What the Mediator Asks For

We have seen throughout these chapters that the relationship between God and Israel is utterly dependent on the relationship between God and Moses. Like it or not (and you should like it), the Almighty's attitude toward Israel is a function of His attitude toward the mediator who stands between Him and Israel. That theme has surfaced in a major way in the previous sections of the golden calf narrative, but it is, if possible, even more prominent in the verses before us. God speaks to Moses and tells him that what God is going to do He is going to do for Moses in particular, on the basis of His grace toward Moses as an individual. God's work for His people is predicated on His grace toward the Mediator.