Exodus 33:19

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 

Exodus 15:13

15:13 By your loyal love you will lead ⁵  the people whom ⁶  you have redeemed;

you will guide ⁷  them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

Exodus 33:17

33:17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know ⁸  you by name.”

Exodus 34:6-7

34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: ⁹  “The Lord, the Lord, ¹⁰  the compassionate and gracious ¹¹  God, slow to anger, ¹²  and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, ¹³  34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ¹⁴  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ¹⁵  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ¹⁶  go among us, for we ¹⁷  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

[33:19]  ¹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:19]  ² sn The word “goodness” refers to the divine appearance in summary fashion.

[33:19]  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 Lord” throughout) refers to his divine attributes revealed to his people, either in word or deed. What will be focused on first will be his grace and compassion.

[33:19]  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.

[15:13]  ⁵ tn The verbs in the next two verses are perfect tenses, but can be interpreted as a prophetic perfect, looking to the future.

[15:13]  ⁶ tn The particle זוּ (zu) is a relative pronoun, subordinating the next verb to the preceding.

[15:13]  ⁷ tn This verb seems to mean “to guide to a watering-place” (See Ps 23:2).

[33:17]  ⁹ tn The verb in this place is a preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive, judging from the pointing. It then follows in sequence the verb “you have found favor,” meaning you stand in that favor, and so it means “I have known you” and still do (equal to the present perfect). The emphasis, however, is on the results of the action, and so “I know you.”

[34:6]  ¹³ 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.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ 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.

[34:6]  ¹⁵ tn See Exod 33:19.

[34:6]  ¹⁶ sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.

[34:6]  ¹⁷ 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.

[34:7]  ¹⁷ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ¹⁸ 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.

[34:9]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ²² tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”