Keluaran 32:9-10

32:9 Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have seen this people. ¹  Look ²  what a stiff-necked people they are! ³  32:10 So now, leave me alone ⁴  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Keluaran 32:14

32:14 Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.

Keluaran 33:13-14

33:13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me ⁵  your way, that I may know you, ⁶  that I may continue to find ⁷  favor in your sight. And see ⁸  that this nation is your people.”

33:14 And the Lord ⁹  said, “My presence ¹⁰  will go with you, ¹¹  and I will give you rest.” ¹² 

Keluaran 34:6-7

34:6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: ¹³  “The Lord, the Lord, ¹⁴  the compassionate and gracious ¹⁵  God, slow to anger, ¹⁶  and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, ¹⁷  34:7 keeping loyal love for thousands, ¹⁸  forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression ¹⁹  of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

Keluaran 34:9-10

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ²⁰  go among us, for we ²¹  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ²²  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ²³  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ²⁴ 

[32:9]  ¹ sn This is a bold anthropomorphism; it is as if God has now had a chance to get to know these people and has discovered how rebellious they are. The point of the figure is that there has been discernible evidence of their nature.

[32:9]  ² tn Heb “and behold” or “and look.” The expression directs attention in order to persuade the hearer.

[32:9]  ³ sn B. Jacob says the image is that of the people walking before God, and when he called to them the directions, they would not bend their neck to listen; they were resolute in doing what they intended to do (Exodus, 943). The figure describes them as refusing to submit, but resisting in pride.

[32:10]  ⁴ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[33:13]  ⁵ tn The prayer uses the Hiphil imperative of the verb “to know.” “Cause me to know” is “show me, reveal to me, teach or inform me.” Moses wanted to know more of God’s dealings with people, especially after all that has happened in the preceding chapter.

[33:13]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense of the verb “to know” with the vav follows the imperative of this root, and so this indicates the purpose clause (final imperfect): “in order that I may know you.” S. R. Driver summarizes it this way: that I may understand what your nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, so that I may find grace in your sight, and my future prayers may be answered (Exodus, 361).

[33:13]  ⁷ tn The purpose clause simply uses the imperfect, “that I may find.” But since he already has found favor in God’s eyes, he is clearly praying that it be so in the future as well as now.

[33:13]  ⁸ tn The verb “see” (an imperative) is a request for God to acknowledge Israel as his people by providing the divine leadership needed. So his main appeal will be for the people and not himself. To underscore this, he repeats “see” the way the section opened.

[33:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:14]  ¹⁰ sn Heb “my face.” This represents the presence of Yahweh going with the people (see 2 Sam 17:11 for an illustration). The “presence” probably refers to the angel of the presence or some similar manifestation of God’s leading and caring for his people.

[33:14]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “with you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[33:14]  ¹² sn The expression certainly refers to the peace of mind and security of knowing that God was with them. But the expression came to mean “settle them in the land of promise” and give them rest and peace from their enemies. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 434) observes how in 32:10 God had told Moses, “Leave me alone” (“give me rest”), but now he promises to give them rest. The parallelism underscores the great transition through intercession.

[34:6]  ¹³ tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqra’ vÿshem yÿhvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation – and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.

[34:6]  ¹⁵ tn See Exod 33:19.

[34:6]  ¹⁶ sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.

[34:6]  ¹⁷ sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.

[34:7]  ¹⁸ tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”

[34:7]  ¹⁹ sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.

[34:9]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

[34:10]  ²² tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ²³ tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ²⁴ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.