Part VI in The Theology of the Pentateuch
Goodness All the Way Down
In Part V of our series, we saw that God revealed his name to Moses in Exodus 3 as Yahweh, “I AM,” and that the meaning of God’s name is bound up with God’s presence to save his people, “I AM with you.” Toward the end of the book in Exodus 33–34, God explains the meaning of his name by proclaiming his own character. This is a watershed for knowing God.
While Moses is on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the people below craft a god out of gold and stage an idolatrous, orgiastic feast. They break the first commandment before the tablets are down the mountain. This is the nation’s foundational “failure narrative” and originally God resolves to consume the people with fire and make a new nation out of Moses. But Moses initiates a series of intercessory prayers calling on God to remember his name, i.e., his reputation before the nations, and his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, i.e., the relationships he has committed to (Exod 32:11–13). Finally, Moses makes this unprecedented request to know more of who God is.
Exodus 33:18–19*
And Moses said, “Reveal to me, please, your glory!” And he said, “I will pass all my goodness before you and I will call out by my name, YHWH, before you. And I will show favor upon whom I show favor and I will be compassionate upon whom I am compassionate.
Moses asks for glory, God volunteers his goodness. This is his glory and his most fundamental characteristic. His other attributes are just the working out of his goodness. God’s freedom and his sovereignty are characterized by his ability to act lovingly toward whomever he wishes—even toward the kind of people that cheat on their wedding night, that cannot watch and pray one hour, that seem programmed to fail.
God’s Name Means God’s Attributes
To make good on this promise, God shelters Moses in a rocky cleft and “calls out by his name” while his presence passes by:
Exodus 34:6–7*
Yahweh, Yahweh:
God of compassion and favor,
Slow burning,
and overflowing with devotion and faithfulness,
Guarding devotion for thousands [of generations], Bearing iniquity, and guilt, and sin,
But as for acquittal—he does not acquit—
Visiting iniquity of parents on children and children’s children to three or four [generations].
The first two attributes, compassion and favor, clearly display God’s goodness. The descriptor “slow burning” is literally “long of nose.” In Hebrew this expression means God has a long fuse, he’s long-suffering (the idiom for anger in ancient Hebrew is “to burn in the nose,” because it is imagined as red-hot when outraged). The next pair of attributes, devotion and faithfulness, are covenant attributes. Though you walk all over him, he will never break the covenant on his end. He guards devotion. He bears with human sin in patience. This is the practical outworking of his slow burning.
But we struggle more to see God’s goodness in the last two lines where judgement surfaces in what appears to be a vengeful and unjust way. The fact that God visits iniquity, i.e., punishes sins, is not in itself a problem. A father who does not care enough to discipline a child abuses them, and a society where there is no justice for true criminals is unlivable. We all relate deep within our bones to the knowledge that true evil must be dealt with. What is unsettling is the idea that children will be punished for their parents’ sins. But is that what this passage is truly communicating?
No. First of all, such a reading would fly in the face of other biblical texts where God clearly maintains that each person is punished for the right or wrong that they themselves do (Deut 24:16; Jer 32:16–19; Ezek 18:20). Elsewhere in Exodus, we find this same language with some clarifying clauses.
Exodus 20:5–6
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (ESV)
The idea here is that sin will surely have consequences and those consequences negatively affect generations in the same way that blessings positively affect generations. If you learn from your father to treat women as objects it doesn’t make you any less guilty of treating women as objects. In the same way, if you learn from your father to be hardworking and committed, you are no less virtuous for it. The point of the passage is found in the asymmetry that highlights the imbalance in the numbers: God is gracious to thousands (i.e., to generations long after Abraham, who don’t deserve it), but he visits the consequences of sins only for three or four generations (i.e., a relatively short period of time).
For Moses leading the rebellious Exodus generation, this is the flame burning in the bush. Only because of God’s character can the bush survive; and through this relationship the bush will be refined and purified. Yahweh’s character is the triumph of grace through justice. And that triumph of grace is what allows us to know God.
The Theology of Knowing God’s Name
Knowing God’s name is a deep privilege. When Scripture alludes to this description of God’s character, the context emphasizes God’s mercy and our seeking forgiveness (e.g., Num 14:17–19; Jer 9:23–24; Mic 7:18–19). My favorite example comes from Jonah where comic-genius-level irony draws a stark contrast between our character and God’s. When God graciously forgives the evil Ninevites, whom Jonah hates, he rails against the LORD by quoting Exodus 34:6–7 back at him. It’s as if Jonah is shouting, “I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love—it’s what I hate about you the most!” (Jon 4:1–4). Jonah is rebelling against the very attributes of the LORD that enable him to know God. It’s hilarious.
The New Testament authors believed that the description of God’s character as revealed in his name was precisely what Jesus Christ himself made known.
John 1:14–18
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. … For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (ESV)
John sees Jesus’s ministry as a fuller picture of the same God who revealed his name and his character to Moses. Jesus adds grace to grace because we can experience God more clearly in Christ. In fact, John is implying that God’s “grace and truth” were not yet fully on display to Moses—an incredible statement when you see the mercy and patience of God toward Israel.
If the LORD redeems us through relationship and for relationship, his presence to save us in Christ deepens this truth.
John 15:13–17
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. … so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (ESV)
Christ’s death and resurrection is the ultimate expression of his character, the ultimate display of grace triumphing through justice. This is how he draws us into a relationship. He tells us his name so that he can call us “friend” and we can learn to love like him.
LORD, grant us a real, experiential knowledge of your name. May we hear you proclaiming your goodness to us in Scripture. May we feel your presence with us to save. Lord, hold us in your friendship, that we might not fall into sin or any manner of idolatry. We are in awe of your grace and your goodness toward us.
*author’s translation
Alex Kirk is the Visiting Professor of Old Testament at William Tennent School of Theology. He has been married to Meghan for over ten years, and currently lives in Durham, England, where he is nearing the completion of his Ph.D.. Alex is most passionate about leading people deeper into the literature of the Old Testament as the living and active word of the LORD to his people.