rock. Yet Yeshua makes an exception right? No one has “ascended to heaven” except he who descended who is Bene Enosh. But who is bene Enosh?) (Enosh is the Hebrew word in Daniel used in the phrase Son of man- not Adam. Why is Enosh used? Because the son of Enosh is who in Genesis …eventually Enoch. What does Enoch say? It contains a description of the Son of Man as pre-existent. [46.1-4] "And there I saw the One to Whom belongs the time before time, and His head was white like wool. With Him was another being, whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels." So Yeshua is saying that the Son of Man ( the second power in Heaven descended). It is curious that the description is mirrored almost word for word in Revelation 1.
Yet Moshe wants no part of anyone except Yhwh as HaShem has revealed the Tetragrammaton according to the sages (Yod Heh Vav Heh). In verse 33:17 “you will know my name”. The book of Enoch1 was very popular reading in the first century. Most people think Yeshua was referring only to Daniel but this is clearly misguided. The concept of the "Son of Man" is from Enoch, Daniel, Ezekiel and the Dead Sea Scrolls. All which were known to the Israelites and taught as required in grade school which all children (boys and girls) attended by decree of Queen Salome Alexandra up until a certain age. Enoch is pervasive throughout the “New Testament”. Enoch is in the gospels and Paul and Peter and Jude and revelation. It is an origin text!
That digression helps us to go back to the original text and say what was Moshe talking about, which is why did he not accept the face or the messenger or the angel or the name. Why did he keep Pushing? That is the question to ponder this week of Passover.