Apparently, the interactions that took place between God and the people of Israel under the guidance of Moses depict the various attributes of God. Additionally, some meticulous scenes from the book of exodus intensify the attributes of God that are not manifested in other chapters or rather books of the Bible. This paper will focus on the major scenes from the book of Exodus that depict the interactions between God and the people of Israel as a way of establishing the major attributes of God.
God is gracious. Gracious in its simplest meaning is to bestow or show kindness to an inferior. It is the act of descending from the top position or rank to act at an inferior level. From the book of exodus, “ the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there” (Exodus 34:5). IT was necessary as a way of revealing himself to Moses. In Exodus 34:6-8, it is important to note that, irrespective of the fact that the people of Israel had diverged from God, and began worshiping idols like the people back in Egypt. God during the time of delivering the Ten Commandments acted an inferior and descended down to meet His children at the level of man (Collins 60). From the above notion, God is gracious and exemplary. The fact that he showed no indifference to the people of Israel irrespective of the fact that they had abandoned the rightful ways and assume the destructive ways adopted from Egypt.
God is slow to anger. In Exodus 32:10, the Bible establishes that the sins and disobedience shown by the people of Israel displeased and demeaned God’s esteem. Though fierce and tough, the anger of God is not evil. The way God dealt with the people of Israel subsequent to their disobedience is a clear indication that God is slow in anger unlike man (Sarna 200). The very fact that God delivered the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt and offered them guidance to the Promised Land portrayed His mercy to them. Though the people of Israel later disobeyed him, God was still loyal and merciful enough not to deliver His burning wrath to the people.
Another attribute brought to light consequent to the interactions between Moses and God is that God is abounding in loving-kindness and truth. From the events that unfolded during the journey to the Promised Land. It is apparent that the people of Israel at some instances devoted from the rightful ways, but God in His adherence to the promises remained faithful to His people regardless of their unfaithful and sinful nature. In Exodus 34:6, God is established to be a reliable, stable and faithful God. Every word that God utters ought to be trusted, this is essentially because he kept all the promises he had made to His people since day one, even before their departure from Egypt (Fernandez 294).
Through the events that unfolded after the people of Israel deviated from the rightful way, God showed them that he was willing to forgive. In Exodus 10:17 it is important to acknowledge the fact that sin is something that can be forgiven and forgotten, God regardless of the nature of sin is willing to forgive and forget. The people of Israel under the guidance of Aaron went against the odds and worshiped idols, but God still showed mercy and forgave the. This indicates that forgiving nature of God.
In a nutshell, though the relation of God and His people during the exodus depicted various attributes of God. The major attributes as indicated herein include: His forgiving nature, loving-kindness and truth, slow in anger and grace.
Works Cited
Bible, King James, and Various. King James Bible. Project Gutenberg, 1996.
Collins, John J. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press, 2014.
Fernandez, Eleazar S. "Exodus‐Toward‐Egypt: Filipino‐Americans' Struggle to Realize the
Promised Land in America." The Postcolonial Biblical Reader (2006): 291-304.
Sarna, Nahum M. Exploring Exodus: The Heritage of Biblical Israel. New York: Schocken
Books, 1986.
