Bible Materials

MOSES INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE

by   11/12/2019   Exodus 32:1~34:35

Message


Thank God for helping us to resume Exodus study. In the last lesson we studied about priests’ garments and consecration. Particularly shoulder pieces and the breastpiece of priests were very meaningful. Two onyx stones with the names of the sons of Israel engraved on them, six names on each, were attached to the shoulder pieces, and Aaron was to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD. And the twelve precious stones, with each of the name of twelve tribes engraved on each stone, were put on the breastpiece of decision making. We learned that God’s people are really precious and beautiful in his sight, individually and all together. This is true in Christ Jesus, through whose blood God purchased us and made us his children. And a priest is to bear the names of God’s people over his heart and on his shoulders, always remembering them and praying for them and seeking God’s will for them. Today’s passage is about the Israelites’ corruption, Aaron’s failure in helping them and Moses’ righteous anger and intercessory prayer for them, and the renewal of the covenant between God and the Israelites. First, Moses and Aaron (32:1-35). Verse 1 says, “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’” The Israelites had been with Moses for the past one year. They experienced the power of God, which was performed through Moses, ten plagues being poured out upon the Egyptians, the glorious Exodus, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, crossing the Red Sea and the whole Egyptian army drowning in the sea, manna coming down from heaven, drinking water from the rock, and the victory over the Amalekites through Moses’ hand lifting. They even heard the voice of God when God came down on Mount Sinai in thunder and lighting, dense smoke and loud trumpet sound. And God established a covenant with them through the sprinkling of the blood. However, their hearts were not changed. Change can only come through sincere repentance. Subsequently they could not wait for Moses forty days while Moses was on the mountain having fellowship with God. Their attitude became different toward God and his servant Moses, just calling Moses “this fellow”. Truly unrepentant fallen men are unpredictable. They gathered around Aaron, asking, “Come, make us gods who will go before us…we don’t know what has happened to him.” Then how did Aaron respond to them? Did he rebuke them, saying, “How can you suggest that I do such a thing?” No. He did not even have a hint of question about their request. He seemed to be on the same page as them. He answered, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” It was likely that he knew what the people wanted, and went ahead and took the necessary step to make gods. At his direction all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” What a spiritual deterioration, from the LORD God to a man-made god, an idol in the form of golden calf! Yet, they regarded the golden calf as “Elohim, Jehovah.” What a lie! What a deception! Such degradation is unbelievable. We remember what Jesus said about the signs of the end of the age. First of all, he said, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Mk 24:4; Mk 13:5; Lk 21:8). From the beginning in the Garden of Eden to the end of the age, the battle is between the truth and lies. The young bull, which Aaron caused to be fashioned, was a pagan religious symbol of virile power. Calf worship was known not only in Egypt, but also in Canaan, prior to the time of Moses. In this act, the Israelites violated the first three commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me”, “You shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything…”, and “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God” (20:3-7). What was going on further? When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” Aaron even built an altar in front of the calf for sacrifice, planning a festival obviously to the calf, but he said, “to the LORD.” He was really misusing God’s name and misleading the people. So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Idolatry is always accompanied by wild partying. God had hope for them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. But the hope seemed to evaporate too soon. Most certainly, Aaron worsened their spiritual condition and led them to this point. What kind of person was Aaron? Aaron seemed to be a good-minded person, granting what the people wanted, but evil before God. Definitely, he was a people-pleasing leader, not God-pleasing. He feared people, not God. He compromised with the people and the situation out of fear. We are reminded of Saul in 1 Samuel. When Saul could not wait for Samuel to come at the appointed time, he offered the burnt offering, which he was not supposed to do. He did so according to the situation, when all the troops with him were quaking with fear and the men were scattering while he thought the enemies would come down against him (13:8-12). Saul also did this compromising with the situation and the people out of fear. Later when Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you, that you led them into such a great sin?’, his response is this: “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” He rallied his responsibility to the people, saying, ‘You know how prone these people are to evil.” He seemed as if he was telling a fact, but actually he did not. He said, “They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” as if the calf just appeared out of the fire all by itself. Yet, it was clearly stated in verse 4, “He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf…” He made it, but he deceptively denied the fact. To sinful