EXODUS
Lesson 30 - Chapters 31 and 32
We continue in our study of Exodus 31 this week with the section beginning in verse 12
concerning the Sabbath….in Hebrew, Shabbat.
Let’s re-read this rather short section to refresh our memories.
RE-READ EXODUS 31:12 to end
The Sabbath is God’s Law about observing sacred time, just as the Tabernacle is God’s Law
about observing sacred space. Now, this might sound a little philosophical rather than spiritual
but it truly is not. Let me explain, so hang in there with me as this might seem complex but it
really isn’t.
A scientist would, rightly, say that we live in a universe that consists ONLY of space and time.
Space consists of 3 dimensions. Time is one more dimension giving us a total of 4.. The first 3
dimensions (space) are very easy to grasp because we can simply look at the room in which
we meet (this space that we’ve acquired for us to congregate) and see it’s length, width, and
height. What is not as easy to grasp is time. We can’t SEE time, or touch time, but we can
observe its effects. It is especially observable to me every morning in my mirror, because I look
at this wrinkled face with a ring of gray hair around the crown of my head and ask, “who is
that?” That image sure doesn’t look like what my mind expects. I don’t FEEL like that
reflection looks. Aging is the effect of time.
But, WHAT is time? Just as an inch or a meter is a measurement of the first 3 dimensions we
talked about (length, width, and height), time is actually a measurement of decay as
expressed in the 2nd law of Thermodynamics. All physical things decay, but they decay at
differing rates. Time measures the rate of decay. A rock decays much slower than a human,
but not all rocks decay at the same rate nor do all humans decay at exactly the same rate. In
fact our most accurate time measuring devices, atomic clocks, actually use the nearly perfectly
steady rate of decay of certain atomic particles to make them work.
No, this not a science lesson; it is a lesson to help us understand at least part of God’s
apparent rationale behind Sabbath. Since our God created a universe of 4 dimensions
consisting of space and time, so has He ordained a means of enshrining the holiness of all 4
dimensions of His Creation; the Tabernacle is representative of the 3 dimensions of space, and
the Sabbath is representative of the dimension of time. God sanctifies the Tabernacle by
setting it apart from all other human space and dwelling in it, and He sanctifies the Sabbath by
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setting it apart from all other blocks of time and declares this specific block of time, Shabbat, as
holy. No other piece of space (at the time of Moses and then for several hundred more years)
was set apart as holy to embody the holiness of space, and no other block of time has ever
been set apart as holy for the purpose of embodying the holiness of time. Certainly other
blocks of time (other days) have been ordained and set aside to honor OTHER things God
wants honored (the Biblical Feasts for example); but none of those had the specific purpose of
honoring God’s creation of time.
So the Sabbath is God’s designated day to give tangible glory to His creation of the 4th
dimension, time. Together the Tabernacle and Sabbath enshrine the holiness of God’s
creation. Keeping this in mind, let’s see what we can glean from these last few verses of
chapter 31 about the Sabbath.
The ending words of vs.13 is another of those interesting, but usually overlooked, little phrases
that carries a large meaning….and the significance of it is explained in vs. 14. At the end of
vs.13 it says, “so that you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy”. Your Bible
version may say, “sanctifies you”, or “consecrated” or some such thing, in place of
“holy”…..it’s all the same thing. The word “holy” or “sanctify”, is translated from the Hebrew
root word “kadash”, which indeed means “holy” or “be holy”…to be set apart (which is what
the English word sanctified means). But pay attention to what God SEEMS to be saying here:
He says that the PURPOSE for Israel keeping the Sabbath is….what? To make them, you,
holy! That is no small thing and it carries rather large implications.
In vs. 14, there is another interesting phrase that works in conjunction with the one we just
looked at in vs. 13; and it is most meaningful if we accept what it means in its most literal
sense…..which is usually the best way to study the Bible. It starts out like this: “ Keep the
Sabbath for it is holy to you…” What I want to look at is the word that is translated as “holy” in
THIS verse (I’m in vs. 14, NOT 13). In Hebrew, the word used here is “kodesh”; although it is
taken from the root word kadash, it has a slightly different meaning. Kodesh does NOT mean
holy……this is poor scholarship. In Hebrew “kadash” means holy. So if kodesh, which is the
word used here in verse 14, does not mean “holy”…….what does it mean? It means
“holi-ness”. Most literally this verse reads “Keep the Sabbath because it is holiness for you”.
