Exodus 34:6,7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the Lord passed by before him Fixed views of God are reserved for the future state; the best we have in this world are transient. And proclaimed the name of the Lord By which he would make himself known. He had made himself known to Moses, in the glory of his self- existence and self-sufficiency, when he proclaimed that name, I am that I am; now he makes himself known in the glory of his grace and goodness, and all-sufficiency to us. The proclaiming of it denotes the universal extent of God's mercy; he is not only good to Israel, but good to all. The God with whom we have to do is a great God. He is Jehovah, the Lord, that hath his being of himself, and is the fountain of all being; Jehovah-El, the Lord, the strong God, a God of almighty power himself, and the original of all power. This is prefixed before the display of his mercy, to teach us to think and to speak even of God's goodness with a holy awe, and to encourage us to depend upon these mercies. He is a good God. His greatness and goodness illustrate each other. That his greatness may not make us afraid, we are told how good he is; and that we may not presume upon his goodness, we are told how great he is. Many words are here heaped up to acquaint us with, and convince us of, God's goodness. 1st, He is merciful This speaks his pity and tender compassion, like that of a father to his children. This is put first, because it is the first wheel in all the instances of God's good-will to fallen Man 1:2 d, He is gracious This signifies both freeness and kindness: it speaks him not only to have compassion for his creatures, but a complacency in them, and in doing good to them; and this of his own good-will, not for the sake of any thing in them. 3d, He is long-suffering This is a branch of God's goodness which our wickedness gives occasion for. He is long-suffering, that is, he is slow to anger, and delays the executions of his justice; he waits to be gracious, and lengthens out the offers of his mercy. 4th, He is abundant in goodness and truth This imports plentiful goodness; it abounds above our deserts, above our conceptions. The springs of mercy are always full, the streams of mercy always flowing; there is mercy enough in God, enough for all, enough for each, enough for ever. It speaks promised goodness, goodness and truth put together, goodness engaged by promise. 5th. He keepeth mercy for thousands This speaks, (1,) Mercy extended to thousands of persons. When he gives to some, still he keeps for others, and is never exhausted: (2,) Mercy entailed upon thousands of generations, even to those upon whom the ends of the world are come: nay, the line of it is drawn parallel with that of eternity itself. 6th, He forgiveth iniquity, transgression, and sin Pardoning mercy is instanced in, because in that divine grace is most magnified, and because it is that which opens the door to all other gifts of grace. He forgives offences of all sorts, iniquity, transgression, and sin, multiplies his pardons, and with him is plenteous redemption. Nevertheless, 7th, He is just and holy, for he will by no means clear the guilty The word guilty, indeed, is not in the original; but the sense requires this, or some such word, to be supplied, as it is in the Septuagint. The expression intimates, that however merciful and forgiving God is toward the penitent, yet he will not suffer his honour and authority to be trampled upon by those who wantonly abuse his lenity and forbearance. Therefore the passage is thus rendered by the Chaldee: Sparing those who are converted to his laws, and not justifying those who are not converted. It is true, Maimonides, and others after him, take these words to be a further amplification of the goodness of God, signifying, that in punishing offenders he will not utterly destroy them. For he translates, נקה לא ינקה, nakkeh lo jenakkeh, extirpating he will not extirpate, in visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children: that is, Though he chastise the guilty, yet he will not destroy them. But there appears to be no authority for translating the passage thus, unless Isa 3:26 be an instance in which the word נקה nakkeh requires to have such a sense affixed to it. Certainly the other is the common meaning of it, and is perfectly consistent with the account of God's other perfections and the delineation of his character here given. For his justice is in perfect harmony with his mercy, and is equally a branch of his love and goodness, to curb and restrain sin, being as much an act of divine goodness as to pardon the penitent and reward the obedient. (1,) He will by no means clear the impenitently guilty, those that go on still in their trespasses. For none are pardoned but those that repent and forsake all known sin. (2,) He will not clear even the penitent without satisfaction to his justice, His pardoning mercy is never exercised but through the atonement of Christ, and by faith in him. For “without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (3,) The sin which is even pardoned is generally chastised, and the people of God themselves are corrected for the failures and imperfections of their obedience. Nay, in many cases, the children suffer for the follies and vices of their parents, and the parents may read their own sins in the disorders and miseries of their offspring. Thus, at least, does God “visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children:” yet he “keepeth not his anger for ever,” but visits to the third and fourth generation only, while he “keeps mercy for thousands.” This is God's name for ever, and this is his memorial to all generations.