“Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and so arousing his anger. I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me. And the Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too.”-Deuteronomy 9:18-20
You know one point I think a lot of people overlook about the Golden Calf incident?
I think a lot of folks overlook the fact that Israel was seriously in danger of being wiped out.
As verse 20 says, even Aaron the High Priest was in danger of being destroyed for his participation in this whole Golden Calf fiasco.
If Moses hadn’t stepped in to MEDIATE between God and the people, Israel may very well have been toast.
In fact, right here we are presented with a perfect example of Moses acting on behalf of Israel that I would say even surpassed the miracles he performed in Egypt through God’s power.
The pattern presented to us here is awesome.
Here we see there was only one thing that saved not only Israel but also Israel’s High Priest.
And that one thing was God’s appointed Mediator Moses.
At this point in history, only Moses had the authority to mediate between God and man.
We should really pay close attention to how Moses mediated for the people because the pattern he demonstrated would be repeated by Yeshua the Messiah.
Let’s take a look at the reasons Moses gave to God as to why the Israelites should be forgiven.
FIRST, he reminded God that Israel had already been saved and were already chosen to be God’s special people.
SECOND, he asked God to remember the promises He had already made to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
THIRD, Moses told God He would lose face with the world if He went back on His holy promise to protect Israel and instead destroyed them.
If God ended up exterminating Israel it would seem as though He was incapable of following through with His own plans…
…and what would become of God’s reputation if that happened?!
Now let me ask you this.
Do you notice something interesting, a common thread if you will, about the three reasons Moses gave to God as to why He should not destroy Israel?
Here’s what I want you to catch.
The reasons Moses gave had nothing to do with Israel’s own righteousness or merit.
Instead Moses had no choice but to appeal to God’s righteousness as to why Israel should be saved.
And the same thing goes for us.
We are saved because of God’s righteousness imputed into us and not because of any inherent righteousness on our part.
And by the way, when Yeshua interceded for Israel (and only for Israel by the way), he did the same thing as Moses here.
He only appealed to God’s righteousness and not our righteousness because we have none.
The biggest takeaway here is pretty crystal clear I would say.
When it comes to being forgiven for severe rebellion against the Lord, there has to be a specially appointed mediator who intercedes between God and man.
And in history up until now, there have only been two mediators: Moses and Yeshua.
During the days of the Exodus and the Wilderness Journey, outside of Moses’ intercession, there was no means for one’s wickedness to be forgiven.
And in our day and age, it is Yeshua who mediates for us.
Furthermore, I remind you that God’s Plan of Salvation was always meant just for Israel and Israel alone.
The Lord has provided a way for the gentile to be grafted in but remember it is the gentile who is grafted in to the commonwealth of Israel and NOT the other way around.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
He answered,
“I was sent only to
the lost sheep of Israel.”
-Matthew 15:24
“Yeshua answered,
‘I am the way and the truth
and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me.'”
-John 14:6
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