The general significance of angels has been discussed in a previous chapter.[13] It is to be noted, however, that the notion prevailed that various nations were presided over by special angels delegated for that purpose. Thus Israel was conceived as having been led out of Egypt through the agency of an angel, who was furthermore entrusted with the task of leading the people to the land of Canaan. But angels, as we have previously shown, were conceived of as not having any discretionary power, and this angel of the covenant was only entrusted with leading Israel to the Land of Promise if the people would be faithful to the covenant. In the case of any infidelity they had been specifically warned "He will not pardon your transgression." With the sin of the golden calf, therefore, Moses at first fears that Israel is totally doomed, but he is reassured by God's statement that the punishment which must come will be meted out to each individual sinner on the "day when I visit" and will not involve the immediate destruction of the whole people; that on the contrary, the angel would continue to lead them to their land. But this no longer satisfies Moses. The sin of the golden calf had convinced him that the people were too weak to live up to the covenant that they had accepted at Sinai, and that if their destiny was to be presided over, as that of other peoples, by an angel, who could not forgive any breach of the covenant, they were sure to be destroyed. He, therefore, pleads for a more intimate relation with God, which would exempt Israel from the operations of the natural law of retribution, by providing for the people's forgiveness in view of the higher tasks that it undertook to perform without apparently possessing higher qualifications. If Israel is merely to be led to the realization of its secular destiny through the conquest of Canaan, but is not to be more closely identified with God's cause, by God's going in their midst, Moses prefers to stay in the wilderness. (Exodus 33. 15.) God's declaring, "I will not go up in the midst of thee", (Exodus 33. 3) although it comes immediately after God's renewal of the promise to send His angel to lead Israel to the land of Canaan, is made the occasion of mourning and repentance. Moses removes his tent, in which he was wont to commune with God, and which was consequently known as the Ohel Moed, "The Tent of Meeting," (see Rashi and Ibn Ezra ad loc.), from the camp, upon the principle, according to Rashi, that מְנֻדֶּה לָרַב מְנֻדֶּה לַתַּלְמִיד "The disciple must have no dealings with one who is under the ban of the master." God's refusal to enter the camp of Israel, Moses construes as obligating also his own withdrawal from the camp. Here he pleads with God for a clearer knowledge of His ways that he may be able to lead the people as God had charged him to do. He wants God to make known to him the angel whom He had determined to send with him. It is then that he receives the