Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 34:5
And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
5. and he (Moses) took his stand (cf. v. 2) with him there, and called upon the name of Jehovah ] i.e. invoked Him in worship. The marg. must be followed: the subject of the verbs is Moses (see Exo 33:21). The sequel follows in v. 10. Called upon is lit. ‘called with,’ i.e. used the name in invocation: so Gen 4:26; Gen 12:8; Gen 13:4; Gen 21:33 al. In the cloud; in the cloudy pillar, which ordinarily stood up in the air above the mount, but came down to the top of it when God spake with Moses. See Exo 33:9; Num 11:17,25. Stood with him there, to wit, in the mount, Exo 34:2,4, and the clift of a rock, Exo 33:22, which was in the mount, and near the top of it, as appears by comparing these places together. 5. the Lord descended in thecloudAfter graciously hovering over the tabernacle, it seemsto have resumed its usual position on the summit of the mount. It wasthe shadow of God manifest to the outward senses; and, at the sametime, of God manifest in the flesh. The emblem of a cloud seems tohave been chosen to signify that, although He was pleased to makeknown much about himself, there was more veiled from mortal view. Itwas to check presumption and engender awe and give a humble sense ofhuman attainments in divine knowledge, as now man sees, but darkly. And the Lord descended in the cloud,…. The same with the cloudy pillar, which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before, Ex 19:9:
and stood with him there; not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:
and proclaimed the name of the Lord: Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,
“and Moses called on or in the name of the Word of the Lord;”
and so the Vulgate Latin version refers it to Moses, and renders the words, “calling on the name of the Lord”; but the following verse clearly shows that it must be understood of the Lord, and not of Moses.
5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. No sooner had Moses got to the top of the mount than God gave him the meeting (v. 5): The Lord descended, by some sensible token of his presence, and manifestation of his glory. His descending bespeaks his condescension; he humbles himself to take cognizance of those that humble themselves to walk with him. Ps. cxiii. 6, Lord, what is man, that he should be thus visited? He descended in the cloud, probably that pillar of cloud which had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met Moses at the door of the tabernacle. This cloud was to strike an awe upon Moses, that the familiarity he was admitted to might not breed contempt. The disciples feared, when they entered the cloud. His making a cloud his pavilion intimated that, though he made known much of himself, yet there was much more concealed. Now observe, I. How God proclaimed his name (Exo 34:6; Exo 34:7): he did it in transitu–as he passed by him. Fixed views of God are reserved for the future state; the best we have in this world are transient. God now was performing what he had promised Moses, the day before, that his glory should pass by, ch. xxxiii. 22. He proclaimed the name of the Lord, by which he would make himself known. He had made himself known to Moses in the glory of his self-existence and self-sufficiency when he proclaimed that name, I am that I am; now he makes himself known in the glory of his grace, and goodness, and all-sufficiency to us. Now that God is about to publish a second edition of the law he prefaces it with this proclamation; for it is God’s grace or goodness that gives the law, especially the remedial law. The pardon of Israel’s sin in worshipping the calf was now to pass the seals; and God, by this declaration, would let them know that he pardoned ex mero motu–merely out of his own good pleasure, not for their merits’ sake, but from his own inclination to forgive. The proclaiming of it denotes the universal extent of God’s mercy. He is not only good to Israel, but good to all; let all take notice of it. He that hath an ear, let him hear, and know, and believe, 1. That the God with whom we have to do is a great God. He is Jehovah, the Lord, who has his being of himself, and is the fountain of all being, Jehovah-El, the Lord, the strong God, a God of almighty power himself, and the original of all power. This is prefixed before the display of his mercy, to teach us to think and to speak even of God’s grace and goodness with great seriousness and a holy awe, and to encourage us to depend upon these mercies; they are not the mercies of a man, that is frail and feeble, false and fickle, but the mercies of the Lord, the Lord God; therefore sure mercies, and sovereign mercies, mercies that may be trusted, but not tempted. 2. That he is a good God. 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. Many words are here heaped up, to acquaint us with, and convince us of, God’s goodness, and to show how much his goodness is both his glory and his delight, yet without any tautology. (1.) He is merciful. This bespeaks his tender compassion, like that of a father to his children. This is put first, because it is the first wheel in all the instances of God’s good-will to fallen man, whose misery makes him an object of pity, Jdg 10:16; Isa 63:9. Let us not then have either hard thoughts of God or hard hearts towards our brethren. (2.) He is gracious. This bespeaks both freeness and kindness; it intimates not only that he has a compassion to his creatures, but a complacency in them and in doing good to them, and this of his own good-will, and not for the sake of any thing in them. His mercy is grace, free grace; this teaches us to be not only pitiful, but courteous, 1 Pet. iii. 8. (3.) He is long-suffering. This is a branch of God’s goodness which the wickedness of sinners gives occasion for; that of Israel had done so: they had tried his patience, and experienced it. He is long-suffering, that is, he is slow to anger, and delays the execution of his justice; he waits to be gracious, and lengthens out the offers of his mercy. (4.) He is abundant in goodness and truth. This bespeaks plentiful goodness, goodness abounding above our deserts, above our conception and expression. The springs of mercy are always full, the streams of mercy always flowing; there is mercy enough in God, enough for all, enough for each, enough for ever. It bespeaks promised goodness, goodness and truth put together, goodness engaged by promise, and his faithfulness pledged for the security of it. He not only does good, but by his promise he raises our expectation of it, and even binds himself to show mercy. (5.) He keepeth mercy for thousands. This denotes, [1.] Mercy extended to thousands of persons. When he gives to some, still he keeps for others, and is never exhausted; he has mercy enough for all the thousands of Israel, when they shall multiply as the sand. [2.] Mercy entailed upon thousands of generations, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come; nay, the line of it is drawn parallel with that of eternity itself. (6.) He for giveth iniquity, transgression, and sin. Pardoning mercy is specified, because in this divine grace is most magnified, and because in this divine grace is most magnified, and because it is this which opens the door to all other gifts of his divine grace, and because of this he had lately given a very pregnant proof. He forgives offences of all sorts–iniquity, transgression, and sin, multiplies his pardons; and with him is plenteous redemption. 3. That he is a just and holy God. For, (1.) He will by no means clear the guilty. Some read it so as to express a mitigation of wrath, even when he does punish: When he empties, he will not make quite desolate; that is, “He does not proceed to the greatest extremity, till there be no remedy.” As we read it, we must expound it that he will by no means connive at the guilty, as if he took no notice of their sin. Or, he will not clear the impenitently guilty, that go on still in their trespasses: he will not clear the guilty without some satisfaction to his justice, and necessary vindications of the honour of his government. (2.) He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. He may justly do it, for all souls are his, and there is a malignity in sin that taints the blood. He sometimes will do it, especially for the punishment of idolaters. Thus he shows his hatred to sin, and displeasure against it; yet he keepeth not his anger for ever, but visits to the third and fourth generation only, while he keepeth his mercy for thousands. Well, this is God’s name for ever, and this is his memorial unto all generations. II. How Moses received this declaration which God made of himself, and of his grace and mercy. It should seem as if Moses accepted this as a sufficient answer to his request that God would show him his glory; for we read not that he went into the cleft of the rock, whence to gain a sight of God’s back parts. Perhaps this satisfied him, and he desired no more; as we read not that Thomas did thrust his hand into Christ’s side, though Christ invited him to do it. God having thus proclaimed his name, Moses says, “It is enough, I expect no more till I come to heaven;” at least he did not think fit to relate what he saw. Now we are here told, 1. What impression it made upon him: Moses made haste, and bowed his head, v. 8. Thus he expressed, (1.) His humble reverence and adoration of God’s glory, giving him the honour due to that name he had thus proclaimed. Even the goodness of God must be looked upon by us with a profound veneration and holy awe. (2.) His joy in this discovery which God had made of himself, and his thankfulness for it. We have reason gratefully to acknowledge God’s goodness to us, not only in the real instances of it, but in the declarations he has made of it by his word; not only that he is, and will be, gracious to us, but that he is pleased to let us know it. (3.) His holy submission to the will of God, made known in this declaration, subscribing to his justice as well as mercy, and putting himself and his people Israel under the government and direction of such a God as Jehovah had now proclaimed himself to be. Let this God be our God for ever and ever. 2. What improvement he made of it. He immediately grounded a prayer upon it (v. 9); and a more earnest affectionate prayer it is, (1.) For the presence of God with his people Israel in the wilderness: “I pray thee, go among us, for thy presence is all in all to our safety and success.” (2.) For pardon of sin: “O pardon our iniquity and our sin, else we cannot expect thee to go among us.” And, (3.) For the privileges of a peculiar people: “Take us for thy inheritance, which thou wilt have a particular eye to, and concern for, and delight in.” These things God had already promised, and given Moses assurances of, and yet he prays for them, not as doubting the sincerity of God’s grants, but as one solicitous for the ratification of them. God’s promises are intended, not to supersede, but to direct and encourage, prayer. Those who have some good hopes, through grace, that their sins are pardoned, must yet continue to pray for pardon, for the renewing of their pardon, and the clearing of it more and more to their souls. The more we see of God’s goodness the more ashamed we should be of our own sins, and the more earnest for an interest in it. God had said, in the close of the proclamation, that he would visit the iniquity upon the children; and Moses here deprecates that. “Lord, do not only pardon it to them, but to their children, and let our covenant-relation to thee be entailed upon our posterity, as an inheritance.” Thus Moses, like a man of a truly public spirit, intercedes even for the children that should be born. But it is a strange plea he urges: For it is a stiff-necked people. God had given this as a reason why he would not go along with them, ch. xxxiii. 3. “Yea,” says Moses, “the rather go along with us; for the worse they are the more need they have of thy presence and grace to make them better.” Moses sees them so stiff-necked that, for his part, he has neither patience nor power enough to deal with them. “Therefore, Lord, do thou go among us, else they will never be kept in awe. Thou wilt spare, and bear with them, for thou art God, and not man,” Hos. xi. 9. 5. And the Lord descended in the cloud It is by no means to be doubted but that the cloud received Moses into it in the sight of the people, so that, after having been separated from the common life of men for forty days, he should again come forth like a new man. Thus did this visible demonstration of God’s glory avail to awaken faith in the commandments.
