THE EIGHT ATTRIBUTES OF YEHOVAH

Exodus 34:5-7: Yehovah descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yehovah. Yehovah passed before him and proclaimed, “Yehovah, Yehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Moses had asked God, “Please show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Yehovah replied that although Moses could not see His face, He would have His glory pass by him and proclaim His name [Yehovah]. When the time came, Yehovah proclaimed His name twice and then listed out His eight attributes.

1. Merciful
2. Gracious
3. Slow to anger
4. Abounding in steadfast love
5. Abounding in faithfulness
6. Keeping steadfast love
7. Forgiving
8. Punishing the guilty

This list is heavily weighted towards kindness and love. Some have said the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and violent, whereas the God of the New Testament is forgiving and kind. Based on that way of thinking, the eight attributes belong in the New Testament; yet, here they are listed in Exodus 34:5-7. Furthermore, we can find plenty of divine judgment in the New Testament from Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:5, 10) to Herod (Acts 12:23) and to the wrath of God prophesied in Revelation.

When I read Exodus 34:5-7 I read about a God who is merciful, slow to anger, and willing to forgive. A God who is above all loyal for He abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness; two qualities associated with His covenant relationships with His people. He is patient in maintaining His steadfast love through thick and thin towards those who love Him. However, He will not however allow the guilty to go unpunished. In reading Exodus 34:5-7, we learn about who Yehovah is. What a wonderful revelation He has given to us!

Notice: In Exodus 34:5-7; Yehovah begins with His name. In fact, He says it twice before listing out His attributes (Exodus 34:6). These two facts demonstrate the importance of His name. Saying it first and repeating it marks it out from all the attributes that follow. Yehovah is God’s name. The importance Yehovah places on His own name makes me all the more zealous to tell people about who my God and Father is in full detail.

Something for us to consider is how often we find echoes of the eight attributes throughout the OT. Rarely are they all listed, but often two or more get mentioned. Moses himself later quoted God’s attributes back to Him in prayer.

Numbers 14:17-20: And now, please let the power of Yehovah be great as you have promised, saying, ‘Yehovah is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven these people, from Egypt until now.” Then Yehovah said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.”

The people rebelled again, and God decided He would destroy them all and start over with Moses. In response, Moses stood in the gap between the people and God and boldly petitioned Yehovah to forgive his undeserving people. In the course of praying, Moses mentioned the following attributes:

3 (slow to anger),
4 (abounding in steadfast love),
7 (forgiving),
8 (punishment).

And it worked! Quoting God’s attributes back to God resulted in Him pardoning the people. Now that’s a powerful prayer!

For a similar example, see Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 9:13-21: You came down also upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes, and commandments: And made known unto them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: And gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is you God that brought you up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. You gave also your good spirit to instruct them, and withheld not your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years did you sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet did not swell.

The psalmists likewise lean on God’s unchanging attributes when they cry out to Him for help (Psalm 86:15; 103:8). We encounter one of the most beautiful elaborations on God’s seventh attribute of forgiveness in the following psalm.

Psalm 103:7-13: He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. Yehovah is merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us as a father shows compassion to his children, so Yehovah shows compassion to those who fear him.

What an amazing God Yehovah is! Yehovah’s steadfast love stretches to the heavens, and His forgiveness is so thorough that He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west! Yehovah is a compassionate Father who cares for those who fear Him. How can we not love our God Yehovah with all our hearts, minds, strength, with all our being?

Another way we see God’s attributes used is when the prophet Joel invoked them as the reason for the people to repent.

Joel 2:12-14: “Yet even now,” declares Yehovah, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to Yehovah your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, a grain offering, and a drink offering for Yehovah your God?

This is a lesson for all of us. No matter how much we may have sinned and fallen away from Yehovah, there’s still hope because Yehovah is merciful, gracious, abundant in love, and very forgiving. His kind nature is reason alone for us to come to Him, especially when we are totally helpless we are to overcome sinfulness without His abounding grace and steadfast love, without His indwelling presence!

Lastly, some thoughts on the eighth attribute: God punishing the wicked to the third and fourth generation. Is this one like a bone caught in your throat? We can easily swallow the other seven, but when we get to the eighth, we cry out, “That’s not fair! How can you punish people’s grandkids for what they did?” Is this really what God is saying here? Is He saying He will punish someone’s innocent grandchildren for what he or she did? Actually, what He said was, “who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). Desmond Alexander offers the following insight, which is very helpful.

Because God displays remarkable tolerance towards wrongdoers, divine punishment is only rarely administered immediately after an offense has been committed. Those who are guilty are frequently given an opportunity to repent. However, such patients may be wrongly interpreted as indicating indifference on the part of God. This is clearly not the case, for those who set themselves at odds with God will ultimately reap what they have sown. Although God’s patience may extend for several generations, in the end, his judgment will fall justly upon those who remain intransigent. In such instances, when they have walked in their fathers’ footsteps, the accumulated guilt of a family will fall on later generations.

An important example of this comes in the book of Kings, where the sins of Manasseh are included with those of his descendants when God punishes the people of Judah at the time of the Babylonian exile (cf. 2 Kings 23:26; 24:3). While righteous children are not held accountable for the sins of their parents, there may well be a corporate aspect to the whole process of punishment. In the context of a society that consists largely of multi-generational families, it should be recognized that the beneficiaries of parental wrongdoing are almost always their children. As T. F. Williams suggests, ‘The children are punished according to their solidarity with and participation in the misconduct of their parents (1996: 660).

So, God does not punish the innocent for the guilty. In fact, He made a law against that. Deuteronomy 24:16: Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

What we have in the eighth attribute is the outworking of God’s patience in how He administers justice toward the wicked. If He were quick to anger, He would just take the breath away from the unrighteous when they sinned; an outcome I would not wish for since I’ve sometimes have been unrighteous. So, if He is slow to anger, how can He bring about His judgment? He mercifully waits for a couple of generations to see if a family turns around, but then eventually His cup of wrath fills up, and He pours it out. Still, if some descendant repents and pursues righteousness, “he shall not die for his father’s iniquity” (Ezekiel 18:17). God is both merciful and just, and His way of governing combines both.

We should memorize God’s eight attributes, so we will always have in our minds that Yehovah is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, abounding in faithfulness, keeping love, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet, He will by no means clear the guilty. This is Yehovah’s self-disclosure. The saints of old acknowledged these attributes and used them in their prayers and in their preaching.

Let us follow the example of the lord Messiah Jesus who was the outshining of Yehovah’s glory and attributes. He showed to all the people he met an example of how they were to love their neighbors as themselves and in doing so loving Yehovah. He was commissioned by his God and Father Yehovah to show all people the way, the truth, the life, and the wisdom of Yehovah’s plan for our salvation. He is now seated at the right hand of his God and Father Yehovahm a light that leads us to become totally committed to loving Yehovah will all our heart, mind, and strength and to submit to Yehovah’s Kingship in our lives.

That’s what Matthew means what he says in Matthew 6:33: … seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

It is because of the lord Jesus' sin-offering sacrifice on the stake that we have been reconciled to his God and Father Yehovah. Realizing all that the lord Jesus has done for us as the greatest servant of all, should we not do all we can to follow in his steps according to the godly example he has given us to follow! If we do the rewards will be amazing indeed, now and in the future.