So what’s the difference? Am I splitting hairs? Not really. The way it is normally translated vs.
14 means to our minds: “ I want you to keep the Sabbath, because I made it holy and
therefore you are to consider it holy, and are to observe it BECAUSE it is a holy day”. Right?
Ah. But, that’s not the meaning.
Here’s what it DOES mean: “I want you to keep the Sabbath, because not only did I declare it
holy, but the Sabbath clothes YOU in a state of holiness in my eyes when you obey me and
observe it.” Do you see the difference? The first way is, I want you to do this because I made
Sabbath holy, and I want you to respect the holiness of the Sabbath. The second way is, by
observing the Sabbath; YOU take on the holiness of the Sabbath. It’s the holiness of the
Sabbath that when imputed upon you, transmitted to you, makes you holy. So, vs. 13 says,
I’m going to make you holy…..and vs. 14 says, I’m going to do this by transmitting the holiness
inherent in my Sabbath to YOU….IF you obey and observe My Sabbath.
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This concept really shouldn’t sound strange to us at all. For, we are told that in order for us to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be righteous according to God’s standard. But, it is
utterly impossible for a man to attain that state of saving righteousness on our own. So, by
faith in Jesus, we are clothed in HIS righteousness. Yeshua’s righteousness is imputed upon
us. Yeshua’s righteousness is transmitted to us. God is laying out the principle here in Exodus
that, by means of His Grace, He will impute upon Israel, He will assign to Israel, a state of
holiness that cannot be achieved any other way.
This also goes a long way towards helping us to understand what Christ really meant when He
said: “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”. You see, He was saying that
it was NOT necessary for the creation of Man in order to bring holiness to the Sabbath, but it
WAS necessary that the Sabbath be created in order that holiness might be brought to Man.
The seriousness of the Sabbath ordinance is underlined when vs. 14 continues by saying that
whoever profanes the Sabbath is to be cut-off……they are to be separated from God. Cut off can
mean that they are destined to die short of a normal lifespan, or it can mean, like in this
instance, that they are to be executed for failure to observe the Sabbath. And, later in the
Torah, we’ll get an example or two of the death sentence being applied to someone who did
not PROPERLY observe Sabbath.
How long is this Sabbath ordinance to last?……verse 16 says it is forever.
God says the Sabbath is a sign between He and Israel. In Hebrew the word for sign is owth
(oth). The sense of the word is an affirmation, or a proof, a mark of distinction. The Sabbath is
a mark of distinction that sets the relationship between God and Israel apart from everyone
else. And, further on in vs. 16, he makes this connection between the creation of the universe
(as we spoke of at the beginning of our lesson) and the observance of Shabbat.
Now, let me see if I can illustrate something for you. I said that the Sabbath is a very specific
block of time (the 7th day) that is set apart from all other blocks of time to embody the holiness
of time as the 4th dimension of God’s Creation. I was born on November 26th. So my birthday
is on November 26th each year. What if I decided that I preferred to remember my birthday on
March 15th? How about if when March 15th came around I just declared it in my home to be
November 26th, my birthday? While there certainly is no law against it, with equal certainty it
doesn’t make much sense and sort of ruins the whole purpose of having a birthday. March
15th is NOT November 26. Each are very specific and different days.
Friends, the Bible…..not me but the Holy Scriptures….DEFINES Sabbath as the 7th day of each
week. The set apart, sanctified, block of time that the Lord has established as representative of
the 4th dimension of His creation is the 7th day of a 7-day week. It’s not ANY block of time of
our choosing. We can no more choose our own definition of Sabbath than we can choose our
own definition of Messiah.
God is now through, for the time being, with giving Moses and the people of Israel His
ordinances and principles. And so Yehoveh inscribes on two stone tablets, supernaturally by
His own hand, the 10 principles from which all Law, ordinance, appointed times and festivals,
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observances and rituals, even the sacrificial system will be based.
We have now completed 4 of the 6 divisions of Exodus, and are ready to begin the 5th division,
which Everett Fox calls “Infidelity and Reconciliation”.
READ CHAPTER 32 all
Chapter 32 is all about the infamous Golden Calf incident. The key to understanding the
scriptures about the Golden Calf is that Israel was breaking the Mosaic Covenant at the same
moment Moses was up on the mountaintop receiving it. Remember, this is a conditional
covenant……Israel has its obligations to keep, because the covenant has stipulations about what
happens if they don’t. God sees what Israel did by building that calf, as adultery, and
therefore, infidelity. Why adultery? Because they were supposed to be in union with Him, and
then they brought another “god” into the picture.