The descent of God, which is here recorded, indicates no change of place, as if God, who fills heaven and earth, and whose immensity is universally diffused, altered His position, but it has reference to the perceptions of men, because under the appearance of the cloud God testified that He met Moses. Therefore, according to the usual phrase of Scripture, the sacred name of God is applied to the visible symbol; not that the empty cloud was a figure of the absent Deity, but because it testified His presence according to the comprehension of men.
At the end of the verse, “to call in the name of the Lord,” is equivalent to proclaiming His name, or promulgating what God would make known to His servant. This expression, indeed, frequently occurs with reference to prayers. Some, (377) therefore, understand it of Moses, that he called on the name of the Lord. In this opinion there is no absurdity; let us be at liberty, then, to take it as applying either to Moses or to God Himself, i.e., either that God Himself proclaimed in a loud voice His power, and righteousness, and goodness, or that Moses himself professed his piety before God. But what immediately follows must necessarily be referred to God, when He passed by, to cry out and to dignify Himself with His true titles. First of all, the name of Jehovah is uttered twice by way of emphasis, in order that Moses might be rendered more attentive. The name אל el, is added, which, originally derived from strength, is often used for God, and is one of His names. By these words, therefore, His eternity and boundless power are expressed. Next, He proclaims His clemency and mercy; nor is He contented with a single word, but, after having called Himself “merciful,” He claims the praise of clemency, inasmuch as He has no more peculiar attribute than His goodness and gratuitous beneficence. The nature also of His goodness and clemency is specified, viz., that He is not only placable, and ready, and disposed, to pardon, but that He patiently waits for those who have sinned, and invites them to repentance by His long-suffering. For this reason He is called “slow (378) to anger,” as if He would abstain from severity did not man’s wickedness compel Him to execute punishment on his sins. Afterwards He proclaims the greatness of His mercy and truth, and on these two supports the confidence of the pious is based, whilst they embrace the mercy offered to them, and securely repose on the faithfulness and certainty of the promises. Everywhere, therefore, in the Psalms, where mention is made of God’s goodness, His truth is connected with it as its inseparable companion. Another reason also is because God’s mercy cannot be comprehended, except upon the testimony of His word, the certainty of which must needs be well assured lest our salvation should be wavering and insecure. What follows, that God keeps mercy to a thousand generations, we have expounded in chapter 20; whilst, on the other hand, the punishments which He requires for men’s sins are only extended to the third and fourth generation, because His clemency surpasses His judgment, as is said in Psa 30:5, (379) “There is only a moment in his anger, but life in his favor;” and although this only relates properly to believers, yet it flows from a general principle. To the same effect is the next clause, “forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;” for thus the greatness of His clemency is set forth, inasmuch as He not only pardons light offenses, but the very grossest sins; and again, remits not only sin in one case, but is propitious to sinners by whom He has been a hundred times offended. Hence, therefore, appears the extent of His goodness, since He blots out an infinite mass of iniquities. Lest, however, this indulgence should be perverted into a license for sin, it is afterwards added, by way of correction, “with (380) cleansing He will not cleanse,” which, with the Chaldee interpreter and others, I understand as applying to His severe judgment against the reprobate and obstinate; for I do not like their opinion who say that, although God indeed pardons sins, yet He still moderately chastises those who have sinned; since this is a poor conjecture, that punishment is required though the guilt is remitted; and besides, it is altogether untrue, inasmuch as it is manifest, from experience that God passes over many sins without punishment. But what I have stated is very suitable, that, lest impunity should beget audaciousness, after God has spoken of His mercy, He adds an exception, viz., that the iniquity is by no means pardoned, which is accompanied by obstinacy. And hence the Prophets seem to have quoted from this passage, (381) “Clearing should ye be cleared?” ( Jer 25:29,) when they address the reprobate, to whom pardon is denied. The words, therefore, may be properly paraphrased thus: Although God is pitiful and even ready to pardon, yet He does not therefore spare the despisers, but is a severe avenger of their impiety. Nevertheless, the opposite meaning would not be inappropriate here, “With cutting off He will not cut off;” for this is sometimes the sense of the verb נקה, nakah; and it would thus be read conneetedly, that God pardons iniquities because He does not wish entirely to cut off the human race; for who shall escape if God should choose to call to judgment the sins even of believers? And perhaps Jeremiah alluded to this passage, where (382) he mitigates the severity of the vengeance of which he had been speaking by this same expression, for there it can only be translated, “With cutting off I will not cut thee off.” If this be preferred, it will be the assignment of the reason why God pardons sins, viz., because He is unwilling to cut off men, which would be the case if He insisted on the utmost rigor of the Law. Some (383) thus explain it, That God pardons sins, because no one is innocent in His sight; as if it were said, that all are destitute of the glory of righteousness, and thence their only refuge is in the mercy of God. This is true indeed, but not so nmch an exposition as a plausible conceit.
(377) So the V. “Stetit Moyses eum eo, invocans nomen Domini.”
(378) A.V. “Long-suffering;” as also in Num 14:18, and Psa 86:15. In Neh 9:17, and elsewhere, “slow to anger.” Heb., אר5 אפים long of nostrils, or anger.
(379) See C.’s own translation. Calvin Soc. edit., vol. 5, p. 346.
(380) נקה לא ינקה A.V., “Will by no means clear;” S. M. and C., “Not making (the guilty) innocent;” or, in C.’s own comment, “He will not with cleansing cleanse;” but C. presently acknowledges that it might be taken to mean, “He will not utterly cut off,” inasmuch as the verb נקה is sometimes used for to blot out, to destroy, to exterminate; to which class of meanings more than one lexicographer has assigned its use in this text. — W.
Bush gives a very careful note on this clause, which he says is “of exceedingly difficult interpretation,” and declares himself satisfied that the sense which C. condemns is the true one, viz., “‘who will not wholly, entirely, altogether clear,’ i.e., who, although merciful and gracious in his dispositions, strongly inclined to forgive, and actually forgiving in countless cases and abundant measure, is yet not unmindful of the claims of justice. He will not always suffer even the pardoned sinner to escape with entire impunity. He will mingle so much of the penal in his dealings as to evince that his clemency is not to be presumed upon.”
(381) “Should ye be utterly unpunished?” “Art thou he, that shall altogether go unpunished?” — A. V.
(382) Poole on Jer 49:12, after quoting C.’s translation, “impune feres?” adds, “Since, however, this phrase is explained very differently by others, both Exo 34:7, and Jer 25:29, as well as these words, may be thus rendered: Thou therefore thyself shalt be utterly cut off.”
