How Exodus 34:6-7 Reveals the Glory of the Lord.

 

1. God commands Moses to cut two tablets of stone (34:1). What happened to the first tablets?

Exodus 32:19 Moses, after returning from the Presence of God on top of Mt. Sinai and descending to the camp of the Israelites, saw that his fellow Israelites built a golden calf to worship. Upon seeing this, he threw down the tablets in anger and smashed them at the foot of the mountain (Mt. Sinai).

What do these tablets symbolize? 

The tablets represented the Law and Commandments of God. They are not the entire law or commandment given to Moses but are representative of that law. The ten commandments established a code of ethics or a moral structure that would set God’s people apart from the neighboring peoples. That moral structure still exists to this day as part of the foundation of Christianity.

2. Construct a Mechanical Layout of Exodus 34:6-7. 

3. On the diagram, record the Strong’s number for the following words: compassionate (NASB), gracious, slow to anger, lovingkindness (NASB). Look up and record the definitions for the Hebrew words. (Note: the OBA Toolbook, Tool I.1.3 Original Language Tools for English Speakers has directions for how to look these up.)

Ex. 34:6-7

 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and [d]truth; 7 who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the [e]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Then - Adverb denoting a particular time.

the Lord - Proper Noun - Jehovah God, the Lord - the subject

passed by - Verb -  Transitive - ‘to move by’

in front of - Adverbial phrase denoting a location forward of the object.

him - Pronoun - the object - Moses

and - Conjunction joining the subject (the Lord) to the following verb

proclaimed,- Verb - Transitive - to declare, to announce, to inform

The Lord, - Proper Noun referring Deity: Jehovah

The Lord - Proper Noun referring Deity: Jehovah

God - Masculine noun - ‘El’ - God, mighty, great, power, good

compassionate - H7349 - rachuwm - Adjective: describes the Subject: merciful - kind

and - Conjunction - connects following Adjectives to the Proper noun above.

gracious, - H2587 - channuwn - Adjective: describes the subject: merciful, benevolent

slow - H750 - arek - Adjective: describes the subject: patient

to anger - H639 - aph - Noun - wrath - literally ‘a flaring of the nostrils’

and - Conjunction - connects following Adjectives to the Proper noun above.

abounding in -  Adjective: describes the subject:  great, abundant, many, much

loving-kindness - H2617 - checed - Noun - merciful, kind, good, loyalty, faithfulness

and - Conjunction - connects the previous noun to the following noun.

truth - H571 - ‘emeth - Feminine Noun - sureness, reliability, the truth as spoken or revealed.

who - Pronoun denoting the subject - Jehovah God

keeps - Verb - preserves, guards, watches, or observes

faithfulness - Noun - merciful, kind, good, loyalty

for thousands - Noun - multiple of thousands

who - Pronoun denoting the subject - Jehovah God

forgives - Verb - to lift, bear up, take or carry away.

iniquity - Noun - perversity or depravity, wrongdoing

transgression - Noun - a violation of  Law, rebellion against God.

and - Conjunction - connects the previous noun to the following noun.

sin - Noun / Verb - to miss, to incur guilt, to fall short.

yet He will by no  - Adverbial phrase: not, never. emphatically no.

means leave - Verb - to clear, to free, to make guiltless.

the guilty- Object

unpunished - Verb - to clear, to free, to make guiltless.

inflicting - Verb - to impose, to appoint, to punish

punishment - Noun - consequences, retribution

of the fathers - Noun - Object - father, chief

on - Preposition

the children - Noun - Object - offspring

and - Conjunction - connects the previous noun to the following noun.

Grandchildren - Noun - Object-  offspring

to - Preposition

third - Noun - Object -The third generation 

and - Conjunction - connects the previous noun to the following noun.

fourth generation - Noun - Object - the fourth generation

4. Do a concordance search for the word “compassionate” (in the NASB version). 

How many of these occurrences are accompanied by other words from Ex. 34:6? 

• There are 13 occurrences of compassionate H7349 in the OT.

• Of the 13 occurrences of compassionate in the OT, 12 are accompanied by one or more of the other highlighted words, ie; merciful, gracious,   loving-kindness, etc,.

What is the significance of this?

These words describe the nature and character of a loving God, who is merciful to those who love and revere him.

What is the purpose of these quotes from and allusions to Exodus?

To remind the reader of the mercy of God that extends back to and beyond an event as significant as the Hebrew bondage in Egypt.

5. Expand your search to other forms of the word such as “compassion.” (Refer to Tool I.1.4 to review how to form a search for the variants of a word.) Focus on the use of “compassion” in the NT. Who in the NT is said to have compassion? Make special note of the references in Col. 3:12 and Phil. 2:1.

