Exodus 34:7

_KEEPING MERCY 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 UPON THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN, UNTO THE THIRD AND TO THE FOURTH GENERATION._ Keeping mercy for thousands. The Septuagint has: dikaiosuneen diateeroon kai eleos eis chiliadas, keeping justice and mercy. The Chaldee version has for "thousands" - `for a thousand generations.' FORGIVING INIQUITY AND TRANSGRESSION AND SIN. These three terms are not to be separated or considered unmeaning repetitions of the same idea. They describe different phases and shades of evil-guilt, transgressions, trespasses-sins committed both against God and man-sins of a moral as well as positive nature. AND THAT WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY. This translation, which intimates the divine vengeance on sinners, and is commonly regard...

5-9 The Lord descended by some open token of his presence and manifestation of his glory in a cloud, and thence proclaimed his NAME; that is, the perfections and character which are denoted by the name JEHOVAH. The Lord God is merciful; ready to forgive the sinner, and to relieve the needy. Gracious; kind, and ready to bestow undeserved benefits. Long-suffering; slow to anger, giving time for repentance, only punishing when it is needful. He is abundant in goodness and truth; even sinners receive the riches of his bounty abundantly, though they abuse them. All he reveals is infallible truth, all he promises is in faithfulness. Keeping mercy for thousands; he continually shows mercy to sinners, and has treasures, which cannot be exhausted, to the end of time. Forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin; his mercy and goodness reach to the full and free forgiveness of sin. And will by...

Verse Exodus 34:7. _THAT WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR_ THE _GUILTY_] This last clause is rather difficult; literally translated it signifies, _in_ _clearing he will not clear_. But the Samaritan, reading לו _lo_, _to him_, instead of the negative _lo, not_, renders the clause thus: _With whom the innocent shall be innocent_; i.e., an innocent or holy person shall never be treated as if he were a transgressor, by this just and holy God. The Arabic version has it, _He justifies and is not justified_; and the Septuagint is nearly as our English text, και ου καθαριει τον ενοχον, _and he_ _doth not purify the guilty_. The Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint, edited by Dr. Grabe, has και τον ενοχον καθαρισμῳ ου καθαριει, _and the guilty he will not cleanse with a_ _purification-offering_. The Coptic is to the same purpose. Th...

This was the second revelation of the name of the God of Israel to Moses. The first revelation was of Yahweh as the self-existent One, who purposed to deliver His people with a mighty hand Exodus 3:14; this was of the same Yahweh as a loving Saviour who was now forgiving their sins. The two ideas that mark these revelations are found combined, apart from their historical development, in the second commandment, where the divine unity is shown on its practical side, in its relation to human obligations (compare Exodus 34:14; Exodus 20:4). Both in the commandment and in this passage, the divine love is associated with the divine justice; but in the former there is a transposition to serve the proper purpose of t

EXPOSITION THE FULFILMENT BY GOD OF HIS PROMISE TO MOSES. This section coheres closely with the last section of the preceding chapter, and must be regarded, as the historical account of how God fulfilled the promises there made by him to Moses (Exodus 33:19-2). The promises were mainly two— 1. That he would proclaim his name to him afresh; and 2. That he would pass by him, and let him see, after he had passed, what man might see of his glory. The fulfilment of the first promise appears in the long enumeration of attributes contained in Exodus 34:6,...

KEEPING MERCY FOR THOUSANDS,.... In his own heart, in his purposes and decrees, in his counsels and covenant, in his Son, with whom he keeps it for ever, and for all in him, Psalms 89:28 and they are many who are ordained to eternal life, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom, and for whom his blood was shed for the remission of their sins; and whom he justifies by his knowledge, and at last brings to glory as the great Captain of their salvation; these are even a number which no man can number. All the Targums render it to a thousand generations; and Jarchi interprets of two thousand generations. The first letter in the word, rendered "keeping", is longer than is usual, in the Hebrew text; which, according to the Jews h, denotes the largeness of the grace of God, its great extent and long continuance: FORGIVING INIQUITY, AND TRANSGRESSION, AND SIN; the word used signifi

CHAPTER 34 THE RESULT: THE SECOND COVENANT AND THE GLORY _ 1. The command to hew two tables of stone (Exodus 34:1)_ 2. The proclamation of Jehovah (Exodus 34:5) 3. Moses' worship and prayer (Exodus 34:8) 4. The covenant restated (Exodus 34:10) 5. The second tables written (Exodus 34:27) 6. The glory upon the face of Moses (Exodus 34:29) The command is given to Moses to hew two tables of stone like the first, which Jeho

EXODUS 34:1 J. THE COVENANT WORDS. After removing Exodus 34:5, the sublime account of the revelation of Yahweh's nature as mercy and truth in their unity, which follows on Exodus 33:23, the remainder is the sequel of J's account of the descent upon Sinai in Exodus 19, and the clauses (Exodus 34:1; Exodus 34:3) referring to the first (tables) are glosses of the editor who displaced this section (_cf._ p. 183). And it may be that originally, as in Deuteronomy 10:1

MERCY. lovingkindness, or grace. FORGIVING. bearing away. INIQUITY. perverseness. Hebrew. _avah_, App-44. TRANSGRESSION. rebellion. Heb, _pasha._ App-44. SIN. Hebrew. _chat'a._ See App-44. BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY. Not even Christ, when our sins were imputed to Him: therefore, all now in Him are "cleared", Figure of speech _Polyptoton_ (App-6). Hebrew "clearing will not clear", emphasis on "by no means". unto the third and to the fourth generation. This refrain recurs in whole or in part in Ex. Exodus 20:5. Compare also Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9; Ne

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;...