In Exodus 6 the Lord publishes His Name. It is a Name suited to the then condition of Israel. They were groaning in Egypt. Task-masters and brick-kilns were oppressing them. The Lord lets them learn Him in characters of faithfulness, grace, and strength, exactly suited to such a condition. He tells them that He remembered them, heard their sorrows, had His undertakings to their fathers before His thoughts, and was about to rise up for their deliverance. They were oppressed, and He was a Redeemer--that was all--that was the Name He was publishing, because that was the Name they needed--that was the character which their circumstances needed to find in Him.
In Exodus 34 He publishes His Name again. But it is a very different Name, a Name that has respect, not to strong enemies, but to disobedient, rebellious people - a Name, therefore, full of pardoning grace, and not of delivering strength. For this was the new Name which the then present condition of Israel needed. The people had now troubled themselves, and it was forgiveness they wanted; before, Egypt troubled them, and it was strength and deliverance they needed.
Connected with forgiveness, they learn that God will correct or discipline them even to the third or fourth generation.
How wondrous these two publications of His Name are! How fine a witness they bear to us that if we will but call upon Him, He will deal with us as our souls need. If others be against us, He will deliver; if we are faulty ourselves, He will correct but forgive.
