Exodus 32, February 27

Exodus 32:7-14

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Exodus 32:7–14 ESV

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.”

Exodus 32:7–14 ESV

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.

Israel is making a mess of themselves; they are reveling in their new idol and worshipping their new gods. Meanwhile, Moses is up on the mountaintop still with YHWH. God says to Moses here: “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” You see the language? Last week we criticized the Israelites for saying “Moses the man who brought us up out of Egypt...” losing sight of the fact that it was YHWH that brought them out. Now, God Himself adopts the broken language of the Israelites, obviously a deliberate change as if God beginning to disown them.

“You son...your daughter...” parental example.

It would be better to say that Israel has disowned God, that they have forsaken YHWH, they have forsaken their rescuer and redeemer by building a god of their own making.

Exodus 32:9 “9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.” God refers to Israel as stiff-necked, in an ironic use of language, the word he uses to describe was them—stiff-necked—it was a common word to describe a farmer’s ox or bull that would not respond when the rope was pulled in the right direction. He’s calling them oxen while they’re down at the bottom of the mountain having just made a golden cow to worship. They are a stubborn people, Moses is saying, and it seems even their chosen idol was a form an expression of their stubbornness.

It’s been said that “we become what we worship,” and there is nothing more stiff-necked then the golden calf statue. They have become that, determined and stubborn to be rebellious.

Part of the point in these verses is that God sees what they’re doing, he knows the intention of the hearts, he even hears what they say, he quotes them “these are your gods, O Israel...” Nothing that we do, say, or think escapes God’s notice.

Exodus 32:10 “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.””

Moses faces a temptation, it’s a tantalizing offer. God is saying, “You know, I can get rid of everyone else...I’ll start over with you.” Moses doesn’t take that offer! It is seemingly a test for Moses. Because for God to do this, to follow through on the offer he makes Moses, would be for God to go against His promises. That’s not who God is. Moses resists this offer! No, Lord, it would be better for you to relent, go easy on the people, why would you do this?

Look at how Moses intercedes.

Exodus 32:11–12 “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.”

He appeals to God’s reputation among the nations. He appeals to God’s character as a faithful, consistent, trustworthy God. He reminds God of His promises, the original intent in rescuing the people from Egypt and he petitions God to be consistent in his actions and character.

Exodus 32:13 “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.’ ””

He appeals to these ancient promises from generations past, not only the promises to the people when they were in Egypt, but the covenant he made to Abraham.

The word here: “turn from your burning anger...relent” This is the languages of repentance. Typically we talk about repentance in terms of turning away from some sin. God did not sin in this, He is actually not wrong. The people rebelled.

This is what, seemingly, he has on his mind to do and Moses is effective in his intercession. The question for is this: did God change his mind?

It’s as if Moses’ intercessory prayer itself was also part of God’s will and purpose to show His grace. God’s plan was never to eliminate Israel at this moment, but it is part of his plan to test the quality and faithfulness of Moses as a leader of these people. If it’s these stubborn stiff-necked people that God is going to lead, they’ll need a leader that is committed to them and Moses fits the bill.

And of course, one of the limits of our understanding, of our human language, is that all of this is characterized and described in human terms. But the effectiveness of Moses’ intercession can only be described my characterizing the Lord in human terms.

I would have us go back to what it says in v. 10--Exodus 32:10 “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.””

“that I may consume them.” God leaves open the door for a different outcome and Moses is faithful to pursue that.

Of course, for us today this entire episode ought to point us to Jesus. A faithful intercessory on our behalf, as the book of Hebrews tells us. Faithful to us, resisting temptations for his own glory. Moses intercession here reminds me of Christ’s words on the cross: “forgive them father, for they know not what they do.”

Exodus 32:15–20 ESV

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.

Later v19: Moses anger matches God’s when he sees what God had already seen. It’s like immeidate regret for having interceded for these fools.

Symbolic act of breaking the covenant, gets their attention by destroying the tablets.

bitter water/sweet water, punishment,

“As God’s image, we are God’s concrete representatives in the world. By worshiping idols, we abdicate our God-given role. Idolatry is the inverse of our creation purpose. Rather than subduing creation, we submit to it and are subdued. We become slaves to it.”

Exodus 32:21–25 ESV

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),

Why is this here? The tabernacle is how God deals with sin. It’s right in the middle of this.