Years ago, I came home to find my six–year–old son weeping on the couch. I began to console him and asked what happened. Through tears he said: “I was playing outside and got stung by a bee.” I said, “Oh buddy, I’m sorry. Is it still hurting?” To which he replied, “Oh, I’m not crying because I got stung by a bee.” Confused, I inquired, “Well, why are you crying?” With guilt in his voice he said, “because when I got stung by a bee, I said a bad word.” I probed: “A bad word?! What word did you say?” (I was curious to see what expletive he had picked up.) Thinking it was a trap, he refused to say it again.

Understanding but still curious, I nudged: “Okay, well can you just tell me what it started with?” With tears in his eyes, he admitted, “Dad, I’m so sorry, I dropped … the K word!” Now my curiosity was running wild because I didn’t know the “K word.” So, I asked “Can you just spell it for me.” After a time of convincing him that spelling a curse word is not a the same as saying a curse word, finally he gave his guilt–laden confession: “Okay, Dad, I was playing in the yard and the bee stung me and I said, ‘K…R…A…P.’” To which I blurted: “Son, that’s not the K–word, that’s the C–word!” I was tempted to ground him—not because he said that word, but because he misspelled it.

God Drops the C–word

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Exodus 34:6–8, where the Lord for the first time fully proclaims his great name—spelling out its ramifications so that none of us would ever forget what it starts with. And appropriately, as we will see, it begins with another (much more respectful!) “C–word.”

This declaration by Yahweh strikes even more poignantly if we put it in its literary context first. After being led by the pillar of fire and triumphant cloud, after crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, after being supplied with quail from the sky, manna from heaven, and water from a rock, Israel arrives at Mount Sinai just as God promised Moses they would at the burning bush. But despite Yahweh’s miraculous deliverance of and provision for Israel, the people quickly proceed to break the first two commandments he had given them. Rather than giving glory to their God, they make a graven image, worship it, and cry out these blasphemous words: “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4). Adding idolatrous insult to heretical injury, the people mistake the Lord for the freshly minted bovine (comprised of their own jewelry and nose rings no less). So, in front of the cow, they have the audacity to declare a feast “to Yahweh.” After presenting offerings to the statue, then—in honor of it—“they sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party” (Exodus 32:6).

When Moses sees how his people had broken God’s covenant, he breaks the stone tablets. Nonetheless, although rightly irate at their ludicrous display of unfaithfulness, the Lord still shows his patient mercy by assuring the adulterous people that he will keep his vow to give them the promised land. Yet, rather than going and dwelling with them as he had planned, God decides merely to send his messenger to drive out the Canaanites for them instead. Yahweh therefore commands them: “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up with you because you are a stiff–necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way” (Exodus 33:3).

Moses, however, does not want the promised land without the Lord’s presence. He therefore begs God to change his mind.

    Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’

    but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

    You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’

    Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways,

    and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you.

    Now consider that this nation is your people. (Exodus 33:12–13)

In response to this plea, Yahweh gives in and replies: “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (v. 14). To confirm this promise, Moses persists and repeats his plea:

     If your presence does not go, . . . don’t make us go up from here.

     How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you

     unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this

     from all the other people on the face of the earth.(vv. 33:15–16)

The Lord answers Moses once more and says: “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name” (v. 17). Almost as if Moses is pushing his luck, he then entreats Yahweh: “Please, show me your glory” (v. 18). Again, God acquiesces and tells Moses:

     “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you,

     and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you.

     I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,

     and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”(v. 19)

As the creator had walked in the garden with Adam in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8), he’s about to walk with Moses on the mountain amidst the morning dew. But wait, there’s a significant problem with the plan on this side of the Fall. No one can see God’s face and live (33:20). But the Lord has a bright idea. He says to Moses:

     Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock,

     and when my glory passes by,

     I will put you in the crevice of the rock

     and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

     Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back

     but my face will not be seen. (vv. 21–23)

Following these loophole instructions, the beloved prophet hikes and summits the mountain early the next morning. Once Moses is on top, the Lord descends in a cloud, stands there, and proclaims his name to Moses. This leads to the passage mentioned above in which the Lord spells out the implications of his name.

In proclaiming his divine name, God begins with the characteristics of compassion and grace.

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     The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed;

     The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to

     anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to

     a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will

     not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the

     fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and

     fourth generation. (34:6–8)

One striking insight from this passage that we do not want to miss is that in proclaiming his divine name, God begins with the characteristics of compassion and grace. While the Lord could have led with countless other attributes to make himself known, his self–revelation to Moses first and foremost regards the C–word: compassion. This is not to say that Yahweh is exclusively merciful so as to neglect his divine justice. As the list continues, the Lord promises to hold the unrepentant accountable. Yahweh giving priority to his kindness contrasts similar lists from the Ancient Near East; most of them underscored the phenomenal cosmic power of a particular god rather than his or her mercy and compassion.