(383) “The translation of V. is, “Nullusque apud to per se innocens est.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 34:5-7
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE DIVINE NAME
This was the second proclamation. The first, Exo. 3:4, was delivered to Moses for his instruction and comfort on his special mission. This was delivered for the Jewish nation and the world. Let it be remembered that this God has revealed His law, and was about to take the people into covenant relationship with Him. It was necessary, therefore, that the people should know something definite about the Being to whom they were thus intimately related and whom they professed to serve. This was the first full revelation, the last is like unto it. God is love, and they are enough for faith and hope and work Notice
I. The proclamation of the Divine name.
1. The Divine name was proclaimed absolutely. What God is in and o Himself is thus defined: The Lord, the Lord God. The self-existent, self sufficient, all-powerful One. Connected with the subjoined revelation of His goodness, this teaches
(1.) That as His goodness is based upon His power man must not presume. (1.) The Divine goodness. Merciful, first because mans misery makes him first an object of pity (Jdg. 10:16; Isa. 63:19). Gracious, because unless Gods goodness was tree, spontaneous, and unconstrained, man could never enjoy it, as he has not the wherewith to purchase or deserve or draw it forth (2Co. 8:9). Longsuffering, not good by spasm or effort, but patient and unwearied. Slow to anger, Bears long, even when the wrongs of His saints call for His vengeance (Luk. 18:7). Stretches out His hand all the day long, and waits to be gracious. How forcibly does the history of Israel, and indeed of every individual life, bear witness to this! Abundant; to Gods goodness there is no limit. It is a fountain that ever flows and is never exhausted (Eph. 3:16; Eph. 3:21; Php. 4:19). Certain. Truth. It is based upon the Divine immutability; He cannot deny Himself. Universal; keeping mercy for thousands; universal as regards space, universal as regards time. Active; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
(2.) The Divine justice is Inflexible. That will by no means clear the guilty. This inspires us with the confidence that right is the order of the universe. The guilty may be spared so that they may repent, but they will not be cleared. They may prosper for the time, but a heavy retribution awaits them. Once more the Divine justice operates through natural laws, visiting the iniquity of the fathers, &c. How? By the physical law of heredity. What a motive for parents! Beware how you break Gods laws; you not only entail punishment on yourself, but your poisoned blood will flow in the veins of your degenerate offspring!
II. The method of its proclamation.
1. The Divine name was proclaimed personally. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed.
(1.) God is not the discovery of the unaided intellect. It was no deduction of philosophy, no imposition of priestcraft, but the revelation of the Lord (Job. 11:7; 1Co. 1:21).
(2.) Not an inference from the phenomena of nature. If it is contended that it was, how is it that only Jews and Christians have arrived at this knowledge of the Divine name? Others have had the page of nature spread before them, and yet have been either atheists or idolaters. Much of what is boastfully called natural theology, and the revelation of God in the universe, are but facts read into nature from the Bible and by Bible men. True, God is revealed there (Rom. 1:20); but the key is wanted to decipher the hieroglyphics, and that key is the Scriptures which are given by inspiration of God.
2. The Divine name was proclaimed condescendingly. Although a revelation of the Divine Being was necessary, yet one so full and gracious was surely the result of the beneficent condescension of God. Another revelation has been vouchsafed since, based upon the same condescension (Php. 2:5-8).
This proclamation is of value (1) God is good, therefore repent and come to Him; but ILLUSTRATIONS
BY Law-Lights! Exo. 34:1-35. Pressense says, that whatever opinions men may hold as to the integrity of that primitive witness, all must own that it contains pages in which one beholds, as it were, the reflection of the lustre which caused Mosess face to shine when he held converse with God. It has ever been the pious mind which has through the eyes beheld the chain of revelation and the long series of Divine manifestations gradually unwind themselves. Just as they that watch for the morning gaze out from the height of the tower, longing with inexpressible desire for the approach of dawn; so does religious consciousness cast glances of fire upon the horizon as she looks out for the Divine Sunrise. The whole of the Old Testament pants and throbs with this Divine yearning, and it also shows us the finger of God writing in the heart of man the great preparation for the Gospel. The angels ever
Draw strength from gazing on its glance, Gothe.
Sun-Splendours! Exo. 34:1-7. Countless and ceaseless as are the benefits which are imparted to us by the bright orb of day, the human eye cannot look upon his undimmed noonday face, without being blinded. We cannot look upon him in his full brightness; but when he is passing away, we can, as it were, enjoy and wonder at the beauty he has, or the splendour he leaves behind. A gorgeous canopy of cloudsglowing in every tint of gold, scarlet, and purple over the evening sky, alone remains to bear witness to the passing suns magnificence. As we enjoy the vanishing glory of the sun, so did Moses exult in the vision of the Divine glory. He could not look upon the face of God; but when the Lord had passed by then he could behold and delight in the shaded vision of Jehovahs back parts. And what sweet beauties did his eyes descryemblems of those invisible beauties which the soul in communion with God beholds
The vivid brilliant streaks Carrington.
Divine Character! Exo. 34:6.
(1.) Simonides the philosopher, being requested to describe God, asked a week to think of it. After that, he besought a month; then a year. Even then, being still unable, he declined the task, declaring that the more he thought of God, the less was he able to describe Him. Most glorious art Thou! when from Thy pavilion Barton.
Divine Glory! Exo. 34:6. Amongst astronomers, remarks Hamilton, it is a favourite speculation that the sun himself is something else than a mere ball of fire, and that inside of his burning atmosphere there may be a mighty globe with cool meadows, seas of glass, rivers of crystal, and every conceivable provision for a vast and rejoicing populationthe possible home of even the just made perfect. True or no, the speculation illustrates our thought. Gods glory is His goodness. The holiness of God is as a consuming fire to the guilty conscience; but within this light inaccessiblewithin this refulgent atmosphere of truth and sanctity, is a glory more intimate and essential still, the inmost perfection and divinest beauty of the Godhead. Coming from within that light inaccessible, the only-begotten Son from the bosom of the Father declared what was thereviz., love. And so on this occasion to the meek and wistful Moses preaching the Gospel, Jehovah expanded that one word of love into the name: The Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.
The sun has lost his rage; his downward orb Thomson.
God-Goodness! Exo. 34:6.
(1.) The childs primer on geography is a very different thing from that which the child has in mature school-days. Very simple are the words and expressions; but how detailed. The word continent requires sentence after sentence of explanation to the child-mind; but when the child has become the youthful student, three words suffice to explain the same. Even so, in Exo. 34:6, we have the lengthened explanation of the Divine glory; while in 1 John 4 there is the same and substancethe essence of allin the three words, God is Love.
(2.) The savage who has never seen a rose, can only understand its nature when it is presented to him in full bloom; whereas he who knows what a rose is, realises its beauty and perfection when it is wrapped up in the bud. The petals, so to speak, of Gods goodness were set before Moses in full bloom in this verse; but in the New Testament it was sufficient to give the bud, God is love.
Ill sing it in the sinners ear, Grace-Revelations! Exo. 34:6-7.
(1.) These verses, as Stock says, show that the revelation of God was not merely to the outward sight, but chiefly to the heart and mind of Moses. All the previous dealings of God with Israel had been successive revelations of His attributes, embraced in the name JEHOVAH. But Moses had never had a full and wonderful view of the Mercy and Truth therein; therefore he here obtains a glimpse into the Divine treasury, with its boundless, inexhaustible stores of mercymercy ready to meet and satisfy the demands of justice. Gods boundless mercy is to sinful man Herrick.
Boundless Mercy! Exo. 34:7.
(1.) Hearken, says Law, to the melody of this sweet note. The thought may sometimes rise, that mercy visits but a favoured few, that the rare gift enriches but rare souls. Nay, mercys arms are very wide; mercys heart is very large; mercys mansions are very many. It has brought saving joy to countless multitudes. It has saving joy for countless yet. The doors stand open. Thousands have found mercy; but there are stores for thousands yet. O God, how beautiful the thought, Cook.
(5) The Lord descended in the cloud.When Moses ceased to commune with God, the cloud removed from the door of the Tent of Meeting, and, as it would seem, disappeared. On Moses reaching the summit of Sinai it once more became visible, descended on the spot where Moses was, and stood with him there.
And proclaimed the name of the Lord.Comp. Exo. 33:19; and for the terms of the proclamation see Exo. 34:6-7.
MOSES ALLOWED TO SEE GODS GLORY.
(5-8) The present ascent of Moses to the top of Sinai had two objects:(1) The repair of the loss occasioned by his breaking the first tables; and (2) the accomplishment of the promise made to him that (under certain restrictions) he should see Gods glory. Combined with this promise were two minor onesthat God would make His goodness pass before him, and that He would reveal to him afresh His name. The revelation of the name is recorded in Exo. 34:6-7, the manifestation of the glory in Exo. 34:5. How Moses was enabled to see Gods goodness pass before him is not stated. (Comp. Note on Exo. 33:19.)
5. Descended stood proclaimed There was also, according to the next verse, a movement of the sublime theophany as of one passing by . This was the fulfilment of the promise recorded in Exo 33:19-23, and was, says Clarke, “the second revelation of the name of the God of Israel to Moses . The first revelation was of Jehovah as the Self-existent One, who purposed to deliver his people with a mighty hand, (Exo 3:14😉 this was of the same Jehovah as a living Saviour, who was now forgiving their sins. The two ideas that mark these revelations are found combined, apart from their historical development, in the second commandment, (Exo 20:5-6,) where the divine unity is shown on its practical side, in its relation to human obligations . Both in the commandment and in this passage the divine love is associated with the divine justice; but in the former there is a transposition to serve the proper purpose of the commandments, and the justice stands before the love . This is strictly the legal arrangement, brought out in the completed system of the ceremonial law, in which the sin offering, in acknowledgment of the sentence of justice against sin, was offered before the burnt offering and the peace offering. But in this place the truth appears in its essential order; the retributive justice of Jehovah is subordinated to rather, it is made a part of his forgiving love.” Speaker’s Commentary.
Yahweh Makes A Proclamation Concerning Himself To His People’s Representative ( Exo 34:5-7 ).
Exo 34:5
‘And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.’
As ever Yahweh is surrounded by cloud. The previous chapter has brought home why this was so as never before. His glory must be hidden or it would devastate whoever saw it. And He stood there with Moses. Here again He had come to speak with His friend. ‘He stood with him there’.
“ And proclaimed the name of Yahweh.” Compare Exo 33:19. Thus all the glory of the previous appearance is manifested, although shielded by the cloud. He declared Who He was, He revealed What He is. The proclamation was mainly by a manifestation of Himself in the heart of Moses, a bringing home to him something of His very being.
To know someone’s name was to know him fully. Moses came to know ‘His name’ as proclaimed by Yahweh Himself. He received a full revelation of what Yahweh’s name meant, of what He is. He was enabled to appreciate the very nature of God . (We may compare the idea here with the revealing work of the Holy Spirit, only active in those who are His – 1Co 2:9-16).
Exo 34:6-7
‘And Yahweh passed before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God full of compassion, and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”
“ And Yahweh passed before him.” We cannot even begin to appreciate what Moses experienced here (compare Exo 33:22). His whole being was taken up with God. And then Yahweh proclaimed Himself in His fullness.
We read the proclamation, Moses experienced the full reality of the proclamation, for it was not only communicated in words, it was communicated in spirit. As he stood there in awe the glory and holiness and love of Yahweh swept through him, suffusing his whole being. Words cannot even begin to describe what he must have experienced.
Note the order of the words. Compassion and graciousness, covenant love and truth, come first. Mercy and forgiveness are of the very being and essence of God. And yet the corollary of this must be the awful judgment for those who fail to respond to that mercy and forgiveness. He will by no means clear men who do not respond. Here Yahweh reveals the future for mankind. His offer will come to them, His compassion will reach out to them, but in the end only those who respond from the heart will experience His covenant faithfulness. Those who reject it will be condemned.
“Yahweh, Yahweh.” The duality is the duality of witness. This was a full manifestation of Yahweh witnessed in the very innermost being of Moses. As the words were spoken they would illuminate Moses’ heart and mind. This is a unique ascription to God. Yah Yahweh, while coming close, is not quite comparable with it (Isa 12:2).
“ A God full of compassion, and gracious.” This is part of His essential being, tender of heart, compassionate of spirit, and self-giving even to the unworthy. No words can really express it. If we add together all the compassion revealed by all the most compassionate of men throughout all history we only come up with a pale reflection of it. John later puts it simply in the terms ‘God is love’ (1Jn 4:7-8). But there as here he has to temper it with ‘God is light’ (1Jn 1:5). For in Him there is no darkness at all. It proclaims to us all that God wants to forgive and be forgiving. But He can only be so to those who will receive forgiveness.
“ Slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth.” The positive note continues, but with a slight hint of warning. He is slow to anger, anger is contrary to all that He wants to be, (but the hint is that angry He will be in the end towards the continually stubborn heart). He is plenteous in covenant love and truth. ‘Plenteous’ indicates an abundant supply. There is no stinting of His love to those within His covenant (chesed indicates Scripturally love within the covenant). There is no stinting of His trueness and faithfulness. But again it can only be in truth. Truth is essential to knowing God. ‘What is truth?’ asked Pilate, failing to recognise that the Truth stood before him. Only those who desire the truth can enjoy fully what He is.
“ Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” There is no limit to His desire to show mercy and forgive. ‘Thousands’ is broad in its significance, it indicates a countless multitude, which no man can number (Rev 7:9). His mercy is preserved for all of them. He wants to forgive, He longs to forgive, and there is no limit to what He will forgive. The threefold ‘iniquity and transgression and sin’ indicates the totality of sin, sin in all its forms. The One Who was all compassion declared, ‘Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men’, but the caveat was that those who finally failed to respond, those who hardened themselves against the work of the Spirit, would remain unforgiven (Mat 12:31). Hell is full of ungrateful, unresponsive people. For ‘He will by no means clear those who fail to respond’.
“ And who will by no means clear the guilty (leave unpunished, exempt from punishment), visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children” s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Again in the midst of the light the dark side has to be revealed. He does not automatically clear men. There is no automatic forgiveness. Forgiveness is offered all of His grace but it has to be received and accepted. For those who will not turn to Him and receive that forgiveness the awful power of iniquity will continue on through the generations. Man’s failure to respond to God affects not only himself but also his progeny.
So Yahweh reveals more of His glory to Moses as He had promised, but in what He reveals He makes clear that with the renewing of the covenant He has also forgiven His people for their major lapse. That is the clear implication of His words. But within them is included the warning that if they fail to take advantage of His forgiveness worse will follow.
EXPOSITION
THE FULFILMENT BY GOD OF HIS PROMISE TO MOSES. This section coheres closely with the last section of the preceding chapter, and must be regarded, as the historical account of how God fulfilled the promises there made by him to Moses (Exo 33:19-23). The promises were mainly two
1. That he would proclaim his name to him afresh; and
2. That he would pass by him, and let him see, after he had passed, what man might see of his glory. The fulfilment of the first promise appears in the long enumeration of attributes contained in Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7; the fulfilment of the second is expressed with extreme brevity in the words,’ And the Lord passed by before him” (Exo 34:6). Probably no further description could be given of that marvellous manifestation beyond those words in which it was promised (Exo 33:21-23). Its effects were seen in that permanent reflection of God’s glory on the face of Moses, which thenceforth compelled him to wear a veil mostly when he showed himself to the people (Exo 34:33-35).
Exo 34:5
The Lord descended in the cloud. The cloudy pillar, which had stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting (Exo 33:10), was withdrawn while Moses ascended Sinai, and probably disappeared from men’s sight. When Moses reached the top, it descended once more from the sky, and stood with him there. Then a voice from the cloud proclaimed the name of the Lord in the manner more fully stated in the ensuing verses.
Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7
The Lord passed by before him. God did as he had promised in Exo 33:22, Exo 33:23. He made his glory pass by, Moses, as he stood in a “clift of the rock,” and “covered him with his hand as he passed by,” and, when he had passed, “took away his hand,” and allowed Moses to look after him, and see a glorious and transcendent visiona vision so bright and radiant, and so real, that the light which streamed from it settled on Moses face, and remained there (Exo 33:20). And proclaimed. In his passage God proclaimed his name; not however, as in the burning bush, an actual name contained in a single wordbut a description in many words of his essential naturea description setting forth especially his three qualities of mercy, truth, and justice, but dwelling most upon the first of the threeperhaps, as most essential, for” God is love” (1Jn 4:8)certainly, as moot needing to be prominently set forth at the time, when his favour had been justly forfeited, and but for ]]is mercy could not have been restored. Note the accumulation of terms that are nearly synonymous
1. Merciful (or pitiful);
2. Gracious;
3. Long-suffering;
4. Abundant in goodness;
5. Keeping mercy for thousands: and
6. Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin
an accumulation for the purpose of emphasisto assure Moses, and through him mankind at large, of the reality of this attribute, on which the possibility of our salvation depends, and which had never hitherto been set forth with anything like such fulness. That will by no means clear the guilty. Some critics take this clause in an entirely different sense, translating “who in destroying will not wholly destroy” (Maimonides, Pool, De Dieu, Patrick), or, “who acquits even him who is not innocent” (Geddes); but the rendering of our translators (which agrees with the LXX.], is approved by Rosenmuller, Gesenius, Kalisch, Keil, and others. It seems to have been also the meaning assigned to the passage by the prophet Nahum, who quotes it (Nah 1:3) when he is threatening Nineveh. Visiting the iniquity. See above, Exo 20:5. While setting forth his attribute of mercy in all its fulness, God will not have his attribute of justice forgotten (Exo 20:8).
