Exodus 34:8-17 - The LORD Whose Name is Jealous

Exodus 34:8–17 ESV

8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” 10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods. 17 “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.

Introduction

The glory of God has been revealed on the mountain.

Moses responded the only way to respond

He bowed and worshiped. (8)

Moses again intercedes for the stiff-necked people of Israel

Consider the jealousy of God

Saved for God’s Glory

Awesome thing that He will do (10)

Exodus 19:5–6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.””

God’s makes a new covenant with Israel (10)

For God’s glory among the nations (10)

Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Psalm 96:3 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”

Jesus came to save the nations

John 3:16–17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Galatians 3:8 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.””

We desire to see God glorified among the nations

Exclusivity in Worship

God will drive out the nations of the Promised Land (11)

The people are responsible (13)

They could not use their altars or poles

Defiled in false worship

An exclusive relationship

compared to marriage

No covenant with those nations (12)

If they are in covenant with God they cannot be in covenant with them.

Covenant with the nations is uniting to their gods

polytheism among their neighbors

Covenant with them may become a snare (12)

Covenant obligations may result in sinning against God or participation in the worship of their gods.

Example in verse 15

Example in Numbers 25:2 “These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.”

His name is jealous (14)

Holy jealousy

Valuing that which is supremely valuable

J I Packer writes,

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Against Idolatry

“God’s jealousy is not a compound of frustration, envy, and spite, as human jealousy so often is, but appears instead as a praiseworthy zeal to preserve something supremely precious.”

Opposition to infidelity or adultery.

Human marriage

He has already warned of this in the 2nd commandment

Exodus 20:4–5 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,”

Worship of demons

1 Corinthians 10:20 “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.”

Exclusivity in Marriage

Not allowed to marry them. (16)

Is this a racial issue?

It is a worship issue.

The problem wasn’t there ethnicity, but their idolatry.

Marriage would become a further temptation toward idol worship

They would bring their idols with them into Israel

In covenant with each other and with the same God

This is exactly what caused Solomon’s downfall.

1 Kings 11:1–4 “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”

Exile resulted from idolatry - removal from the Promised Land

Same is true for us

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Dating and marriage

Influence and persuasion

Application

God wants all our praise and worship

Soli Deo Gloria

No compromise in our fidelity

What are your idols?

What competes with God for your affection?

What do you prefer doing more than communing with Him in the Word and Prayer?

What is the thing, that if it was taken away, you would be mad at God?

Are you a spiritual idolater?

In our hearts

Our love for other things is a threat

We must be so in love with God that we leave no room for other affection.

The expulsive power of a greater affection

Love your wife as part of your love for God, etc.

What are we teaching our kids to love?

God is faithful

Love - 1 John 4:9–10 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 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.”

Faithfulness - Lamentations 3:22–23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Closing Hymn: In Christ Alone

Benediction: Psalm 33:12 “12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!”