It’s chapters like these that mark the Bible as the most remarkable piece of literature
(obviously its far more than mere literature) in all of mankind’s history. God has set apart a
people from all other people in the world to be a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation to Him.
And, rather than try to paint Israel, now, as somehow BETTER than other humans, less
susceptible to doing wrong and evil, above the temptations of sin and immorality, a bunch of
people that just whistle a happy tune and go about God’s business praising Him all the live-
long day, we’re shown the reality of the human condition. Our fickleness, our selfish and
rebellious nature are vividly on display here in this chapter, as a stark contrast to God’s
character AND His expectations of us.
For the last several weeks of our study of Exodus it’s as though we have been eavesdropping
on God’s conversation with Moses. From on-high, at the summit of Mt. Sinai, all that is good,
and true, and perfect…..the heavenly spiritual ideal….has been spoken and explained to Moses.
Well back at the ranch the reality of everyday physical life as it conflicts with God’s standards
greets us head-on.
We shouldn’t sidestep the irony here: DURING the very time Moses is receiving incredible
revelations from Yehoveh, standing on the summit, the Holy of Holies…..DURING the time God
is lowering Himself to send a love letter to humanity that beckons the Hebrews to reconciliation
with Him…..the people of Israel are scheming to do the very things God has prohibited.
Translation: yeah, we know there’s a God, we know He is loving and powerful, we know He
has standards of good and evil, right and wrong, but we’re anxious and stressed so we’ll take
matters into our own hands, thank you very much. Oh, how very human.
The first few verses of chapter 32 set about explaining the people’s rationale for breaking the
second commandment. The one that says, “Thou shall have no other gods before me. You are
not to make a carved image……” And basically that rationale is that they’re impatient and a bit
afraid. They want answers and they want them NOW! Of course, I think last week it hit many of
us squarely between the eyes that adultery was also at the heart of the Israelites great offense
against God. Adultery, because what the Mosaic Covenant created was a union between Israel
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and Yehoveh. And, by mixing the union with Yehoveh with the worship of the calf, by bringing
another god into the picture, the union became corrupted and defiled. Actually, the union
became broken.
And whom do the Israelites recruit to lead them in this worst of all possible offenses against
God but the man who is about to become their High Priest! Moses’ 2nd in command, the one
who bore the staff of Moses and spoke the miracles of God before Pharaoh, Moses’ own
brother….Aaron. One could roll around the floor in laughter, if it weren’t all so tragic and
typical.
We’re told that Aaron agreed to build for Israel a god image, and he instructed the people to
give him the gold from their earrings. I’m not sure what significance there is to it, that it was
ONLY earrings from which the gold was gathered……but one thing’s for sure…..there would have
been an enormous number of earrings necessary to make this Golden Calf, so an awful lot of
people agreed with what they were about to do.
Once the calf was made just what did the Hebrews think they had done? What was it that they
thought that they had made and just whom did it represent? The answer is in the last few
words of vs. 4, and then into vs. 5. “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the
land of Egypt”. And Aaron announced that tomorrow they would build an Altar and sacrifice
an animal to the Golden Calf and hold a “festival to Yehoveh”. Your Bibles most likely say a
festival to the Lord. That is an incorrect translation. This has led many a commentator to
suggest that the Israelites had an entirely different “lord” on their minds, one of their old
Egyptian gods. But, the original Hebrew doesn’t say “lord”, Adonai; it says YHWH…..Yehoveh,
God’s personal name. The people thought they were making a suitable image of the God of
Israel, Yehoveh, when they built that calf!! BTW: maybe we all better examine the images and
icons we use…..because there’s a ton of them, and I’m not at all comfortable that our rationale
for using them makes it right in God’s eyes.
There are so many lessons just under the surface here, that we could spend an awful lot of
time with them. So, let me just outline a couple for you.
