Exodus 32.7-14-The Lord's Righteous Indignation Towards Israel's Idolatry And Moses' Intercession On Behalf Of Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday August 12, 2012
Journey Through The Bible Series: Exodus 32:7-14-The Lord’s Righteous Indignation Toward Israel’s Idolatry And Moses’ Intercession On Behalf Of Israel
Lesson # 47
Please turn in your Bibles to Exodus 32:1.
Exodus 32:7-10 records the Lord expressing His righteous indignation towards Israel for committing the sin of idolatry.
Exodus 32:7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10 Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (NASB95)
In Exodus 32:7, the Lord commands Moses to go down quickly, which does not indicate that the Lord was abruptly bringing this meeting with Moses to a hasty conclusion since the Lord had completed giving instructions to him concerning the tabernacle.
The fact that the Lord addresses Israel as being the people of Moses rather than His people does not imply that the Lord was abandoning Israel and dissociating Himself with the nation or disowning them.
But rather it indicates he is delegating responsibility to Moses to deal with the sin of the people, which Exodus 32:15-29 records him doing just that.
In Exodus 32:8, the Lord summarizes what had taken place in the Israelite camp while He was giving Moses instructions concerning the tabernacle.
After summarizing what the Israelites did, the Lord then tells Moses specifically what sin they committed.
They had violated the second commandment.
The Lord condemns the entire nation even those who had not participated since those who had not participated should have rebuked and condemned those who did and thus, they were guilty even for not participating.
The Lord tells Moses that they have associated the golden calf with Him who led them out of the bondage of Egypt.
In Exodus 32:9, the Lord says to Moses that upon observation, He has found the Israelites to be an obstinate and oppositional people in the sense that they are stubborn in letting go of their old, sinful, idolatrous ways and are habitually opposing Him.
When God says that He has seen this people, He does not suggest that He was less than omniscient and had to pay special attention to the Israelites to know what they were doing.
In Exodus 32:10, God then threatened to annihilate the entire nation, to wipe them out, and to start over, making a new nation of Moses: “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation” (32:10).
This is a rhetorical demand meaning that the Lord was challenging Moses rather than commanding him.
If God had intended to wipe Israel out, what reason was there for Him to tell Moses about it, and then send Him down to the people?
The inference is that if Moses intercedes for Israel, God would likely turn His wrath from His people.
God tells of judgment in advance so as to afford an opportunity for men to repent, which was the case with Jonah announcing to the Ninevites God’s plan to destroy them.
The Egyptians would have taken pleasure in the fact that the Israelites were destroyed, which was precisely what they had attempted to do (cf. Exodus 1:8 22).
The character of God would have been demeaned, for God would not have kept His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Messiah could not come through Moses, for he was of the tribe of Levi, while Messiah must come through Judah (compare Exodus 2:1 2 with Genesis 49:10).
Thus, the words which God spoke were intended to stimulate Moses to intercede for his people, and thus to bring about forgiveness.
So the Lord made Moses two offers: (1) He would destroy the idolatrous Israelites who were a pain for Moses (2) He would make out of Moses a entire new nation.
Moses rejected both offers since he would not use somebody else’s failure to promote his own success but rather, he asked the Lord to forgive His people and give them another chance.
God had no intention of destroying Israel but rather His will was to forgive and show mercy to Israel even though they rebelled against Him.
Moses knew this and simply appealed to the will of God, which was to show mercy and forgiveness (cf. Exodus 33:18-19; 34:5-7).
Exodus 32:11 Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. (NASB95)
“Moses entreated the Lord” is a reference to intercessory prayer and reveals Moses’ great humility in that his ultimate objective for delivering Israel was the glorification of God.
The intercessory prayer of Moses was according to the will of God since his prayer was answered because it appealed to the glory of God.
God’s will is to be glorified and He is glorified by extending mercy and forgiveness to those who have disobeyed and rebelled against Him.
Thus the intercessory prayer of Moses on behalf of rebellious and idolatrous Israel in Exodus 32 appealed to the will of God since by being slow to execute judgment and being gracious in forgiving Israel’s sin and demonstrating unconditional love towards Israel, His glory would be manifested before Israel, and the entire world.
Moses is expressing the love of God through this intercessory prayer for rebellious Israel since intercessory prayer for others is an expression of the love of God (cf. Luke 23:33-34; Acts 8).
Exodus 32:12-14 records Moses pleading with God to withhold judgment upon idolatrous Israel by appealing to the Word of the Lord and in particular to His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 9 also refers to Moses intense intercessory prayer for mercy on behalf of the children of Israel and gives us more details as to what took place when Moses interceded for Israel.
Many times Moses interceded on behalf of the children of Israel when they rebelled against the Lord (Numbers 14:5; 16:3-4 43-45; 20:6).
Moses was in close, intimate fellowship with the Lord at this time and accepted the Lord’s words to “leave Me alone,” as an invitation to not leave the Lord alone and personally identify with his people and plead their cause in prayer.
True spiritual leaders are willing to identify with and serve the people they lead.
For the Lord to destroy Israel and blot out their memory (Deut. 9:14) was tantamount to the termination of the (Mosaic) covenant recently ratified in Exodus 24:1-8 and confirmed in Deuteronomy 29:18ff..
In Exodus 32:13, Moses is reminding the Lord of His unconditional covenant with Abraham and claiming this promise to Abraham and his descendants that is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3 where the Lord promised Abraham, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven.”
If the Lord destroys the nation of Israel, then this promise cannot be fulfilled and if this promise cannot be fulfilled then Christ would not be able to come into the world since salvation is from the Jews and thus the Lord would be a liar (Jn. 4:22).
Thus, if the Lord destroyed the nation of Israel entirely, He would be denying Himself.
The Abrahamic covenant was unconditional meaning that it depended solely upon the faithfulness of the Lord and not upon the faithfulness of Abraham or his descendants.
Thus, to destroy the nation of Israel because of their unfaithfulness would violate this contract between God and Abraham and his descendants.
In Exodus 32:14, the phrase “the Lord changed His mind” means that God was temporarily postponing His destruction of the Exodus generation in order to allow time for a new generation in Israel to arise to replace the Exodus generation who He will eventually destroy in the wilderness.
It refers to the fact that God’s intention to destroy the Exodus generation was temporarily delayed in order to allow for a replacement generation to arise.
It was not delayed because of Moses’ intercession but because of God’s unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were the progenitors of the nation of Israel (c.f. Deuteronomy 9:5).
Exodus 32:35 records the ultimate fulfillment of the initial execution of God’s punishment of Israel for their idolatry.
Therefore, the destruction of the Exodus generation did not take place immediately because of God’s unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which Moses appeals to when interceding for the nation.