Exodus 34:6-7

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected – even children in the third and fourth generations.

Understand God’s Justice

Outside of the deeper context that we’re about to get into, this is a passage where mercy and justice are held together. However, based on the context and everything else that we have discussed throughout this series, we know that this isn’t the case. So, what is God saying here?

The phrase “excuse the guilty” is the Hebrew verb naqah (naw-kaw). Overall, the various uses that we see in the Bible suggests the ideas of acquittal, innocence, cleansing, or the refusal to clear guilt. In context of Exodus 34:7, it’s suggesting that God’s divine holiness creates a base for all justice systems and moral reasoning. God’s grace and mercy lead the way, but they don’t occur at the expense of righteous movements. There are four ways that this is shown in the covenant legislation:

• Protection of the Divine Name – any misuse of God’s reverent name faced judgment (Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11)
• Homicide and Bodily Injury – shows between intent and accident (Exodus 21:19)
• Cities of Refuge and Bloodguilt – removing innocent blood so tht the land and the people can be free from guilt (Deuteronomy 19:10-13, 21:8-9)
• Suspicion of Adultery – releases a husband from blame when the divine test provide the wife guilty (Numbers 5:31)

Through these examples, we find two truths: guilt must be answered; genuine innocence is recognized through proper atonement and due process.

I highlight these examples to show that us that God’s sense of justice must be handled through a lens of grace and mercy. It can be very easy for us to deliver justice from a lens of revenge and anger. To hurt others that hurt us, but God doesn’t respond in that way. God’s method of handling justice is showing a true response for one’s actions and exonerating those that have deemed innocent.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: Where you ever taught that God was angry and/or vengeful? How did that make you feel?

Acts of Justice

Jesus showcases what this looks like in Luke 11:42, which says:

42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the Love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Jesus is arguing against the Pharisees and their adherence to the original Mosaic Law. Jesus critiques religious practices when it loses sight of God’s justice and love. The Pharisees very much stayed diligent in their tithing practices, for it was a requirement under the Mosaic Law. (see Leviticus 27:30-33). The Pharisees extended down to the most specific detail, focusing on how the law is implemented over why the law was created to begin with. This shows their focus on legalisms and ritualistic practices over the more important moral and ethical obligations.

Jesus argues that their attention to the Law neglects important things like justice and love. The law is called to reflect justice, mercy, and humility. God’s love is the foundation to both the Law and the teaching of the prophets. The Pharisees fail to understand this, and they are perpetuating a misunderstanding of who God is and how the Law is to be used. Now, Jesus agrees that tithing is important, but not as important as leading with justice and love. Jesus said that there should be balance towards it all.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How does Jesus embrace the teachings of justice in this passage?

Exploring Paths of Justice

It’s important to walk away with this: law must be viewed and applies through justice, mercy, and love. Now, am I saying that we should go do whatever we want, regardless of the law? No. However, when the law tends to focus on adherence over the care and compassion for our neighbors. There’s a definite discussion that needs to happen. The goal of the ministry of Christ is to love God with all parts of our being and to love our neighbors as Christ loved us. This is a command that is prioritized in both the Old and New Testament.

From what I have witnessed and experienced, both personally and through close friends and family, our systems are broken. They are flawed and outdated. They are adhered to out of tradition. The massive flaw with this is that it doesn’t allow for the societal adaptations that are necessary in our everyday world. Just recently, I heard that the cost of inflation as statistically outperformed the cost of wages. (This may be old news, but it’s one that had a statistical number.) Why are we as a society allowing the cost of goods that are necessary for survival outpace the cost of living that we need to survive. Consumer and corporate capitalism abuses us, the general population, by creating the biggest bang for their buck. Does that mean that they shouldn’t make money? No. I do believe that everyone should have the right to make a stable wage per societal standards. However, companies can lesson their profit margins in order to help the general population.

Companies, such as Amazon and Walmart, tend to have a profit margin of about 3-8%. Thinking about numbers in that capacity – you may think that it’s not a lot. Amazon’s 8% profit margin totaled approximately $51 billion dollars as of the end of 2024. Walmart’s 3% in 2025 totaled $20 billion. Lower profits can lower our purchase prices, but can create internal issues within the company economic structure. However, if we’re looking at the greater good in the long-term, it can be a positive with this. I believe it could work out because it opens the doors for more smaller-stores to compete. It allows for smaller communities to build their book of businesses for personalized needs instead relying on the conglomerates. It also allows for more personalized relationships between customers and business people. It removes the often unspoken barrier of being “treated like a number” and instead relies more on more personalized services. On the flip side, we can look at how the profits are being used. Walmart tends to use theirs for reinvestment, covering operating costs, and supporting their shareholders. What if they reinvested it into accessibility features, to allow more people opportunities to work and shop there. It brings to mind the “senior hours” that they offered during the beginning of the COVID pandemic. What if they reinvested it into stronger wages for their employees, and/or providing benefits like health insurance and retirement options to give their employees a plan to succeed. What if the corporate leaders took pay cuts to align themselves more with what the standard employee makes. The rabbit-holes can be deep, but they center around having just practices. We need to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and properly, to call out and, if necessary, hold accountable, those who use their positions to obtain greed, wealth, and power.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What do you think about the example used here? How does it adjust your view of justice in our current society?