Exodus 34:5-8

"And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped."

These words must be viewed as a fulfillment on God's part of the revelation which he had promised Moses at the end of the preceding chapter. Scholars of all shades of belief have extolled and praised the revelation here concerning the nature, or attributes, of God Himself. This sacred glimpse of God's loving mercy lies behind the N.T. revelation that "God is love." The O.T. prophets returned to these words again and again. They are quoted in Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:15; Jonah 4:2; and also Numbers 14:18. It is an inexcusable error, however, to suppose that God will finally accommodate to human wickedness. He will "by no means clear the guilty"; and despite some efforts to distort the meaning of that promise by reading it, "He will not even completely destroy the guilty," no such rendition is honest. These very same words in Exodus 20:7 "are rendered `will not hold him guiltless,' and in Jeremiah 30:11, `will not leave unpunished.'"[7]

"Thousands ..."; "Lovingkindness for thousands ..." Thousands of what? The understanding of this comes in the antithesis in the word "generation" at the end of Exodus 34:7. Thus, it means thousands of generations!

The attributes of God mentioned in this passage are usually cited as follows:

(1) merciful;

(2) gracious;

(3) long-suffering;

(4) abundant in lovingkindness;

(5) showing mercy for thousands; and

(6) forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin (a summary of all wickedness).

However, the Jews find in this same passage what they are pleased to call "The Thirteen Attributes of God."[8] These, however, are not nearly so well defined as the six just listed.