Exodus 32:19-35 - The Lord's Side

Exodus 32:19–35 ESV

19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” 25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.” 30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33 But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.” 35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Introduction

This chapter is designed to highlight the mediator

Moses role

Destruction of the idol

As soon as Moses saw what the people were doing, he took action.

No delay in dealing with sin

Moses breaks the tablets and destroys the idol

No rebuke from God

Righteous anger

Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry and do not sin”

The broken tablets symbolized the breaking of the covenant

Exodus 24:3, 6-7 “Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” … And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 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.””

James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

The destruction of the idol

Opposite of its creation (20)

Deuteronomy 9:21 “Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.”

They drank the idol

Swallowed their ungodliness. Tasted the bitterness of their sin.

The Lord’s Side

No one was leading the people spiritually

Or holding them accountable for their sin

All people - Exodus 32:3 “So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.”

Exodus 32:26 “then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.”

One tribe of all the nation

God’s command (27)

3,000 killed

Half of 1% of Israel’s male population

Selective - those in revelry? Those most responsible?

A few deaths to save many

The Israelites had made a covenant with God bound in blood.

Church discipline today, not the sword.

Call for separation - holiness

Levites are consecrated to service because of this Exodus 32:29 “And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.””

Matthew 10:37–38 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

Cannot serve two masters

Plague 33-35

God rejects Moses offer

One man to die for the people

God’s plan of salvation?

Moses was a sinner and could not atone for the people

He will punish them for their sin

He sends a plague

Isaiah 63:10 “But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.”

Deuteronomy 6:14–15 “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.”

They do not enter the Promised land

John Currid,

A Study Commentary on Exodus: Volume 2: Exodus 19–40 The Man in the Gap (Exodus 32:30–35)

First, there will be individual responsibility—that is, the person who has sinned against Yahweh will be blotted out of God’s book. And, secondly, there is also a collective liability—the sin of the covenant people will rebound on the entire nation.

Mercy in Judgment

Iain Campbell,

Opening Up Exodus Defiling the Worship of God (32:1–35)

Instead of cursing and judging all the people, God sends a plague. Thus the demands of justice are met, the righteousness of God is vindicated, and the grace of God is revealed in the fact that, though three thousand perish, many more are spared.

He still leads them and will still give them the Promised Land (34)

Nehemiah 9:16–21 ESV

16 “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, 19 you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

Application

Thankfulness for the work of Christ

Shows our need for a greater mediator

Moses life could not be an atoning sacrifice for the Israelites.

So, they had to bear the punishment of their sins.

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

1 John 2:1–2 “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins”

Jesus bore the punishment you deserve.

Jesus lays down His life

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

God will confront our sin

Romans 2:5–6 “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will render to each one according to his works:”

The need to destroy our idols

1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Decide what side you are on

Matthew 12:30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Are you with Jesus? Are you on His side?

For Him or against Him?

Everyone on His side will be saved

We do this by faith in Jesus

Trusting in Him to be our Savior

Closing Hymn: 587 Who is on the Lord’s Side

Benediction: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.