How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New 22
Close Encounters with God
Last time, during the 40-day absence of Moses up on Mount Sinai, the people slid into the sin of idolatry and orgiastic immorality. They would have been annihilated, but they were saved by Moses’ intercession and his destruction of the golden calf. (See part 21 of this series).
Moses returns to Jehovah on the mountain:
The Lord said to Moses, “Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I told them, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ And I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey. But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way.” Ex. 33:1 – 3. NLT
Again, God is saying to Moses, ‘the people you brought up from the land of Egypt’, indicating that His anger over the golden calf incident is still simmering – emphasized again by His refusal to accompany the Israelites to constrain that anger.
However, He will keep His promise He made to the patriarchs, to settle these people, their descendants, in Canaan.
Jehovah then tells Moses to speak to the people, saying:
“’You are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people! If I should come among you for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, [penitently] take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.’” So the Israelites left off all their ornaments [in repentance], from Mount Horeb (Sinai) onward. Ex. 33:5, 6. AMP
This would strip them of the leftover jewelry after having used a portion of them to create the golden calf.
To facilitate Moses’ conversations with God, he sets up his own tent outside of the camp, (a temporary tent of meeting):
Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.
Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Ex. 33:7 – 11. NLT
Obviously, God was not showing His face, He is an invisible Spirit. This was an anthropomorphic use of language to make Him more relatable to humans.
Moses then asks Jehovah to clarify who the angel was that He had previously said would guide the Israelites to Canaan. In addition, Moses pleads to his Maker:
“If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.” Ex. 33:13. NLT
What he is doing is interceding for the Israelites. And graciously, God grants him a boon:
The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” Ex. 33:14 NLT
Moses leans into God’s grace and pleads for a closer relationship with Him:
“Please, show me Your glory!” Ex. 33:18 AMP
And Jehovah acquiesces!
“I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion (lovingkindness) on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and while My glory is passing by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and protectively cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Ex. 33:19 – 23. AMP
Again, an anthropomorphic representation. In our best understanding, God has no face, nor front or back. Moses was privy to an intimate relationship that no other human has ever had. And what was granted to him was surely beyond human description.
Jehovah converses with Moses again, displaying His immeasurable grace, by beginning a restorative process to mend His relationship with His children:
The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop.” Ex. 34:1, 2. CSB
Moses did so, and God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments upon them. While on the mountain, Jehovah kept His promise to reveal Himself to Moses:
Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh.The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” Ex. 34:5 – 7. NLT
God is not punishing four generations. He refers to how many are affected by the sin of the initial parents. Children often repeat those same sins they were exposed to. Thus, they may likewise fall into His justice.
Jehovah’s restoration continues as He re-establishes His covenant with His children:
“Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will do wondrous works (miracles) such as have not been created or produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live shall see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful and awesome thing that I am going to do with you.” Ex. 34:10 AMP
God tells Moses about how He will drive out the Israelites’ enemies from Canaan, gives a warning for His people to refrain from fraternizing with those enemies, lest they take on pagan gods and worship them (i.e., what He says is ‘playing the prostitute’), and / or their idols.
He continues by re-emphasizing the laws in the book of the Covenant, including the importance of observing the Sabbath and the other festivals. Moses records them to read to the people:
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face was shining [with a unique radiance] because he had been speaking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him; and he spoke to them. Ex. 34:29 – 31. AMP
Whenever Moses spoke with God, his face shined with His glory. The people freaked out, so Moses would wear a veil after those encounters.
We have previously seen God give Moses the plans for building the Tabernacle. At this point, he calls all those appointed (and divinely equipped) for this endeavor, to begin the actual construction of it, and to make the vestments of the priesthood. (See Ex. Chapters 35 – 40).
