Tag: exodus 32

The Radiant Face of Moses (Exodus 32:29-35)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Moses and the Fire of Sinai, by Darius Gilmont

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord. (New International Version)

I’ve never seen anyone on Halloween dressed like Moses, complete with a shiny glowing face – even though the sight of Moses as he came down the mountain made the Israelites afraid to come near him. The face of Moses had been transformed in a way that made him appear haunted house scary to them.

Moses had actual face-to-face time with God on the mountain. And this seems to have changed his visage. Yet, Moses had stood before God previously without any change to his face. Moses had even interceded with God on other occasions with no special Halloween effect.

God made the new covenant and gave the new tablets because Moses smashed the old ones at the golden calf experience (see Exodus 32, especially verse 19). It could be that, with the radiant face of Moses, God was displaying before the people a tangible sign of God’s presence.

After all, the people had doubted God’s presence again and again during their time in the desert. So, when God’s seemingly ghostly presence was offered this time around, they were too afraid to be that closely connected to the divine.

Just as the loincloth that God made for the disobedient Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; and just as the sign of the rainbow God put in the sky after the world wide flood, so the Lord was making a new way for the people, a visible sign and demonstration of God’s presence – which was both reassuring and frightening.

It seems God wanted to show that Moses was still the leader, still God’s man, and that the people needed to not give him a hard time or rebel against God’s commands. At the same time, the Lord was assuring the Israelites that they were not abandoned, that Yahweh remains their God, full of mercy and grace, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

Transfiguration, by Lewis Bowman

In a similar way, the Transfiguration of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels does the same. The disciples were frightened on the mountain, seeing Jesus changed and probably much brighter than the face of Moses. And yet, they were also reassured that God was present with them in the person of Jesus Christ.

Just like the doubting people in Exodus, the disciples caught a glimpse of the great and awesome God, up close and personal. And like the people in the wilderness, the disciples did not understand everything that was going on. Both the ancient Israelites, and Christ’s disciples, did not fully comprehend what God was showing them. Each showed the fear of humanity, while God demonstrated God’s own character of love, faithfulness, and patience with frail humanity.

Certainly, when the face of Moses shone, it was an affirmation of the covenant’s renewal by God. The shiny face is also an indicator of the sort of relationship Moses had with God – and of his openness and vulnerability before God and before the community. It was a sign that Moses trusted God and that Israel, in turn, could trust God and Moses as their leader.

Whether veiled or unveiled, the face of Moses is a reminder of his unique relationship with God and with Israel. It’s a sign of God’s care and continual presence, and that God’s grace prevailed, even in the midst of Israel’s sin.

Another way of putting it, is that the radiant face of Moses represents a reversal of outcome concerning the golden calf idolatrous episode. It represents hope in the midst of a disaster in which all seemed hopeless.

In our own contemporary day and time of national upheavals and national disasters, it’s no wonder that many people would question whether there is any hope for our world, or not. Yet, no matter how dismal it may look; and no matter how unpromising the times we presently live in, today’s story about ancient Israel is a reminder to all of us to keep persevering and hold onto our confident hope that God is with us. There are better days ahead.

It might be Halloween, but the Advent of Christ is just around the corner.

Lord Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, you encouraged us to come to you, all of us who labor and are heavy laden, and that you will give us rest. So, I now take your yoke upon myself, and learn from you because you are gentle and lowly in heart, and I know I will find rest for my soul. For your yoke is easy, and your burden is light. Help me to refocus from all that’s wrong in this old fallen world, and trust in you, through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Who Is On the Lord’s Side? (Exodus 32:15-35)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Moses breaks the tablets of the Law, by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said,

“It is not the sound made by victors
or the sound made by losers;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’s anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.

Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are wicked. They said to me, ‘Make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

When Moses saw that the people were out of control (for Aaron had lost control of them, prompting derision among their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.” 

The sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and about three thousand of the people fell on that day. Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day.”

On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of the book that you have written.” 

But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day for punishment comes, I will punish them for their sin.”

Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf—the one that Aaron had made. (New Revised Standard Version)

Honestly, this is just a sad story. The ancient Israelites were certainly not at their best. With Moses up on the mountain for about six weeks, there was a large leadership vacuum. Aaron, along with Hur, were to fill that space, keeping things on the straight and narrow while Moses was occupied receiving the commandments of God. That clearly didn’t happen.

Part of the reason for the people getting so out of hand with their sin was the absence of good solid leadership. There is a big contrast between Moses as leader and his brother Aaron as the interim leader.

Moses exhibited himself as a self-differentiated leader. That means, in short, that a leader cannot be overly identified with the group they lead; or else they will not have the needed perspective to make hard decisions. In other words, leaders need to have clearly defined boundaries.

Good leaders need to be in touch with the ideas and emotions of others but not dominated by them. The opposite of being a self-differentiated leader is one who tries to make everyone happy and has a hard time making unpopular decisions. Hence, the difference between the leadership of Moses and that of Aaron.

Who is on the Lord’s side? Which leader is following God’s words and ways? Notice the following distinctions between Moses the self-differentiated leader, and Aaron the leader without boundaries between himself and the people, as evidenced in today’s Old Testament lesson:

  • Moses maintained relational connections with the Levites and others who sought to uphold God’s covenant, when making decisions of conviction.
  • Aaron threw personal convictions aside in order to avoid conflict and keep everyone happy (which, by the way, isn’t even possible).
  • Moses avoided blame-shifting when dealing with the problem, but took ownership of what was going on when speaking with God.
  • Aaron just gave some lame excuses for why things went sideways.
  • Moses faced trouble and walked into the difficulty to make a difference and make things right.
  • Aaron put on a gas mask in the toxic culture and avoided dealing with the people’s sin.
  • Moses was a responsible leader who sought healthy honest relationships with God and others.
  • Aaron was an irresponsible leader who tried to create an unhealthy triangle in order to take the focus off of his poor decisions and actions.
  • Moses directly confronted the sinful situation when confronted with it.
  • Aaron procrastinated dealing with the people’s sin by simply giving them what they wanted.
  • Moses immediately acted when he saw there was a group of saboteurs in the camp.
  • Aaron hesitated in dealing with the unruly persons among the Israelites, with disastrous consequences.

