Exodus 34 “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, 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 unto the fourth generation.’” Exodus 34:5-7 In our culture, the number “13” is considered an unlucky number, as superstitions go. The Jewish mindset takes a whole other view of number 13. In Hebrew, there are no “numbers” per se, so every letter is ascribed a numerical value. For instance, the letter “alef” (A) is also #1. That being said, every word also has a numerical value…derived by adding up the numerical values of each letter of a word. In the Shema (Deut 6:4) God is described as being “One”. The Hebrew name for “One” is “Echad”. Guess what the numerical value for “Echad” is…13. God’s “ways” are now proclaimed unto Moses in the thirteen characteristic qualities of the Divine Nature. “Echad” is announcing Himself by listing His individual attributes. The Lord, the Lord God. Heb: Adonai, Adonai. Adonai denotes God in His attribute of mercy…most specifically His CONSTANCY. The repetition is considered (by the rabbis) to mean that God is merciful before a man sins, and after he sins…which is consistent with the greater narrative of Exodus 20-34. God. Heb: El The almighty Lord of the universe, ruler of nature and mankind. Merciful. Heb: rachun God is full of affectionate sympathy for the sufferings and miseries of human frailty Gracious. Heb: ve-channun He assists and helps, consoling the afflicted and raising-up the oppressed. Long Suffering Heb: erech appayim The Lord is not hastening to punish the sinner, but offers him opportunites to repent. Abundant in goodness. Heb: rav chesed He grants His gifts and blessings beyond what man deserves Truth. Heb: ve-emet He is eternally true to Himself Keeping mercy to unto the thousandth generation. Heb: notzer chesed la-alafim He remembers the god deeds of the ancestors and reserves reward and recompense to the remotest descendants. Forgiving iniquity. Heb: noseh avon He bears with the indulgence and failings of man, and by forgiveness, restores them to purity Transgression. Heb: pesha Evil deeds spring from malice and rebellion against God Sin. Heb: Chattaah Shortcomings due to heedlessness and error Will by no means clear the guilty. Heb: venakkeh lo yenakkeh…literally, ”Acquitting the penitent but not the impenitent.” Visiting…upon the children. This relates only to the CONSEQUENCES of sin.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:28:55 +0000
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