Title: Exodus 32
Content Exodus 32:1-14
Exodus 31:18 says, “When the Lord had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, which were tablets of stone, which God Himself had written.” Why did He write down the Ten Commandments that we already knew, not the instructions for the tabernacle? We can see what will happen to these stone tablets in the future. In other words, the contents of Exodus 32-34 must be understood through a series of events in which the stone tablets are broken, made again on Mount Sinai, and finally the stone tablets are stored in the ark of the testimony.
While Moses was going up the mountain, the Israelites demanded this from Aaron: “Make for us a god who will guide us” (v. 1). It was their request to make a god for us.
He made the image of a golden calf and said, “This is your god who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (verse 4). Then, while proclaiming it as the feast of the Lord (verse 5), they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and ate and played (verse 6).
The tabernacle that God gave Moses on the mountain was a state of rest where God Himself resided with the people of Israel as king and ruled over them, that is, he showed them the state of heaven.
However, the Israelites placed a golden calf image on the throne of the Lord, and in the place of the Passover, the feast of the Lord, they made it a feast to commemorate the day the golden calf was made. In addition, they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the same manner as in the Mosaic covenant, expecting the blessings of the Lord.
Not everything has changed. In a way, everything was taking the exact form the Lord had given him in the Mosaic Covenant. What is important is not that all forms and methods of the Mosaic Covenant have been taken as it is, but whether or not we acknowledge and believe that the Lord is seated as King on the throne of the Lord and reigns through His Word. Not only that, but whether the blood of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb is being exposed as it is, or is the blood of the sacrifice filled with something else to reveal it.
The people told them to make a god to lead them “for us” (verse 1), and God told Moses that he was making and serving a calf “for himself” (verse 8). It is not that the church today does not talk about the cross of Jesus, the blood of his sacrifice. Although we talk about such things, they are all used as a means to satisfy human greed, but there is a problem.
The Lord's people and the church must play a role in fighting with faith at the risk of their lives so that they do not magically discuss the cross and blood of the Lord. In the end, you should know that everything you do for yourself is an idol. “Therefore put to death your members that are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). The Jesus for you is a Jesus that is not in the Bible.
God announces to Moses the destruction of Israel. Then Moses pleaded with God for Israel. Moses puts God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob first (verse 13) and offers an intercessory prayer. It is said that God has changed his will (verse 14).
Therefore, from now on, those who come out looking to God who is with him in the place of destruction will live, but those who do not see God and reject Him will ultimately be judged.
Exodus 32:15-35
When Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of stone, he saw this and hurriedly broke the tablets (verse 19). Why did you break the stone tablets? At least as far as Moses knew, the stone tablets he was carrying were placed on the throne of the Lord, the deepest part of the tabernacle to be erected to commemorate the name of the Lord. But when he came down from the mountain, he found that the god of the golden calf was occupied there.
Moses realized that the Mosaic Covenant had been broken by the Israelites. To show it, Moses had no choice but to break the stone tablets in haste. This is because if we do not break the Mosaic Covenant, we will have no choice but to rule thoroughly according to the Mosaic Covenant. Applying the Mosaic Covenant as it is was destruction for Israel who worshiped the golden calf.
The true image of Jehovah who brought Israel out of the land of Egypt is to reveal Israel, who had been a slave, through the blood of the Passover sacrifice. Therefore, it was their job for Israel to expect only God's grace and to show God's heart in blood. But they took the Mosaic covenant and replaced it with things for themselves. God is not with humans just because they call them Lord, Lord. The place where God is with the people of Israel is the stone tablets in the ark of the testimony in the Most Holy, that is, God is with Israel in the Mosaic Covenant.
But the God they called was not such a God. They wish for blessings by making God visible at will. Even the sacrifices they offer have eventually become religious acts of eating, drinking, running and playing regardless of the covenant. It is the same as today's Korean church playing religious games.
The fact that the stone tablets were broken does not mean that the Mosaic Covenant was invalidated. On the part of God, the covenant continues to be enforced. So Moses called for those who were on Jehovah's side, and all the Levites came out (verse 26), and he made them fight those who were not on the Lord's side (verse 27). About three thousand men were killed at this time (verse 28).
But Moses said that this was dedicated to the Lord and that he would be blessed (verse 29). In other words, devotion is what those who stand on Jehovah's side beat the covenant breakers. Blessings are given because they are in the covenant. Through this event, Moses shows who will be under God's grace and who will be destroyed.
Those who are on the Lord's side are those who live only for God's grace. In the end, those who will receive God's mercy and grace are in Israel at the same time, and God separates from them those who are on God's side again, that is, the true Israel of God.