“Adonai said to Moshe, “Go down! Hurry! Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have become corrupt!”-Exodus 32:7
It’s interesting how after the Golden Calf incident, all of a sudden the Lord is now referring to the Israelites as “Your people”.
Has God just disowned the very people He brought out of Egypt?
Well, from a covenantal, legal perspective, to tell you the truth, yes, that’s what happened.
The covenant had been broken.
And Moses was going to demonstrate that when he returned back to the valley floor and in a fury smashed the two stone tablets he was carrying to smithereens.
It was going to be necessary to “renew” the covenant, which we’ll also see Moses do when he later creates two more blank stone tablets.
The exchange between Moses and the Lord in this chapter brings up an important question.
Was the Lord really seriously thinking about destroying His people after this Golden Calf incident?
The answer is an unequivocal NO.
The Lord was NOT going back and forth…contemplating…whether He should destroy Israel or not.
The Lord has to maintain the honor of His Name and while there will be times when the Lord will severely punish His people Israel, His promises to them stand forever.
The truth is this exchange between Moses and the Lord was for Moses’ sake.
The Lord was in “teaching” or Torah mode.
He was training and showing Moses that as a mediator, the people are his responsibility and that he is the one who bears on his shoulders the sins of those the Lord is now describing as “your people”.
Could there be a clearer picture of Yeshua advocating before us to the Father?
What a tragic, comical scene is being depicted for us here.
While the people of Israel are down at the foot of the mountain partying like there’s no tomorrow and worshipping their Golden Calf, little do they know that at that very moment their unfortunate fate is being decided up on the summit of Sinai.
Could their not also be a clearer picture of the state of blissful ignorance the unbelieving world is in today?
Honestly, I don’t really think Moses had yet grasped how important He was in the Lord’s eyes and in the eyes of the people.
Moses from the very beginning was reluctant to take on the job of leading the Hebrews in the first place.
The Scriptures tell us he was one of the humblest men on earth.
Remember, that in Moses, we get a clear picture of Yeshua as our mediator and advocate before the Father.
The people didn’t want to deal directly with the Father.
When the Lord spoke the 10 Words accompanied by thunderous sounds and tremendous fire and lightning, the people responded by saying “Moses, from now on, you speak to the Father for us”.
They were terrified of the Lord and were relying on Moses to be their mediator.
They considered Moses as the only channel between them and the Father.
Hence, when Moses went up into the flaming mountaintop and didn’t come back, they started freaking out.
Maybe they thought he had been engulfed in the flames.
They went into panic mode and I don’t think a good decision has ever been made while in panic mode.
Is this not why the Lord continually admonishes us to “fear not” and tells us to “Be still and KNOW that I am God”.
Is this not why we study the Torah?
To know God.
A person who is diligent in studying the Torah will have a knowledge of the character, ways, and principles of God that will surpass probably 99% of existing churchgoers.
The Torah is the FOUNDATION for ALL the Scriptures.
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