human beings it is not easy to recognize one’s mistakes and sins solely. Again in 1 Samuel, when Samuel rebuked Saul for not obeying God fully to destroy the Amalekites completely not sparing even the animals, Saul responded, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” That was not the obedience God wanted. Samuel said, “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (15:15-23). God is pleased with our honest confession and clear repentance. Aaron was really a good-minded, compromising and irresponsible servant. Then what was God’s response and that of Moses toward the people? The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 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,’ the LORD said to Moses, ‘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.” This time God did not want to call the Israelites his people. He said to Moses repeatedly, “your people.” The LORD is a holy God. His anger would burn against the corruption of the Israelites to the point of trying to destroy them and make a new great nation through Moses. At this how did Moses respond? In verses 11-13, “But Moses sought the favour of the LORD his God.” And he said, “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, first of all, reminded the LORD that the Israelites were God’s people repeatedly. Moses was not an opportunist. God wanted to make Moses into a great nation after destroying the Israelites. However, he was not interested in it. He knew what God really wanted in saying that. Sometimes what one says out of his mouth is not what he truly desires in his heart. His word can be a paradoxical expression of his heart. Parents’ words are sometimes like that. This is truth with God also. God did not mean what he had spoken apparently. Moses knew God’s heart. He prayed for the honouor of God and based on God’s promise. We sense that Moses truly loved God and his people, the Israelites. Then God seemed to be moved by Moses’ prayer. Verse 14 says, “The LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” God was pleased with this prayer of Moses and did not bring the disaster on the people of Israel. Now let’s see how Moses helped his people. Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain, which signifies that they broke God’s commandments. And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to power, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. There are two kinds of anger, one out of hatred and the other out of love. As we thought of Moses’ prayer, he loved the people. Because of his love, he could not bear the corruption of his people that caused God’s anger to burn against them. His anger also burned and he acted drastically throwing the tablets out of his hands and breaking them to pieces and letting them drink the water with its ground power of the calf. Romans 12:9 says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Moses loved the people, but he hated what they did, which was obviously evil, making their own gods. This is one major difference between Moses and Aaron. Aaron just allowed what they did, though evil, and followed it, even leading them to do greater evil. But Moses knew they went too far. So he had to halt what they were doing, that they might stop to think of their terrible deed. In taking such a drastic measure, Moses surely did not care what the people might think of him. He acted before God, because he feared God and loved the people. Then what did Moses do? Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, 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 neighbour.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Here we see how Moses helped the people. In that situation he selected those who would stand on the side of God, coming out of the corrupt multitude. It seemed that all the people were corrupt and no one would stand on the side of God. Yet, through Moses’ drastic act some were awakened and came out of the group. They were Levites. They understood that neutrality could not exist in the open confrontation between good and evil. Standing on the side of God meant fighting against evil. To be for the LORD means to hate what God hates and act accordingly without compromise. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.” In this blessing the Levites were chosen to serve God and the work related to the tabernacle among the twelve tribes of Israel. Then now let’s see Moses’ second prayer. The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “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.” In the first prayer the prayer topic was “do not bring disaster on your people. Hearing Moses’ prayer God did not bring disaster on them. God would not destroy them to make a new great nation. Now, Moses’ prayer topic is “forgive their sin.” Here we find an important lesson that sin must be forgiven regardless of no disaster on them. Otherwise the consequence would be eternal. Moses also knew that forgiveness of sin required atonement. He knew that the sin was so great. For the forgiveness of their great sin, Moses offered his life. He said, “If not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” He even would suffer eternally in their place. We also remember Apostle Paul’s confession for his own people, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race” (Rom. 9:2-3). Moses’ shepherd heart and heartfelt prayer for his people was great. He would risk his life eternally for the forgiveness of his people’s sin. However, we know that he could not make atonement for their sin, for the atonement for man’s sin is possible only by the sacrifice of an innocent one. Yet, we see in Moses the image of Christ Jesus, who prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus offered this prayer, while he was dying as an atoning sacrifice for man’s sin. God’s