Thursday, January 22, 2015

#73. The mediation of Moses (Exod. xxxii. 1 - xxxiii. 3).

     In connection with the worship of the golden calf, there are some solemn features that could not be dealt with in the previous article.  The language used by the Lord concerning Israel indicates a change in their relationship:  “Go, get thee down, for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (Exod.xxxii.7).  The Lord does not speak of “My” people, but “thy” people.   He does not say that He, the Lord, brought Israel from Egypt, but speaks of Moses as their leader.  Israel had, for the time, fallen out of covenant with God and had become lo ammi, “not My people”.  There is much the same intention in these words as in those of the Lord Jesus concerning Jerusalem:  “Your house is left unto you desolate.”

     Israel had corrupted themselves.  The word used here occurs also in  Hosea.xiii.9  where we read:  “O Israel,  thou hast destroyed thyself”.  We first meet the word in  Genesis vi. — an ominous context:  “The earth also was corrupt before God . . . . . And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen. vi. 11, 12).  We have some small conception of the depth of corruption that filled the earth at the time of the flood — the same word is used of Israel in  Exodus xxxii.   It is also rendered “destroy” in Genesis:  “I will destroy them with the earth”;  “I will destroy all flesh” (Gen. vi. 13-17).

     The relation between “corruption”, “destruction”, “idolatry” and the “covenant” is seen in  Deuteronomy iv.:--

     “Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.”
     “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make you a graven image or likeness of any thing, which the Lord Thy God hath forbidden thee . . . . . and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image . . . . . if thou shalt seek Him . . . . . He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He sware unto them” (Deuteronomy iv. 16, 23, 25, 29, 31).

     Here we have the same word, shachath, translated both “corrupt” and “destroy”.  We expect our readers to prove all statements made in these pages, and therefore anticipate the findings of some who may consult The Companion Bible on verse 31.  The word there is marked with the reference figure to verse 26, as though shamad is used in verse 31.  This is not correct, however, and users of the T.C.B. would be well advised to cross out the reference to 26 in verse 31.  [This comment is in the cause of truth, and entirely after the heart of the editor of the T.C.B.;  it is made by a sincere admirer of this valuable work.  We say this lest any should think that we have anything but admiration for the witness of the late Dr. Bullinger].

     As we read  Deuteronomy iv.,  we sees how Israel’s corruption of true worship reverted in its corrupting and destroying effect upon themselves.  The inspiration that governs all Scripture led Paul, in  Romans i.,  to speak of “the incorruptible God” in a context of idolatry and personal degradation (i. 23-25).

     When dealing with  Romans i.  we drew attention to the close parallel that exists between the histories of the Gentile and of Israel.  It is so important to realize this that we repeat the following quotations:--


     Romans i. 18-32  has much in common with  II Thess. ii. 1-12  &  II Tim. iii. 1-8,  and the link with  Genesis vi.  shows that we have the same evil at work in the patriarchal age with Israel as at the end of this dispensation.  In like manner we have in  II Peter ii.  “destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them”, and soon “lascivious ways”.  Then follows the sin of the angels, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, a reference to the brute beasts that perish in their own corruption, eyes full of adultery, the way of Balaam, and finally servants of corruption, likened to dogs and sows.  Here we have the degeneration that sets in upon departure from the truth.

     It is because of the close affinity between the glory of the incorruptible God, and the blessing of man, that we find in the covenant of the ten commandments, written by the finger of God, that which preserves not only pure worship, but pure family life.  As surely as man corrupts the worship of God, so surely will he corrupt himself, and in seeking to “worship God in spirit and truth” he is at the same time pursuing his own truest interests.  The Millennium itself is characterized by the “knowledge of the Lord”.

     In the tenth verse of our chapter we have the repudiation of Israel:  “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them;  and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exod. xxxii. 10).  This leads us back to  Genesis xii.  where the Lord made the promise to Abraham.

Promise   versus   Law.

