The Book Of Exodus
Exodus 3:14 "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."
While Moses is up on the mount receiving from God the instructions for the tabernacle (Exodus 24:18, Deuteronomy 9:9), the Israelites begin to grow restless and impatient. They demand of Aaron that he “…make us gods, which shall go before us…”. (v.1) (Acts 7:40, Exodus 13:21) The Israelites give the following justification for this demand: “…as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him…”. This statement reveals two things: 1) The people had already forgot who it was that had actually led them out of Egypt, and 2) they mistakenly assume they’re now without a leader. The Moody Bible Commentary states it as thus: “The people were foolishly impatient and fickle. Rather than allow Moses the time to receive the law from the Lord, they wanted events to happen in a time of their own choosing. This led to a god of their own making.” Just as Abraham committed his transgression with Hagar because he was unwilling to wait for God’s timing for Sarah to conceive, so the children of Israel were restless and unwilling to wait for Moses to return in order to receive further instruction from the Lord.
Verses 2-6: Aaron tells the people to give him their gold earrings, which represent some of the spoil that the Israelites took from Egypt. (v.2) (Exodus 11:2, 35:22, Judges 8:24) From these Aaron creates a molten calf. When they see it, the Israelites respond with, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” (v.4) This is a clear violation of the first and second commandments. (Exodus 20:3-4, 23, Deuteronomy 9:16, Judges 17:3-4, 1 Kings 12:28, Nehemiah 9:18, Psalm 106:19, Acts 7:41) It’s important to note here that only a few days – or perhaps a week or two – earlier, Moses had given to the people the ten commandments before he and Joshua went back up the mountain to meet with God again. Therefore, there is no excuse for the Israelites’ blatant disobedience against God with their worship of this golden idol. Not only that, but the children of Israel had also been firsthand witnesses to God’s supernatural power over the Egyptians and their false gods, one of which is Bat, a cow goddess. Bat is closely linked in Egyptian mythology with Hathor, the goddess of sexuality, motherhood, music and dance. To ascribe power to these false deities is to rob the one true God of His rightful worship and praise. When Moses had finished giving them the law, the Israelites had promised, “All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (Exodus 24:7) Sadly, it doesn’t take them long to forget that promise. The fact that the people go to Aaron indicates that they are looking to him to be their new leader. He should have said ‘No’ to this demand and rebuked the Israelites for their disobedience. Instead, Aaron gives in to the mob’s request, and, when he sees their reaction to the calf, he encourages their apostasy by building an altar before it. He then declares, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” (v.5) That proclamation hints at the possibility that the Israelites believe the calf actually does represent God. The term “Lord” in verse 5 is the English translation of the Hebrew word “Jehovah”. The children of Israel very likely committed the same sin that so many Christians today fall into: mixing truth with falsehood. In this case, the creation of the golden calf, along with the sexual immorality and feasting described in verse 6, under the guise of worshiping the true God of Israel, JEHOVAH, is the real transgression. This is why God is giving Moses the instructions for the tabernacle, the Aaronic priesthood, and the system of sacrifices. Israel’s transgression proves that without the tabernacle and the priesthood they would easily fall into the heathen worship and idolatry of their neighboring nations. The phrase in verse 6, “…rose up to play…”, along with the reference in verse 25 to the nakedness of the people, indicates sexual immorality. Nearly all of the false religions of the ANE incorporated polygamy, prostitution, orgies, and bestiality in their regular worship practices. Having just come out of Egypt, the children of Israel were quick to fall back into the immorality and false religion of the Egyptians instead of patiently waiting for Moses’ return from Mount Sinai. (The picture at the top of this posting is an artist's rendering, courtesy of Logos Bible Software, of the events of this chapter.) Verses 7-14: God informs Moses of the Israelites’ sin, telling Moses to get down from the mountain. (v.7) Take note of the wording of this verse: “...for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt…” God has verbally disowned the Israelites! They are no longer His chosen people because “…they have corrupted themselves…”. That verb is used here in the same manner as in Genesis 6:11-12, hence the depth of God’s anger and desire to destroy the entire nation. “They had not just erred, this was not merely a ‘mistake in judgment’ but they had quickly turned aside, they had rapidly and rashly fallen into iniquity and transgression. They had failed to walk in the ‘…way which I commanded them…’; they had missed the mark and fallen short (32:8a). Taking the definition of ‘sin’ as ‘any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God’ (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 38), the people had failed on both counts.” (Moody Bible Commentary) The Lord then gives a summary of all that transpired in verses 1-6 (v.8). In verse 9, He refers to the Israelites as “…a stiffnecked people…” (Exodus 33:3, 5, Exodus 34:9, Deuteronomy 9:6, 2 Chronicles 30:8, Isaiah 48:4, Acts 7:51) and expresses to Moses his desire to destroy them. (v.10) (Exodus 22:24, Numbers 14:12, Deuteronomy 9:14, 19) The phrasing in verse 10 is interesting. God says to Moses, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” God tells Moses what He is about to do, as if Moses possesses the ability to prevent God from carrying out His righteous judgment! This is reminiscent of God’s dialogue with Abraham in Genesis 18:20-33, where Abraham acted as intercessor on behalf of the righteous remnant within Sodom and Gomorrah. God accepted Abraham’s mediation and promised not to destroy the cities if at least ten were found righteous within them. The same scenario seems to be playing out here in verses 10-14, this time with Moses as the mediator and intercessor. And now it’s God’s chosen people who are the object of His wrath and judgment. By revealing his plan to utterly destroy the Israelites for their disobedience and rebellion, God allows the opportunity for Moses to act as mediator on their behalf. The Holman Bible commentators state it as thus: “Earlier the Lord had needed to persuade Moses to accept His plans; now Moses uses the Lord’s own words to persuade Him to have mercy on His people. This displayed the depth of the victory that the Lord had won in Moses’ heart.” Moses seeks the face of the Lord. (v.11) (Deuteronomy 9:18, 26) His question to God is essentially this: “What will the Egyptians and the peoples of the promised land say if You destroy the Israelites now? Did you bring them out of bondage in Egypt only to slay them in the wilderness?” (v.13) (Numbers 14:13, Deuteronomy 9:28, Joshua 7:9) Moses then reminds God of His promise to Abraham and his seed, “…to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self…”. (v.13) God had promised Abraham that his seed would be as great as the number of stars in the sky and that they would one day inherit the promised land forever. How could that promise be fulfilled if God utterly destroyed the nation now? There is also a test here for Moses. God says in verse 10, “I will make of thee a great nation.” Moses displays great humility and maturity here by refusing God’s offer. He instead beseeches the Lord on behalf of Israel, showing just how much he has changed from the impetuous, angry, immature man that was hiding out in the desert when God first called him to be the leader of the Israelites. God, of course, does not renege on His promise to Abraham. (v.14) If he had, he would not be God. Moses is quite correct in pointing this out, and he also passes God’s test of character and true leadership. The verb “repent” in verse 14 is the same as that in Genesis 6:6, 1 Samuel 15:11, 2 Samuel 24:16, and Zechariah 8:14. It means that God is grieved and heartbroken by the sin and apostasy of his creation. “This repentance does not mean that God has literally ‘changed His mind’ about what He intended to do. Rather, ‘when God is said to repent, it indicates 1) his awareness that the human situation has altered and 2) his desire to act in a way fitting to this changed situation.’ (Bruce A. Ware, God’s Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism [Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000], 90)”. (Moody Bible Commentary) (For a more detailed commentary of this, see my notes on Genesis 6.) Verses 15-19: Moses descends the mountain with the pair of stone tablets. (Deuteronomy 9:15) Verses 15-16 emphasizes that the tablets are written on both sides and that they are “…the work of God…”. (Exodus 31:18) This underscores the depth of Moses’ anger in verse 19. The point at which Joshua is waiting for Moses is high enough up the mountain that he is unaware of what is transpiring in the camp. He can, however, hear some kind of noise from the camp far below, and he mistakes it at first for the sound of battle. (v.17) But as he and Moses draw closer to the base of the mountain, Joshua realizes it’s the noise of singing and festivity. (v.18) When they’re finally close enough to see what’s really going on, Moses hurls the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them in the presence of all the Israelites. (v.19) The same phrase “…anger waxed hot…” is used again here to describe Moses’ righteous fury, reflecting the same righteous wrath displayed by God in verse 10. (Deuteronomy 9:17) “Moses’ breaking of the tablets was an important symbolic act done carefully, deliberately, and openly for the benefit of the Israelites because of the way violation of a covenant is routinely described in the ancient Semitic world as a ‘breaking’ of that ‘covenant.’ ” (Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary) Verses 20-25: (Numbers 5:17, 24, Deuteronomy 9:21) Moses immediately melts down the calf and grinds the gold into powder which he casts “…upon the water…”, presumably a nearby stream or river flowing from Mount Sinai. He then orders the children of Israel to drink the bitter-tasting liquid. This is especially just punishment in light of the incident at Marah, just after the exodus from Egypt, when God had changed the bitter water into sweet. (Exodus 15:23-26) Moses had warned the children of Israel then that if they would always hearken to God’s voice and “…do that which is right in His sight…”, as well as obey all His commandments and statutes, that God would always care and provide for them. (Exodus 15:26) Disobedience, however, will always be punished accordingly. Next, Moses confronts Aaron. He demands of his brother to know what the people did to Aaron to convince him to bring “…so great a sin upon them?” (v.21) Aaron’s initial response of “Let not the anger of my lord wax hot…” echoes the same description from verses 10 and 19. He then blames the people, telling Moses “…that they are set on mischief…” (v.22), meaning that the Israelites are prone to evil, and that they demanded that he make for them the golden calf. (v.23) This is the very reason that Aaron should have refused the people’s request, and the fact that he is attempting to deflect the blame from himself is further proof that he knew from the start that this was wrong. His explanation for the creation of the idol in verse 24 is utterly laughable, “…I cast it [the gold] into the fire, and there came out this calf…”, and only serves to underscore the weakness of his character as well as the depth of his sin. This is the reason for Moses’ initial demand in verse 21. He is holding Aaron responsible for bringing this great sin upon the children of Israel. This is further confirmed by the statement in verse 25: “…Aaron had made them naked unto their shame…”. (2 Chronicles 28:19) This indicates the sexual immorality and extreme debauchery that was taking place while Moses and Joshua were up on the mountain. Verses 26-29: Moses stands in the gate of the camp where he can both be seen and heard. These verses indicate that many of the Israelites refused to leave their idolatrous worship and the orgy that was still taking place even though the golden calf is no longer present. The time has come to separate the ones who are persisting in their disobedience and rebellion from those who were only bystanders caught up in the heathen festivity. Moses’ declaration is clear, direct and loud enough for all to hear: “Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me!” (v. 26) Only the men of the tribe of Levi answer his call. This is interesting when one considers Jacob’s pronouncement in Genesis 49:5-6. The descendants of the two brothers known for their anger and vengeful violence are now the ones who stand with Moses and will be the executors of God’s wrath upon their fellow Israelites. Moses commands the men of Levi to go through the entire camp and slay every man and woman that is still participating in the idolatrous orgy. (v.27) This must have been heartbreaking for these sons to have to kill their own families as well as their neighbors, but they obey Moses nonetheless. When all is said and done, about three thousand men are dead. (v.28) Verse 29 reiterates the reason for this harsh judgment: God’s law – which the Israelites had readily agreed to honor and obey (Exodus 24:3) – demanded that no other gods or idols be worshiped in place of JEHOVAH, the one true God of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth. (Exodus 20:22-23) The Israelites had committed the sins of pride and rebellion, giving in to the lusts of their flesh rather than obeying God, and such grievous sin demanded swift and righteous punishment. Verses 30-35: Moses ascends Mount Sinai to once again “…go up unto the Lord…” (v.30) But now his purpose is to atone for the Israelites’ sin. “In the next section of the exodus experience, we can see Moses taking on two roles. He became the intercessor for Israel, and at the same time the intimate companion of the Lord.” (Moody Bible Commentary) Once again, we see a very different man here than the one God first called at the burning bush on the backside of the desert. Moses casts himself down before God, begging the Lord to take his life as an atonement for the children of Israel. (v.32) Moses is so distraught that he can’t even finish the conditional sentence that begins this verse. Instead, he finishes with a plea to “…blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (Psalm 69:28, Isaiah 4:3, Malachi 3:16, Romans 9:3) This is possibly a reference to the same book that is mentioned in Revelation 20:12, 15, also known as the Lamb’s Book of Life. It’s also possible that this is merely a metaphor for salvation as it was understood by the OT saints. Moses is, in essence, offering up his own salvation and eternal security if it means it will stay God’s wrath against the rest of Israel for their sin. This is the most selfless act any man could do for another, and it’s a testament to Moses’ character as a true leader and a man of God. But the Lord denies Moses’ request, saying that each man must pay for his own sins. (v.33) “…him will I blot out of My book.” (Exodus 17:14, Deuteronomy 29:20, Psalm 9:5, Revelation 3:5, 21:27) This is further proof that no man or woman can atone for another’s sins, only because we are all sinners – even the greatest men of God like Moses, Elijah, David or the apostle Paul. Only