Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

God instructs Moses about building an altar for burning incense. It was to be placed directly in front of the curtain that hid the Holy of Holies (this would be the altar that Zechariah was burning incense on in Luke 1). Every morning when Aaron trimmed the lamps and every evening when the lamps were lit. It was to be constant before the Lord – a shadow and type of the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8).

Next, God addressed the atonement money. This was money that was to be used to count the Israelites. Instead of a direct census, each person counted would bring a half shekel to the temple – the rich didn’t give more and the poor didn’t give less. It was an offering to God for everyone above twenty years old. God called it the atonement money of the children of Israel and it was to be given for the service of the tent of meeting as a memorial for the atonement of their lives by the Lord. Serious stuff.

Next, God prescribed the building of a massive bronze basin for the priests to wash their hand and their feet before going into the tent of meeting to burn incense or deal with the lamps. If they didn’t wash, they wouldn’t live. God was Holy and they were to be clean as well. Period. It was a PERMANENT statute that would not change as long as there was a place to do service.

God gave the recipe for HIS anointing oil. It was to be exact and to ONLY be used for Him. If anyone made it for any other use, they would be put to death. God gave the recipe for HIS incense as well. Same exactness. Same restriction. These things were for HIM alone.

God revealed to Moses that He had picked craftsmen to accomplish all these tasks. And that because of the abilities and knowledge God had put into them that they would accomplish the works. Moses was to give them directions, and they would carry them out.

Finally, God spoke again about His Sabbaths which were to BE A SIGN for them. Not a religious MUST DO THIS. Not an empty keeping of a law without any thought to what it was a sign of. The Sabbath is a sign pointing to the New Covenant reality of putting all our trust in Messiah Jesus (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 4:3-9). The Old Covenant Sabbath was between God and the Israelites. The New Covenant Sabbath is between the Father and the Son, which we get to enter into through trust in Jesus. That New Covenant Sabbath was so important, that the sign of it (the Sabbath) was commanded as a permanent Sabbath through all their generations. They were NEVER to forget the rest that was coming.

MEANWHILE . . .

“And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, go down because your people behave corruptly, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:7)

Remember that consuming fire that was on the mountain that Moses went into? It was still happening. That’s what the Israelites looked at every day. All day. All fire and no Moses. So they decided that he was toast, and since he was gone, they needed a physical god to look at. This shows that (1) they did not have a heart for the Lord and (2) they had been trusting in Moses as a god, the physical manifestation of Yahweh. They accosted Aaron and demanded gods.

Now Aaron, in Exodus 24:9-14, had gone up a portion of the mountain with the seventy elders. They got to see a vision of the Lord. And then they were told to stay there and Moses continued up (and then continued up again from a further point). I would guess that either Aaron didn’t stay or that they called him down (they were allowed to go to Aaron and Hur if they had difficulties). When he came down though, he totally caved. Maybe he was a coward. Maybe they threatened him. I don’t know. But this was WRONG.

First, Aaron tells them to take gold jewelry from their wives, sons, and daughters. Perhaps a delaying tactic? Was Aaron hoping for many arguments to lengthen the time and give Moses a chance to finish up and come down? Maybe, but the men weren’t having any. They pulled the gold rings (common fashion of the day) from their ears and threw them in a pile. Because of this, the Rabbis teach the women did NOT participate in the idol. Next, he used engraving tools and fashioned it onto a molded calf. Now, one of the gods of Egypt was Apis – and God had visited judgment on it already in Egypt (Exodus 9:1-7). The Israelites proclaimed that THIS was the god that brought them out of Egypt – implying the fire and smoke were coincidental meteorological events. It wasn’t that they were changing core gods (whom they had no real heart attachment with), but that they were deciding the form of that deity – a direct violation of the second commandment that they agreed by blood covenant to follow.

Aaron saw their declaration and built an altar for the calf – bad idea. Then he proclaimed a feast to the Lord. Now, there is Rabbinical tradition that this was a feast to Yahweh and another delaying tactic by Aaron, but the Word doesn’t say that. It only says that he proclaimed a feast and if they were indeed now saying this golden calf was Yahweh, then it WOULD be a feast to the idol. BUT no matter WHAT interpretation you put on it to spin the events, this was a violation of the commandments, a betrayal of the covenant, and a foolish, FOOLISH action for a man who had SEEN physical manifestations of the True God. Next morning, the Israelites got up early and salved their consciences with burnt offerings and peace offerings – but on the WRONG altar – and then sat down to eat, and drink, and then they rose up to PLAY. Ironically, the root word for play can (depending on the context) highlight human reactions to divine promises and actions by revealing a lack of trust and understanding. A very appropriate word here.

