[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; commentary is from AST/ArtScroll Tanach and Pentateuch & Haftoras, published by The Soncino Press, edited by Dr. J. H. Hertz. Reformatting and highlights ours.]
Exodus/Shemoth 34
1 Then YHVH said to Moshe: Carve yourself two tablets of stone like the first-ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed.2 And be ready by the morning: go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, station yourself for me there, on top of the mountain.
3 No man is to go up with you, neither is any man to be seen on all the mountain, neither are sheep or oxen to graze in front of this mountain.
4 So he carved two tablets of stone like the first-ones. Moshe (started) early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as YHVH had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
5 YHVH came down in the cloud, he stationed himself beside him there and called out the name of YHVH.
6 And YHVH passed before his face and called out: YHVH YHVH God, showing-mercy, showing-favor, long-suffering in anger, abundant in loyalty and faithfulness,
7 keeping loyalty to the thousandth (generation), bearing iniquity, rebellion and sin, yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty), calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon sons’ sons, to the third and fourth (generation)!
[AST] Hashem passed before him and proclaimed: HaShem HaShem, God, Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to Anger, and Abundant in Kindness and Truth; Preserver of Kindness for thousands of generations, Forgiver of Iniquity, Willful Sin, and Error, and Who Cleanses — but does not cleanse completely, recalling the iniquity of the parents upon children and grandchildren, to the third and fourth generations.
P&H Commentary: THE REVELATION OF GOD’S NATURE IN THE THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES
God’s ‘ways’ are now proclaimed unto Moses in the thirteen characteristic qualities of the Divine Nature enumerated in v. 6 and 7. Judaism has been very chary of definitions of God. He is the En sof, the Infinite, the Undefinable. However, the Thirteen Attributes give us a definition of God in ethical terms. All schools of Jewish thought agree that these momentous and sublime attributes enshrine some of the most distinctive doctrines of Judaism. The Rabbis made v. 6 and 7 containing the Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy, the dominant refrain in all prayers of repentance.
God reveals the ‘name of the LORD’, i.e. His characteristic qualities, to Moses. The Rabbis held that there are thirteen distinct attributes in these two verses; though there are differences as to their precise enumeration. The enumeration in the following comments is in accordance with the views of Rabbenu Tam, Ibn Ezra, Mendelssohn and Reggio.
the LORD, the LORD. Heb. Adonay, Adonay. ADONAY denotes God in His attribute of mercy; and the repetition is explained in the Talmud as meaning, ‘I am the merciful God before a man commits a sin, and I am the same merciful and forgiving God after a man has sinned. Whatever change has to be wrought must be in the heart of the sinner; not in the nature of the Deity. He is the same after a man has sinned, as He was before a man has sinned.’
God. Heb. el. The all-mighty Lord of the Universe, Ruler of Nature and mankind.
merciful. Heb. rachum; full of affectionate sympathy for the sufferings and miseries of human frailty.
and gracious. Heb. ve-channun; assisting and helping; consoling the afflicted and raising up the oppressed. ‘In man these two qualities manifest themselves fitfuly and temporarily. It is otherwise with God: in Him, compassion and grace are permanent, inherent and necessary emanations of His nature. Hence, He alone can be spoken of as rachun ve-channun’ (Mendelssohn).
long suffering. Or, ‘slow to anger.’ Heb. erech appayim; not hastening to punish the sinner, but affording him opportunities to retrace his evil courses.
abundant in goodness. Or, plenteous in mercy. Heb. rav chesed; granting His gifts and blessings beyond the deserts of man.
and truth. Heb. ve-emet; eternally true to Himself , pursuing His inscrutable plans for the salvation of mankind, and rewarding those who are obedient to His will. Note that ‘chesed’, lovingkindness, precedes ‘emet,’ truth, both here and generally throughout Scripture; as if to say, ‘Speak the truth by all means; but be quite sure that you speak the truth in love.’
keeping mercy unto the thousand generation. Heb. notzer chesed la-alafim. Remembering the good deeds of the ancestors to the thousandth generation, and reserving reward and recompense to the remotest descendants.
forgiving iniquity. Heb. noseh avon; bearing with indulgence the failings of man, and by forgiveness restoring him to the original purity of his soul. The Heb. for ‘iniquity’ is avon; sins committed from evil disposition.
transgression. Heb. pesha; evil deeds springing from malice and rebellion against the Divine.
sin. Heb. chattaah; shortcomings due to heedlessness and error.
will by no means clear the guilty. i.e. He will not allow the guilty to pass unpunished. Heb. venakkeh lo yenakkeh. The Rabbis explain: venakkeh ‘acquitting—the penitent; lo yenakkeh, but not acquitting —the impenitent.’ He is merciful and gracious and forgiving; but He will never obliterate the eternal and unbridgeable distinction between light and darkness, between good and evil. God cannot leave repeated wickedness and obstinate persistence in evil entirely unpunished. His goodness cannot destroy His justice. The sinner must suffer the consequences of his misdeeds. the unfailing and impartial consequences of sin help man to perceive that there is no ‘chance’ in morals. The punishments of sin are thus not vindictive, but remedial.
visiting . . . upon the children. This law relates only to the ocnsequenes of sin. Pardon is not the remission of the penalty but the forgiveness of the guilt and the removal of the sinfulness. The misdeeds of those who are God’s enemies are visited only to the third and fourth generation, whereas His mercy to those who love Him is unto a thousand generations.
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