Exo 34:8
Moses made haste and bowed his head. Worshipping the glory that had passed by, and accepting the gracious words addressed to him.
HOMILETICS
Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7
The second proclamation of God’s name.
God had proclaimed his name to Moses, when he spoke with him out of the burning bush. He had declared it to be JEHOVAH, “the Self-Existent One.” Under this name the people of Israel had known him from the time of Moses’ return to Egypt from Midian, until that of which he is here speaking. Hitherto it had sufficed for them. It had marked him as,
1. eternal;
2. uncaused;
3. unconditioned;
4. self-sufficient;
5. all-powerful.
But it had not revealed his moral nature. Something of that had always been known to man. Something more had become known to Israel through the law already given from Sinai. But in their present state of sorrow and depression (Exo 33:4-6) something further was needed. God accordingly “proclaimed his name” afresh. Of this second proclamation we may note
I. THAT IT CANCELS NOTHING, BUT ADDS. The first words of the name are “Jehovah, Jehovah El,” or “the Self-Existent, the Self-Existent God.” What had been revealed before is confirmed; nay, is still put in the fore-front, as the proper foundation of all the rest. For a true knowledge of God, we must, first and foremost, have the conviction that there is a self-existent being, eternal, uncaused, the cause of all things, and therefore of our own existence, on whom we are absolutely dependent. It follows, after this, to inquire and learn the moral character of this Eternal One.
II. THAT IT SETS FORTH GOD AS, ABOVE ALL THINGS, MERCIFUL. The Jewish commentators make out thirteen epithets of God in these two verses, and say that all but one are epithets of mercy. This seems to be an overstatement of the actual fact, that the epithets of mercy form a large numerical majority. They are
1. Rakhum, “the tender or pitiful one,” who is full of kindness and compassion;
2. Khunnun, “the gracious one,” who bestows his benefits out of mere favour, without obligation;
3. Erek appayim, “the long-suffering one,” who is not easily provoked, but “suffers long and is kind”;
4. Rab-khesed, “the great in mercy” which needs no explanation;
5. Notser-khesed, “the keeper of mercy,” he who does not desert those he loves, bet is merciful to them, and their children, from generation to generation;
6. Nose ‘avon, vapesha vekhattaah, “the forgiver of iniquity and transgression and sin”the being who alone can forgive sin and give peace to the guilty soul. Moses did well to make appeal to this description of himself by God himself, when Israel had a second time provoked God to destroy them (Num 14:17, Num 14:18). We shall do well to make our appeal to the same, whenever we have offended our Lord and Master by our faults and shortcomings, our “sins, negligences, and ignorances.” Conjured by this “name,” God can scarcely refuse to reply, as he replied to Moses, “I have pardoned according to thy word” (Num 14:20).
III. THAT IT FURTHER SETS HIM FORTH AS JUST AND TRUE. God gives it as part of his name, that he “will by no means clear the guilty,” or rather perhaps that he will not “always” do so (Kalisch). There is some guilt that he will not, cannot pardon. “There is a sin unto deathI do not say that a man shall pray for it” (1Jn 5:16). Unrepented sin cannot be forgiven. “Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost” cannot be forgiven. God’s justice is an essential part of his nature, no less than his mercy; and is perhaps, as has been argued, a necessary consequence of his love. Again, God is true”abundant in truth” (Exo 34:6). There can be no trust in any being who is not true. Truth lies at the root of all moral goodness; and the truth of God is pre-supposed in any revealed religion, since without it revelation could have no force or value. Further, beth in the Old and the New Testament, God reveals himself as “true,” or sometimes as “the truth.” “Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds” (Psa 108:4). “The truth of the Lord endureth for ever” (Psa 117:2). “God is true.” “I am the truth.” It is essential to a right conception of him that we should believe in his absolute veracity. If we “make him a liar,” we ruin our whole idea of him. We might as well make him non-existent.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Exo 34:5-8
The name.
Consider on this
I. THE CONNECTION WITH THE NAME JEHOVAH. “Proclaimed the name of Jehovah” (Exo 34:5). Observe
1. The name Jehovah connotes moral attributes. The absolute being is, at the same time, the most perfect being. His excellence includes all possible perfection. This implies the possession of moral attributes. “That character,” says Dean Graves, “from which the acutest reasoners have endeavoured demonstratively to deduce as from their source all the Divine attributes, is SELF–EXISTENCE. Is it not then highly remarkable that it is under this character the divinity is described, on his first manifestation to the Jewish lawgiver?”
2. Former revelations implied moral attributes. The attributes on which, in former revelations, the main stress needed to be laid, were those to be illustrated in the events of the exoduspower, freedom, supremacy, changelessness (cf. on Exo 3:14; Exo 6:2, Exo 6:3). But that moral attributesthe attributes of truth, mercy, goodness, justice, also belonged to Jehovah was shown
(1) From the nature of his purpose.
(2) From the character of his actings.
(3) From the simple fact of his revealing himself.
3. The new revelation declares moral attributes. Formerly, the revelation was in deeds, now it is in words. Formerly, God told Moses what, as Jehovah, he would do. Now he declares what, as Jehovah, he is. The name was first spelt, then pronounced. Cf. with law of ordinary historical progress
(1) action;
(2) reflection on what has been done, with generalisation of principles.
Or of scientific progress
(1) accumulation of facts;
(2) generalisation of law.
For this announcement of the name, the renewal of the covenant furnished an appropriate historical occasion.
II. TEACHING OF THE NAME. The name exhibits the Divine character. It lays bare to us God’s very heart. It reveals his essence. Learn
1. There is justice in God. “That will by no means clear the guilty,” etc. (Exo 34:7).
(1) This attribute is essential. Without it, God would not be God. Says the poet, “A God all mercy is a God unjust.” We go further, and affirm that without justice, there would be no mercy left to exercise. See Homily on Exo 32:10. We have defined love in God as the perfect union of goodness and holiness. Mercy we would define as a mixed feeling of pity and resentment. See this point well illustrated in the chapters on “the Law of Mercy” in “Ecce Homo.”
(2) Justice cannot be laid aside. God “will by no means clear the guilty.” See Homily on Exo 23:21. But if God cannot clear the guilty, cannot, i.e. call guilt other than what it is, or refuse to punish it, he can, on the ground of his Son’s atonement, which fulfils every condition of a perfect satisfaction to justice, forgive the guilty.
(3) Manifestation of justice. In his personal dealings with individualsnot clearing the guilty. In his general government of the world”visiting the iniquity of the fathers,” etc. (cf. on Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9).
2. There is mercy in God. This side of the Divine character is exhibited with much greater fulness than the other. “Merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin” (Exo 23:6, Exo 23:7).
(1) God delights in mercy; he does not delight in judgment. Judgment is “his work, his strange work” (Isa 28:21). The visitation of sin is viewed as extending only “unto the third and fourth generation”; mercy is kept for “thousands” (cf. Psa 103:17).
(2) Mercy is “abundant.” Cf. Isa 55:7“will abundantly pardon.” A wonderful utterance this from the standpoint of the Old Testament. Anticipates Paul”where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20).
(3) Mercy qualifies judgment. It leads to forbearance with the sinner”long-suffering” (cf. Rom 2:4). It secures pardon on repentance”forgiving iniquity,” etc.
(4) It is yet exercised in strictest harmony with the requirements of justice. The mode of the reconciliation of these two sides of the Divine character, however, remains in the Old Testament a partially unsolved problem.
3. Mercy rules in the character of God. This is a fair inference
(1) from the preponderating place assigned to the attributes of mercy, and
(2) from the fact that the attributes of mercy stand before the attributes of justice. It is but an earlier expression of the truth which the Gospel has now made a great spiritual certainty to us”God is love” (1Jn 4:16). Not simply loves, but is love. But if God is love, and love constitutes his essence, then must love dominate, wield, work through his other perfections, using all for its own purposes, transmuting all into its own nature. There cannot be discord or division in the breast of the Eternal. What God is, he must ever have been, must be at all times, through all ages, in all his works, under all forms of his manifestation. This is a conception so deep and far-reaching as to pass in its length and breadth beyond our grasp. Its lines prolong themselves to infinity. There lie in it possibilities which it is not given to man to fathom.
III. THE NAME AS REVEALED.
1. We need a revelation. It is but a dumb, inarticulate revelation of this name which we have in nature. What is revealed relates more to God’s justice than to God’s love. If there is much in nature which supports, there is also much which seems to discredit, belief in the entire goodness of God. Nature in. particular, has no answer to give to the questionsCan God forgive and restore sinners? Can he undo their evil? Can he turn back from its avenging course that terrible law of retribution which holds us in its grasp?