Jesus Christ, born in the flesh, who lived a perfect and sinless life, could properly and justly atone for the sins of all mankind. God commands Moses to lead the children of Israel to the promised land, repeating once more His promise from Exodus 23:20 regarding the Angel of the Lord. (v.34) He closes with an assurance that further punishment will be dealt upon the Israelites for their disobedience on this day. That judgment comes in the form of a plague. (v.35) Aaron is once again singled out by name for leading the people into sin. The incident of the golden calf proves the depravity of our sin nature. God created us to know, love and worship Him. It’s hardwired in the DNA of our souls. If we reject God, we will love and worship something else: money, career, family, false religion, or even just our own selfish pride. Just as the Israelites tried to satisfy their God-given need to worship something greater than themselves, so we do the same today, whether we realize it or not. This is the reason that so many false religions exist in the world. Satan knew of this need God placed within Adam and Eve, and that’s how he successfully deceived them, and how he’s still successfully deceiving mankind today. He convinced Adam and Eve that they could love and worship themselves by being “as gods” if they ate of the forbidden fruit, and he deceived all of their descendants the same way. All of us are born trying to fill that specific void within with everything BUT God. Only when we finally realize and admit the truth of our fallen, broken nature and then reach out Jesus as our LORD and Savior do we finally find the only missing component that truly completes us as created, sentient beings. That was God’s beautiful, perfect design for us – and this world – from the very beginning!
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CHAPTER 5:
Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh, and Aaron delivers God’s message: “…Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” (v.1) Pharaoh’s response, as I noted in the previous chapter, is boastful and defiant. “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” (v.2) In Egyptian myth and culture of that time the Pharaoh was not just considered a representative of the gods, but was a god himself. Thus, the Exodus account is a confrontation between gods: Pharaoh vs Yahweh, the one true God. Moses and Aaron respond by explaining that “…The God of the Hebrews…” commands all the children of Israel to go three days’ journey into the desert to perform “…a sacrifice unto the Lord our God…” lest he punish them. (v.3) Pharaoh’s retort is both dismissive and sneering. He tells them, in essence, that the Israelites have no time for such nonsense and that Moses and Aaron should get back to work. (v.4) Verses 5-19: In a further response to Moses and Aaron’s demands, Pharaoh orders his taskmasters to no longer gather the straw for the Israelites that is the main ingredient for making bricks. They are now to gather it themselves, but their daily quota will not change. Since they have so much free time to talk about their God and plan a journey into the desert, Pharaoh reasons, they must have plenty of extra time to gather the straw needed for their work. (v.7-8) This, of course, only increases the physical labor of the Israelites, which leads to harsher punishments of the Israelite officers that the Egyptian taskmasters had set over the other slaves. (v.14). They are unable to meet their daily quota with the newly added burden of gathering the straw. The officers go before Pharaoh to complain about the new rule. (v.15) But Pharaoh dismisses them with the same retort he gave Moses and Aaron. If the children of Israel have time to talk about going into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord, then they must have plenty of time to gather the straw needed to make their daily quota of bricks. (v.17) He demands that they immediately get back to work. (v.18) Verses 20-23: The Israelite officers complain to Moses and Aaron, blaming them for the new conditions and harsher punishments that Pharaoh is inflicting upon them. (v.21) Moses, as he will do so often in the years to come, takes their grievance to the Lord, and adds his own complaint as well. He doesn’t understand why he did what God told him to do, and it only made the situation worse for the Israelites. Where was the deliverance God promised? “Why is it that Thou hast sent me?” he asks with a despairing tone. (v.22) As happens so often in our own lives, Moses can’t understand why obeying God seems to have made the situation worse rather than better. From his – and the Israelites’ – perspective, God had failed in His promise to deliver them. The plight of the children of Israel looks even more hopeless and bleak than ever before. Rather than rebuke and punish Moses for his lack of faith and trust, God once again shows Himself to be the compassionate and loving Father that He is. His initial words to Moses in verse 1 are a reassurance and a reminder of what He first told Moses at the burning bush: “…Now shalt thou see what I will do…”. God reminds Moses that Pharaoh will indeed let the Israelites go, and not only that, but “…with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.” In other words, Pharaoh