The Israelites committed a very grave sin while Moses was on Mount Sinai and his brother Aaron was at the center of it. They turned their backs on God and created a golden calf and worshiped it, sacrificed to it, and in general, had a big party. This infuriated God and He told Moses that He would consume them. Only by the intervention of Moses pleading on their behalf did God stop from destroying His people.
However, Moses went down from Mount Sinai and saw what had occurred and he too, became extremely angry, to the point that he threw the tablets that had been written by the finger of God, smashing them on the mountain. He then set about to punish the people for their sin, and we read in Exodus 32:26,
"then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, 'Whoever is on the Lord's side - come to me!' And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him."
They went into the camp and set about a day of death, slaying "about three thousand men of the people" that day.
Moses still needed to go to the Lord and beg forgiveness on behalf of the Israelites, and reasoned with God that He still had His covenant with them to make a great nation out of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God told Moses that He will no longer be in their midst, He was so angry. Not unlike telling your child after he did something really bad to go to his room since you don't even want to be around him.
Moses pitched a tent for a tent meeting with God, and he met there. Scripture tells us how he talked with God in Exodus 33:11 where it says,
"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to a friend." This is pertinent because up to this point, there was a Master / servant relationship, but with Moses it became a friendship. Jesus changed this relationship for all when He said in John 15, "No longer do I call you servants, ... but I have called you friends." So as a friend, Moses pleads with God to stay with them, as stated in Exodus 33:15-16,
"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?"
With this reasoning, and because of the request of His friend Moses, God agreed to continue with them.
So God renews His covenant with Israel, and says to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7,
"The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation."
Here, God reveals His nature. But even more so, His character. He showed Himself to be a God of mercy, grace, patience and goodness, but at the same time, one of justice. This moment in time, revealing His character to Moses, shows without a doubt that there is but one God, and shows how perfect His balance is between merciful and just. For God to be merciful with us, He must right the wrongs that people do, which requires His justice. Also, to be fully just, He must allow for our weaknesses and limitations which require His mercy. This shows us a beautiful picture of how to deal with others, and that is something we must strive for every day.
Blessings to all
No comments:
Post a Comment