In the Old Testament, a person’s name is not just a label, but a description of who they are. God often changes the names of individuals when they experience significant spiritual events. So we should pay special attention to the names of God in the Bible. In the book of Exodus, Moses is exposed to three names of God, which trace the development of Israel’s knowledge of God through three steps. The third name presents a vision that extends to the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus.
Historically, the first name of God that Moses would have recognized is the one that dominates Israel’s history up to his time, in Genesis.
Exod 6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
The phrase “God Almighty” is the Hebrew expression El Shaddai. While the derivation of Shaddai is debated, Genesis uses the name consistently in connection with Abraham’s growing family (Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25). In each of these settings, it emphasizes God’s willingness and ability to protect and multiply his chosen people. Moses would know this name, and its implications of powerful protection and fruitfulness, very well.
The turning point in Moses’ life came when the Lord spoke to him from the burning bush, and commanded him to lead Israel out of Egypt and back to the land that was promised to them. Part of that conversation concerned God’s name:
Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
The verb “I Am” that God gives as his name in 3:14 is the basis of the Hebrew name YHWH, sometimes transliterated “Jehovah,” and translated “LORD” (all capital letters)in 3:15. This name emphasizes that God keeps his covenants with his people. Later, in 6:3, God tells Moses that “by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to” the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course, they knew the name, as numerous passages in Genesis show, but they had not yet experienced his character as a covenant-keeping God. He promised them the land of Canaan, yet when their lives ended, those promises were unfulfilled. Now, in Exodus 3, God tells Moses that the time has come for them to leave Egypt and return to the land of promise. Finally, they will recognize him as the God who keeps covenant, as YHWH:
Ex. 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
So Moses initially knew God in his character as El Shaddai, one who is able and willing to care graciously for his people. At the burning bush, he learned his character as Jehovah, the God who makes and keeps covenant promises. The third step in Moses’ knowledge of the Lord comes at Mount Sinai, after Jehovah has entered into covenant with his people, and after they have betrayed the covenant by building the golden calf.
God proposes to judge the people for their sin.
Exo 32:33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
At first, God refuses to accompany the people on their journey, leaving them only with an angelic escort.
Exo 33:3 I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
Moses recognizes that the absence of God’s personal presence would be disastrous. He intercedes with the Lord, who then agrees to accompany the people, out of his grace and mercy. Again, this revelation is embodied in his name.
Exo 33:15 And [Moses] said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
In the next chapter, the Lord fulfills this promise. Moses ascends Sinai, and there the Lord meets him.
Exo 34:5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 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, 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.
The name begins with “LORD,” that is, Jehovah, the name that God demonstrated by leading Israel out of Egypt. But it expands into a long, and at first glance contradictory, description, which summarizes the recent events surrounding the golden calf.
Consider first the last half of 34:7, beginning “that will by no means clear the guilty.” Here he affirms the threat he made in 32:33, 34:
Exo 32:33 … Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 … in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Sin against a holy God demands punishment. “Whosoever hath sinned, him will I blot out.” If God were to overlook the sin, he would be less than holy. The last part of the expanded name of God in Exod 34:6-7 affirms his holiness.
Yet in Exod 33:19, he agreed to be gracious and merciful, and to accompany the people on their journey to Canaan, in spite of their sin. The first part of the expanded name affirms and amplifies this gracious and merciful disposition. Let’s amplify the individual terms that he uses, in order.
- merciful, rachum, Strong’s number H7349, describes a sense of compassion on a needy person.
- gracious, channun, H2587, indicates that he gives his favor to those who do not deserve it.
- longsuffering, or slow to anger, shows that he does not immediately impose judgment for sin.
- goodness, chesed, H2617, describes his loyal love to those with whom he is in covenant. This word occurs again in 34:7, where it is translated “mercy.”
- truth, emeth, H571, indicates that he is stedfast and faithful in his gracious resolve.
Here is a contradiction. At the beginning of the expanded name, God reveals himself as compassionate, patient, loving, giving favor to those who deserve his wrath. At the end, he insists that he is absolutely holy, and “will by no means clear the guilty.” In his intercession with God after the nation’s idolatry, Moses has experienced both of these characteristics of the Lord. But how can they be reconciled? If God is indeed loving, how can he preserve his holiness in dealing with a sinful people? If he is fully holy, how can he avoid pouring out his wrath on them?
The resolution lies in the clause that separates the two halves of the expanded name: “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” The verb translated “forgiving” is nasa, H5375. Literally, the verb means to lift up, bear, or carry away, and it often refers to physical burdens. But it is also applied to sin, in four cases.
- The sinner is said to “bear his sin,” meaning that he is guilty and must suffer the consequences, as in Lev 5:17 and 20:17.
- The sacrifice is said to “bear sin” as the substitute for the sinner, as in Lev 16:21-22.
- The priest is said to “bear sin” in the ritual of the sin offering, Lev 10:17.
- Remarkably, as in Exod 34:7 and elsewhere, God is said to bear his people’s sin.
In the fourth case, the verb is usually translated “forgive,” but the other uses of “bear sin” show that God is offering to take upon himself the sin of his people, so that he can spare them. He is prepared to visit his holy wrath against sin upon himself, so that he can be merciful to his people without compromising his holiness.
The promise of this verse is fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross:
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
At Calvary, God, in the person of his human-divine Son, took upon himself the guilt and punishment that we deserve. In the desert, the Lord threatened to abandon Israel. On the cross, he did abandon his Son, who cried out in agony,
Matt 27:46 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The cross is where God fulfills the promise that he himself would “forgive [bear] iniquity and transgression and sin.” By doing so, he reconciles the two basic features of his character, his unwavering holiness and hatred of sin, and his deep compassion and love for his people. As Paul summarizes the transaction,
Rom 3:26 that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
In keeping with the end of Exod 34:7, he is just. Satisfying 34:6, he can be the justifier.
The descendants of Abraham learned the character of El Shaddai as they multiplied in the face of trial and opposition. They learned the character of Jehovah when he finally fulfilled his covenant promise to return them to the land promised to Abraham. They could only learn his character as the sin-bearing God through the rebellion at Sinai. And the promise inherent in his expanded name becomes fully clear only in the light of a Roman cross outside the gate of first-century Jerusalem.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.