Exodus 34:9 - Exposition

If now I have found grace in thy sight . The vision vouchsafed him makes Moses feel that he has indeed been received into favour with God. The first use which it occurs to him to make of his position is to intercede anew for his people, he, apparently, forgets that God has already promised to go with them ( Exodus 33:17 ), and prefers exactly the same request which he had made on the preceding day, and which had been granted. To this he adds a prayer for pardon , and a request that God would take Israel for his inheritance . The last phrase is a new one, but expresses perhaps no more than has been implied in such phrases as "thy people, which thou hast purchased" ( Exodus 15:16 )—"ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me" ( Exodus 19:5 ).