What is the meaning of God proclaiming His name to Moses in this passage?

When God passes by Moses and proclaims His name, He is telling Moses who He is in His own words. He repeats “The LORD” and adds that He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, rich in goodness and truth, forgiving sin, yet not clearing the guilty. This shows that God is not an empty title but a living person with steady character. Moses had asked to see God’s glory. Here God shows His glory mainly by His holy and kind nature, not by bright light or power alone.

Why did God tell Moses to make new stone tablets like the first ones?

The first tablets had been broken when Moses saw the people worshiping the golden calf. God tells Moses to cut two new tablets as a sign that the covenant is being renewed after their sin. God Himself again writes on them the same words as before, which shows that His law and His standards have not changed. The people are forgiven and taken back, but their duty to obey remains. The new tablets also remind them of their failure and of God’s mercy in giving them another start.

What does it mean that God is merciful and gracious yet will not clear the guilty?

These words show that God’s mercy and justice are both real. He loves to forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, and He keeps mercy for thousands. At the same time, He does not pretend sin is nothing. Those who stubbornly hold to their sin and will not turn back stay under guilt. The verse about visiting iniquity on children shows that sin has effects that spread in families and communities. It is a warning not to take sin lightly, even while trusting that God loves to forgive those who come to Him.

Why does God say He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children?

This wording can be hard to hear, and it has been understood in more than one way. In this passage it shows that sin is serious and does not stay private. When parents live in rebellion, children often suffer the results and can be drawn into the same paths. God is not unfair, because elsewhere He makes clear that each person is judged for his own sin. Here the stress is that sin in one generation can shape the next, so families should turn from evil and seek God’s mercy rather than pass on stubborn disobedience.

Why does God call Himself a jealous God in this chapter?

When God says His name is Jealous, He is not talking about petty envy. He means He has a holy claim on His people’s love and worship. Just as a faithful husband will not accept his wife giving herself to another man, God will not share His people with idols. That is why He commands them to tear down altars, images, and groves of the nations and warns them not to make covenants or mixed marriages that lead to false worship. His jealousy is a sign of His faithful love and His refusal to let His people be ruined by idols.

What was the purpose of the feasts and firstfruits commandments here?

God repeats commands about the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of ingathering, as well as the firstborn and firstfruits. These laws reminded Israel that God had brought them out of Egypt, that their land and harvests belonged to Him, and that their time and work were under His care. Resting on the seventh day, even in plowing and harvest, showed trust in God. Bringing firstfruits and redeeming the firstborn taught them to put God first in their goods and families and to remember His saving power.

Why did Moses’ face shine after speaking with God, and why did he wear a veil?

When Moses came down from being with God forty days and nights, the skin of his face shone, though he did not realize it at first. This brightening was a sign that close nearness to God changes a person. The people were afraid to come near him, so Moses called them and spoke God’s commands. After he finished speaking, he put a veil over his face, removing it only when he went in again before the Lord. The veil allowed the people to hear God’s words without fear, while still marking Moses as God’s servant who had been in His presence.

What was happening in Israel’s story when God renewed the covenant here?

This renewal comes right after a deep fall. The people had made a golden calf and broken the covenant soon after it was first given. Many had died, and God had spoken of not going with them. Moses then prayed and pleaded for God’s presence and favor. In this chapter God calls Moses back up the mountain, writes the ten commandments again, promises to go with them, and sets out fresh commands to keep them from idolatry. It is a new start for a forgiven but still weak people.

What does this passage teach about God’s presence among a sinful people?

Moses openly admits that Israel is stiffnecked and asks God to go among them anyway, to pardon their sin and take them as His own inheritance. God agrees and makes a covenant, promising wonders and to drive out the nations. This shows that God’s presence is sheer grace, not a reward for good behavior. At the same time, He gives strict warnings against idols and mixed worship, because His holy presence cannot fit with ongoing rebellion. It teaches that people need both forgiveness and a changed way of life when God lives among them.

How can the renewal of the covenant in this passage apply to my life today?

This chapter shows that after real failure, God still calls people back to Himself. Like Moses, you can come to God with confession and ask Him to be with you, even knowing your weakness. God’s steady character as merciful, gracious, and slow to anger gives reason to hope. At the same time, the warnings about idols and mixed worship urge you to clear out anything that draws your heart away from Him. Renewing your walk with God will involve both trusting His forgiveness and choosing daily obedience to His ways.

Exod.34.1

Exodus 34:1

KJV GOD

And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

New Stone Tablets

1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.

3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.

4 ¶ And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

The LORD Renews the Covenant

10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

18 ¶ The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

19 All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

20 But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

21 ¶ Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

22 ¶ And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

23 ¶ Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.

25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

27 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29 ¶ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.

33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.

34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.