By removing all the rabble rousers in the camp, Moses saved the people. Yet, even then, there was a devastating consequence from God; a divine plague was sent because of the golden calf which Aaron had made.

“Apis” was the most important and highly regarded bull deity of ancient Egypt. The Lord had judged the bull god – along with the other Egyptians gods – within the series of ten plagues which led to Israel’s deliverance. By making a detestable image that looked a lot like Apis, the Israelites, too, experienced a plague of divine judgment. The God who shows no favoritism deals with sin no matter who it is.

Maybe this awful scene could have been avoided – if there was some competent self-differentiated leadership in the absence of Moses. But we will, sadly, never know.

Holy God, forgive us for our idolatry, and help us to stop divinizing and revering creatures and created things in place of you, instead of your actual self and presence which is among us, through Jesus Christ our Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Adoration of the Golden Calf, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. (New International Version)

The Golden Calf, by Sefira Lightstone

The ancient Israelites were dramatically delivered from slavery through a series of plagues on Egypt. Then, their lives were saved when God parted the Red Sea and the people fled from the advancing Egyptian army; collapsing the water on the soldiers when they tried to pursue the people.

The Israelites were led to Mount Sinai where God graciously entered into covenant with them; and gave them the law and the commandments. Yet, between receiving the covenant, and waiting for Moses to return from the mountain, the Israelites fell into chaos and a failure of faith. So, how did the relationship between God and Israel go so awfully sideways?

Moses spent a great amount of time with God on Mount Sinai. Apparently, the people believed that the forty days and forty nights on the mountain was too long and assumed that Moses would not return. So, what followed was idolatry, near annihilation, and intercession.

A failure of leadership

Aaron was left to lead the people during Moses’ absence. It didn’t take long for the people to get unruly and start working on Aaron. They asked him to make gods who will go before them, just as Yahweh and Moses had done in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

For whatever reason, Aaron complied with their request. Maybe the people pestered him to death with constant bickering and asking, and he eventually gave-in to their coercion. Perhaps Aaron thought they had a point, and went with it as a willing participant. We aren’t told why. We are told that Aaron ordered the people to remove all the gold earrings they were wearing and bring them to him.

Aaron took all the gold he received and fashioned it into the form of a calf. Again, we aren’t told why Aaron chose to make a golden calf, in particular. Maybe he was forging a false god altogether in the shape of one of the Egyptian gods. After all, there had been a significant “back to Egypt” movement earlier, when circumstances got tough without food or water in the desert. Or perhaps Aaron was making a false image of the one true God. Either way you look at it, it’s not good.

The golden calf was handed to the people and proclaimed as the gods who brought them out of Egypt. If that weren’t bad enough, Aaron made the situation even worse by building an altar for the calf and declaring a feast for the next day. So, it’s no surprise to us as readers when we see poor leadership decision-making that leads to the people getting way out-of-hand in their festivities through drunkenness and sexual immorality.

The consequences of poor leadership

All of the revelry got God’s attention. The Lord saw the people’s depravity and commanded Moses to get back down the mountain, at once. God’s tone of voice and choice of pronouns took a turn. The Lord said to Moses, “Your people have acted perversely,” effectively distancing the divine from the mass of humanity at the foot of the mountain.

God was so upset that he started planning to destroy the whole lot of them and completely start over through the descendants of Moses. Yet, even though the Lord was very angry, and rightly so, Moses stepped in and interceded on the people’s behalf. Moses appealed to God’s reputation rather than God’s compassion. In an interesting twist, Moses turned the responsibility for the Israelites back onto God by saying they are your people, the ones whom you brought out of the land of Egypt.

What’s more, Moses pointed out to God that the Egyptians would question God’s motives for bringing the Israelites into the desert. And then Moses appealed to God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) to make a great nation of their descendants to dwell forever in the land God promised them. Moses actually persuaded the God of the universe to set aside divine anger and let the people live.

The people forgot who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Regardless whether or not they had good intentions, the people failed in keeping their covenant obligations to God and sought to substitute God’s physical absence with a false image of God.

The implications of leadership for us

Today’s Old Testament story raises many questions for us. Here are just a few to ponder:

  • Which golden calves in our culture today draw our loyalty and love away from God when we get impatient with waiting for God’s timetable? Maybe our grumbling and complaining is a telltale sign that we are not content with God and what God is doing among us – and that we are fashioning (or have already fashioned) a god of our own making in the form of financial budgets, church buildings, or dogmatic theologies.
  • How have we made the God whom we worship into an idol that we try to control and manipulate for our own purposes? Perhaps we have substituted the one true God who is free, untamed, mysterious, and surprising, for a puny humanly constructed image, ideology, institution, or idol.
  • How do we maintain the balance between divine judgment with its consequences for disobedience, alongside God’s mercy, forgiveness, and faithfulness to the people? It could be, we are being led to grace, no matter how we go about answering the question.

Faithful God, you preside over an unfaithful people. Just as the people of Israel doubted your power and turned to other gods to fulfill their needs, we too, turn to other gods, seeking acceptance, power, and independence. Show us how to live humbly and walk in your ways, through the One who offered true power to all humanity, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.