EXODUS 33:16 — KING JAMES VERSION 1 0
“For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”
How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? The distinguishing factor — the only mark that sets Israel apart from all other peoples — is divine presence. Not the law, not the land, not the covenant rites: the presence of God. The distinction established in the plague of darkness (Israel had light) and confirmed at the sea (Israel passed through) is here identified theologically: what makes Israel distinct is that the God who separated darkness from light also travels with His people. 1 Peter 2:9 says you are a chosen people — the distinctiveness is the presence.
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