Exodus 33:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 33:19
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
goodness
טוּבִי֙tu.Vi
H2898
good (as a noun) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
pass
אַעֲבִ֤יר'a.'a.Vir
H5674
to cross over · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
proclaim
וְקָרָ֧אתִֽיve.ka.Ra.ti
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
name
בְשֵׁ֛םve.Shem
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
before
פָּנֶ֔יךָpa.Nei.kha
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
gracious
וְחַנֹּתִי֙ve.cha.no.Ti
H2603
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
gracious
אָחֹ֔ן'a.Chon
H2603
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
mercy
וְרִחַמְתִּ֖יve.ri.cham.Ti
H7355
to fondle · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
mercy
אֲרַחֵֽם'a.ra.Chem
H7355
to fondle · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 9:15-18 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Ephesians 1:6-8 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Jeremiah 31:14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and…
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Exodus 34:5-7 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Exodus 3:13-15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto…
Nehemiah 9:25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit tree…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 33:12–end
Moses, having returned to the door of the tabernacle, becomes a humble and importunate supplicant there for two very great favours, and as a prince he has power with God, and prevails for both: herein he was a type of Christ the great intercessor, whom the Father heareth always.
I. He is very earnest with God for a grant of his presence with Israel in the rest of their march to Canaan, notwithstanding their provocations. The people had by their sin deserved the wrath of God, and for the turning away of that Moses had already prevailed, Exo 32:14. But they had likewise forfeited God's favourable presence, and all the benefit and comfort of that, and this Moses is here begging for the return o…
I beseech thee, show me thy glory--This is one of the most mysterious scenes described in the Bible: he had, for his comfort and encouragement, a splendid and full display of the divine majesty, not in its unveiled effulgence, but as far as the weakness of humanity would admit. The face, hand, back parts, are to be understood figuratively.
Next: Exodus Chapter 34
Adam Clarke on Exodus 33:19
I will make all my goodness pass before thee - Thou shalt not have a sight of my justice, for thou couldst not bear the infinite splendor of my purity: but I shall show myself to thee as the fountain of inexhaustible compassion, the sovereign Dispenser of my own mercy in my own way, being gracious to whom I will be gracious, and showing mercy on whom I will show mercy.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord - See Clarke's note on Exo 34:6.
John Gill on Exodus 33:19
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee,.... Which is his glory; the glory of the Lord lies in his goodness, and that appears in the works of his hands, in the methods of his providence, especially in the distribution of his sovereign grace and mercy, and particularly in his pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of Christ; for as it is "the glory" of a man "to pass over a transgression", Proverbs 19:11 much more it is the glory of God, of which this goodness is afterwards interpreted; and may be understood of Christ himself, who is the goodness of God itself, is not only good, but the Lord's good One, emphatically good; as he is called his holy One, so his good One;…
The Church Fathers
What did he here teach us but that as death is the just due of the clay of the first man, it belongs to the mercy of God and not to the merits of man that anyone is saved. And … therein there is no injustice with God, because he is not unjust either in forgiving or in exacting the penalty. Mercy is free where just vengeance could be taken. From this it is more clearly shown what a great benefit is conferred on the one who is delivered from a just penalty and freely justified, while another, equally guilty, is punished without injustice on the part of the avenger.
So if the whole world was being detained in captivity, it was quite in order to say, "I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and show mercy to whom I will show mercy." If the whole world is in captivity, the whole world in sin, the whole world very justly sentenced to punishment, but part of it set free through mercy, who can say to God, "Why do you condemn the world?" How can God, the just judge, be indicted when the guilty world is convicted? You're guilty. If you consider what you owe, it is called punishment, and you cannot in fairness blame the one who inflicts it for exacting from you what you owe. You may blame the debt collector if he seizes what you don't owe, but who can blame a creditor for demanding payment of a debt, even though you are hoping he will let you off?
Now here please note carefully what I am to say, because of the Jews. For it is our purpose to demonstrate that the Lord, Jesus Christ, was with the Father. The Lord then said to Moses, "I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, 'Lord.' " Being himself the Lord, what Lord does he proclaim? You see how in a veiled manner he was teaching the holy doctrine of Father and Son. Again, in what follows, it is written in express terms: "Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, 'Lord.' Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, 'The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, and guarding justice and continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin.' " And thereafter: "Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship" before the Lord proclaiming the Father, and said, "O Lord, do come along in our company."
Dictionary and topics
God — (A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering (1) of the Hebrew ’El, from a word meaning to be strong; (2) of ’Eloah_, plural _’Elohim. The singular…
Predestination — This word is properly used only with reference to God’s plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered “predestinate” is found only in these six passages, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7;…
Communion With God · Exemplified: Moses — Exemplified: Moses
Condescension Of God · Indulges Moses’ prayer to behold his glory — Indulges Moses’ prayer to behold his glory
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · God’s glory shown to Moses — God’s glory shown to Moses
Glory Of God, The · Exhibited to: Moses — Exhibited to: Moses
Predestination · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Vision · .Of the glory of Go — .Of the glory of Go
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass At the outset He declares how far He has listened to Moses; but a limitation is presently added to prevent excess. Thus his prayer is not altogether rejected, but only so far as he was too eagerly set on beholding the perfection of God's glory. The passing by signifies a vision of brief duration; as if He had said, Let it suffice thee to have seen once, as for a moment, my glory, when it shall pass before thine eyes. The word tvv, tub, which I have rendered beauty, (decorem,) others translate good, (benum;) and hence, some take it to mean goodness; but the expression beauty (pulchritudinis, vel decoris) is more suitable, in which sense we find it…
Moses was emboldened by this, and now prayed to the Lord, "Let me see Thy glory." What Moses desired to see, as the answer of God clearly shows, must have been something surpassing all former revelations of the glory of Jehovah (Exo 16:7, Exo 16:10; Exo 24:16-17), and even going beyond Jehovah's talking with him face to face (Exo 33:11). When God talked with him face to face, or mouth to mouth, he merely saw a "similitude of Jehovah" (Num 12:8), a form which rendered the invisible being of God visible to the human eye, i.e., a manifestation of the divine glory in a certain form, and not the direct or essential glory of Jehovah, whilst the people saw this glory under the veil of a dark cloud,…
In his positive reply, God subtly changed the terms. He would grant Moses a glorious experience, but he would not show Moses his face. Rather, he would show him his goodness and express his character (my name), marked above all by mercy and compassion (see Rom 9:14-16). • Yahweh: Here God is emphasizing his own personal name.
Rashi on Exodus 33:19
ויאמר אגי אעביר וגו׳ AND HE SAID, I WILL MAKE ALL MY GOODNESS PASS [BEFORE YOU] — The time has arrived when you shall see of My Glory so much as I will allow you to see according as I wish, and therefore I find it necessary to teach you a set form of prayer. Just now when you felt the need to pray for mercy on Israel’s behalf you besought Me to remember the merits of the patriarchs and you thought that if the merits of the patriarchs are exhausted there is no more hope — I will therefore cause all the attribute of My goodness to pass before you on the rock whilst you are placed in the cave.
וקראתי בשם ה׳ לפניך AND I WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD BEFORE THEE, to teach you the formula whe…
