When Moses returned to the mountain to receive the second tablets, the Lord descended in the cloud and proclaimed the Name: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Exodus 34:6–7). These Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Shelosh Esreh Middot) become the heart of the Selichot prayers recited throughout Elul and the Ten Days of Awe.
The attributes reveal that mercy is not a temporary mood of God but part of His essential character. Even after the catastrophic failure of the Golden Calf, He remains willing to forgive those who return. The same self-description appears whenever Israel is called to repentance: “Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). Jonah quotes the attributes when he explains why he fled rather than preach to Nineveh (Jonah 4:2). Micah ends his book with the same confidence: “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity… You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18–19).
For the scattered House of Israel the Thirteen Attributes are the ground of unshakeable hope. Though the northern kingdom was told “You are not My people,” the Lord promises, “I will say to Not My People, ‘You are My people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2:23). Though Judah was sent into exile, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). The attributes guarantee that the covenant-keeping God will not abandon the work of His hands.
In the Apostolic Writings the same attributes shine fully in the face of Yeshua. Paul writes that God, “being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah” (Ephesians 2:4–5). John declares the reliable promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The Messiah is the living embodiment of the Name proclaimed to Moses on the mountain.
Practice for Day 6:
Recite the Thirteen Attributes slowly from Exodus 34:6–7. After each phrase, pause and thank the Holy One for that particular aspect of His character. Then confess any specific sin that the Spirit brings to mind and receive the assurance of mercy. Finally, intercede that the same mercy would gather the outcasts of Israel from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and bring them home.