would not only release the children of Israel from their enslavement, but he would do so eagerly and forcefully, the complete opposite of his current attitude and disposition of rebellion and pride. CHAPTER 6: Verses 2-9: One of the remarkable attributes of God is His infinite patience and loving kindness towards us, especially when we are so quick to forget His promises and His past providence in our lives. Moses had so quickly forgotten the game plan God had laid out for him just a few weeks earlier at the burning bush, and now God reminds Moses not only of His promise to deliver the children of Israel from their bondage, but also goes all the way back to Abraham, reassuring Moses of the initial promise that God had made with him, Isaac and Jacob. “…I have remembered My covenant,” God says to Moses in verse 5. He then tells Moses to go back to the elders and reassure them of this same covenant. “…I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments.” (v.6) In verse 3, God states that He was known to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob “…by the name of God Almighty, but by My name Jehovah was I not known to them.” (Exodus 3:14-15, 15:3, Psalm 68:4, 83:18, Isaiah 52:6, Jeremiah 16:21, Ezekiel 37:6, 13, John 8:58) Moreover, in verse 7 God tells Moses that “…I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God…” (Genesis 17:7, Exodus 29:45-46, Leviticus 26:12-13, 45, Deuteronomy 29:13, Revelation 21:7) In other words, God had not made Himself truly, personally known to Abraham, Isaac. Jacob and Joseph. He had revealed Himself to them, He had guided them, cared for them, and made a covenant with Abraham, but He had not revealed His true name until now. What God is saying to Moses in this passage is that He will not just deliver the Israelites from their bondage, but He will also have an ongoing, personal relationship with His chosen people. He will reveal Himself to them in ways that He never did with their forefathers. We see this later on in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, when God gives Moses and the Israelites the ten commandments, the law, and the instructions for the priesthood and the tabernacle. God is basically reminding Moses that He’s only just begun to work on behalf of His people, and that they haven’t seen anything yet. God is about to demonstrate His true power and majesty, not only for all the children of Israel to see and to wonder, but also for the benefit of the Egyptians and all the surrounding nations as well. (Joshua 2:10-11) Unfortunately, when Moses relays all of this to the elders of Israel, they don’t believe him because of the despair and anguish caused by their current circumstances. How often are we like them! God promises over and over in His word that He will never leave us, or forsake us, or fail to fight on our behalf, yet we fall into persistent misery and self-pity because our deliverance does not come immediately when we first cry out. Like Job, we often feel like God has abandoned us completely, and it must have been the same for the children of Israel until Moses and Aaron arrived on the scene to relay God’s message of the promise of deliverance. Yet, when that deliverance did not happen immediately, and when the situation only seemed to get worse, the Israelites fell into deeper despair and despondency. Instead of strengthening their faith and trust in God, they blamed Moses and God for making their pain and anguish even worse, and they persisted in their doubt and unbelief. Verses 10-13: God commands Moses once again to go before Pharaoh and demand that he release the children of Israel. (v.11) And, once again, Moses complains that Pharaoh is not going to listen to him since the Israelites didn’t believe him either. Moses gives the excuse that he is not an orator, basically reminding God that He’s picked the wrong man for this mission. (v.12) But God merely, patiently reiterates His command to Moses and Aaron. (v.13) Verses 14-30: What follows here is a brief genealogy that lists the descendants of Jacob’s first three sons: Reuben, Simeon and Levi. As you’ll recall from Genesis 34 and 35, theses three men had each committed a grievous sin. They were immoral, proud, rebellious, quick to anger and slow to forgive, and yet God used each of them to be the fathers of what would soon become the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people. The reason that only these three and their descendants are listed instead of all of Jacob’s sons is because the point of this passage is to go only as far as the appearance of Moses and Aaron. Moses, when he was later writing all of this down as a record for the Israelites, wanted to convey for the reader the point that God specifically uses the proud, the angry, the immoral, the weak, the broken, and the murderers (Moses, remember, had slain a man in the same vengeful manner as Simeon and Levi), and yes, even the stammerers, to execute His divine will and plan. God has always magnified Himself the most through the most broken, rebellious and sinful of humanity, and He’s about to magnify His name in a mighty way not just through Pharaoh and his hardened, arrogant heart, but through Moses’ weaknesses and shortcomings as well. |
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