John Calvin Commentary Exodus 33:15

"And he said unto him, If thy presence go not [with me], carry us not up hence." — Exodus 33:15 (ASV)

And he said unto him, If thy presence go not—Moses accepts what is accorded to him, while at the same time he indicates that it would be better and more desirable for him to perish in the desert than to go any further without the manifest token of God’s presence.

This he confirms in the following verse, and therefore I have inserted the expletive particle certe (indeed,), although the copula might also be resolved into the causal particle nam (for.).

For he declares that the paternal favor with which God had embraced the people could not be known unless He should remain with them.

They are mistaken who suppose that something different is here indicated from what was said just before, for in exactly the same sense God is said to go before, and to dwell in the midst of His people. But Moses refers to the promise already given, the symbol of which was the Tabernacle of the Covenant, which just before had been removed from its proper place to punish the people’s sin.

What he adds at the end of the verse,³⁶⁹ and we shall be separated, may also be resolved as “that thus we may be separated,” or “because in this way we shall be separated.” From this it is abundantly clear that the favor which is mentioned refers to their election or gratuitous adoption, and is its fruit or effect.

For it was the intention of Moses to restore the Covenant which had been violated by the people to its original force, as if the people were reinstated in that honorable condition from which they had fallen. And surely this is our real happiness after all: to be separated from heathen nations as God’s own property, as it is said in Psalm 106:4, Remember me, O Lord, with the favor that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation.

³⁶⁹ “Le mot que, j’ay translate,. Afin que nous soyons glorifiez, signifie aussi estre separez;” the words which I have translated, signifie aussi estre separez;” the words which I have translated, To the end that we may be glorified, signifies also to be separated. — signifies also to be separated. — Fr.