First, the Golden Calf itself was a common animal image used by almost every Middle Eastern
culture. In Egypt it was called the Apis Bull, a very high deity indeed. It represented strength
and authority, and the Hebrews would have been MORE than familiar with it. Now we can’t
know for sure that it was the Egyptian Apis that they used as a model for the Golden Calf…..it
could have been some other Middle Eastern Bull god. But it really doesn’t matter. The point is
that despite the incredible miracles they had personally witnessed, after hearing Yehoveh’s
own VOICE tell them His 10 Commandments, at the first sign of trouble their instinct was NOT
to believe God, NOT to trust God, NOT to be obedient to God, but rather to behave as they
always had. The funny thing is had worshipping other gods back in Egypt EVER liberated
them from Egypt or brought them anything good? Apparently not, for they were slaves for at
least 2 centuries when God rescued them. But it didn’t matter; they just went back to what was
familiar, and turned their backs on what was right. People haven’t changed much, have we?
When push comes to shove we tend to fall back on what is traditional and comfortable. We
love the things we’re familiar with, the things that seem to validate the lifestyle we’ve chosen;
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we’ll compromise or rationalize God’s principles in a heartbeat if it satisfies our emotions or
our wants. I’ve heard it said that the true definition of insanity is believing that if you keep
doing the same things you’ll eventually get different results. There’s not one of us hearing this
lesson that doesn’t have to fight, daily, the urge to hang on to, return to, our old ways even
though we know the truth.
Second, why did the people feel they needed a god image at all? I mean what’s the big
attraction here? Interestingly it’s the human need for visible, tangible evidence of God’s
presence that drove them to this horrible deed. And it’s for that same HUMAN need……the need
to see it with our own eyes…..that God was in process of providing by means of the Tabernacle.
God knew, and knows, that we need visible reassurance and evidence of His divine workings
in our lives. Israel needed it, too. God didn’t NEED an earthly tabernacle. And, He certainly
didn’t NEED human hands to build one. The Tabernacle, like almost all else, was for Israel’s
sake, our sake, not His. The Tabernacle was a physical demonstration of some heavenly
principles as well as the enshrinement of God’s principle of sacred space.
There is a parallel, a link, between the Golden Calf and the Tabernacle, as they both were
intended to satisfy man’s need to have visible proof of God’s presence. It might do us well to
think of the Golden Calf as a sort of anti-Tabernacle. The Golden Calf is man’s perverse idea
of deity. It was made from Israel’s best and most sincere religious imaginings and efforts.
Conversely, The Tabernacle was a heavenly model…..it was God ordained. But, it would also
come in God’s timing, not theirs.
Man ordained, versus God ordained. This is the battle humanity has been in practically since
the moment Creation ceased, and it will go on until the end of the Millennial reign of Christ in
the future. Probably within some of our lifetimes we’ll see this battle played out in most
dramatic fashion, in the finale of the history of the world, as we watch mankind install the anti-
Christ as the head of World Government to rule over us. And why will man install him? For the
same reasons that the Israelites molded their image: impatience, fear and anxiety, and the
need for visible proof that God is present. Already the world is crying out for somebody to build
that new Golden Calf. To do something to stop the violence and terror that has gripped the
world, but there seems to be no solution. And, soon, very soon, I believe that the apostate
portion of the church will join the effort of the world, if not lead the way, to identify and install
the end-times Golden Calf, the anti-Christ. And just as in Moses’ day this will occur as God is
in process of readying the world for a visible display of God’s true presence in the form of
Messiah Jesus. But it’ll be in His timing; sadly we already know from the Bible (primarily
Revelation) that most of the world, and all but a remnant of the Church, won’t wait for God’s
solution. We’ll take matters into our own hands with devastating results. That’s what Israel did
when they built that Golden Calf.
Beginning in vs. 7, God informs Moses of what “YOUR” people are doing. I think that’s kinda
funny that God calls Israel “YOUR” people. In a way, for a moment there, it seems God
disowned them because He HAD been calling them MY people. And guess what: legally that’s
exactly what He did, He disowned Israel. The Covenant was broken and Moses would
demonstrate that when he arrived back to the valley floor. Further, it would be necessarily to re-
establish the covenant, which we will also find Moses do as he fashions two more blank stone
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tablets to take with him back up to the summit of Mt. Sinai.
As the Lord is instructing Moses He tells Moses to hurry back down that mountain and put a
stop to the Calf worship. And, BTW, Moses, while you’re gone, I’m going to sit here and think
of ALL the ways I can destroy those stiff-necked people. In fact, I think I’ll just start all over
again with you as the new Father of a special people for me.
Moses, in a most noble gesture, pleads for mercy for those Israelites and God relents.
