The Personification of Truth

Here in Exodus 34, we are now in the aftermath of the sin of the Golden Calf, an act that brought God to modify some of the outworkings of His original covenant. We have seen that after this act of rebellion, God had to move out of the camp of Israel. It is here where He told Moses that He would not accompany the nation through the wilderness. An angel would guide them instead. However, after an emotional and strong plea from Moses, God decides to stay with the nation and to guide them, but not without restrictions.

This entire situation took a toll on Moses, for this was an existential moment for the nation of Israel. God wanted to instead make a new nation from Moses, but Moses fought hard for Israel. Throughout chapter 33, one can feel Moses’ deep emotional struggle. For instance, let me bring you to Exodus 33:12 to see how he pleads for his flock: speaking to God he says:

See, You, You say to me: Bring this people up!

But You, You have not let us know whom you will send with me!

And You, You said: I have known You by name, and You have found favor in my eyes!  

Was it necessary for Moses to repeat the word you eight times in this address when speaking to God? Yet one can feel how affected and moved he was. He knew it was a close call for Israel. And what is even more moving is how the Lord Himself was touched by one man’s love.

First, one thing we notice between Exodus 32 to 34 is that the name of Moses is repeated many times; 45 times in just these 3 chapters. It is as if the Spirit of God found peace and comfort pronouncing his name; you know when you love someone you mention their names many times.

But the best demonstration of love from God we find is in this chapter 34 where one of the most powerful theophanies of Scriptures is found. It was the amazing physical manifestation of God; like a reward for a man who is loved so much. As if God, personally came down to comfort Moses. And this grand theophany was not for Moses alone. It applies to us as well, because this event of God’s appearance is mentioned in the New Testament, attesting to the power of God in the lives of today’s believers. We find this mentioned in the 2Corinthians 3 and it is such an encouragement to compare this passage with the one in Exodus.

Now, let us get into the text. As God invites Moses to cut a new set of tablets and as he ascends to the top of the mountain, the Lord Himself comes to meet him and here we find this powerful theophany: We read in vs.5-6a, The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the Name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God.” Now, this text has created controversy among many commentators and especially ancient rabbis who tried to explain it. Here we find the Lord descending on the mountain and then standing with Moses. That in itself is such a great revelation, that God comes down to be with a man.

But this is not what touched these rabbis for we see that while He is standing, we read that He passes by in front of Moses. How can both be true that He is standing and passing by? One medieval rabbi Ibn Ezra wrote on his commentary on Exodus: But God cannot be standing, for v. 6 tells us that He “passed before” Moses. He could not figure out how the two events could be true.

And another question these rabbis ask is this: Who is the one saying, ‘The Lord, the Lord God’? Many are divided on this, debating whether it is Moses or God who is speaking. Some Jewish commentators, such as Nahmanides and Rashbam argue that it is the Lord Himself who is speaking. A third question that was raised, is how the Lord who speaks of Himself still says: the Lord, the Lord God, as if speaking about someone else?

Reading all these things, one asks: How can one then know who God is? What is it that I should remember apart from this very complex manifestation of His being? This is when a most simple answer is given to us through a most beautiful sequences of words explaining who the God of the Bible is. See vs.6-7, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.

This is who God is. One does not need to understand the complexity of His omnipresence in the Trinity but one needs to know, through these words, how great of a Father He is. Here we are given five attributes, five being the number of grace and all chosen to assure us of God’s love for us, for this is what Moses was seeking for Israel.

The first is compassionate, rahum in Hebrew, from the word raham meaning to love deeply. This same word is used to describe the intense love a mother has towards her nursing baby. We read this is Isaiah 49:15 and what is most beautiful here is that in this verse of Isaiah it is God who speaks of His love for us. There He says: Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

The second word is gracious, hannun in Hebrew, from the word hanan which depicts a heartfelt response by someone who has something to give to one who has a need (TWO), as when Esther put her life in danger when she pleaded for her people Israel.

The third attribute given us is, slow to anger; the word slow, arek in Hebrew, means to be long, or to prolong for a while. God said that He could not leave the guilty unpunished, but we see how He takes the longest path possible to allow for repentance and this, because we learn that He is abounding in loving kindness.

And this is then the fourth word of our quintet: Lovingkindness, chesed. This is a very rich word which speaks of an act that is done out of kindness and surely not out of obligation. It stems from an unmerited generosity. This is our God, who chose us because He loves us, and His love is everlasting. It is the equivalent of the Greek agape love. It is from this word where we get chasid חָסִיד meaning holy one, godly, or saint.

And the fifth word is truth, and that is who God is. The Hebrew word emeth is three letters long. It begins with the first letter of the alphabet and ends with the last letter of the alphabet, the aleph and the tav. In Greek it would be the alpha and the omega. So this is the name of Yeshua, He is all truth. The middle letter of the Hebrew word emet is the middle letter of the Hebrew alphabet; the letter mem, the first letter of the Hebrew word Mashiach (Messiah). And so, the Messiah could be seen as the one Person encompassing all of the first four attributes: the compassion, the grace, the patience and the love of God.

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Click Here for the Teaching: The Book of Exodus, Sermon 34: A Most Powerful Theophany