Exodus - Chapters 32-34

Moses receives instructions from God on how to build the tabernacle and the items needed for worship. There is an outer court with an altar and a basin for purification. Inside the holy place, there is a candlestick and a table of presents. The most holy place holds the Ark of the Covenant. God appoints Bezalel and Aholiab to help make these items. The people become unfaithful and make a golden calf to worship. Moses pleads with God not to destroy the people, and God relents. Moses breaks the tablets of the Ten Commandments in anger. He makes atonement for the people. Moses asks God to show him His glory, and God agrees. Moses chisels new tablets and writes the words of the covenant. When Moses comes down from the mountain, his face glows and he wears a veil. I'm Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If, by chance, you want to contact me, you can do that at bab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are covering chapters 32 through 34 of Exodus. Moses had been up on the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights, chapter 24, verse 18. While up there, he got instruction on how to build the tabernacle and all the items needed to worship God. The outer court had an altar to make sacrifices to the Lord, and then there was a basin for the priests to wash both their feet and hands before they entered the holy place. In the holy place, on the left, was a candlestick, also known as a menorah, and on the right was the table of presents that held twelve loaves of unleavened bread, which represented the twelve tribes of Israel before the Lord. Then straight across the entrance was an altar of incense, which continually had a fire before the Lord. Once a year, the high priest would be allowed to go through the curtain that separated the holy place to the most holy place, and that was where the Ark of the Covenant was located. It was called that because it held the Ten Commandments, which was the covenant God made with them. To close the chest was an atonement cover of pure gold with two cherubim, this is also called the mercy seat, and here God met with the high priest. God also told Moses of two men who were gifted and called by God to help make all these items for the tabernacle, and they were Bezalel from the tribe of Judah, and Aholiab from the tribe of Dan. God also gave directions on how to dress the priest and the high priest, and the Lord had his own anointing oil and incense for the priest's use. Chapter 31 ended when the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai. He gave him the two tablets of the testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. Up to this point, the Israelite people pledged themselves to the Lord three times. The first was in chapter 19 verse 8. The people all responded together, we will do everything the Lord has said. So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord. In chapter 20 was the reading of the Ten Commandments and then other laws, and in chapter 24 the people confirmed their covenant with the Lord. Verse 3 says, when Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws, they responded with one voice, everything the Lord has said we will do. That night Moses wrote down everything which the Lord had said. The next morning they gave sacrifices, Moses read the book of the covenant, and the people said again, we will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. Then Moses went up the mountain and was gone for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people quickly became unfaithful. Now keep in mind that in chapter 24 verse 17 it reads, to the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. It would seem that the glory of the Lord was still on top of the mountain, yet they quickly turned away. Chapter 32 verses 1-6 explains that the people realized Moses was gone too long, and they did not know what had happened to him, so they approached Aaron and asked him to make them gods who will go before them. It doesn't even look like Aaron tried to stop them, instead he told them to take off their gold earrings and bring them to him. They did, and he quote, made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool, verse 4. In other words he intentionally made it into a calf, then it blows me away that Aaron presented this calf and said, these are your gods oh Israel who brought you up out of Egypt, what? This calf did not bring the plagues on Egypt, and this calf did not part the Red Sea, and this calf did not provide water or quail or manna to eat, it wasn't even created yet. How in the world could Aaron, who was going to be the high priest, say that, he knew better. Then Aaron built an altar in front of the calf and announced, tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord. I wonder if Aaron was mixing two religions, the one of the Lord and then this calf. What I do know is that the next morning they worshipped and they indulged in revelry. It seems clear this is not the kind of partying that the Lord God approved of. Starting with verse 7, the way this is worded, it reminds me of a marriage relationship of a husband and wife dealing with their kids. Then the Lord said to Moses, go down because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. Now we know that Moses could have only done that because it was technically the Lord who brought them out. Moses could do nothing on his own. I can just hear my husband saying, it was your kid that did this. Technically they are our kids and we know that they are our kids, but my hubby was stressing that whatever they did, they were acting more like me in that instance. The Lord then tells Moses what is happening at the base of the mountain. The Lord calls the Israelites a stiff necked people. This is the first of many times in the Old Testament that they are described this way. In verse 10 the Lord tells Moses, 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. Then Moses defends his people. He reminds the Lord about the Egyptians and what would they say if God destroyed his people. Then in verse 13, Moses called on the Lord, 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. Verse 14 tells us the Lord relented and did not bring disaster to them. Verses 15 and 16 read, Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God. The writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain and when Moses saw the calf and the dancing, verse 19b said, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hand, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. One thought I had was if the Lord and Moses were both angry at the same time, the people would have been wiped out, but thankfully they took turns in their anger. It also made me think of the time I had twin babies and I was sleep deprived with postpartum depression, which I didn't even know what it was at the time, but I had enough mind when angry and frustrated that I would throw something that was not breakable like a loaf of bread, but it never failed. It would hit something that was breakable like every single time. I wonder how Moses felt when he realized that he broke the work of God's hands, the tablets. He took the golden calf, ground it up, put it in water and had the Israelites drink it. Then when he confronted Aaron, his brother, he asked, what did these people do to you that you led them into such a great sin, verse 21. Then I just gag at Aaron's response. They gave me the gold. I threw it in the fire and poof, out came the calf. Oh, please. The people were out of control and it was largely due to Aaron's leadership. Moses drew a line and said, everyone who is on the side of the Lord, come to me. And the Levites came. They brought judgment and about 3000 of the people died that day. Moses then went before the Lord to make atonement for the people. When he spoke to the Lord in verse 32, he said, but now please forgive their sin. But if not, then blot me out of the book you have written. The Lord said it would be the people who sinned against him that would be blotted out. And he also said that he too would punish them for their sin. And some of the people did die from a plague. In chapter 33, the Lord told the people to go to the land that he had promised, but he also said he would send an angel before them, but he would not go because there are stiff necked people and he might kill them along the way. Yet the people would not go if the Lord would not go with them. Moses set up the tent of meeting outside of camp and here Moses would meet with God. In verse 13, Moses tells the Lord, if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people. At that request, the Lord said he would go with them and he will give them rest. The Lord reminded Moses that he was pleased with him and that he knew him by name. Verse 17, Moses asked to see God's glory and the Lord placed him in a cleft of a rock, covered him with his hand until he passed by and Moses saw the Lord's back. It surprises me that Moses did not get punished for breaking the first set of stones, but in chapter 34 verse 1, the Lord said to Moses, chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. Moses chiseled out two more stone tablets and went up the mountain to the Lord. There was a review of some of the laws given and verses 27 and 28 say, then the Lord said to Moses, write down these words for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. When Moses came down to the people with the two stone tablets, his face glowed because he had been in the presence of the Lord. This frightened the people, so Moses put a veil over his face. He would remove it when in the presence of the Lord. The apostle Paul was talking about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He explained that the law which shows us our sin and is not able to bring salvation, yet when it was given it showed the Lord's glory, but when it is read, a veil covers their hearts. It brings condemnation. Then chapter 3 verses 16 through 18 say, but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, and we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Just like the people in this story, so too have we all sinned and we need atonement with God, and the New Testament, the New Covenant is based on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Are you being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory? Do you live in freedom? Do you reflect the Lord's glory to this dark world? If you have heard His voice today, please don't harden your heart, don't be stiff necked like those people, instead let's be soft hearted and let us hear and obey. Until next time, and thank you so very much for listening.