Hear his marvelous reply. Instead of jumping at the offer contained in the words, “I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they”—instead of eagerly grasping at the golden opportunity of laying the foundation of his personal fame and fortune, he sets himself completely aside, and replies in accents of the most noble disinterestedness. “And Moses said unto the Lord, ‘Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for Thou broughtest up this people in Thy might from among them;) and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that Thou, Lord, art among this people; that Thou, Lord, art seen face to face; and that Thy cloud standeth over them; and that Thou goest before them, by day-time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if Thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness.’” (Ver. 13-16.)
Here Moses takes the very highest ground. He is wholly occupied about the Lord’s glory. He cannot endure the thought that the lustre of that glory should be tarnished in the view of the nations of the uncircumcised. What though he should become a head and a founder? What though future millions should look back to him as their illustrious progenitor? If all this personal glory and greatness was only to be purchased by the sacrifice of a single ray of divine glory,—what then? Away with it all. Let the name of Moses be blotted out forever. He had said as much in the days of the _calf_, and he was ready to repeat it in the days of the _captain_. In the face of the superstition and independence of an unbelieving nation, the heart of Moses throbbed _only_ for the glory of God. That must be guarded at all cost. Come what may—cost what it may, the glory of the Lord must be maintained. Moses felt it was impossible for any thing to be right if the basis were not laid firmly down in the strict maintenance of the glory of the God of Israel. To think of himself made great at God’s expense was perfectly insufferable to the heart of this blessed man of God. He could not endure that the name which he loved so well should be blasphemed among the nations, or that it should ever be said by any one, “The Lord was not able.”
But there was another thing which lay near the disinterested heart of Moses. He thought of the people; he loved and cared for them. Jehovah’s glory, no doubt, stood uppermost; but Israel’s blessing stood next. “And now,” he adds, “I beseech Thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as Thou hast spoken, saying, ‘The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.’ Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of Thy mercy, and as Thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.” (Ver. 17-19.)
This is uncommonly fine. The order, the tone, and the spirit of this entire appeal are most exquisite. There is, first and chiefest of all, a jealous care for the Lord’s glory. This must be fenced round about on every side. But then it is on this very ground, namely, the maintenance of the divine glory, that pardon is sought for the people. The two things are linked together in the most blessed way in this intercession. “Let the _power_ of my Lord be great.” To what end? Judgment and destruction? Nay; “The Lord is _long-suffering_.” What a thought! The power of God in long-suffering and pardon! How unspeakably precious! How intimate was Moses with the very heart and mind of God when he could speak in such a strain! and how does he stand in contrast with Elijah, on Mount Horeb, when he made intercession _against_ Israel! We can have little question as to which of these two honored men was most in harmony with the mind and spirit of Christ. “Pardon, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of Thy mercy.” These words were grateful to the ear of Jehovah, who delights in dispensing pardon. “And the Lord said, ‘I have pardoned, according to thy word.’” And then He adds, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
Let the reader carefully note these two statements; they are absolute and unqualified.—“I have pardoned,” and, “All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” Nothing could, by any possibility, touch these grand facts. The _pardon_ is secured, and the _glory_ shall yet shine forth over all the earth. No power of earth or hell, men or devils, can ever interfere with the divine integrity of these two precious statements. Israel shall rejoice in the plenary pardon of their God, and all the earth shall yet bask in the bright sunshine of His glory.