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Exodus 34:5–9
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (vv. 6–7).
God promised to reveal Himself to Moses in a fuller way than Moses had yet seen after the prophet interceded for the Israelites following their idolatry (Ex. 33:18–23). Specifically, the Lord pledged to show Moses all His “goodness” (v. 19). This indicates that God’s revelation to Moses would focus on aspects of the divine nature especially associated with divine goodness. In today’s passage, we see that the Lord did just that.
When our Creator passed before Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave His covenant name, Yahweh (“the Lord”), and then unfolded the significance of that covenant name by declaring first of all that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:5–7). The placement and extensive listing of these attributes first is significant. It demonstrates that the Lord’s mercy does not have to be coaxed out of Him as if He were reluctant to show it. Indeed, God ever stands ready to extend forgiveness to sinful human beings. Jonah understood this well; he did not want to go to Nineveh and preach to the Assyrians because he knew certainly that the Lord would pardon the enemies of Israel if they turned from their evil (Jonah 4:2). God’s mercy is abundant and available without limitation to all who return to Him (1 John 1:8–10). The Lord, in fact, loves to pardon people, to save them from sin and death. He is “slow to anger” (Ex. 34:6), not given to immediately vent the full measure of His righteous wrath but showing patience so that people will repent (Rom. 2:4). He is quick to forgive, full of love, and faithful to His promises (Ex. 34:7).
Although God emphasizes attributes that fall under the umbrella of “goodness” in today’s passage, He also adds a reminder of His greatness. God’s love is not sentimentality or indulgence, for we must remember that He is holy and just, and He does not pardon the guilt of those who persist in their sin; nor does He forgive those who impenitently repeat the sins of their forefathers (Ex. 34:7). Ultimately, in fact, all of God’s attributes are one; He makes distinctions between them for the sake of our understanding, but we cannot partition off His attributes as if they were separable aspects of His being. Our Creator, as the greatest thinkers of Christian history have confessed, is simple. That is, His attributes are identical with His nature, and unlike changeable creatures, He cannot gain or lose any of them.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Matthew Henry comments on what we learn from the twin revelation of God’s goodness and greatness: “His greatness and goodness illustrate and set off each other. That the terror of his greatness may not make us afraid, we are told how good he is; and, that we may not presume upon his goodness, we are told how great he is.”
FOR FURTHER STUDY
- Numbers 14:18
- 1 John 3