We are in chapter thirty-three of Exodus with our word for today which is a phrase used for the first time in the Bible. יְדַעְתִּ֣יךָֽ בְשֵׁ֔ם I know you by name. It is used 2 times in the Old Testament, both in our chapter. Let’s look at both of these uses. Exodus 33:12, 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, יְדַעְתִּ֣יךָֽ בְשֵׁ֔ם ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight … And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, וָאֵדָעֲךָ֖ בְּשֵֽׁם and I know you by name.” As we have been looking for a few days now Moses intercession for the people. What is great about his prayer is that he reminds God what he has said to Moses before about himself, his name, reputation, his heart and inner life which make up someone’s character. This was something that God had said to Moses in the past that we only have recorded here. And Moses pull it out to appeal to God’s grace that God knows Moses heart that he loves God and the people and wants them to be together. This is why Moses has been praying for God’s presence to go with them. Then we see God use the phrase that Moses quoted as if to say I’m doing this because of our relationship. This shows us how important intercession is on behalf of others as well as being honest with God and letting him transform our hearts into His likeness. Although these are the only two places where our phrase is used we see this theme throughout the Bible. Here are some examples. 1 Chronicles 28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Hebrews 4:13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. I’ll close with this beautiful Psalm that combines God’s intimate knowledge of us and his love for us. Psalm 139:1-16 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
