Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 33:19

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the LORD before thee: and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious , and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Or, My beauty, for so that Hebrew word is sometimes used, Gen. 6. 2. 1 Sam. 9. 2. or, my excellency, or my glory, as appears from verse 22. which was the thing Moses desired to see: And the difference between his request and Gods answer doth not lye in glory and goodness, but in shewing his glory so as Moses might gaze upon it, and making it onely, as it follows, to pass before him, to wit, in a sudden and very transitory vision. Though it may be understood properly of Gods goodness and kindness to men, of which the following words speak, and that was the great, if not the onely, thing ascribed to God, chap. 34. 6, 7.

(i. e.) My name: The noun for the pronoun, as is very frequent. I will give thee notice when I come that thou maist attend, I will not surprize thee, nor steal by thee. Or, will proclaim or publish of the name of the Lord, or, of my name, i. e. some part of it, especially my goodness which may seem to be here principally intended, 1. by comparing this with chap. 34. 6, 7. 2. By the following words, which seem a limitation of this general expression. q. d. I will proclaim, manifest, and impart my goodness, but with a difference, not to all men, but to whom I please. 3. By other places, where the name of the Lord is principally, if not solely, understood of his goodness, as Isa. 50. 10. and in many places of the Psalms.

This may seem to be added with reference to the people for whom Moses is interceding, lest Moses should misunderstand or misapply what is said here and chap. 34. 6, 7. The sense is, I will shew this peculiar favour to thee, I will also be gracious towards the people thou pleadest for, but not promiscuously. Some of them I will severely and eternally punish for this and their other sins, and some of them I will pardon and save, not because they are righteous or innocent or less sinners than the rest, but meerly out of my own good pleasure and most free grace, whereby I will shew mercy to some when I will not shew mercy to others. Thus this place is interpreted by the Apostle, Rom. 9. 16, &c.

Marginal references: Rom. 9. 15.