BROKEN COMMANDMENTS

BOOK OF EXODUS

CHAPTER 32

            We're back once again, and glad to have you with us at Daily Bread!  Today's story has many different messages and lessons in it.  It's about sin and patience and pride and repentance and anger and sorrow and disappointment and the list goes on.

            If you will recall, Moses has now been up in mount Sinai communing with the Lord for forty days and forty nights.  He's received the commandments that God has written on two tablets of stone for His people as well as the plans for His sanctuary the tabernacle, and all that goes in it.  The Lord told Moses His laws for Israel, for how He expects His holy people to live. 

            Meanwhile back at the homestead, the children of Israel grew impatient of waiting for Moses.  They so easily forgot their own words that they said just a few short weeks before ... "All that the Lord says, we will do" ...  They all got together and went to Aaron and said, We don't know what's become of this Moses fellow that brought us out of the land of Egypt.  Get up and make us gods to lead us.

            I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

                Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:  for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

            At this point we must assume a bit. We know Aaron was a God fearing man and brother to Moses so he must have feared the people would put him to death to say what he did next ... And Aaron said to them, Get the golden earrings of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.  And Aaron melted them and formed the gold into a calf with a chisel.  And the people said, O Israel, this is NOW your god that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  (This golden cow was the god that brought them up out of the land of Egypt? Is that unusual or what?) Aaron built an altar in front of it and announced, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.  The next morning, they woke early and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and the people ate and drank and celebrated.

            Meanwhile back up on the mountain ... The Lord said to Moses, Go down from the mountain.  Your people that you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.  They've gone astray quickly from the way I commanded them and they've made a molten calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it.  And the Lord told Moses, I've seen these people, they're stubborn.  Now, let me be alone so my anger may become hot against them and so I can destroy them and I will make of you a great nation.

            Moses asked, Lord why are you so angry with your people that you freed from Egypt with the great power and might of your hand.  Why should the Egyptians say, Their God brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?  Please change your mind.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants who you promised saying, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this land that I've spoken of, I'll give to your descendants and they will inherit it forever.  And the Lord changed his mind about the evil that He thought about bringing on His people.

            Moses went down from the mountain and the two stone tablets of the testimony, written on both their sides with the writing of God, were in his hands.  Moses met Joshua on his way down the mountain and Joshua heard the noise of the people and said to Moses, There's a sound of war in the camp.  It's not the sound of people cheering for their leader or a cry of being conquered, but it sounds like singing.

            When Moses neared the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing, and his anger became fierce.  He threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the bottom of the mountain.  He took the calf that they made and burned it in the fire, ground it into powder and spread it on the water.  Then he made them drink it. 

            Moses asked Aaron, What did these people do to you that made you bring such a great sin on them?  Aaron told Moses what the people said to him and that he gathered their gold and threw it in the fire, and out came this calf.

            Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, come over to me.  All the sons of Levi went to Moses.  And he said to them, The Lord God of Israel says, Each man take his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and each of you kill your brother your companion and your neighbor.  They did as Moses said and about 3,000 people were killed that day. 

            The next day, Moses said to the people, You have sinned greatly.  Now I'll go up to the Lord and maybe I can make amends for you.  So Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin, and they made themselves gods out of gold.  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

            The Lord said, Whoever has sinned against me, that is who I will blot out of my book.  So go now and lead the people to the place I told you about and my Angel will guide you.  Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, they will pay for their sin.  And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf that Aaron made.

             Before the Ten Commandments even came down from the mountain, they were already broken.  This time Moses couldn't lift up his staff or toss a tree in the water to make things all better, but he did ask the Lord not to utterly destroy the children of Israel and the Lord did change His mind about that.  When we come back next time we'll continue to follow Moses and the children of Israel as they continue their journey to the the Promised Land and find out what kind of situation will arise next.  Be sure and join us again at Daily Bread.

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