Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, Chapter 33 · Questions · Question 26
QUEST. XXVI. How the Lord is said to know Moses by name.
I Know thee by name. 1. This is spoken humanitus, according to the custome of men, who know many by their face, whom they know not by name; but Princes and great men doe know by name, and specially marke and regard those which doe attend upon them: and so the Lord saith thus much in effect, Novi te tanqu…m Ministrum, &c. I know thee as my Minister and servant, whom I often use, Oleaster. So the Lord also is said to know Moses by name, because he was in great reputation and favour with him, Tostatus. And that hee had chosen him out of many for his service, Calvin. And God is said to know them that please him, and not to know those which offend him: Non quia ignorat, sed quia non approbat; Not because he knoweth them not, but doth not approve them, Augustine.Quaest. 155.
2. God therefore herein sheweth what singular regard he had of Moses, in respect of his knowledge, God knoweth all men, yea all things by their names, as the Prophet saith, Esay 40.26. Who hath created these things, and calleth them by their names; Non pr…dissent ad esse, nisi ea Deus vocasset ad esse; For nothing could have a being, unlesse God had called it to have a being, Tostat. qu. 13. But God in respect of his grace and favour, tooke speciall notice of Moses, whom he vouchsafed to speake with face to face.
3. God hath then a common knowledge of all his creatures, but a peculiar of his elect. Concerning his common knowledge: Some have thought that God hath not, particularium cognitionem, the knowledge of particular things, but as he knoweth his owne essence. Some, as Avicenna, that God knoweth, singularia universaliter, particular things universally, in respect of their generall causes, not of the particular effects. As if a man were skilfull in the celestiall globe, he might foresee the particular eclipses in their causes, though he see them not in particular. But we are not so to thinke of God, for nothing is hid from his knowledge, be it never so particular, as our Saviour sheweth in the Gospell,Matth. 10.29. 1.36. q. in 1 Cor. 9. art. 2. that the sparrow cannot light upon the earth without our heavenly Father, Thomas.
But beside this common and generall knowledge of the creatures, God taketh speciall notice of men, and among them of the elect; He is the Saviour of all men, but especially of those that beleeve. 1 Tim. 4.5.The Lord knoweth the wicked, but as a Judge to condemne them, suas novit ut pater, ut servet; hee knoweth his owne as a father to save them, Borrh.
4. Yea, and among all the Lords people, Moses was of speciall grace with God: that whereas the people of Israel were not knowne in their owne name, but in the names of Abraham, Isaak and Iacob: Moses was knowne of God in his owne name, etiamsi non esset filius, although hee had not beene the son of Abraham, &c. Cajetan. And as the proper name sheweth some speciall propertie, so God had given him, specialem gratiam prae caeteris, speciall grace beyond others, Pelarg.
5. Procopius addeth further, that God hath a double knowledge; one whereby hee knoweth everie thing, and this knowledge, neque recipit magis, nec minus, is neither more nor lesse; hee knoweth all things alike: there is another knowledge, whereby the Lord only knoweth them that know him, as the Apostle saith, The Lord knoweth who are his. And of this reciprocall knowledge, the Apostle speaketh in another place, Seeing yee know God, or rather, are knowne of God, Galat. 4.9. And this knowledge is divers, varie cognoscit Deus, God in divers degrees knoweth those which know him, as hee is diversly knowne of them.
6. Rupertus further here hath this note; it was no great a matter for Moses to be knowne of God, and called by his name Moses; for the Lord also called Pharaoh by his name; Et nunquid in regno ejus hujusmodi vocabulis indigebemus? And shall we need any such names in his kingdome? Therefore in that he saith, I know thee by name; it must be understood in nomine Dei, in the name of God, which is called upon over thee; for by this name is everie one knowne, that is, written in the booke of life, as it is said, Apocal. 3.12. I will write upon …im the name of my God, &c.