When God Shows Up (Again) After We’ve Blown It
What’s Exodus 34 about?
This is the story of God’s incredible do-over – after Israel’s golden calf disaster, Moses climbs Mount Sinai again to receive new stone tablets, and God reveals His character in one of Scripture’s most beautiful self-descriptions. It’s about second chances, divine mercy, and what God is really like when we’ve messed up badly.
The Full Context
Picture this: Israel has just experienced the ultimate spiritual whiplash. One moment they’re at the foot of Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments directly from God’s finger, the next they’re dancing around a golden calf while Moses is still up on the mountain. When Moses comes down and sees what’s happening, he smashes the stone tablets in righteous anger. The covenant is broken, literally and figuratively. Chapter 33 ends with this heavy question hanging in the air: will God still dwell among His people after such betrayal?
Exodus 34 opens with God’s surprising response – not abandonment, but restoration. He tells Moses to carve new stone tablets and climb the mountain again. This isn’t just about replacing broken stone; it’s about God revealing His deepest character to a people who desperately need to know who He really is. The chapter contains what Jewish scholars call the “Thirteen Attributes of God” – a passage so central that it’s recited in synagogues during the holiest days of the year. This is God’s own self-revelation, His business card if you will, showing us His heart when we’ve blown it completely.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
The Hebrew here is absolutely stunning. When God proclaims His name in verses 6-7, He uses a literary technique that would have made the original audience’s hearts race. The text literally says “YHWH, YHWH” – God repeats His covenant name twice, like He’s making sure Moses doesn’t miss it.
But here’s where it gets fascinating: the word rachum (compassionate) comes from the Hebrew word rechem, meaning “womb.” When God describes Himself as compassionate, He’s using maternal imagery – the deep, instinctive love a mother has for the child in her womb. This isn’t just sympathy; this is visceral, protective, life-giving love.
Grammar Geeks
The phrase “slow to anger” in Hebrew is literally erek appayim – “long of nose/nostrils.” In ancient Near Eastern thought, anger was associated with heavy breathing through flared nostrils. So God is saying “I have long nostrils” – it takes a lot to make Me breathe hard with anger!
The word for “abounding” (rab) appears twice – once with chesed (steadfast love) and once with emet (faithfulness/truth). This repetition creates a poetic rhythm that would have been impossible to forget. God isn’t just loving; He’s overflowing with love. He isn’t just faithful; He’s bursting with faithfulness.
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
Put yourself in ancient Israel’s sandals for a moment. You’ve just committed what amounts to spiritual adultery – worshipping another god while your divine Husband is away on business. In the ancient Near East, covenant breaking typically meant one thing: death or exile. Other gods were known for their explosive rage and permanent rejection of unfaithful worshippers.
But here comes YHWH with something completely unprecedented. Not only is He not destroying them, He’s actually revealing more of Himself than ever before. The Thirteen Attributes would have sounded revolutionary: “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7).
Did You Know?
Archaeological discoveries show that ancient Near Eastern gods were typically described by their power, their demands, or their wrath. Finding a deity who defines Himself primarily by His mercy and faithfulness was virtually unheard of in the ancient world.
The audience would have been stunned by the mathematics of God’s grace. He keeps love for “thousands” (of generations), but only visits iniquity to the “third and fourth generation.” That’s not even close – we’re talking about a ratio of mercy to judgment that’s off the charts. This God is weighted toward forgiveness.
But Wait… Why Did Moses Ask to See God’s Glory?
Here’s something that might puzzle modern readers: why does Moses ask to see God’s glory after he’s already seen the Red Sea split and right after this golden calf mess? Shouldn’t he be asking for forgiveness, or mercy, or another chance? Why is he basically saying, “Show me what You really look like”?
The answer lies in understanding what kabod (glory) meant to ancient Israelites. It wasn’t about seeing God’s physical appearance – it was about experiencing His character, His essence, His true nature. Moses isn’t asking for a visual; he’s asking for revelation. After watching his people create a false image of God, Moses needs to know: Who is the real God we’re dealing with?
Wait, That’s Strange…
God says no one can see His face and live (Exodus 33:20), but then Moses’ face shines so brightly after talking with God that he needs a veil. What exactly happened up there? The Hebrew suggests Moses experienced something like the “afterglow” of God’s presence – not the full intensity, but enough to be permanently marked by the encounter.
And God’s response? He doesn’t show Moses a throne room or display His power through lightning and earthquakes. Instead, He proclaims His name – His character. The glory of God isn’t His ability to destroy; it’s His nature to restore. That’s the kind of God Moses needed to know, and it’s the kind of God the people needed to worship.
Wrestling with the Text
Let’s be honest – there’s something in Exodus 34:7 that makes us squirm a bit. Right after all this beautiful language about mercy and forgiveness, God says He “will by no means clear the guilty” and visits “iniquity…upon children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
Wait, what? How do we reconcile this with the God who just proclaimed Himself as abounding in steadfast love?
The key is understanding that God isn’t describing arbitrary punishment, but the natural consequences of sin rippling through families and communities. Sin creates patterns – addiction, abuse, broken relationships – that genuinely affect future generations. God isn’t saying He causes this suffering; He’s acknowledging the reality that our choices have consequences beyond ourselves.
But notice the ratio again: punishment to the third and fourth generation, but love to thousands. Even in His description of justice, God emphasizes that His default setting is mercy. He’s not eager to punish; He’s slow to anger and quick to forgive.
“God’s glory isn’t His ability to destroy; it’s His nature to restore.”
How This Changes Everything
Here’s what blows me away about Exodus 34: this isn’t just ancient history. This is God’s permanent self-revelation. Every time you wonder what God thinks about your failures, your doubts, your spiritual disasters, come back to these verses. This is His business card – not “God the Destroyer” or “God the Demanding,” but “God the Compassionate, Gracious, and Faithful.”
The early Jewish teachers understood this. They made these verses the heart of their most sacred prayers. When they needed to know who God was during exile, persecution, or national disaster, they came back to Sinai and remembered: our God is rachum v’chanun – compassionate and gracious.
And here’s the beautiful thing – Moses doesn’t just receive this revelation; he’s transformed by it. His face literally glows with the afterglow of being in God’s presence. When we truly encounter God’s character, it changes us. Not through guilt or fear, but through the overwhelming reality of being loved by the God who defines Himself by mercy.
The new covenant tablets aren’t just replacements for the old ones. They’re proof that our God is the God of second chances, third chances, thousandth chances. He’s the God who shows up again after we’ve blown it completely.
Key Takeaway
When you’ve messed up badly and wonder if God is done with you, remember Exodus 34 – this is what God is like when you’ve blown it: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. His default setting isn’t judgment; it’s mercy.
Further Reading
Internal Links:
- Exodus 34:6-7 – The Thirteen Attributes
- Exodus 32:1 – The Golden Calf
- Exodus 33:18 – Show Me Your Glory
External Scholarly Resources:
