Yahweh: Exodus 34:6-7 Notes
Dear Renewal Church,
Our friend Pastor Jeff Jantzi preached on Exodus 34:6-7, drawing us to the wonderful, personal and loving God revealed in God’s own self-proclamation. Pastor Jeff invites us to see God’s heart on full display in the text: God is personal, loving and wants to be known. He has a name! Yahweh!
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7, ESV)
We hear two aspects of Yahweh’s character:
God delights in mercy, grace, love. His character compels him to forgive (and that he loves and is quick in forgiving). God’s forgiveness is comprehensive (“iniquity, transgression and sin” covers all ).
God deals with sin seriously (“who will by no means clear the guilty”) but the magnitude of His loving character (“for thousands..”) trumps his dealing with sin (“to the third and the fourth generation). However, His loving character is wholly overwhelming.
Verse 7, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children…”, has some degree of different interpretations. However there are a couple of key points that we can highlight as consistent:
Scriptural witness rules out the interpretation that, the children are punished for the sins of the parents. In Deuteronomy, we read “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Sin has resulting effects (to others and to God’s good creation). The word used here, “iniquity”, in the Hebrew language carries the simultaneous sense of, the guilt of sin itself and its enduring physical consequences [1].
“To the third and the fourth generation” pales in magnitude “to the thousands” and so is God’s handling of sin compare to His love and compassion. As Pastor Jeff notes, when forgiveness is up against God’s justice, forgiveness comes up on top. “God is love” writes the apostle John in the New Testament.
Biblical scholars vary in particular on the interpretation of “visiting”. Though the inter-generational nature effects of sin and God’s need to deal with it are consistent, scholars differ on the emphasis placed on how God is displaying his moral character in this context.
Some authors in the context of the Israel’s unfolding story (at this point in history) highlight God’s need to actively deal with sin as God continues forming a new people, teaching this new people about Himself. Peter E. Enns [2] highlights the necessity of eradicating sin completely which “requires the penalty to extend to the third and fourth generation”.
Douglas K. Stuart of The New American Commentary, would highlight less on the active punishment of sin and puts it this way: He notes that sin may continue between generations, but God will punish (in accordance with) the sins of later generations if they commit the same sins of their fathers. He places emphasis here on the revelation of God's just character as “a corrective against the natural human tendency to accept grace on the assumption that because an infinite God can produce infinite amount of grace, sin has no significant consequence...” [3]
Other authors, such as R.W.L Moberly emphasize more on God’s moral character. He notes that God’s proclamation here is a consistent reference to Exodus 20. “a continuing recognition of the moral order”to correctly understand the magnitude of God's forgiveness here: “...they serve to clarify that Yahweh’s forgiveness is truly forgiveness, not leniency, still less moral indifference. As such, they preserve a note of moral seriousness of the sort that should keep the mercy of Yahweh from being misunderstood” [4]
What is shared here in God’s proclamation is His overwhelming love and compassion while dealing with the seriousness of sin and his desire to make it right. He can be trusted! His love for us can be trusted! And His desire for forgiveness can be trusted. Moses intercedes with this confidence in God’s character in a later account:
…please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word (Numbers 14:17-20)
Pastor Jeff draws our attention to the Christ behind all Scriptures, where in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, this entirely trustworthy love of God and His triumph over sin is perfected as the center of all history. In Jesus, the image of this invisible God is seen. In Jesus, Yahweh, the personal God is seen. In Jesus, love, justice and forgiveness meet. As the apostle John writes joyfully:
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are…he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
Gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love indeed!
Grace and Peace,
The Elders, Pastor Josh
References
[1] James K. Bruckner, Exodus (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012)
[2] Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014)
[3] Douglas K. Stuart The New American Commentary: Exodus (USA: B&H Publishing Group, 2006)
[4] R.W.L Moberly, "How May We Speak of God: A Reconsideration of the Nature of Biblical Theology", Tyndale Bulletin 52, no.2 (2002): 177-202