Punishment Pays For Sin (Exodus 32:15-35, Isaiah 53:1-6) Series

Let's start today by rereading last week's passage Exodus 32:1-14:

(1) and the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain,

and the people gathered/assembled before Aaron,

and they said to him,

"Rise up.

Make for us elohim who shall walk/go before us,

because this Moses-- the man who brought us from the land of Egypt-- we don't know what has

happened to him,"

(2) and Aaron said to them,

"Take off the rings of gold

which [are] in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters,"

and bring [them] to me,

(3) and all the people took off the earrings of gold

that were in their ears,

and they brought [them] to Aaron,

(4) and he took from their hand(s),

and he cast/designed it with an engraving tool,

and he (singular) made a calf-- a cast metal image--,

and they (plural) said,

"These [are] your elohim, O Israel,

who brought you from the land of Egypt,"

(5) and Aaron saw,

and he built an altar before it,

and Aaron called/summoned,

and he said,

"A feast/festival [there shall be] to/for Yahweh tomorrow,"

(6) and they rose early on the next day,

and they offered burnt offerings,

and they brought peace/fellowship offerings,

and the people sat/settled down to eat and to drink,

and they rose up to "indulge in physical sexual play" (DBL; cf. Genesis 26:8),

(7) and Yahweh said to Moses,

"Go down!,"

because they have behaved in a corrupt/debased/sinful way-- your people,

whom you brought up from the land of Egypt.

(8) They have quickly turned aside from the way/road

that I have commanded them.

They have made for themselves a calf-- a cast metal image--,

and they bowed down to it,

and they sacrificed to it,

and they said,

"These [are] your elohim, O Israel,

who brought you up from the land of Egypt,"

(9) and Yahweh said to Moses,

"I have seen this people,

and LOOK! A people hard of neck, it [is],

(10) and so then, Give rest to me,

that my anger may burn against them,

and that I may consume them,

and that I may make you into a great people/nation,

(11) and Moses sought the face/presence of Yahweh his Elohim/God,

and he said,

"Why, O Yahweh, does your anger burn against your people,

whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

(12) Why should Egypt speak, saying,

"With evil/harmful [intent] He brought them out,

to kill them in the mountains,

and to wipe them out from upon the face of the land"?

Turn from your anger,

and relent/repent/change your mind concerning the evil/harm (same word as verse 12) toward your people.

(13) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants,

whom you swore to them by yourself,

and you said to them,

"I shall multiply your seed,

as the stars of the heavens,

while [concerning] all of this land I hereby say, I will give to your seed,

and/that they shall inherit it forever,"

(14) and Yahweh repented/relented/changed his mind concerning the evil/harm

that He spoke to do to his people,

Our natural reaction, in this moment, is to assume that everything is now patched up between God and Israel. We think that God listened to Moses' prayer. We think that God has confirmed that Israel is "his" people (verse 14). We think that everything is okay.

What we are going to see, is that it's not that simple. Israel's sins, are big sins. The kind that call into question whether or not this new Mosaic covenant is still in effect. The kind that leave the future up in the air.

All that God has decided, as of verse 14, is that He isn't going to carry out his three part plan in its entirety. God isn't going to (1) burn in anger, (2) kill them all, AND (3) start over with Moses. God heeded Moses' voice, at least to that degree. But beyond that, everything, from God's perspective, is still a question.

We maybe struggle with this. We tend to view sin only from a 1 John 1:9 perspective: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from every unrighteousness."

Is there anything hard, or complicated, about that? (the baiting begins, apparently).

But in Exodus, three times now we've been told that Yahweh is not the kind of God who acquits, or forgives, the guilty. Or, at least, we've been told that there are certain kinds of sins that God will not forgive:

Exodus 20:7 (NIV no reason):

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Exodus 23:7 (NIV no reason):

7 Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.