Exodus 31, February 13

Exodus 31:12-18

Prayer,

Jeanne Wallis, dog

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Nan, difficult decision

Susan compresses sister passed away

Nelson, Marion’s rehab, home Monday?

Diane, dc wedding

Exodus 31:12–18 ESV

12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ” 18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

So at the end of this long section explaining the detailed construction of the Tabernacle and the instruments of worship within the structure, there is an epilogue of sorts before the narrative shifts again. But I do think it’s worth nothing the language here about Sabbath. “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout our generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.”

The function of the Sabbath is many. First, the sabbath is a sign, it holds significance as a sign (like circumcision, like unleavened bread) between God and Israel, a reminder of their unique relationship to God, with a God that insists they stop working. This is not like the gods of the nations. Historians believe that it was in Israel alone that Sabbath had this kind of religious significance for both regular worship and regular stoppage of work.

The Sabbath was meant to be a weekly reminder of God’s goodness in Israel, of His regular provision of food, care, guidance, security. In the same way that a rainbow in the sky was to be a sign, a reminder that God would not again unleash a flood like that again.

Breaking the Sabbath comes with a serious consequence, excommunication, being cut off from the community. The punishment is severe, undoubtedly, but it is representation of how important Sabbath was.

Again, this is one of those things where there is very little evidence that it was carried out. The weight and focus are on the goodness and grace of God to offer a day of rest like this.

Exodus 32

OK, now with the end of 31 is the end of the instructions regarding the tabernacle and consecration of the priests. I’ll make a quick comment on Exodus 31:18 “18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” There are two tablets of the testimony. Some people think that half were on one tablet and half on the other. It’s more likely that they were identical copies representing two copies of the covenant, one for YHWH and one for the people. In the ancient world, when people would make covenants like this, the two parties would make two identical copies and then place those copies in their respective gods’ most holy place. It’s about entering into a treaty between YHWH and the people. I wonder how long before they mess it up.

English Standard Version Chapter 32

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

So pretty quickly do things devolve for Israel. Moses is taking too long with YHWH on the mountaintop. And I love this picture of human nature because it is something we can relate to. The slightest delay, the slightest hint that maybe God isn’t really there with us and we are susceptible to temptation.

They feel a deep need to have visible gods. The irony of course is that though they might be fed up with the idea that YHWH was just up on the mountain and they couldn’t see him, it has been the visible sign of YHWH in the pillar of fire and smoke that has been guiding them through the desert. So it’s not that they haven’t had a visible image of YHWH. BUT, what’s the difference?

They can’t control a pillar of fire, they couldn’t control the storm and lightening on the mountaintop. What they want from Aaron is a god they could control.

I mean look at the irony in their statement, Exodus 32:1 “1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, 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.””

Uh…we don’t know what’s going on with Moses, but we would like some god for ourselves. And they say “gods who shall go before us” AS IF YHWH had not been doing JUST that for them as they came out of Egypt and into the wilderness.

Aaron responds tragically, he tells them to take their gold jewelry, presumably the loot that they took with them out of Egypt, it’s also probably the gold that was intended to carry out the instructions we’ve been reading over the last ten chapters for the construction of the tabernacle. They melt that down, Aaron takes it all and fashioned it with a graving tool. The text is very clear: Aaron fashioned a golden calf.

Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary Israel’s Sin (32:1–6)

This is more likely to be the bull into which Baal used to transform himself

I want now for us to pay close attention to the language of v. 4-7. Exodus 32:4-7

Exodus 32:4–7 ESV

4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

“these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” that word “gods” can be sometimes used to talk just about YHWH, elohim. But here the rest of the grammar makes us understand this elohim as plural. We’re off to a bad start!

The thinking being that this golden calf was that which brought them out of Egypt when it was a literal pillar of fire that did that.

But look at v 5. Aaron fulfills his priestly duty by making an altar for sacrifice to this god and then says this: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD, YHWH.” Now there is identifcation between this golden calf and YHWH. YHWH, the God who specifically told them, you shall have no others gods, and you shall not make a graven image to worship.

This is the insidious thing of this whole temptation. Did Aaron think he was worshipping YHWH? Had they so deluded themselves that they believed this to be legitimate worship of the one who had brought them out of Egypt. Oh, we’re worshipping our God, this is good!

And v 6 puts a finer point on this as well: they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings—that sounds great! BUT then it says the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Without getting to graphic here today, many commentaries agree that this phrase is a Hebrew idiom for sexual immorality, for orgies, basically.

And it’s not just the commentators thinking this. Hear these words of Paul in 1 Corinthians10:7-8

English Standard Version Chapter 10

7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did,

All of this is a fall narrative, this is meant to be evocative of the language and actions we see in Genesis 3.

SAW

TOOK

NAKEDNESS

English Standard Version Chapter 32

7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 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.