Exodus 34:5

5 And the LORD descended in a cloud and was with him there proclaiming the name of I AM.

Exodus 34:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:5

And the Lord descended in the cloud
The same with the cloudy pillar, which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before, ( Exodus 19:9 Exodus 19:16 Exodus 19:18 ) :

and stood with him there;
not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:

and proclaimed the name of the Lord:
Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``and Moses called on or in the name of the Word of the Lord;''

and so the Vulgate Latin version refers it to Moses, and renders the words, "calling on the name of the Lord"; but the following verse clearly shows that it must be understood of the Lord, and not of Moses.

Exodus 34:5 In-Context

3 And no man shall come up with thee; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the sheep nor the cows feed before the mount.

4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5 And the LORD descended in a cloud and was with him there proclaiming the name of I AM.

6 And as the LORD passed by before him, he proclaimed, I AM, I AM strong, merciful, and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and truth,

7 keeping mercy for thousands, letting go of iniquity and rebellion and sin; and by no means will I absolve the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon the sons’ sons, unto the third and to the fourth generation.