     Moses makes no reference to this suggestion, but throws himself and his people upon the grace of God.  He will not even repeat the Lord’s word with reference to himself, “thy people, which thou broughtest out”, but boldly says:  “Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou has brought forth out of the land of Egypt?” (verse 11).  Moses reminds the Lord that He is Israel’s Redeemer.  This sinful, stiff-necked people are the Lord’s redeemed, typically, by the blood of the Lamb, “with great power and a mighty hand”.  Moses further pleads for the name of God among the enemy:  “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?” (verse.12).  Finally he reminds the Lord of the covenant established before the law of Sinai.  He anticipates the argument of the apostle in Galatians:--

     “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.  For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise;  but God gave it to Abraham by promise.  Wherefore then serveth the law?  It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made” (Gal. iii. 17-19).

     Moses, the man of law, and Paul, the man of grace, speak alike.  Moses does not plead the covenant of Sinai — he goes back “four hundred and thirty years” earlier to the covenant with Abraham:  “Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swearest by Thine Own Self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever”.

     In response to this prayer, the Lord repented of the evil He had purposed against Israel.  Over against the Lord’s repudiation, Moses had placed the Lord’s redemption;  against their own corruption, the degrading of the Lord’s name among the heathen;  against making of Moses himself a great nation, the unconditional covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Israel.

Levi   and   Phinehas.

     Moses’ intercession with God did not by any means indicate a hiding or minimizing of Israel’s sin.  We read that “Moses’ anger waxed hot”, and that, seeing that the covenant was already broken, he cast the tables of stone to the ground, breaking them on the mount.  He cause Israel to realize their sin by compelling them to drink the bitter fluid compounded of the calcined image, and made Aaron to understand that he had brought a great sin upon Israel.

     When Moses saw the extent of their corruption — “they were naked” — he, who had interceded for them with God, now reveals that covenant promises do not mean indulgence for sin, and three thousand men were slain by the sword of Levi, who were spared the wrath of God.

     Psalm cvi.  brings together the worship of the golden calf, and the sin of Baal-peor, recorded in  Numbers xxv.   There are several features that are common to the two records.  The hint of uncleanness in  Exodus xxxii.  becomes an obvious fact in  Numb. xxv. 1-3, 6-8.   The execution by the sons of Levi in  Exodus xxxii.  corresponds to the command of  Numb. xxv. 5:  “Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor”.  The added zeal of Phinehas in some measure counterbalances the sin and fall of Aaron, for the Lord says:--

     “Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace:  And he shall have it, and his seed after him for an everlasting priesthood;  because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel” (Numb. xxv. 12, 13).

     This passage illuminates the true meaning of atonement;  it is no “covering up” of sin:  “Phinehas … hath turned My wrath away . . . . . and made an atonement for the children of Israel”.  In this case the atonement did not save;  in our case wrath is turned away, but the atonement is made by death other than our own.  In both cases plague follows the idolatry and uncleanness, and with the solemn words of  Rom. i. 27  in mind, some medical men believe this is to be the origin of one disease that is spreading among mankind to-day.  The sons of Levi had an awful consecration that day (Exod. xxxii. 29).  Moses had called:  “Who is on the Lord’s side?  Let him come unto me”, and there followed the slaughter of the three thousand men by the sword of Levi.

     Once more Moses is the intercessor, this time going so far as to say:  “And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which Thou hast written”.  But, just as he himself had pleaded the grace of God to save Israel from being blotted out, so the Lord in His turn rejects Moses’ suggestion, saying:  “Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book”.  Whether Moses had the thought in mind that he could thereby make an atonement, we do not know — he had said to the people:  “Peradventure, I shall make an atonement for your sin” — but the passage foreshadows the greater Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all.

     Israel’s sin, while it did not bring about their extinction, yet put them at a greater distance from the Lord:  “Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee:  behold, My angel shall go before thee ....... I will send an angel before thee . . . . . I will not go up in the midst of thee” (xxxii. 34 - xxxiii. 3).  While angelic leading may be blessed, it was by comparison a severe loss to Israel, for they had forfeited the Lord’s presence in their midst.  We shall see more of this as we consider  chapter xxxiii.  The lessons are so many and so solemn that reiteration and application seem out of place.   Exodus xxxii.  is a chapter to read before the Lord, praying that there may be no present-day parallel with the position of Aaron and the people in our own walk.

     Let us not say that the Lord delayeth;  let us watch and pray;  let us worship God in spirit, boasting in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh.

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