own Son had to die shedding his blood on the cross. Only his death would be an atoning death. Romans 3:25 says, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” 1 John 2:2 says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world.” Also, 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” How can we keep our faith and express our thanks to God for his marvelous grace of the atoning sacrifice of his Son. A hymn writer described it so well in the song, “Rock of Ages.” “1Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Let the water and blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure. 2Could my tears for ever flow, Could my zeal no languor know, These for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling.” Because of this marvelous grace of God through his Son Christ Jesus we may fight against sin, our own sin and others, by clinging to the cross and may be able to pray like Moses and like Paul. Second, God’s glory shown to Moses (33:1-23). In this chapter, God said that he would send an angel before the Israelites and drive out the Canaanites and other nations, but he would not go with them, because they were a staff-necked people and he might destroy them on the way. At this, the people were distressed and began to mourn. But because of Moses, who had an intimate relationship with God, the LORD changed his mind and said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to the LORD, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all other people on the face of the earth?” It is true that the Promised Land without God’s Presence would mean nothing to his people. The desert with God’s Presence would certainly be better. Similarly, the prison with God’s Presence would be better than the palace without God’s Presence. This is the meaning of “God was with Joseph.” We learn that we should seek the blessing of God’s Presence more than the blessing of milk and honey, and more than the presence of people, even loved ones. In verse 17, the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” What a compliment from God! At the time of Jesus’ baptism, God said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22). In Numbers 14, when the whole community of the Israelites wept aloud in grumbling against Moses and Aaron out of fear and unbelief after hearing the bad report about the land of Canaan, Joshua and Caleb said, “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us” (14:8). Pleasing God should be our life purpose at any life-situation. Pleasing God will be the solution of any life problem. What a wonderful thing it will be if we also hear from the Lord, “I am pleased with you.” That blessing will come after the life of seeking to please God in Christ Jesus. Seeking to please God goes together with seeking God’s Presence. When the LORD said, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name,” Moses did not stop there, saying, “Thank you so much Lord for this blessing.” Rather, Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” We see Moses’ unending spiritual desire to know God better. God would not show his glory fully but partially. For he said, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” God was so pleased with Moses’ such prayer and would show Moses his glory, the glimpse of his glory, putting Moses in a cleft in a rock. Seeking God’s Presence, pleasing God and God’s glory are all related. When we think of Moses, he could have been so burdened and crushed because of his people’s great sin. But in this chapter, we see that he grew more in an intimate relationship with God, knowing God better. God’s people are identified in his presence and God’s people are to seek God’s glory, not the false glory of the golden calf, seeking to please him at each moment. Third, renewal of the covenant (34:1-35). In this chapter because of his servant Moses, God would renew his covenant with Israel. The LORD told Moses to chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones so that he would write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which Moses broke. Now in this chapter, the LORD showed his glory to Moses coming down in the cloud and standing there with him, revealing himself in the proclamation, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” God’s people should know who the LORD is. He is the God of love and forgiveness and also the God of punishment of sin. This was written in the second of the Ten Commandments. Then the LORD particularly said in verses 12 -14, “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. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” God also had said in the second commandment, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” Here the LORD continued, “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land…” The LORD repeated, “Be careful not to make a treaty with them.” We are reminded of Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transform by the renewal of your mind” He also had stated in 23:24-25, “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Worship the LORD your God…” It has been a spiritual battle in history to worship the LORD our God or worship other gods. In verses 27-28, “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.” We thank and praise God for his atonement for our sins. Going deeper into this marvelous grace of God, we may be his servants like Moses, who knew God’s heart, truly showed his holy love to his people, interceded for the forgiveness of their sins, and sought God’s Presence and God’s glory.



Toronto University Bible Fellowship

344 Bloor Street West, #308 Toronto, ON M5S 3A7, Canada
(647) 529-7381 ut12disciples@gmail.com


  Website : UBF HQ | Chicago UBF | Korea UBF | Pray Relay Site |   YouTube : UBF HQ | UBF TV | Daily Bread

Copyright Toronto UBF © 2020