'ויקרא בשם ה, ”He proclaimed the name of the Lord;” G–d announced that he would walk with the Israelites.

'ויקרא ה' ה, He proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord;” The meaning of this proclamation is that G–d announces that in His capacity as the attribute of Mercy, He continues practicing this attribute not only before man sins but also after man had sinned. This is how the Talmud, tractate Rosh Hashanah folio 17 interprets this proclamation. We need to delve more deeply into this subject. Since when had man been in need of this attribute of the Lord before he had sinned? We are forced to answer that seeing the Lord is aware of what goes on in the innermost regions of our heart, He was aware that we would commit sins even before we had converted sinful thoughts into sinful deeds. This is why both of these “names” of the Lord are actually two separate attributes of the thirteen attributes revealed to Moses at this point. On the other hand, the attribute known as נוצר חסד לאלפים, “storing up kindness for up to two thousand generations,” which apparently are two separate attributes are in reality only a single attribute. Rav Nissim, however, considers these words as two separate attributes, whereas he dos not consider the first word: “Hashem,” as one of the thirteen attributes. The plain meaning of the verse commencing with the words: ויעבור ה' על פניו ויקרא ה', ה' וגו', “the Lord passed by before him, etc.,” is that in times of need for the Lord’s Mercy, these thirteen attributes of the Lord are to be invoked in our prayers for help and forgiveness.

א-ל; an attribute describing G–d as an honest Judge handing out fair judgment. It is an abbreviation of the word אל-הים, introduced as such an attribute in Exodus 22,8, where the Torah decreed that disputes be presented to a judge, the latter being defined as elohim.

רחום, “He Who displays mercy to the poor and needy and saves them.”

וחנון, and “Who is gracious,” even to the wealthy; anyone dispensing gifts is considered as practicing the attribute of being gracious.

ארך אפים, “long suffering;” displaying patience with the wicked, instead of punishing them immediately.

ורב חסד, “and abundant in goodness;” when a person’s merits and demerits are in balance, G–d tips the scales so that the merits predominate. Our sages in the Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 11 describe this as G–d’s attribute of goodness is stronger than His attribute of decreeing punishment where called for.

ואמת, “and truth.” G–d can be depended upon to honour His promises, unless, through sin, the recipient of the promise has forfeited it. In such situations it is the sin, not G–d, which interfered with fulfillment of any promise.

נוצר חסד לאלפים, “extending kindness to a thousand generations;” G–d undertakes to extend kindness to the descendants of the good and righteous fathers even of sinners. This concept has been repeated in Deuteronomy 7,9: where a time limit of one thousand generations is the limit. Rash’bam explains the apparent contradiction with our verse where the word לאלפים appears to mean at least two thousand, that we find, grammatically speaking, that a fourth generation, normally described as דור רביעי, is on occasion described as רבעים, with the plural mode ending. The same is true here. (Compare our verse) Therefore אלף or אלפים, can mean the same thing on occasion.

נושא עון, “He forgives iniquity;” when the iniquity was the result of the person having been unable to resist the evil urge, G–d does take that into consideration.

ופשע, “He does so on occasion even when the sin represented an act of rebellion against Him.” (Compare Kings II 3,7) where this term is applied to the King of Moab.

וחטאה, ”as well as unintentionally committed sin;” this has been spelled out in detail, in Leviticus 4,2 as well as the remedial action that has to be taken by the guilty party.

ונקה לא ינקה, “but He will not let the guilty escape scot free;” (unless the guilty party had rehabilitated himself through sincere teshuvah, repentance.) The Talmud, tractate Yuma, folio 86 spells out clearly that anyone (later generations) whose sinful fathers did not repent and had not been punished for their sins as G–d had waited if their offspring would repent, will also have to bear the burden of the sins of their fathers. [The reason why this is not unfair is that if G–d had punished their forefathers they would not even have been born, so what have they lost? Ed.]

פוקד, “He remembers (and acts upon) the sins of the fathers;” even this attribute is part of G–d being merciful, as it shows how patient G–d had been in not punishing the fathers immediately for the sins they had committed. We know this from Exodus 32,34, where G–d speaks of וביום פקדי וגו', “and on the day when I remember” (to take action etc.) This clearly shows that G–d does not take punitive action immediately. It also shows that this is no longer one of the thirteen attributes listed here. This presents a difficulty for the scholars who argue that the words: וימהר משה ויקוד ארצה, “Moses hastened to prostrate himself to the ground,” (verse 8) show that he was afraid that G–d might “remember” to extend punishment for sins that had not been punished even to the fifth generation of the descendants of the sinner. I believe that Moses’ haste is proof that G–d’s mercy extends even further, if he allowed four generations to rehabilitate the original sinners because that generation became a true penitent.

וימהר משה, “Moses hastened, etc.” Moses’ mind was now at rest when he heard that G–d’s Attribute of Mercy was such that His threat to annihilate the people if they sinned again did not necessarily refer to the generation that he was the leader of. He immediately expressed his gratitude by prostrating himself. He added another prayer to the ones he had already addressed to Hashem.

אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניך....ילך נא אדו-ני בקרבנו, “if I have indeed found favour in Your eyes, .....may my Lord walk in our midst.” Moses argues that the very reason why it is so necessary for G–d personally to walk amongst the people is the problem that the people are so stiff-necked that they might countermand an angel’s instruction which would trigger G–d’s threat to annihilate them as we read in Exodus 33,13.

וסלחת לעוונו ולחטאתנו ונחלתנו, “and pardon our iniquity, and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” By allowing us to take possession of the Promised Land You would demonstrate this.

אלהי מסכה, “a graven image to symbolise G–d”. Seeing that the people had already sinned once by making a golden calf out of molten gold, the Torah now warns specifically against repeating that error.

את חג המצות “the festival of unleavened bread, etc.;” the festivals are repeated in order to warn the people not to add a festival of their own as they had done when they danced around the golden calf. This is the reason that these festivals’ names follow immediately upon the reminder not to make a molten image.

ולא יחמוד איש את ארצך, “and no-one will covet your land;” the gentiles, even though aware that the Israelites who make the pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times a year leave their land exposed to invaders, will reason that if they had been unable to hold on to their own lands when G–d gave it to them as an inheritance, how much less will they be able to recapture it at a time when these people are preoccupied with fulfilling the commandment of the G–d Who had given it to them!”

לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו, “do not boil a kid in the milk of its mother.” This commandment contains a hint, i.e. a reason, why the sages ruled that a person must not marry the woman who had wet-nursed his fellow man. (Talmud, tractate Yevamot, folio 36) [The rule applies to a woman who at the time nursed babies that she had not born for her husband. If such a woman has ceased nursing for 24 months, she need not apply that rule to herself. Shulchan aruch, even haezer, chapter 13, section 11. Ed,]

והנה קרן עור פניו, “and behold, the skin of his face emitted rays of light;” apparently his forehead reflected some of the brilliance of G–d’s “hand,” which protected him from getting a glimpse of G–d’s essence while he was standing in the cleft of the rock G–d had assigned to him for that purpose.