Exodus 33:12

And Mosheh said before the Lord, Lo, what hast Thou said to me, Take this people up? but Thou hast not made me to know whom Thou wilt send with me. By Thy Word Thou hast said, I have ordained thee with a goodly name, and thou hast found favour before Me.

AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE ETERNAL: ‘SEE, THOU SAYEST UNTO ME: BRING UP THIS PEOPLE.’ This happened on Mount Sinai, when Moses went up there on the nineteenth of Tammuz. It was not necessary though for Scripture to say, “and Moses went up to G-d, and he said to him, ‘See, Thou sayest unto me, etc.,’” for it is known that as long as the Glory dwelled upon Mount Sinai, all communications [to Moses] took place there. Similarly Moses said, and now I will go up unto the Eternal, and it is also said, And Moses returned unto the Eternal,, Verse 31. meaning that he returned to the place where he had stood before the Eternal.

AND THOU HAST NOT LET ME KNOW WHOM THOU WILT SEND WITH ME. “And that which You said to me, Behold, I send an angel before thee, — that is not ‘letting me know,’ for I am not satisfied with it.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct to fit this thought into the language of the verse. Besides, why should Moses have said this only now [that he was not satisfied with the angel], and when the matter was communicated to him he remained quiet? Did Moses think to gain because of the incident of the calf? Instead, the purport thereof is as follows: The Holy One, blessed be He, had told Moses here, and I will send an angel before thee, and Moses told Him, Thou has not let me know who is that angel whom Thou wilt send with me, and whether it is that first angel in whom is Thy Name., 23:21. This is the sense of the expression, Yet Thou hast said: I know thee by Name, meaning that You have known me and exalted me by [the knowledge of] Your Name. And so also did Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explain the verse here. In his opinion the angel he [i.e., Moses] wanted was Michael. With his good sense [Ibn Ezra] understood the verses to imply that the first angel was pleasing to Moses and to Israel. He could not, however, know the truth, since he neither heard it [from others] nor did he prophesy it [on his own].

ראה אתה אומר אלי העל, as we know from 32,34 לך נחה את העם,

ואתה לא הודעתני, but You have not informed me about Your going with us, seeing You only spoke about sending an angel. I do not want this, but I want You, personally, to go with us.

ראה, do not turn your face away but take my comment seriously.

אתה אומר אלי העל את העם הזה, when You said to me in verse 1 “lead up this people, etc.,”

ואתה לא הודעתני את אשר תשלח עמי, the promise that You would send an angel with me (verse 2) was to take effect only once the people would enter the land of Canaan, at which time the promise that with the help of the angel we would dispossess the Canaanites would be fulfilled. But, in the meantime, who is going to be our protective force? How can we be without either an angel or Your personal presence? Moreover,

ואתה אמרת ידעתיך בשם, when You paid me such a compliment, surely this did not mean that You will leave me to my own devices on this journey? Surely, such feelings as expressed in Zeacharyah 11,9 where You are quoted as saying: “I am not going to tend you, let the one that is to die die, and the one that is to get lost get lost, and let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” “Surely, You had intended for me to be the angel who leads the people of Israel.”

ואתה לא הודעתני, “and You have not informed me;” Moses means that not only did G–d not inform me of details about the angel which He had said that He would send to walk ahead of the Jewish people (Exodus 32, 34) ; it is not only that You Yourself will not walk in front of us, but You did not even name the angel You have assigned for this task. We are now no better off than any human being on earth, each one of whom has an angel walking in front of him. (Compare Psalms 91,11) where David refers to this with the words: כי מלאכיו יצוה לך לשמר לך בכל דרכיך, “for He will order His angels to guard you wherever you go.” Seeing that this is so, how do I benefit from Your having told me that I have found favour in Your eyes? Even Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, had been assured of the same kind of angel, without having been told by G–d that he had found favour in His eyes? (Compare Genesis 24,7)