Up on the mountain, God told Moses to go down the mountain because Moses’ people whom Moses brought out of Egypt had corrupted themselves. Notice He was completely disowning these people. Then God went on to say what they had done and how rapidly they had turned. God said He had seen them and they were VERY hardhearted. Then He told Moses to leave Him alone so that He could unleash His wrath, kill everyone, and make Moses a great nation. This is a vivid picture of how close the relationship was between Moses and God. It was like Abraham’s relationship. And Moses responded like Abraham had done at Sodom: he pleaded for mercy. He continually called on God’s mercy and forgiveness. He called for God to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses called for God to repent of His wrath. And God did. Wow. That’s really incredible. We as New Covenant believers don’t need to mediate with God this way because we have Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5) and better promises. But for Moses? This was a righteous way to act.

Moses started down the mountain and he had in his hands the stone tablets the Lord told him back in Exodus 24:12-13 that He would give Moses. These tablets were to be a witness that Moses had received the Law from God. They were a witness that Moses had been in God’s presence. They were to be put in the Ark and were clearly important. Now. There is a tradition about what material they were made of: blue sapphire. That’s important and I believe it is true. Because since these tablets were to be a witness of Moses’ time with God, it is the only material that makes sense. Aaron, Joshua, and the seventy elders could attest that they had seen a vision of the Lord AND that He stood on blue sapphire pavement. These tablets of the SAME material, would clearly be a witness that Moses had been with the one who stood on that kind of stone and given some to Moses.

Moses picked up Joshua – who had stayed near the top of the mountain – and went down. There were the Israelites. Partying hard. And immorally. He was ticked. He threw the tablets down and they broke. Probably wasn’t the Lord’s will, but He had also been ticked and ready to kill everyone. In their wrath, God and Moses were on the same page. Moses broke the altar, ground it to powder, mixed it with water, and had them drink it. Then he turned to Aaron – perhaps having let his anger cool enough to communicate. He asked what the people did to Aaron that Aaron did this terrible sin. Aaron blamed the people (not truly repentant) and then gave his version of what happened. They demanded gods. He asked for gold. Aaron threw it into the fire and the calf came out.

That’s right.

The calf came out fully formed. I have heard legends about this in attempts to explain it as a real happening, but it TOLD us Aaron fashioned it. This was a TOTAL lie. And he said it with a straight face. Moses looked around and saw that the people hadn’t been restrained. Aaron had let them do whatever they wanted in whatever direction that took them. Moses walked over to the entrance of the camp and shouted. Anyone with God, come to Moses’ side. The Levites went there.

Moses directed them to put on their swords and head through the camp killing the idolaters. Remember, this was BEFORE people could be born again and changed at the heart level. They were not new creatures in Messiah. The evil had to be rooted out like a cancer. Only 3,000 people were killed (like 3,000 were saved in Acts – the Spirit gives life). There were more than 3,000 Levites, so not all of them killed people. And there were more than 3,000 idolaters involved in this. This was a terrible, but selective judgment. Even in judgment the Lord is merciful, but the Law demands judgment which is often death.

The very next day, Moses told the people they had committed a great sin and he was going to go before the Lord to somehow make an atonement. Up he went. This was right after a 40 day fast of no food and no water! You don’t come off a 40 day fast in a day. And you don’t start another one, no matter how short. This was supernatural.

Moses admitted their sin and offered himself as a scapegoat. But Moses couldn’t redeem a people. Especially since he too was sinful. Only Jesus can truly redeem people. The Lord did not accept the offer. He said that His Angel will go before Moses and that punishment was delayed, but not removed. The Lord WOULD visit punishment on them for their sin, but not right now. But it DOES say that in some way the Lord plagued the people for what they did with the calf Aaron made.

Summary

Key Players: God, Moses

Key Themes: Altars and Holy Materials, Artisans, Idolatry, Atonement, Judgment

Key Verse(s): Exodus 31:12-13; 32:1-2, 4, 11-14, 24, 30-35