• Compassionate (H7349) is used 13 times in the OT.

• There are 0 occurrences of compassionate in the NT in the NASB

• Compassion (H7356) is used 39 times in the OT.

• Compassion occurs 18 times in 17 verses in the NT.

• G1656 - eleos - Noun - mercy, kindness

• G4697 - splagchnizomai - Verb - to be moved with compassion

• G3627 - oiktiro - Verb - to have pity on, to have mercy on.

• G3628 - oiktirmos - Noun - Mercy 

• Philippians 2:1 - Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any [fn]affection and compassion,

• Colossians 3:12 - So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and [fn]patience;

• Full of compassion G4184 - polysplagchnos - adjective, merciful to the extreme.

• James 5:11 - We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the [fn]endurance of Job and have seen the [fn]outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

• There are four separate entities in the New Testament to whom compassion is attributed. Two are in parables told by the Lord, Jesus (fascinating!).

• The Good Samaritan (Jesus) felt compassion for the wounded stranger.

• The Father (God) felt compassion for the prodigal son.

• All but two of the remaining examples in the Gospels and the New Testament refer to either God, the Father, or to Jesus.

• The remaining two occurrences are encouragements for Christian believers to emulate the examples of God. our Father and of Christ.

6. Summarize what you have learned in a one-page paper entitled “How Exodus 34:6-7 Reveals the Glory of the Lord.” Include what you have learned from the NT in one paragraph in the paper.

How Exodus 34:6-7 Reveals the Glory of the Lord

Exodus 33:19-20

18 Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” 19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”

As a prelude, Israel has sinned greatly against God. While Moses was before the Lord, high on Mount Sinai, receiving the commandment that God would use to build a great nation unto Himself, the Israelites had fallen into idolatry. Subsequently, many thousands were slaughtered by the Levites, who remained loyal to Moses, and to God. Many more were killed by a plague sent by God.

Moses, then, pleaded to God to have mercy on the people. His intercession is revealed on several levels: he pleads for mercy, for the restoration of the covenant, and he pleads for God to go with them. 

Moses’ intercession for Israel is successful and what transpires above is a result of God’s jubilant response. As a matter of confirming His promise to Moses to renew His covenant with Israel, He will show His Glory to Moses. For his part, Moses has requested a more personal relationship with God. God, in revealing His Glory, is fulling that personal desire of Moses as well.

Exodus 34:6-7

 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and [d]truth; 7 who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the [e]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

There is some setup to the scenario. No man can see God and live, so in order to protect Moses, God places him in a cleft in the mountainside and He covers Moses in the shadow of His hand. There are allusions to Christ and to the Holy Spirit there, but that is for another time.

God, then begins to reveal a glimpse of Himself and declare Himself as He passes by Moses. And what does God proclaim about Himself? His Glory. Interestingly, God models and foreshadows the preaching of the Gospel in that, God does not reveal Himself fully to us through miracles, or great signs, or even prophecy. Rather, He reveals Himself through the preaching of the Gospel by His chosen servants.

Definition of God (Merriam-Webster)

God : the supreme or ultimate reality: such as

a: The (Supreme) Being, perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped (as in Judaism, Christianity

Above is the Merriam-Webster definition of God. I include it as a template or overlay in parsing verse six from Exodus 34. When God declares Himself, he first declares His Name. Twice. This is indicative of the majesty and omnipotence present in His name. He then goes on to declare his character. God is compassionate and merciful. He is patient and faithful. Those sound, oh so much like the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. All of these words describe His virtue, His goodness. Finally, God declares himself to be abounding in truth: wisdom. So much so that He is the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong. He is the great Judge of all things. In verse seven God accentuates that point and additionally, alludes to his timelessness, His eternal being. The good news is that the promise for His covenant people is that He will always deal with them (us) with compassion.

God loves. All of creation was a labor of love. God loves us. When God created man, he was pleased. Throughout biblical history, it has pleased God to show mercy and compassion to mankind repeatedly. He loves us so much that He gave His son, Jesus, whose death on the cross saved us from our sins.

Jesus, during His ministry on earth, perfectly mirrored the attributes of God. All of what God declared about Himself in the book of Exodus, The beauty of His ministry is that, through Christ, the greatest lasting impression on the human heart is love. And therein is God’s Glory revealed. It is revealed in the way Jesus was moved with compassion as he ministered to the masses. That same love and compassion were revealed in His parables. 

Finally, in the epistles, we who are believers are encouraged to take on these same character traits as Christ: compassion, mercy, love, gentleness, patience. Do these sound familiar? Certainly, they do. Love, driven by compassion will reveal the majesty and glory of God to the Church and through the Church.

Selah