Biblical Parallels Index – Shemot 34/0

Biblical Parallels Index – Shemot 34

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Divine Attributes of Mercy and Justice A list of Divine attributes, commonly referred to as "thirteen divine attributes" appears in Shemot 34:6-7.  Though often thought of as attributes of mercy, they in fact reflect both mercy and judgment. Various versions of this list of attributes appear throughout Tanakh. Sometimes these lists are partial, focusing more on mercy or on justice, leading commentators seek to understand the reasons for the different formulations.

Tools

• See Makbilot BaMikra for links to the many place where lists of Divine attributes appear in Tanakh, including Shemot 20, 34, Bemidbar 14, Devarim 7, Yirmeyahu 32, Yonah 4, Nachum 1 and more.
• Use the Tanakh Lab to compare any of the above to each other.  For example, see how the attributes on the Tablets compare to those said to Moshe after the sin of the golden calf here.

Primary Sources

• See Ramban on Bemidbar 14:17-20, who seeks to understand why Moshe includes only some of the attributes in his prayer after the sin of the spies.

Articles

• See Can There Be Compassion Without Justice?, by R. Jonathan Sacks, for discussion of the relationship between mercy and judgment in the 13 Attributes. He points to studies that demonstrate that societies need justice alongside mercy, for without belief in a punitive God (or in secular societies,in a sytem of justice) there is both more crime and less human forgiveness.
• In The 13 Midot of Rachamim,¹ R. Menachem Leibtag notes how the characteristics of Hashem’s judgment, described in Shemot 20:4-6, are transformed into qualities of mercy in Shemot 34:6-7, in the wake of the sin of the calf.  The wilderness period is marked by God's instantaneous punishment of the sinful, stemming from His direct presence in the nation's midst. After the sin, Hashem recognized that this was potentially disastrous and therefore decided to remove His presence. Moshe, uncomfortable with the solution, suggested a compromise, that Hashem mix justice with mercy and allow for non-immediate retribution, and, hence, repentance and pardon. The thirteen attributes attest to this new type of providence, one in which Hashem is no longer a "vengeful God" but a "God of mercy",  no longer "filled with anger" but "long to anger", and no longer "עשה חסד" but "נוצר חסד" etc.²
• Makbilot Bamikra points out the various verses in Tanakh that refer to whether children are punished for their parents’ sins.  See Are Children Punished for Parents’ Sins?, which analyzes the many Biblical passages that take different approaches to this issue and gives an overview of commentators’ interpretations and resolutions of the seeming contradictions. 

¹ See, similarly, his article, Ki Tisa: Chet HaEgel and the 13 Midot of Rachamim.

² See also The First Tablets and the Second Tablets: The Differences Between Mishpatim and Ki Tisa, by R. Yoel Bin-Nun, for a theory about why the words on the second tablets do not reflect this change from judgment to mercy.