Page 53 - Pentateuch

Chapter 8: Pentateuch Part III:
The Covenant God: Exodus 32-40

Connect…

The covenant ceremony is dramatic and forceful. The entire nation of Israel heard the law of God and
responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey (24:7).” Blood from sacrifices was
sprinkled on them to confirm the covenant and to communicate the seriousness of their relationship with
God (v. 8). Israel’s leaders climbed partway up the mountain for a meal with God and returned (v. 11).
Moses climbed the rest of the way to receive more instructions from God. “The glory of the LORD looked
like a consuming fire on top of the mountain (v. 17).” Moses has been gone for forty days and forty nights
(v. 24). Israel is at a spiritual high point.

The Old Testament tabernacle is strange to modern readers. We are puzzled by details: “fifty loops along
the edge of the end curtain” (26:10), “the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and of finely
twisted linen” (28:6), and “an altar of acacia wood for burning incense…a cubit long and a cubit wide, and
two cubits high” (30:1, 2). We are puzzled because the design does not come from human creativity but is
God’s. “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you (25:9; 26:30;
27:8; 1 Chron. 28:19).” The tabernacle was intended as an example or illustration of true spiritual realities.
For Israel, it was another learning lesson.

The Lesson ...

The Covenant God

We are not ready for the next events. While Moses is receiving instructions about the tabernacle (Chaps.
25-31), the people forget God’s glory. They forget the thunder, the lightning, and the blood. Not knowing
what happened to Moses, they ask Aaron to “Make us gods who will be before us (32:1). With Aaron’s help,
they make a golden calf. “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt (v. 4). They build an
altar and have a festival, including food and drink, and revelry (v. 6). Modern readers puzzle over this
decision of Israel. How could they make such a choice? How could they abandon their own solemn
promises so soon?

The answers are provided by YHWH. He knows, of course, of the events on the plain while he instructs
Moses on the mountaintop. “They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them (v. 8).” He
also knows the reason. “They are a stiff-necked people (v. 9).” He knows the antidote. But first, YHWH
states the deserved punishment. “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them (v. 10).”
The God of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph is not taken by surprise by any of this. Just as he has been leading
the spiritual education of individuals throughout Genesis, he continues to lead the spiritual education of an
entire people through their exodus from Egypt.

In an extensive discussion with Moses, YHWH reveals himself more deeply. In the middle of the discussion,
Moses comes down from the mountain, breaks the stone copy of the Ten Commandments given to him by
God, and destroys the calf idol. He confronts Aaron and the people for becoming a “laughingstock to their
enemies (v. 26). He calls for allies and, when the Levites respond, sends them into the midst of Israel to kill
those leading the revolt, whether brother, friend, or neighbor (v. 27). Three thousand people die. These

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