2. We may expect a revelation. If God loves men, we may expect him in some way personally to attest his love to them. “Gracious thoughts never revealed are not gracious thoughts at all. It is essential to the being of grace or love that it manifest itself. Love unrevealed is love unreal” (Dr. A. B. Bruce).
3. The revelation has been given.
(1) In deeds.
(2) In words.
(3) In the Son.J.O.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
Exo 34:5-9
The Manifestation of God.
I. GOD‘S GLORY VEILED THAT IT MAY BE REVEALED. “The Lord descended in the cloud.” The glory of Jesus was veiled by his humanity. There is but one avenue through which the knowledge of God can comethe spirit; it cannot come by the senses. God reveals himself by a word, by one in whom he has put his name, and by the Spirit’s unveiling of the word in the heart.
II. GOD‘S NAME.
1. Faithfulness: he proclaimed “JEHOVAH.” He changes not, his purpose abides, his word is fulfilled.
2. Faithfulness and might. “Jehovah, Elohim.” God’s power waits upon his unchanging purpose.
3. “Merciful.” He will not spurn need. He is moved by, and drawn to, it.
4. “Gracious.” God is not merely a just master, bestowing rewards which have been earned. There is favour to be found with him, unmerited and free.
5. “Long-suffering.” He is patient with blindness and weakness and sin. He waits to be gracious. The great husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and “hath long patience for it.”
6. “Abundant in goodness and truth.” The ages have been unveiling their fulness; but the story is not yet told. Eternity will never know all the length and breadth and depth and height.
7. The largeness of God’s mercy
(1) toward persons. “Keeping mercy for thousands,”
(2) toward sins, “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
8. The severity of God.
(1) He will not always leave sin unpunished.
(2) His mercy may save men from sin, but will not acquit them in sin. “Be not deceived.”
(3) The father’s sins are visited upon the children. The inheritance of wrong is accompanied by an inheritance of wrath. What is punishment for the fathers may be mercy for the children.
III. THE FRUITS OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
1. Adoration. For deep and true worship the soul must know God in the reality of his existence and the glory of his nature.
2. Prayer for himself and his people. To Jesus the vision of God is intercession for his Church and the world.
(1) Prayer for God’s presence. “Let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us.”
(2) That God may come in mercy, not in judgment. “Pardon our iniquity.”
(3) The transforming power of the presence of God. “And (so) take us for thine inheritance.”U.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7
The name of the Lord.
Moses had asked to see the glory of Jehovah, a request which it was possible to grant only in a very modified way. As much as Moses could bear to see he was allowed to see; and for what he was not able to see he received a most abundant and timely compensation in the revelation made to him of the Divine character. For this of course is what the proclamation of the name of Jehovah amounts to. The name of Jehovah is what we should call the character of Jehovah. It is always a great comfort and stay to know that the character of one with whom we have to deal is satisfactory through and through. Nay more, it is well to know character, whether it be good or bad; not to go to a man, uncertain of his disposition and altogether in doubt as to what we may expect. From the proclamation here made we may judge Moses to have been up to this point ignorant of certain fundamental qualities in the character of God. He might have certain guesses, certain inward promptings, which led him into supplication and conduct accordant with the Divine character; but now he is lifted above all guess-work. From God’s own lips he gets an account of all that is deepest in the disposition and relations of God toward man. He is made to see that God’s recent action towards apostate Israel was based, not on incessant importunity in supplication, but on what was a constant source of the Divine action. God was pleased to see Moses so importunate; importunity we may even say was needful to the occasion; but God bad not in him the spirit of the unjust judge, that he should be moved by importunity alone. The character here revealed doubtless gave Moses confidence in all future necessary intercession. Henceforth he knew, and knew from as solemn and authoritative a communication as could be made, what there was in the great Disposer of his movements upon which he could at all times rely. The aspect of Jehovah’s character here presented is of course one which it is important for his sinful creature man to know. God does not tell us here all that may be known of him; he singles out that, the knowledge of which we cannot do without in our hours of deepest need, and although there is thus revealed to us only a part of the Divine nature, it is a part which has the harmony of a whole. God is here made known as indescribably considerate of all the needs of men, and yet at the same time inexorably just. His mercy and love are not as human mercy and love too often are. There is a mercy which, while it may soothe present agonies and smooth present difficulties, is yet essentially nothing more than an opiate; it does not go to the root of the trouble and show how it may be entirely swept away. The’ tender mercies of the wicked, it is said, are cruel; and so in another sense the tender mercies of the thoughtless and the ignorant may be called cruel. Stopping suffering for the immediate present, they may be sowing the seed of suffering a hundred times greater in the future. But God’s mercy is so offered and exercised that it needs never to be regretted. It is mercy gloriously allied with great considerations of righteousness. It is mercy for the repentant; for those who confess and forsake their sins; and although from a superficial glance this visitation of suffering upon children and children’s children may seem to contradict the mercy of God, we find on further reflection that it is a great warning against human selfishness. What a rebuke to the man who, knowing that his sin will involve posterity in suffering, yet goes on with the sin! Who are we, to indulge in aspersions on the mercy of God, when perhaps at the very moment we are sowing in self-indulgence what others must reap in pangs which our self-denial and regard for God’s wise will might have utterly prevented?Y.
HOMILIES BY G. A. GOODHART
Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7
God is love.
A previous revelation, cf. Exo 3:14. Then the emphasis was on the name, now it is on the character of him who bears the name. Moses, in common with the people, longed after some visible manifestation of the glory of the unseen God who spoke to him (Exo 33:18). His desire is granted; but at the same time God turns his thoughts from the visible to the invisible. “It is not,” he seems to say, “what I appear to be that man has to trust to; it is what I am.” Consider
I. THE CHARACTER REVEALED.
1. It implies intelligence in the Being who is characterised. The name Jehovah might, conceivably, be given to “a stream of tendency.” Law, irresistible and impersonal, might be described as “the eternal.” You cannot, however, speak of law as “merciful and gracious,” etc. There must be some one who works through law. A divine heart is the mainspring whence flow all “streams of tendency,” the issues of the universal life.
2. It is not such as man could have imagined. Men do create their own gods; deifying the exaggerated and distorted shadows cast by their own charactersso the mountaineer is at first awe-struck when confronted by his own gigantic shadow. Here, however, is a character which cannot he traced to such an origin; it is not man’s thought about God, it is God’s revelation of himself to man. Contrast the character of the shadow, man-created, god, with that of Jehovah. The one is revengeful, arbitrary, cruel, etc.; the other is merciful and gracious, etc. The man-made god is at best kindly with a weak and sentimental kindliness; with Jehovah, love is the heart-root of his nature, a love which will by no means clear the guilty. Nature “red in tooth and claw” scarcely suggests such a god as this; man could never have conceived him. The character is a revelation of himself, made here to Moses; made, yet more clearly, later, in the life of “the Word made Flesh.”
II. THE CHARACTER AS EXPRESSED IN ACTION. Men are treated by some one or some thing as God says he treats them. The “stream of tendency” makes for righteousness; it is not purposeless, it must be purposed. Though experience was insufficient to suggest the character, it yet helps us to verify the revelation. Notice, specially, the stern side of love. The latter part of the revelation seems at first inconsistent with the first part; they give, however, two aspects of the same homogeneous character. True love is quite distinct from kindliness; its brain is wisdom, and justice nerves its right hand.
1. The action which love will take, must depend upon the circumstances which call for action. Our own experience shows sufficiently that love does not shrink from giving pain. The parent wilt forgive his child, and yet, at the same time, not “clear” him; he cannot pass over without notice conduct of which he disapproves. Love may wield the surgeon’s knife; or the scourge, with a view to moral surgery. So long as the child keeps sound and well, physically and morally, love is all sunshine; with illness or danger, physical or moral, loveseeking the good of the beloved objectmay strike and pierce like lightning. Apply the general principle and it explains:
2. A special case. Can love visit upon children the sins of their parents? Yes, for children inherit the sinful tendencies of their parents; and it is just this visitation which may best secure them against falling into sin. Sad that the drunkard’s child should be an epileptic; yet epilepsy may be a loving visitation if it guard against the confirmed drunkenness which might otherwise have mined body and soul. A warning for parents; yet consolation for the victims of their sins, when it is seen that love has inspired severity (cf. Heb 12:11).
Conclusion. Such the God revealed to Moses, and such the God revealed in Christ. Before such a Being what attitude so fitting as that of Moses? (Exo 3:8; cf. Job 42:1-6).G.
