Feb 10: Exodus 33-35

Feb 10, Exodus 33-35

Exodus 33. God is chastising His people for their disobedience. God will not come near them or He will basically bring disaster upon them - because they are disobedient and stiff-necked (An ancient term of an animal who stiffened its neck to refuse the yoke, in modern terms it would be equivalent to something so stubborn that it defies what it is made and used for, like a cup that refuses to have drinking liquids in it - it’s useless). Moses intercedes again on behalf of his people and reminded God that they were God’s people… God is speaking to Moses face to face is basically like saying that God is speaking to Moses intimately, personally and bluntly; kind of like friends do. The Bible does not contradict itself here, when we read that nobody can see God’s face and live, this is different than God speaking to Moses face-to-face. What speaking face-to-face means is speaking with no riddles, and not through dreams or visions, as God often did with everybody else, we see that this was a special way that God talked, only with Moses. Numbers 12:8 gives us God’s own expansion of what it means for Moses and Him, when they talk.  

Exodus 34 Is the covenant renewal with the new tablets because Moses broke the other ones. Moses accepts the new tablets, with a deep amount of reverence and expresses some incredible attributes of God, that helps us learn who He is. Since God has already talked about the 10 Commandments earlier, click here if you want to reference back to them. And then God goes into the Moral Law of having no other gods before Him, and then into the Ceremonial Law with the Israelites about all the Feasts that they have to keep. Almost, as if God was adding these into the Law - which is what Jesus talks about when He arrives on the scene. When the Feasts are added to the Law of things to obey, the list gets longer and longer, as the covenant with the Lord is made. Then we learn about the shining face of Moses! He has to actually cover up his face because when he is in God’s presence his face glows and stays that way; so he has to wear a veil when he is not with God, so that he wouldn’t freak the people out when they saw him, as he was shining. Metaphorically speaking, we also should be shining when we are in the presence of Yahweh. This little light face of mine, I am going to let it shine…

Exodus 35 goes over again the Sabbath regulations to remember what God has done for the Israelites. God is calling all craftsmen again to come and help build the Tabernacle. He is calling all His people to freely give - God is calling all of them to give! Just like today, God is calling us to give. It is not just for the pastors to preach and the rich to give money. It is about all of us getting into the game and participating for the Kingdom and the Glory of God. God was moving the hearts of His people to give, just like He does today. Then he specifically calls Oholiab & Bazalel to come and use the gifts that God gave them for His purposes and to help build. But it is interesting to note, that everyone who’s heart was stirred gave and helped out. But who is the One that stirred the hearts? God is. So God is making peoples hearts want to give, and those who hearts want to give, serve God. Crazy. 

To sum it all up:

• We shouldn’t be stubborn when it comes to obeying God. 
• We should be shining when we are in the presence of Yahweh. We are worshipping the Creator.
• God always seems to go back to reminding us to have no other gods before Him. Let’s make sure that we don’t!
• Gifts given by God for His service, need to be given back in service for Him.