Now, a couple of things to think about: Was God going back and forth here…indecisive….
between destroying them and not? No, of course not. Yehoveh, as always, is in “teaching
mode”…..Torah mode. He’s showing Moses just how serious disobedience to The Almighty
can be. He’s showing Moses that indeed those people are his responsibility. He’s
demonstrating that it didn’t have to be Israel that is His chosen people; it could be anybody He
selects. Moses, in the position of mediator, is the one who bears on his shoulders the sins of
what is now described as YOUR people because the covenant that makes Israel God’s people
has just become invalidated.
In something akin to an episode of Seinfeld, here are the people of Israel, down at the foot of
the mountain, partying like mad, worshipping and sacrificing to this Golden Calf, just so proud
of their little selves for solving their own problems…….while at that very moment God is telling
Moses that by the time he gets back down there these people are probably going to become
little piles of human toast anyway. And these foolish rebellious Hebrews have absolutely no
idea that their fate is being decided, up on that summit, as they go on in their blissful ignorance
down below.
I also think that Moses really had yet to grasp his own importance in Yehoveh’s eyes, as well
as in the eyes of the people. Moses had always been reluctant about taking this job in the first
place. He was a humble man, an introvert, and had a hard time understanding why people
would look upon him as their leader. Bu, as we saw when God spoke the 10 Commandments
by means of a thunderous and frightening sound directly to the people of Israel their response
was generally: WOW! That was really cool; now PLEASE don’t EVER do it again! Moses, you
talk to God for us, and have Him talk to you. They were certain that if they were ever again in
God’s presence, or heard His voice, they would die. They saw Moses as the one and only
channel between them and Yehoveh, which of course is the very definition of what he indeed
was: their Mediator.
The people of Israel depended on Moses as that mediator. And after a considerable time,
when he hadn’t come back down that mountain, they did what people do when leadership
vanishes: they panicked. When they didn’t see what they expected to see, when they
expected to see it, they lost faith; the result was the Golden Calf. I’m not sure I’ve ever made
a good decision when I was in panic mode, which is one reason why God constantly reminds
us to “fear not” for fear leads to poor judgment and irrational behavior.
As Moses was making his way back down the mountain, he runs into Joshua…..the same
Joshua that would eventually take over for Moses. Apparently Joshua went part way up the
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mountain with Moses and then stayed and waited for him for Joshua didn’t seem to know what
was going on back at the encampment….but he could hear all the ruckus and knew something
not good was occurring. Joshua says, “Moses! I think there’s a war going on!”. Moses
replies, “no Joshua, they’re just having a giant block party!”
Moses finally gets to see what is happening and it infuriates him, as he’s never been before.
He throws the tablets on the ground, and they explode into hundreds of pieces. He took the
calf, had it melted down, ground to dust, and then sprinkled into their drinking water. Then, he
made the people of Israel drink it.
This act of breaking the tablets was significant; in the Middle East, whenever a covenant was
made, written down, and then violated, the clay tablets it was written on were ceremonially
thrown down and shattered to signify that the covenant was indeed broken. So, this wasn’t a
moment of rage in which Moses lost it for a second and in doing so threw down the tablets of
the Law. It was a custom…..and the people knew immediately what it meant when he did it. The
hours-old covenant with God was broken…gone…. already!
Moses asks Aaron, in vs. 21, what happened that would make him agree to do such thing as to
build that idol. Aaron’s answer: they asked me to do it. Peer pressure, social pressure. A
desire to be all things to all people in place of Godly leadership; do I please God or my friends?
Aaron chose unwisely.
Then Moses threw down the gauntlet: he called all those who stand with him, and in so doing
stand with God, to come to him. Moses is doing what God demonstrated to us since the
moment He separated darkness from light: He divides and separates to create unity. I know
that this principle that God divides flies in the face of the typical modern day Church doctrine
that God unites. But the “unity at any cost” doctrine simply doesn’t square with Holy Scripture,
primarily because it’s too simplistic. God divides and separates in order to achieve unity. My
goodness, here in Exodus He is well into the process of dividing Israel, setting Israel apart,
from all the rest of the world as His People. And here in Exodus 32 we have Moses dividing
and separating the people of Israel in order to achieve God’s kind of unity. Division,
separation, and election are God’s ways to achieve ideal unity. Sadly the world and too much
of the Church have fallen into the trap that defines unity as a compromise to achieve
consensus. God’s unity has nothing to do with consensus or unanimity or conformance…and
most certainly not with compromise. Unity is a oneness with His Spirit.
