Feb 9: Exodus 30-32

Feb 9, Exodus 30-32

Exodus 30 breaks down the alter of incense - pure gold as it is in the Holy of Holies (the back room of the tabernacle) and how to make and burn the incense that goes on it. The big idea on a lot of these rules and regulations is simply that the people will remember what God has done for them. Then the Lord takes a census of all the people. A census is like taking inventory of all the people. And when the inventory takes place, a tax is taken from everyone, to help the start up costs for the Tabernacle. Another reason that we want to pay attention here, is that the census was also considered a ‘random’ payment for God to protect His people against diseases. This idea shows that the regulations for sin has already been taken care of, and God has taken care of them spiritually, but now He is going to take care of them physically. 

Then the Lord directs them about a wash basin, and then specifics about what kind of incense and oil to use in the Tabernacle, for worship to Him.  

Exodus 31. When I was going for my degree at Regent, my Marketplace theology professor Paul Stevens, absolutely loved this chapter. This is where 2 guys are specifically called out by God - Oholiab & Bazalel - to do specific work. They were filled with the Holy Spirit to be craftsman. In our day, this is the equivalent of somebody being gifted by God to do the best craftsman work in the marketplace, to glorify God and to do it for God, even though it is ‘just’ work. Here is also a great example, of how our talents are given to us, and there are going to be times, when we will specifically use them for the Glory of God. 

God reiterates how important it is to keep Sabbath as it to be kept holy, like the Israelites. In essence, God is wanting to sanctify (make holy) the Israelites and this is one way to do it. 

The chapter ends (remember man wrote in the chapter separations after the Bible was completed to make it easy to go back to…), which seems out of place but is not, with God giving Moses the ‘tablets of stone’ - as we know it, the Ten Commandments. These were literally written by the finger of God and given to Moses. 

Exodus 32 takes us off of the mountain and down to the valley where the people had noticed that Moses was delayed and grew impatient for his return. They went to Aaron - the leader left in charge - and requested that they have some physical gods to worship because they didn't know where Moses was. There are some things that you need to think about here for a minute - stay with me for a few! The Israelites just came from Egypt, where you worshipped deities in pairs. It would be the same as honoring a wife, for the husbands loyalty. Back in Egypt, if you wanted to honor Osiris, you would honor his wife, Isis. Here they wanted to do the same. They wanted to mix the ideas of pagan religion, in with this new religion, that God was teaching them about and setting up rules for. The Israelites also wanted to worship God like the Egyptians, by having pairs and something seen, instead of a single deity that is unseen. This is what they have been exposed to and living with for 400 years… They bring the subject up to Aaron, and he agrees. He makes a calf as the image (after getting all of their jewelry) of this great counterpart for God on the mountain. Interesting note, that the Egyptian's, although they had hundreds of gods that involved hundreds of animals; the Egyptians didn't have a god for a calf. They had a bull and a cow. But not a calf deity. Here the Israelites had left Egypt and created a 'wife' (if you will) for Yahweh, in the image of a calf. We know that they intended it to be for Yahweh's counterpart because once they made it, they stated in verse 4, "These are your gods..." So my first question, if there is only one calf, why are they using plural words? If they mean to state that the calf is their new god, then why act as if there is more than one? Because to them, they were doing what was right. That is why you have Aaron saying in verse 5, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord..." If they were replacing the Lord, they wouldn't have mentioned Him, instead here, the Israelites added another god alongside Yahweh. Then they were going to have a feast for Him. Here they acknowledge that 'these' deities brought them out of Egypt. What they were trying to do, would be the equivalent of us saying that God plus something else helped you out of your problems. It is like saying, "God and my savings account got me out of financial issues", or "God and the medication helped me out of depression." Anything that we add alongside God, in appreciation and acknowledgement for carrying out being saved or protected is what this is surrounding. Through this, we learn that God WILL NOT accept partial praise. As they were all excited about going to go feasting to the Lord, the Lord is telling Moses that the people are being disobedient, and God clearly states that they are worshiping 'it', and not God. We see that God was about to wipe them out, but Moses asks God to spare them. God being gracious, does spare them. And remember that the Holy Spirit is in Moses, which is given to Moses by God, which is why Moses begged for grace for the people in the first place, because God's Spirit moved him to speak to God. So Moses goes down the mountain and grabs Joshua and the noise from the camp almost sounded like war cries they were partying so hard. Moses knew what was happening, because God had already told him that they made a calf and was worshipping it. But when Moses sees what is happening, he smashes the tablets of stone that were in his hands. He then proceeds to burn the calf, crushed it into powder, and made the Israelites drink it. Hmmm. How long would it take you to take a gold ring, burn it with fire, then ground it into a powder that would be small enough to dissolve into water to make someone drink it? I think that would have taken quite a while. Don't you? This is what is called righteous anger. It is anger that is thought out and precise. It is an anger that is controlled and not rash. It is an anger that reminds me of Jesus' actions when He makes a rope, before whipping people/things with it. It is an anger that stems from seeing ill treatment of God, but this anger isn't like the instant bad tempter. But we will come back to this when we read about Jesus clearing the Temple. Anyhow, back to Moses. We see that Moses confronts Aaron, and Aaron lies. We know that he really made the calf because scripture states earlier that he does, but here we see him tell a big lie, and it appears that Aaron lied to justify his own sins. So then Moses separated the Israelites - those that love and fear God and those that don’t. The Levites were instructed to go and kill all those that didn't fear God. About 3,000 died that day (family members, friends…). But, God was not willing to have a few disobedient bad apples spoil the whole bunch. We see here a maturing leader in Moses, as he goes to the Lord asking forgiveness for their sins. God reassured Moses that He will not blot out their names and that an angel will guide them where they need to go, but God will still punish them for their sin. 

And just so if you kind of wondered if Aaron didn't lie, and a calf just happened to pop out, like some sort of miracle - God sets it straight and states, "the calf- the one Aaron had made." You see, we cannot hide anything from God, even if you think your sins will not be found out - they will. For God knows. 

To sum it all up:

•  God takes care of you both physically and spiritually.

•  God gives you the gifts and talents you have. Use them for Him, whenever you get the chance to. 

•  Don't worship God in pagan ways, and pull other religion ideas into Christianity. This means don't worship God like the Buddhists, by meditation. This means don't worship God like the Hindus, by yoga. This means don't worship God like the Egyptians, by adding other things as credit for God's doing in your life. 

•  Admit what wrong you have done to others and to God. God knows anyways. You are not fooling anyone. Only yourself. Instead see you sin, and turn from it. Repent - turn 180 degrees from your sin and run in the opposite direction.