Hey, this is John at Bible Projects.

On the podcast we're in the middle of a series discussing the character of God, attributes

that God assigns himself in a really important passage in Exodus 34.

Last week we looked at the first word he used to describe himself that he's compassionate.

And this week we're going to look at the second word, that God is gracious.

Now when we call someone gracious, we often mean something like courteous, like she was

gracious with that stranger.

But that's not what God means by gracious.

So the word that God uses in Exodus 346 is Hanun, the Hebrew word Hanun.

There's a noun Han, which means grace or favor.

To be an object or a person who has Han means that it's something desirable.

The vokes, the light, and pleasure in favor.

The focus of the word Han isn't just on the beauty or elegance of the object, but it's

about how the beauty or charm of that object is perceived in the eyes of the observer.

And so Han refers to something that's valuable or that generates a favorable response.

It generates favor.

When I look at it, I'm like, I like that.

It's just an interesting use of the word grace.

Now a very common biblical phrase that appears 47 times is the phrase to find Han in his or

her eyes.

In other words, to find favor or delight in someone's eyes.

This phrase is a request for someone to look upon you as favorable or even desirable.

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