March 29, 2025
Moses had been up on the mountain for nearly 6 weeks receiving the blueprints for the Tabernacle - the emblem of God’s desire to dwell among his people.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the mountain, the people had gotten restless and imagined all sorts of scenarios for Moses’ “abandonment.”
The next day as the party was in full swing, Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.' I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
And can you blame him? After the demonstration of his power on their behalf – After all the evidence of his care – After he had spoken to them directly – After they had voluntarily entered into a covenant relationship with him:
Exodus 19:8 - And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!"
Exodus 24:3 - The people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!"
Exodus 24:7 - Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!"
After all that, THEY had committed spiritual adultery. THEY had abandoned the covenant. THEY had broken their vows.
• Public Convictions: Convictions I WANT other people to think I believe, even though I may not really believe them.
• Private Convictions: Convictions that I sincerely THINK I believe.
• Core Convictions: Convictions that are REVEALED by my daily actions – by what I actually do.
The Israelites had proven that what they claimed to believe and what they actually believed were two very different things.
Now they were no longer “Yahweh’s people” they were “Moses’ people.”
Yet, even in that moment, Yahweh gave Moses an opportunity to intercede on behalf of the people:
Moses: O LORD, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'
Moses turned and went down the mountain with the stone tablets on which God, himself, had engraved the 10 Commandments.
Halfway down the mountain, Moses met Joshua and they finished the return trip together.
Joshua thought he heard the sounds of battle in the camp, but Moses responded, “no, it is the sound of singing.” Yet, nothing could prepare him for the sight that greeted him. His anger increased as his eyes moved from the erotic dancing to the golden calf.
Have you ever been so angry that you just wanted to punch something? Well, then, you can relate to Moses’ emotions as he witnessed the idol worship of “his people.”
With deliberate action, he raised the tablets of the Testimony – the symbol of the covenant – above his head and threw them to the ground. They shattered into pieces – a fitting symbol of the shattered relationship that now existed between Yahweh and the Children of Israel.
Not finished, Moses took the golden calf, melted it down, ground it into powder, scattered it over the people’s source of water and said, “Drink up!”
Then off he went to find Aaron: “What did the people do to you that caused you to lead them into this great sin?!”
Aaron: Don’t be mad at me! You know how these people are – quick to chase after evil. They said ‘Make us gods who will go before us because Moses is MIA.' All I did was tell them to take off all their gold jewelry. And then when I threw the gold into the fire, out popped this calf!
Now is a good time to remind ourselves of God’s goal for Israel – to take an enslaved people, free them and make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for the purpose of blessing the world. But at this point in the story, Israel had taken everything God had done for them and the promises they have made to him and thrown it all back in his face.
They did not want freedom for the purpose of blessing others. They did not want freedom IN God, they wanted freedom FROM God. They saw freedom as an excuse to do whatever they wanted to do. They wanted the perks of being “God’s chosen” with none of the responsibility. They wanted physical freedom, but not heart change.
• Galatians 5:13 - You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
• 1 Peter 2:16 - Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
Let us not misunderstand the situation. What Israel was engaged in was not a “mistake” it was open rebellion against God. Something God takes very seriously. It was only because Moses chose to intercede on Israel’s behalf that God did not destroy them all. However, that didn’t mean that there would be no consequences. God’s holiness is incompatible with sin and he will not turn a blind eye to it.
Moses went and stood at the entrance of the camp and said, "Whoever is for Yahweh, come to me."
All the Levites rallied to him.
Then he said, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'"
3000 people died that day.
The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to Yahweh; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
Moses: Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.
Yahweh: Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.
And Yahweh struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
The judgments were severe, but the greatest moment of crisis was yet to come. God declared that the people would be allowed to continue their journey, but he would not be joining them. He would remain faithful to the promises he’d made – his angel would drive out the enemies of Israel and the people would inherit the Land flowing with milk and honey – but they would enter the land without him. The people had removed themselves from the covenant and now God would remove himself from them. They would be on their own.
He was, in essence, giving them what they wanted – a life without him.
Yahweh: Say to the Israelites, “You are a stiff-necked people; if one moment I were to go up among you, I would destroy you. And now take down your ornaments from on you, and I will decide what I will do to you.”
This was a shocking revelation to the people and perhaps out of repentance and humility, they removed all their jewelry.
Moses took the Tent of Assembly (the temporary tent of worship) and pitched it well outside the camp. When he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended and Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (indicating their close relationship NOT that Moses actually saw God).
Moses understood what was at stake, so he continued to intercede for the people. He asked God not to abandon them, but to continue to go with them to Canaan.
Yahweh: My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
Moses: If you don’t go with us then leave us here. Otherwise, how can I know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? It is only because you go with US that we are distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth.
Yahweh: I will do as you have requested for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name.
As a confirmation of the promise, Moses asked that he be allowed to see God’s glory. This request was denied. But Moses would be allowed to see God’s goodness, grace and compassion.
Yahweh: … while My glory is passing by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.
Before going back up the mountain, Moses was instructed to cut 2 new stone tablets to replace the ones he had shattered and then he climbed the mountain once again.
Yahweh descended in the cloud and revealed to Moses 7 aspects of his character.
First, he identified himself as Yahweh Elohim – the God of creation – Who is:
compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in “chesed” or mercy/lovingkindness, faithful, forgiving and just.
God is all those things. We like 1-6 but struggle with 7. The depth of his love for us can only be appreciated against the backdrop of his absolute hatred against sin. While it is God’s desire to reveal to us 1-6, those who persistently rebel against him will experience 7 - divine justice.
Moses bowed to the ground and worshiped.
God’s forgiveness of Israel is revealed in the fact that he chose to re-establish the covenant relationship with them.
Yahweh: I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, Yahweh, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
The same promises, conditions and requirements (obedience) applied.
• Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. For when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
• Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.
• Do not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
• Do not make cast idols.
• Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread - in the month you came out of Egypt.
• The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
• No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
• 6 days you shall labor, but on the 7th day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
• Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
• 3 times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel.
• I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory….
• Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.
• Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of Yahweh your God.
• Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
Write down these words, because with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating bread or drinking water.
When he finally descended the mountain, Moses had with him the 10 Commandments written on the new stone tablets – the symbol of the renewed covenant.
What he didn’t know was that his face shone like the noonday sun. When he entered the camp the people were afraid to come near him – so after revealing to them everything Yahweh had said, he put a veil over his face.
Until Next Time….
