Library
<< Exodus 34:6 Exodus 34:8 >>
Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Exodus 34:7:
Exodus 34:4-9
Excerpted from: Where God Places His Name (Part Two)Moses got it. Moses understood after this display how a holy God could be in the midst of a sinful nation. Through His name.
I want you to go back to verse 4 and just notice that God appeared to Moses and proclaimed His name to him while Moses was holding the two newly-hewn tablets on which the Ten Commandments would soon be written. It is a stunning picture. It is a good picture for us to understand here. We could say that Moses was embracing those tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were to be written. What this is, is an illustration, a small vignette, a small picture of Moses' righteous disposition toward God, his attitude toward righteousness. We could say that he was embracing God's commandments. It was to him, one God called "His servant" that God proclaimed His name, the one who He had prepared to understand. And what He did, knowing Moses' disposition toward Him as meek and humble and ready to learn, He preached a sermon to a very receptive, humble, and meek Moses about His name. Moses understood then that God's glory is in His name, at least the kind of glory that we can understand at this point.
So, the sermon that the Lord preached to Moses begins with the repetition of His name. This is really interesting, I thought. In Hebrew it would be Yahweh, Yahweh-El. It is an excellent introduction to the topic of His name because He brings up His two most important or prominent names. Yahweh. Yahweh-El. Lord, Lord God. If we were to translate these words literally, which is something that most of us do not think about doing, we just look at it, it says Lord, or we might think of Yahweh and El. We would think of El or God, Deity.
But listen to what this introduction becomes when we translate these words literally. It could read, in essence, "I am, and this is how I am God. I'm the Ever-living One, and I'm going to teach you why I am God." In other words, the traits that He lists after this opening salvo of His two names, set Him apart as divine, not necessarily His great power and eternity. That is part of it. That is there in the names of Yahweh and El. But it is those other things, these divine traits that He gives us a list of. What do they do? They explain or expound His holy, righteous character. That is what makes Him God because He has character and we do not. He has perfect character, and we have slime for character. It is like saying to Moses, "You wanted to see My glory. I will now reveal My true glory, My character. These characteristics are what set Me apart as God."
So what does He say? What are His character traits? He starts with the fact that He is compassionate. He is concerned and merciful. That is what compassionate means. How many times do we see in the Gospels Christ having compassion on the multitudes? It is the first thing He turns to. "Look. These people are wandering about as sheep with no shepherd. I've got to do something." And so He heals them. He casts out their demons. He is compassionate. He is gracious. He grants favor to the undeserving. Because He wants to come to repentance. He wants all to be in His Kingdom.
He is slow to anger. He is very patient with us, knowing that we have slime for character. He is very forbearing, He holds off. He does not pound us the first time we sin. What kind of future is that? If we sin, okay, he is done. What kind of God would that be? We need a God who is patient with us and gives us time to repent, to turn around.
The next one is He is abounding in hesed. That is the covenant love, the covenant loyalty there that is translated as a goodness. He is abounding in it. He is just not faithful and totally loyal to His covenant, He is perfect in it. He overflows with this love toward those He makes covenant with. He is all in for them, and He is going to try and try and try again so that those people come around and love Him like He loves us.
It says He is abounding in truth. He is correct in all things truthful. And so because He is … . . .
Exodus 34:1-10
Excerpted from: Who Do You Trust? (Part Two)In that email Pat sent he cited verse 6 as it is written in the Contemporary English Version [paraphrase], because there is an absolute declaration hidden within this verse that runs the length, breadth, width, and depth of everything God does with His church now. The CEV translates Exodus 34:6 this way: “Then He passed in front of Moses and called out, “I am the LORD God. I am merciful and very patient with my people. I show great love, and I can be trusted.”
The word that is translated as "truth" in the NKJV is number 571 in Strong’s—it means stability; figuratively it means certainty; truth; trustworthiness.
It is good to keep in mind that God is literally telling us that everything He does is in accord with the way He Himself lives. And, on top of that, within the context, He is working to make His Family just like Him by His grace, with His abundant mercy and forgiveness. Everything He said and does is truth—His Word is always true, and therefore He can always, without exception, be trusted!
In summary and with reference to Exodus 34:6-10 and God’s owns declaration: By grace His covenant is assured. He is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in His gifts to thousands of generations. By His grace He assures forgiveness of offenses, crimes, and sins, even though they may have teaching consequences for generations.
But He has just as firmly assured that He will not acquit the willful sinner, who continues to follow his own way of life and rejects God’s way of life, trampling on God’s own sacrifice to make this awesome work sure.
God’s answer to Satan in Genesis 3 is, I can be trusted in all that I say and do, as all will eventually see in My awesome work through the weakest among men!
Exodus 34:5-9
Excerpted from: Sovereignty and SubmissionThis was just after the incident with the golden calf, so things were not great among the camp of Israel at this point. God was still somewhat angry, but by this time He had calmed down a bit, He turned the situation into a chance for Moses to learn, and the rest of us as well. Verse 5:
There's the meekest man in all the earth coming to an understanding of what kind of God he worshipped and relying on those (let's call them "softer") qualities that God had just named to him. Merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
He saw that with God, He gives you a lot of rope to hang yourself with and that His mercy endures forever. He saw that God's softer qualities, in many cases, outweigh the harsher ones, because He wants rehabilitated sons and daughters. He doesn't want to have to chop their heads off. He'll do it if it's necessary. How many hundreds of thousands died in the wilderness, or millions I should say? But, He would much rather have mercy, He would much rather see repentance.
ArticlesCharacter and Reputation
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Eleven): Paradox, Continued
The First Commandment
The Third Commandment (1997)
Why Worship God?
EssaysMoses, Psalmist (Part 4)
SermonsThe Longsuffering of God
Jonah: Typical Israelite
The Glory of God (Part 1): The Shekinah
The Glory of God (Part 2): In Christ
A Son Is Given
I Pledge Allegiance
Who Do You Trust? (Part Two)
The Third Commandment: Idolatry
<< Exodus 34:6 Exodus 34:8 >>
Join 138,497+ readers
A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning
Consistent Bible study is hard to start.
The Berean gives you the starting point: one scripture and a focused commentary in your inbox each morning — read it in minutes, or go as deep as you like.
Free, daily, and spam-free. We never share your address. Unsubscribe anytime.