It was the Levites, those destined to be priests and attendants to Yehoveh, who rallied around
Moses. Now, please remember, the priesthood has YET to be established. These Levites who
came to Moses were NOT declared priests, yet. But, we don’t have to work too hard to figure
out why, even from a purely human standpoint, it would be only the Levites who rallied around
Moses: he was kin. Moses was a Levite and my means of his current station the head of the
Levite tribe. This is the essence of Tribalism; blood is thicker than water or anything else for
that matter.
Each of the Levites took a sword and went about killing 3000 of the calf worshippers. And, the
wording makes it appear that they must have killed not only non-Levites, but fellow Levites as
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well who had succumbed to idol worship. And then in vs. 29 Moses makes a startling
statement to those who did the killing: by sparing not even your own SONS you have
consecrated yourself to God. That is given the choice between obeying Yehoveh and
executing your own child for idolatry at His command you chose obedience to God above your
own desires. That sets you apart. These Levites at this moment were divided away from the
rest of Israel, consecrated, to become God’s priests. This would be confirmed in a formal
ceremony soon.
BTW: the Levites are an interesting contradiction of character. Back in Genesis when Jacob
was pronouncing his deathbed blessing upon his children he told Simeon and Levi that
violence would follow them. But he also told them something else that was now coming true.
READ Gen.49:5-7
“Shim’on and Levi are brothers, related by weapons of violence. Let me not enter their
council, let my honor not be connected with their people; for in their anger they killed
men, and at their whim they maimed cattle. Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce.
I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel.”
It was Levi and Shimon, Simeon, who led the raid on the helpless city of Shechem in revenge
for the King’s son raping Jacob’s daughter (their sister), Dinah. They slaughtered all the
males, killed the cattle, and made slaves of the women and children who were spared. As a
result of this atrocity Jacob said that Simeon and Levi would find their destinies as constantly
dealing in blood and violence.
But Jacob pronounced even more that concerned those 2 sons: here the meaning of “I will
divide them in Jacob” now comes to light. Right here in Exodus 32 the Levites are divided from
the rest of Israel….that is, they are divided in Jacob (remember Israel and Jacob are
synonymous). And then their violent natures are put to good use as they kill many of the calf
worshippers, even their own children. The second part of Jacob’s prophetic blessing whereby
Levi will be scattered in Israel, will occur at the end of the 40 years in the Wilderness when the
land of Canaan gets divided up among the tribes of Israel……but the Levites do NOT get any
land. Instead they are to be scattered throughout the territories of the other tribes, given 48
cities to live in, but under the charity of the various tribal authorities.
I think its also interesting that the Levites, many who are about to become the priests, will be
the ones to deal with blood and killing on a daily basis……but this time it’ll be sacrificial blood.
You see the killing that God calls JUST is not murder. But killing outside of what God calls just
IS murder. God creates all life. How it ends is entirely His to choose. What the Levites did at
Shechem was unjust, it was murder, and they were under God’s curse for doing it. But when
they stood by Moses side, obeyed God, and killed those 3000 people it was counted to them
as a blessing just as it says at the end of vs.29. The overall fate of the Levites would not
change from what Jacob pronounced, but the NATURE of how it would be manifested DID
change. They would indeed deal in blood and killing; but instead of it being unjust killing,
against God, it would now be as God’s servants, carrying out not merely justified killing……but
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killing that brought justification and atonement before God on behalf of Israel. God declares
what is holy and just…….all else is not and it is not our position to alter His choices.
After the mass execution of the idol worshippers, Moses made it clear that Israel had sinned
against Yehoveh, broken the covenant and he, as mediator, now needed to approach God to
see if there was a way to atone for this corruption, and more importantly, re-establish the
Mosaic Covenant.
Moses climbs back to the summit of the mountain, and begs God to blot him out of the book of
life forever, if that is what is necessary for the people to be forgiven for their great sin.
In response the Lord lays down the principle that a man is responsible for his own sins, and so
declines Moses offering of his own life as atonement for Israel’s sins. Sin must be punished.
There is no alternative. Those 3000 that were put to the sword by the Levites were just the tip
of the iceberg. The number of those who willingly participated in calf worship was much greater
and so God sent a plague as a punishment and many more Hebrews died of illness.
We’ll follow Moses back up the mountain next week in chapter 33.
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