33:19 And the Lord 1 said, “I will make all my goodness 2 pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name 3 before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” 4
34:5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Lord by name. 5 34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: 6 “The Lord, the Lord, 7 the compassionate and gracious 8 God, slow to anger, 9 and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, 10 34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, 11 forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression 12 of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
9:1 When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan 16 – in the hill country, the lowlands, 17 and all along the Mediterranean coast 18 as far as 19 Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) –
8:1 The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! 20 Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! 21 See, I am handing over to you 22 the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.
10:1 Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, 23 heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho 24 and its king. 25 He also heard how 26 the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.
18:20 From the fruit of a person’s mouth 27 his stomach is satisfied, 28
with the product of his lips is he satisfied.
1 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the
2 sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.
3 tn The expression “make proclamation in the name of Yahweh” (here a perfect tense with vav [ו] consecutive for future) means to declare, reveal, or otherwise make proclamation of who Yahweh is. The “name of Yahweh” (rendered “the name of the
4 sn God declares his mercy and grace in similar terms to his earlier self-revelation (“I am that I am”): “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, the grace and mercy of God are bound up in his own will. Obviously, in this passage the recipients of that favor are the penitent Israelites who were forgiven through Moses’ intercession. The two words are at the heart of God’s dealings with people. The first is חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”). It means to grant favor or grace to someone, grace meaning unmerited favor. All of God’s dealings are gracious, but especially in forgiving sins and granting salvation it is critical. Parallel to this is רָחַם (rakham), a word that means “show compassion, tender mercy.” It is a word that is related to the noun “womb,” the connection being in providing care and protection for that which is helpless and dependent – a motherly quality. In both of these constructions the verbs simply express what God will do, without explaining why. See further, J. R. Lundbom, “God’s Use of the Idem per idem to Terminate Debate,” HTR 71 (1978): 193-201; and J. Piper, “Prolegomena to Understanding Romans 9:14-15: An Interpretation of Exodus 33:19,” JETS 22 (1979): 203-16.
5 tn Some commentaries wish to make Moses the subject of the second and the third verbs, the first because he was told to stand there and this verb suggests he did it, and the last because it sounds like he was worshiping Yahweh (cf. NASB). But it is clear from v. 6 that Yahweh was the subject of the last clause of v. 5 – v. 6 tells how he did it. So if Yahweh is the subject of the first and last clauses of v. 5, it seems simpler that he also be the subject of the second. Moses took his stand there, but God stood by him (B. Jacob, Exodus, 981; U. Cassuto, Exodus, 439). There is no reason to make Moses the subject in any of the verbs of v. 5.
6 tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqra’ vÿshem yÿhvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation – and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.
7 sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.
8 tn See Exod 33:19.
9 sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.
10 sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.
11 tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”
12 sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.
13 tn Or “servants.”
14 tn Heb “name.”
15 tn Heb “the report about him, all that he did in Egypt.”
16 tn Heb “When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan heard.”
17 tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”
18 tn Heb “all the coast of the Great Sea.” The “Great Sea” was the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.
19 tn Heb “in front of.”
20 tn Or perhaps “and don’t get discouraged!”
21 tn Heb “Take with you all the people of war and arise, go up against Ai!”
22 tn Heb “I have given into our hand.” The verbal form, a perfect, is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action.
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
25 tn Heb “as he had done to Jericho and to its king, so he did to Ai and to its king.”
26 tn Heb “and how.”
27 sn Two images are used in this proverb: the fruit of the mouth and the harvest of the lips. They are synonymous; the first is applied to the orchard and the second to the field. The “mouth” and the “lips” are metonymies of cause, and so both lines are speaking about speech that is productive.
28 tn Heb “his midst.” This is rendered “his stomach” because of the use of שָׂבַע (sava’, “to be satisfied; to be sated; to be filled”), which is usually used with food (cf. KJV, ASV “belly”).
29 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
30 tn Heb “will gather to the name of the
31 tn Heb “the stubbornness of their evil hearts.”
32 tn The translation “will continue to make it known” is proposed by R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:773).
33 tn Or “tool.”
34 tn Grk “the sons of Israel.” In Acts, Paul is a minister to all nations, including Israel (Rom 1:16-17).