The construction was finished within one year after the people first came to Mount Sinai:
Then the cloud [the Shekinah, God’s visible, dwelling presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained on it, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey on until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel. Ex. 40:34 – 38. AMP
Building Better Americans 138
Build a wall with cameras, sensors, and heavy patrols. E-verify and visa tracking systems
How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New 21
The Golden Calf
Moses had been up on Mount Sinai with Jehovah for 40 days and nights, receiving the Ten Commandments written by God Himself on two stone tablets. Simultaneously, the Israelites began to get anxious, thinking that Moses was not coming back. They approached Moses’ brother Aaron, who was put in charge of the people until Moses’ return. And they said to him:
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered together before Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Ex. 32:1 AMP
It wasn’t Moses who freed the people from Egyptian slavery. It was God. They were in essence, deifying Moses, a mere man. And in their impatience and fear, their faith vacillated. The people were still theologically ignorant. So, they asked Aaron to humanly fashion a new leader, a physical idol for them to worship and follow.
We are talking about a demand made upon Aaron by thousands of Israelites. They weren’t looking for a new god, they were seeking a sculptured image with which to convey their worship to God – breaking the second of the Ten Commandments, which forbids idol worship.
So, Aaron tries to stall the people’s apostasy, hoping that Moses would return soon:
So Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he took the gold from their hands, and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Ex. 32:2 – 4. AMP
Regardless of Aaron’s intent, he is complicit in the people’s sin of religious syncretism, i.e., combining paganism with Jehovah’s Word.
Now when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord!” So they got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play [shamefully—without moral restraint]. Ex. 32:5, 6. AMP
The Hebrew translation suggests that the people were committing a mass orgy.
At this same moment, God angrily reveals this to Moses on Mount Sinai
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” Ex. 32:7 AMP
Note that God is saying to Moses ‘your people, whom you brought up’, instead of His heretofore claim of ‘My people whom I brought up.’ Jehovah has disavowed His children. Also, the Hebrew translation of ‘corrupted’ suggests that the Israelites have ‘ruined themselves.’
God continues:
They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people. Now therefore, let Me alone and do not interfere, so that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (your descendants) a great nation.” Ex. 32: 8 – 10. AMP
So, just like He did in Noah’s time, Jehovah’s righteous anger demands justice. His intent is to wipe out His children and begin anew through the descendants of Moses.
Moses is tested at this juncture, but he rises to the challenge:
But Moses appeased and entreated the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil [intent] their God brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from Your burning anger and change Your mind about harming Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), Your servants to whom You swore [an oath] 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.’” Ex. 32:11 – 13. AMP
Note that Moses turns God’s words around to ‘Your people whom You have brought’, so that He would again take ownership of His children. Moses argues for how God’s image would be tainted by freeing the Israelites from Egypt, only to kill them in the wilderness. Finally, he reminds Jehovah of His forever standing promise He made to the patriarchs, and that He is bound by His own words.
Moses’ entreaty proves to be successful:
So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He had said He would do to His people. Ex. 32:14. AMP
Moses descends from the mountain, carrying the two ‘tablets of the testimony’ and when he approaches the Israelite camp, his anger was white hot, and he shattered the tablets.
Then Moses took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the surface of the water and made the Israelites drink it. Ex. 32:20 AMP
He is humiliating the people in their sin. Next, Moses turns his wrath upon Aaron:
“What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin on them?” Ex. 32:21 AMP
Aaron backpedals:
“Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil.For they said to me, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ I said to them, ‘Let whoever has gold [jewelry], take it off.’ So they gave it to me; then I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” Ex. 32:22 – 24. AMP
The golden calf just magically appeared? I doubt that Moses fell for that. Moses looked at the cavorting Israelites and called out to them:
“Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him. He said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Every man strap his sword on his thigh and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor [all who continue pagan worship].’” So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people [of Israel] were killed that day. Ex. 32:26 – 28. AMP
Severe punishment? Yes. But they broke away from God’s covenant. If God is to be with His children, He cannot brook intentional sin.
Then the next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin [against You], and have made themselves a god of gold. Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of Your book which You have written (kill me)!” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book [not you]. But now go, lead the people [to the place] where I have told you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you; nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin!” Ex. 32:30 – 34. AMP
Moses offered his own life for the children of God. Jehovah refused, saying that the sinner is responsible for his or her sin.[1] As far as ‘God’s book’ is concerned, perhaps it is referring to God’s book of life[2] which contains the names of all who will be saved throughout time.
[1] Dt. 24:16; Ezek. 18:4
[2] Ps. 69:28 & 139:16; Phil. 4:3; Rv. 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12,20:15 & 21:27.