He [Moses] said, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord [Adonai], I pray, let the Lord [Adonai] go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.” (Exodus 34:9)

While Moses was receiving the Law from God on Mt. Sinai over the course of 40 days (Ex 24:18), the people turned away from God to idolatry (Ex 32:1-6), breaking the first of the commandments Moses was receiving: “I am the LORD your God … You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol … you shall not worship them or serve them …” (Ex 20:2-5). How quickly do people abandon God, whom they cannot see, for man-made images they can see and touch!

The Lord had pre-warned Moses of this betrayal of loyalty and sent Moses down “at once” (Ex 32:7) to convey His message: “Let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you [Moses] a great nation” (Ex 32:10). Moses, in his absolute loyalty and devotion to God, intercedes—not on behalf of the people, but on behalf of God! If God were to destroy the Jews, Moses pleaded, the Egyptians would think Him to be an evil god who simply devised the exodus from Egypt as a means of killing them. As a result, “The LORD changed His mind.” But Moses was mad at the people, throwing down the newly minted tablets of the Law, shattering them to shards (Ex 32:14).

A short time later, we find Moses again pleading with God to forgive the people or to take his life instead. In the end, God did destroy some of the people, the ones who actively engaged in the idol worship, but spared the innocent ones. God then said He would send an angel before them into the Promised Land, implying that He Himself would not go with them. Moses responded, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, O LORD, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession” (Ex 34:9, see also Ex 33:12-18).

After Moses replaced the tablets on Mt. Sinai, he saw the Lord as being “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth…” (Ex 34:6). He therefore appealed again to the Lord, as Adonai (which carries the sense of a master with authority), to go with Israel despite their being obstinate.

Lord Adonai, You have the power and strength to lead me, despite the weakness of my loyalty and resolve in following You.