Exodus 34:6

And the Lord passed by before him,.... Or caused his Shechinah, his divine Majesty, and the glory of it, to pass before him, as the Targums; his glory and goodness, which he had promised should pass

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, The Lord passed by.

The Lord God: this title shows his glorious being, power, and authority; the following titles note his goodness to men. Abundant in goodness and truth; in fulfilling all his gracious promises made to Abraham, and to his seed, and to all his people; wherein he is said to be abundant, because he generally is better than his word, and gives more than he promised. There is a truth in Divine threatenings, but here the situation of this word in the midst of the attributes of Divine goodness plainly shows that it is to be restrained to the promises; this being usual and reasonable, that general words have their signification limited by the context. And indeed here seems to be a hendyadis, goodness and truth, for true, sincere, and hearty goodness, as mercy and truth are oft put for true and real mercy. See 57:3, &c.

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,Ver. 6. The Lord, The Lord God. &c.] These glorious titles and attributes are those back parts of God. None can see more than these and live: and we need see no more than these that we may live. Longsuffering.] Heb., Wide of nostrils; not apt to snuff at small matters, but bearing with men’ s evil manners. This Averroes, the atheist, made use as an argument against the providence of God, and to prove that he meddled with nothing below the moon, because of his slowness to anger. In goodness and truth.] God’ s goodness, though great, yet here and elsewhere it goes bounded with his truth.

(6) The Lord passed by before him.—In this brief phrase we have the entire historical narrative of the manifestation to Moses of God’s glory. For details we must refer to the terms of the promise (Exodus 33:21-23), which are also characterised by brevity, but still add something to the bare statements of the present passage. Moses was, no doubt, hidden and protected by God’s hand in a “clift of the rock” while God’s glory passed by. He was only allowed to look out from his hiding-place after the glory had passed, when he saw the remains of it—the “back parts;” even this was, however, so brilliant a vision that it left a permanent light upon his countenance, which he was fain ordinarily to conceal from the people by means of a veil (Exodus 34:29-35). The Lord, The Lord God . . .The new “name” of God is not a “name,” as we understand the expression; it is rather a description of His nature by means of a series of epithets. At the bush He had revealed His eternal, self-existent character; in the descent on Sinai (Exodus 19:16-19; Exodus 20:18-21) He had shown His terribleness; now, in the act of pardoning His people and taking them once more into favour, He made known His attribute of mercy. The more to impress this feature of His character on Israel, He accumulated epithet on epithet, calling Himself Rakhum, “the tender or pitiful one;” Khannun, “the kind or gracious one,” who bestows His benefits out of mere favour; Erek appayim, “the long-suffering one;” Rab khesed, “the great in mercy;” Notser khesed, “the keeper of mercy;” and Nose ’avon, “the forgiver of iniquity.” Still, to prevent the fatal misapprehension that He is a Being of pure and mero benevolence (Butler, Analogy, Part I., Exodus 2, p. 41). He added, to complete the description, a reference to His justice. He “will by no means clear the guilty” (comp. Nahum 1:3), and will “visit iniquity to the third and fourth generation.” (Comp. Exodus 20:5.)

Verse 6. And the Lord passed by - and proclaimed, The Lord, c.] It would be much better to read this verse thus: "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed JEHOVAH," that is, showed Moses fully what was implied in this august name. Moses had requested God to show him his glory, (see the preceding chapter, Exodus 33:18,) and God promised to proclaim or fully declare the name JEHOVAH, (Exodus 33:19) by which proclamation or interpretation Moses should see how God would "be gracious to whom he would be gracious," and how he would "be merciful to those to whom he would show mercy. Here therefore God fulfils that promise by proclaiming this name. It has long been a question, what is the meaning of the word יהוה JEHOVAH, Yehovah, Yehue, Yehveh, or Yeve, Jeue, Jao, Iao, Jhueh, and Jove; for it has been as variously pronounced as it has been differently interpreted. Some have maintained that it is utterly inexplicable; these of course have offered no mode of interpretation. Others say that it implies the essence of the Divine nature. Others, that it expresses the doctrine of the Trinity connected with the incarnation; the letter י yod standing for the Father, ה he for the Son, and ו vau (the connecting particle) for the Holy Spirit: and they add that the ה he being repeated in the word, signifies the human nature united to the Divine in the incarnation. These speculations are calculated to give very little satisfaction. How strange is it that none of these learned men have discovered that God himself interprets this name in Exodus 34:6,! "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed יהוה YEHOVAH 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." These words contain the proper interpretation of the venerable and glorious name JEHOVAH. But it will be necessary to consider them in detail. The different names in this and the following verse have been considered as so many attributes of the Divine nature. Commentators divide them into eleven, thus: - 1. יהוה JEHOVAH. 2. אל EL, the strong or mighty God. 3. רחום RACHUM, the merciful Being, who is full of tenderness and compassion. 4. חנון CHANNUN, the gracious One; he whose nature is goodness itself; the loving God. 5. ארך אפים ERECH APPAYIM, long-suffering; the Being who, because of his goodness and tenderness, is not easily irritated, but suffers long and is kind. 6. רב RAB, the great or mighty One. 7. חסד CHESED, the bountiful Being; he who is exuberant in his beneficence. 8. אמת EMETH, the truth or true One; he alone who can neither deceive nor be deceived, who is the fountain of truth, and from whom all wisdom and knowledge must be derived. 9.

6–8. Description of the theophany promised in Exodus 33:19-23. The theophany consists essentially in a proclamation of the glories of Jehovah’s moral nature, developed with special reference to the occasion giving rise to the theophany, and emphasizing the predominance of the Divine attributes of mercy above those of judgement. Echoes of this great declaration of Jehovah’s moral nature occur frequently in the later literature: Numbers 14:18 (a quotation), Jeremiah 32:18, Nahum 1:3 a, Nehemiah 9:17; Nehemiah 9:31, Joe 2:31, Jonah 4:2, Psalms 86:15; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 111:4 b, Psalms 112:4 b, Psalms 145:8, 2 Chronicles 30:9. It is also probably the source of the explanatory comments on the second commandment in Exodus 20:5 b, Exodus 20:6. Vv. 6–9 are not really connected with their present context: cf. McNeile, 217, 30 (a), 36 Vv. 1a, 2–5, 10–28 form one connected whole (p. 364 f.); and Exodus 33:1; Exodus 33:3-4; Exodus 33:12-13, Exodus 17-23, Exodus 34:6-9, Exodus 33:14-16 (see p. 361) form another.

This was the second revelation of the name of the God of Israel to Moses.

6, 7. Proclaimed — This appears to have been a supernatural communication, in an audible voice, proceeding out of the theophany, as the ten commandments had been spoken out of the midst of the fires of Sinai. Deuteronomy 5:4.