Exo 34:5-6. Proclaimed the name of the Lord Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, ch. Exo 33:18. The Lord promises to shew him his goodness; and, accordingly, he passes by before him, proclaiming his Name, the Deliverer and Covenant-God of the Hebrews; and also his attributes, at once of mercy and of terror; those attributes which were displayed in their most glorious light in the redemption of the world by the death of JESUS CHRIST: God thus shewing himself merciful, that is, abounding in tender mercy and pardoning goodness: gracious, i.e. free and disinterested in his love: long-suffering, patiently bearing with sinners, not willing that any one should perish: yet though thus exquisite in mercy, and ready to forgive sins, at the same time just; not clearing or suffering the obstinately guilty to escape; but visiting, &c. for which see the note on ch. Exo 20:5.
DISCOURSE: 112 Exo 34:5-7. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.
THE voice of inspiration says to every one of us, Acquaint thyself with God, and be at peace. An acquaintance with ourselves (which indeed is equally necessary to our salvation) will only lead us to despair, unless its effects be counteracted with a proportionable knowledge of our God. The more we discern of our own depravity, the more must we see of our guilt, our danger, and our helplessness: nor can any thing pacify our consciences, and allay our fears, but a view of the divine perfections, as united and harmonizing in the work of redemption. But that once obtained, our minds will be serene and happy: and the more complete our view of God is, the more firm will be our confidence in him, and the more sublime our joy. Moses, well aware of this, prayed to God to shew him his glory. To this request God graciously condescended, and appointed him a place where he would meet him, and make this discovery unto him. In discoursing upon this marvellous event, we shall notice,
I.
The situation in which Moses was placed
We are told that God stood with him there: but this not being a prominent feature in the text, we shall premise some observations as introductory to our remarks upon it We only observe further, that there was no occasion whatever, in which we might more certainly expect to find something typical and mysterious, than in that before us. God was about to reveal himself to Moses in a manner that he never did, either before or since, to any mortal man: and the directions which he gave previous to this discovery of himself, and which were necessary for the safety of his favoured servant, were so minute and significant, that we cannot doubt, but that the whole transaction was replete with mysterious import, and most valuable information.] Now Sinai and Horeb, it appears, were two tops of the same mountain. We are told in the context, that God called Moses to come up unto Mount Sinai: yet the preceding chapter informs us that the Israelites were at that time encamped by the Mount of Horeb [Note: Exo 33:6.]. The whole nineteenth chapter of Exodus informs us that the intercourse which Moses had with God at the time of the giving of the law, was on Mount Sinai: whereas Moses elsewhere informs us, that he stood before the Lord in Horeb [Note: Deu 4:10; Deu 4:15.] ; and that the Lord made a covenant with them in Horeb [Note: Deu 5:2.] ; and that the people provoked the Lord to wrath in Horeb [Note: Deu 9:8 with 10:15. which was the very period alluded to in the text.]. Hence it is manifest, that the terms Horeb and Sinai are used as nearly, or altogether, synonymous; because the same transactions are represented indifferently as having taken place on the one, or on the other.
Now it has already appeared that the rock in Horeb is declared by God himself to have been a lively representation of Christ: and therefore we may well suppose, that this rock, which was certainly in the same mountain, if not the very identical rock, was intended also to prefigure him; more especially as the putting of Moses into the cleft of it exactly represents the benefits we receive by virtue of an interest in Christ. To those who are not in Christ, God is a consuming fire [Note: Heb 12:29.]: and, if he were to pass by any persons who have not fled to Christ for refuge [Note: Heb 6:18.], he would instantly burn them up as thorns [Note: Isa 27:4.], and consume them with the brightness of his coming [Note: 2Th 2:8]. Besides, it is in Christ only that we can have even the faintest view of God; because it is in Christ only that his perfections are displayed to man; and it is only when we are in Christ, that we have any eyes to behold them.
Here then we see, not only that there is something mysterious in the situation of Moses, but that a due consideration of it is necessary to a full understanding of the passage before us.] II.
The revelation which God gave of himself to him
Though the terms in which God described his perfections are many, yet they may be reduced to three heads;
1.
His majesty
[God, in calling himself the Lord, the Lord God, intimated that he was that eternal, self-existent Being, who gave existence to every other being, and exercised unlimited authority over the works of his hands. His dominion is universal, his power irresistible, his sovereignty uncontrolled: He doth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; nor can any stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 2.
His mercy
[Many expressions are heaped together upon this subject, because mercy is the attribute in which God peculiarly delights; and because he desires to impress our minds with right apprehensions of it. But the completion of his mercy is seen in his forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin. Search the sacred records, and see what sins he has forgiven! what sins before conversion! what sins after conversion! and you will find, that there is no species or degree of sin which he has not pardoned, even though it have been often repeated, and long continued in. Let any one attempt to enumerate his own transgressions, and he will find them more in number than the sands upon the sea-shore, and sufficient, if visited according to their desert, to sink the whole world into perdition: yet, if he be a believer in Christ, they are all forgiven. How many iniquities then is God continually pardoning in every quarter of the globe! But this is the habit which most characterizes his nature and perfections. Though he cannot look upon iniquity without the utmost abhorrence of it, yet is judgment his strange work, and mercy is his delight.]
3.
His justice
[The concluding sentence of our text is understood by some to mean, that when he begins to punish he will not make a full end, but in judgment will remember mercy: and it is certain that it will bear this sense, because, literally translated, it stands thus, Clearing he will not clear. But then, in this description of his attributes, God would wholly omit his justice, which we cannot suppose he would: nor would the words, in this sense, at all agree with the words that follow them. We take them therefore as they are in our translation; and, according to their obvious meaning, they convey to us a most important truth. God does indeed take pleasure in the exercise of mercy: but still he will never violate the rights of justice: he will pardon; but not the impenitent or unbelieving: it is to those only who repent, and believe the Gospel, that he will finally approve himself a reconciled God. Nothing shall ever prevail upon him to clear one guilty person, who holds fast his iniquities, or will not wash them away in the Redeemers blood. It may be asked, Will he not have respect to the multitude, of those who are in that predicament? or will he not be softened when he shall see them weeping, and wailing, and gnashing their teeth, in hell? We answer, No: he will by no means clear the guilty: if they will live and die in sin, they must eat the fruit of their own doings.
It is worthy of particular notice in this place, that Moses desired to see Gods glory; and that God said, he would make all his goodness pass before him: from whence we are assured, that Gods goodness, and his glory, are as much seen in his justice, as in any other attribute whatever. Indeed, if God were destitute of this perfection, he would cease to be either glorious or good: he could not be glorious, because not perfect; nor could he be good, because he would give licence to his creatures to violate his law, to throw his whole government into confusion, and to render themselves miserable: for not God himself could make them happy, while sin lived and reigned in their hearts. It is by his justice that he deters men from sin; and teaches them to flee from that which would imbitter even Paradise itself: and therefore justice, however severe may he its aspect upon sin and sinners, is indeed a part of the divine goodness, and a ray of the divine glory.]
Infer, How wonderful is the efficacy of prayer
[Moses, notwithstanding an apparent prohibition, had interceded with God on behalf of the idolatrous Israelites, and had prevailed [Note: Exo 32:10-14.]. Still however, God, to mark his displeasure, refused to go with the people any more; and said he would commit the guidance of them to an angel [Note: Exo 32:34.]. But Moses, having thus far obtained a favourable audience, requested and urged, that God himself should still go with them, as he had hitherto done. Nothing would satisfy him but this [Note: Exo 33:15]. When he had succeeded in this, he grew bolder still; and asked, what no living creature had ever dared to ask, O God, I beseech thee. shew me thy glory! God approved of his boldness, and granted him this also. And what would he not grant to us, if we would ask in humility and faith? He says himself, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it [Note: Psa 81:10.]. O Brethren! see in this instance the efficacy of prayer: and know, that if you asked forgiveness for the vilest of all sins, and prayed to have the presence of God with you all through this wilderness, and even begged to have the glory of God himself pass before your eyes, it should be given you: your iniquities should be forgiven: you should have God for your constant protector and guide: and he would shine into your hearts, to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ [Note: 2Co 4:6.]. O pray without ceasing, and without doubting.]
2.
Of what importance is it to obtain an interest in Christ
[All, except the true Christian, have erroneous views of God: some are led by his majesty or justice to give way to desponding fears: others from a sight of his grace and mercy are induced to cherish presumptuous hopes. It is the Christian alone that sees his majesty tempered with mercy, and his mercy harmonizing with the demands of justice. No man can have this sight of God, till he be put into the cleft of the rock. What we said at the beginning, we now repeat, that to all who are not in Christ, God will be a consuming fire. Seek then, my Brethren, to be found in Christ. Then shall you see the King in his beauty [Note: Isa 33:16-17.]: then shall you behold him transfigured, as it were, before your eyes [Note: Mat 17:1-2.] ; and have a foretaste of that blessedness which you shall enjoy, when you shall see him as you are seen, and know him even as you are known [Note: 1Jn 3:2 with 1Co 13:12.].]
Exo 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Ver. 5. And proclaimed the name of the Lord. ] In answer to Moses’s prayer. Exo 33:18-19
proclaimed. As promised in Exo 33:19.
descended: Exo 19:18, Exo 33:9, Num 11:17, Num 11:25, 1Ki 8:10-12, Luk 9:34, Luk 9:35
the name: Exo 33:19, Num 14:17, Deu 32:3, Psa 102:21, Pro 18:10, Isa 1:10
Reciprocal: Gen 16:13 – Thou Exo 19:11 – the Lord Exo 23:21 – my name Exo 34:14 – whose Num 6:27 – put my Num 12:5 – General Num 12:8 – similitude Deu 28:58 – fear this glorious 1Ki 8:42 – great name Psa 8:1 – how Psa 9:10 – know Psa 20:1 – name Psa 48:10 – According Psa 96:8 – the glory Psa 130:4 – But there Psa 135:1 – Praise ye the name Psa 135:13 – Thy name Pro 30:4 – what is his name Son 1:3 – thy name Isa 12:4 – call upon his name Isa 52:6 – my people Isa 60:9 – unto Jer 9:24 – lovingkindness Mic 6:9 – the man of wisdom shall see thy name Joh 1:18 – he hath Joh 14:8 – show Joh 17:6 – have manifested Act 1:9 – a cloud 2Co 4:6 – the light
Exo 34:5. The Lord descended By some sensible token of his presence, and manifestation of his glory. He descended in the cloud Probably that pillar of cloud which had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met Moses at the door of the tabernacle.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2.) That as His power supports His goodness man need not despond.
2. The Divine name was proclaimed relatively. This relative proclamation may be viewed as revealing Gods goodness and Gods justice.
i. Apologetically. This is the authorised revelation of the character of God. Unbelievers fight shy of it, and take certain doings or commands wrested from their context, and without examination as to the reason why. All such doings, &c., must be referred to and compared with the glories that here compose Gods name. This is the God we worship, not the fiction of a disordered fancy or a diseased mind, but the Lord, the Lord God, &c.
ii. To the afflicted. Can this God be unkind or unjust? Then trust that what He is now doing is for your good.
iii. To the sinner.
(2) just, and therefore cannot connive at sin.J. W. Burn.
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Though none its meaning fathom may;
The Words unwithered countenance
Is bright as at Mount Sinais day.
Of crimson disappear, but oer the hills
A flush of orange hovers, softening up
Into harmonious union with the blue
That comes a-sweeping down.
(2.) Pagan artists depicted Jupiter with thunder in his right hand, and an eagle at his feet. Their highest conceptions were to clothe him with clouds, while the poets robed him in terrors. Woes and wonders were their sublimest ideal of God.
(3.) Revelation alone emblazons God in the full circle of His perfections. The name of the God of the Jews, who is also the God of the Christians, is The Lord God, merciful and gracious.
Thou lookest forth at morning; flying wide
Those curtain-clouds of purple and vermilion.
Dispensing life and light on every side.
Shoots nothing more but animating warmth
And vital lustre; that, with various ray,
Lights up the clouds, those beauteous robes of heaven.
Ill tell it to the worldling,
And ask no other theme;
Twill flow to soothe the mourners wail;
Children will hold the oft-told tale
Dearer than fictions dream.
(2.) Filled with joyful boldness, he turns the very fact of Israels stiff-neckedness into a plea for the presence and favour of God. As Law says, this heart is mercy. As the sun abounds in sparkling rays, the sea in drops, the sky in glittering orbs; so God is one vast treasure-house of mercy. This is the brightest jewel of His crownovertopping the heavens, outliving all times, outshining all perfections. It is the riches of His riches.
Like to the ever wealthy ocean;
Which, though it sends forth thousand streams, tis neer
Known, or else seen, to be the emptier.
(2.) The atmosphere is sometimes terrible with thunder, and riven with lightningimpregnated with pestilence, and charged with destruction. But it is generally and chiefly a means of health, filled with beautiful sounds, fragrant with sweetest odours, the pathway of sunbeams, the source of sparkling dew, the parent of harvests and fountain of earthly life. Ay, God is indeed full of mercys flowers and fruits.
How merciful the blessd decree,
That grace can eer be found when sought,
And naught shut out the soul from Thee!
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
THE PERFECTIONS OF GOD
[In the first place, we would observe that, in interpreting the Holy Scriptures, we are not at liberty to indulge our own fancy; we must approach them with sacred awe and reverence; and give such explanations of them only, as we verily believe to be agreeable to the mind of that blessed Spirit, through whose inspiration they were written.
Next, we observe, that the whole of the Mosaic economy was of a typical and mysterious nature; and that, though it is sometimes difficult to ascertain the precise import of some events, yet the meaning of those which are more striking is clear and obvious, and may be stated without any fear of deviating from the truth.
Further, there are many events, of which we should have made only a general improvement, which God himself has marked as conveying very minute and particular instruction. For instance, the miracle wrought by Moses, when he struck the rock, and thereby gave the whole nation a supply of water, which followed them all through the wilderness, might be supposed to teach us only, that God will supply the wants of his people who put themselves under his guidance: but St. Paul teaches us to look deeper into that miracle, and to find in it the great mysteries of redemption. He tells us that that rock was Christ; and, that the water which they drank of was spiritual drink; or, in other words, that the miracle denoted, that Christ, being struck with the rod of the law, becomes unto us a never-failing source of all spiritual blessings [Note: 1Co 10:4.].
We come now to notice the situation in which Moses was placed
[God commanded Moses to go up to Mount Sinai, and stand upon a rock; and promised that he would there pass by him in a visible manner: but, because it was not possible for him to behold the splendour of the divine glory, God told him, that he would put him into a cleft of the rock, and discover to him such a view of his glory as his frail nature could sustain. Accordingly, having put him into the cleft of the rock, and covered him with his hand, to prevent him from getting any sight of his face (which he could not have seen consistently with the preservation of his life), he passed by, and then, withdrawing his hand, he permitted him to see his back parts, that is, to have such an indistinct view of him as we have of a person who has passed by us [Note: Exo 33:20-23.].
In considering this singular favour conferred on Moses, we proceed to notice,
Such a manifestation of his majesty was peculiarly necessary, in order that our obligations to him might appear in their proper light: for never, till we have learned to acknowledge and adore his sovereignty, shall we be able rightly to appreciate his love and mercy.]
God first, in general terms, declares himself to be merciful and gracious; by which we are to understand, that he is ever ready to pity the miserable, and relieve the needy. He is in his own nature propense to love and kindness, and forward to exercise his benevolence, whenever he can do it in consistency with his other perfections.
The first-fruit of his mercy is long-suffering. And how long did he bear with the antediluvian world! for the space of one hundred and twenty years did he wait, to see if by the ministry of Noah he could turn them from their evil ways. What can we conceive more insufferable than the conduct of the Israelites in the wilderness? they were always murmuring and rebelling against God, who had done such great things for them yet did he bear with them forty years. But we need not look back to the Antediluvians or the Jews: what monuments have we ourselves been of his patience and long-suffering! How have we provoked him to anger every day of our lives! yet we are here at this moment on praying ground, instead of being, where we most richly deserve to be, in the very depths of hell.
Nor has he merely borne with us: he has shewn himself also abundant in goodness and truth. He has been doing us good from the first moment of our existence to this present hour. He has made his sun to shine, and the rain to descend upon us, and given us fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. But he has done infinitely more for us than this: for he has given his only dear Son to die for us, and his good Spirit to instruct us, and has been calling us by the ministrations of his servants to receive all the blessings both of grace and glory. Many great and precious promises also has he given us; not one of which has he ever falsified, or shewn the least reluctance to fulfil.
Moreover, this kindness of his extends to the latest generations; for he is keeping mercy for thousands that are yet unborn. One reason why he bears with many proud rebels is, that he has mercy in reserve for many who are to proceed from their loins, who would never be brought into existence, if he were to execute on their offending parents the judgments they deserved. Who can tell? he may have kept mercy for some of us to this present hour; and the time may now be come, wherein he shall make us willing to accept it. Would to God it might be so!
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments