Note how in ‘a’ the people rebel against Yahweh and in the parallel they are judged and punished. In ‘b Moses is informed of their rebellion and in the parallel goes down and deals with it.

The People’s Rebellion and the Molten Calf (32.1-6).

While Moses was in the Mount for forty days and forty nights receiving his instructions from Yahweh, the people waiting in the plain below became disquieted. They had somewhat fearfully seen him ascend and disappear into the cloud and then they had waited and waited and he had not returned. After that a whole moon period had passed and he had still not returned. And they knew the fearful nature of this God Who was in the Mountain (19.18-19; 20.18) and the warning of what would happen to any who approached the Mountain (19.21). Thus they began to be certain that they would see Moses no more.

And by now they were not sure whether they wanted to have any more to do with this terrible God Who revealed Himself in the way that He had, and made such terrible threats. They had agreed a covenant with Him out of a combination of gratitude and fear, but now they were not so sure that that was what they wanted. They preferred gods with whom they could be more familiar, like the gods they had known in Egypt whom others worshipped. They wanted a compromise.

• a The people see that Moses delays in his descent from the Mountain and call on Aaron to make them gods to go before them (1).
• b Aaron tells them all to break off their multiplicity of earrings (2).
• c All the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron (3).
• d Aaron received them and fashioned the gold with a graving tool and made it a molten calf (4a).
• d And they said, “These are your gods, Oh Israel’ who brought you up out of the land of Egypt (4b).
• c And when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it, and made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh” (5).
• b They rose up early in the morning and offered whole burnt offerings and brought peace offerings (6a).
• a And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play (6b).

Note the parallels which are deliberately cynical. In ‘a’ the people call on Aaron to make them gods to go before them and in the parallel reveal what kind of gods they have received by their feasting and dancing. In ‘b’ Aaron calls for their earrings and in the parallel the people offer whole burnt offerings before them. In ‘c’ the people break off their earrings and bring them to Aaron, and in the parallel he builds an altar before them and declares a feast to Yahweh (the writer is viewing it ironically). In ‘d’ Aaron fashions from the earrings a molten calf, and in the parallel they declare them to be the gods who delivered them from Egypt. The stress all through is on the folly of their actions.

32.1 ‘And when the people saw that Moses delayed from coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Up, make us gods (or ‘a god’ or ‘God’) who will go before us, for as for this man Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.” ’

It is understandable that the people would become alarmed. Their nerves had reached breaking point at some of the revelations from the mountain. And Moses had now been gone for over a moon period. But how are to understand their request? They surely knew that Aaron was Yahweh’s man, and would be faithful to Moses as his brother. It is probable therefore that by ‘gods’ they meant images of Yahweh that they could worship and appeal to and with whom they could feel at ease (for an image of Yahweh compare Judges 17.3-6, 12, 20, 30-31). Yes, Yahweh had delivered them. But they wanted nothing to do with this God of the mountains Who had almost certainly consumed Moses, as He had almost consumed them (20.18), and had certainly threatened to (19.21, 24). Rather would they like to approach Yahweh through the kind of images they were familiar with in Egypt, awe inspiring but without causing trouble. They wanted a god made to their own requirements.

‘Up, make us a god/gods who will go before us.’ Up to this point it was Yahweh Who had gone before them in the pillar of cloud and fire (13.21). But that pillar had disappeared onto the mountain along with Moses. Now they wanted visible representations of Yahweh instead, so that He could go before them in a way that was controllable. They wanted Yahweh’s power on their behalf, but they wanted to feel comfortable with Him. They had had enough of this fierce God of the mountains, Who fortunately seemed to remain in the Mountain. They wanted to be on their way, and quickly, so that they could get away from Him. Thus they wanted Aaron to make God (or ‘a god’ or ‘gods’). (Whichever way we translate it this is the basic point. They wanted a man-made God, a contradiction in terms which is the basis of idolatry). And if Aaron could give Yahweh a bit of a back up, even better.

Note the peremptory command. They were in an ugly mood (compare 16.2; 17.3; Numbers 14.2, 4; 16.41). They were putting great pressure on him. There was strong feeling about, and Aaron felt threatened.

‘For as for this man Moses , the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him.’ The narrator wants us to see the attitude that lay behind this statement and its double edged nature. It was a mixture of contempt and anger, and yet of grudging recognition of what he had done for them. But their resentment is loud and clear. No sympathy with Moses, only enmity. Yes, he had delivered them from Egypt, but what had happened to him now? He had trusted this mountain God, Who surely was not the Yahweh Who had delivered them out of Egypt. And look what good it had done him. Where was he? He had disappeared and they did not know where he was. Indeed he was probably dead. And he deserved it.

This attitude is in distinct contrast with Yahweh’s estimate of Moses in verse 32-33. They may dismiss Moses but Yahweh would not.

But Aaron also had delivered them from Egypt, and they knew both where he was and that they could trust him. And what was more they knew that he was more pliable. That suited them. Would he not now make them images of Yahweh so as to lead them? Would he not bring back to them the great Deliverer? There is a sense in which this was not open rebellion against Yahweh. They were not rejecting Him altogether. What they wanted was help and assurance from someone they relied on, and to return to the old compromising ways (about which we know very little, but can surmise much from this narrative).

Aaron no doubt felt trapped. It was true that Moses appeared to have disappeared, and that there was sense in what they said. And he perhaps had visions of himself as priest and leader to these people. Why else did he do what he did? Pride and vanity make us do strange things.

The temptation for images and like things to intrude into the worship of Yahweh is familiar from the past. They had had to put such things aside at Bethel (Genesis 35.2, 4). And we can only assume from this incident that they had had similar problems in Egypt. It is doubtful if many of them had then been pure Yahwists, even if they had in general believed in the God of their fathers, and of their tribes. And there were among them the mixed multitude (Exodus 12.38) who probably had not worshipped Yahweh at all until He provided a good means of escape from slavery. Furthermore Aaron’s response suggests that he was at least familiar with their ideas. None of this just arrived out of the blue.

32.2 ‘And Aaron said to them, “Pull off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them to me.” ’

It is clear from this that both men (‘your sons’) and women in Israel wore earrings, and Genesis 35.4, where their earrings are closely connected to their false gods and have to be disposed of, makes clear that these had strong religious significance. They were thus very suitable for the making of ‘gods’ and would automatically give credence to the gods which were made. The fact that these leaders themselves are not told to pull off their own earrings may suggest that Aaron knew that they would be unwilling to sacrifice their own which may well have been important status symbols. Some suggest that by demanding these sacred objects Aaron was hoping to receive a denial. But in that case he would have asked for theirs too.

‘Your wives -- sons -- daughters.’ Everyone apart from the elders, which makes it unlikely that the elders did not also wear them.

32.3 ‘And all the people pulled off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.’

The people responded willingly. This demonstrates how concerned they were and how urgently they felt the need to escape. After the extraordinary events of a month previously they felt a religious need, and that they had been deserted, and so they were willing to offer their talismans if it meant that they could have a god whom they could see.

32.4 ‘And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf. And they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who delivered you out of the land of Egypt.” ’

Aaron received the earrings from them, melted them down and fashioned a golden calf. Notice how specific this is. Later he will make the excuse that it just somehow happened.

‘A molten calf.’ Note that it is never described as ‘the golden calf’. It is a ‘molten calf’. One fashioned and shaped. The use of ‘calf’ rather than ‘bull’ is probably deliberate in order to put it in proper perspective. Before God this great bull was but an infant.

The significance of this raises complicated questions which are linked. Why did Aaron make a molten calf? What did the people see it to mean?

The golden calf. Bull worship was common in Egypt in many forms. Quite apart from the Apis-bull of Memphis and the Mnevis bull of Heliopolis, there was combined bull worship and worship of Horus in lower Egypt, which was near Goshen, and other traces are known of it. The bull was prominent in Egypt as a symbol of the fertility of nature and as a symbol of raw physical power.

But the Canaanite Baal was also worshipped in the form of a bull, again symbolising fertility and strength, and Baal worship was also well known in parts of lower Egypt (e.g. at Baal-zephon). It is true that the people knew that the bull-gods of Egypt had been defeated by Yahweh, but how more likely than by one who was Himself like a strong bull-calf? And ‘baal’ meant ‘lord’. So Aaron knew already of divine bulls called ‘lord’. Thus he might well have seen a bull-calf as a suitable way of representing the strong and powerful Yahweh, the Lord. (Later in Canaan confusion would arise between Baal and the Lord Yahweh because Yahweh could be called ‘baali’ (my Lord)).

Alternately bulls could elsewhere, like cherubim, be seen as bearers of the gods, and the idea of the bull-calf may therefore have been as a throne-bearer of the invisible Yahweh, an insidious equivalent of the Ark of the Covenant. And this must certainly have been the significance of the calves set up at Dan and Bethel by Jeroboam I later, for they raised no protest from pronounced Yahwists, which would have been unlikely had they been seen as similar to Baal images. So why not the same here?

So whatever the source the image was intended to represent Yahweh worship in one way or another, the worship of the great deliverer from Egypt (verse 4).

‘And they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who delivered you out of the land of Egypt.” ’ The molten calf was made of many earrings which had all had occult significance. There was only one calf and therefore we are probably to see here a plural of intensity, ‘This is your God’. But we are also probably intended to see in it a sarcastic reference by the writer to the fact that this is no Yahweh, it is a conglomerate of all their earrings. The mockery extends to the ridiculous idea that this molten image could have delivered them from Egypt.

‘They said.’ This was expressing their view, but put in such a way as to mock them. They were so deceived, it is being suggested, that they intended it seriously. They rather foolishly saw the molten calf as the One Who had delivered them from Egypt, so ridiculous can men be. The writer saw that they had made the great Yahweh into a lump of metal made up of precisely the religious amulets that had been unable to deliver them before. How then could it be seen as the deliverer from Egypt?

32.5 ‘And when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.” ’

Having produced the image Aaron, in spite of the fact that he had fashioned it, was impressed by it, and raised up an altar before it so that they could offer sacrifices to it. He recognised that it had been made of sacred gold, and saw it as a suitable way to represent Yahweh. And no doubt he persuaded himself that they would be able to see Yahweh in His invisible power behind the bull-calf. So does sinful man always reason before sliding into full blown idolatry.

We may feel that there is no way in which we could have been as deceived as these people were. But idol worship is insidious, and it is surprising how easy it is to begin to sense something other worldly when facing a great image in a religious setting, being worshipped and chanted to by adherents. Such an atmosphere can make people think great folly. And there is evil behind the idol (Deuteronomy 32.17; 1 Corinthians 10.20).

Or we may feel like Aaron that a physical representation can do no harm. The bull-calf will make men recognise the strength and power of God. They will see God through the bull. But, alas, in the end the bull becomes all. And God is diminished. And men’s ideas of God become earthbound.

And then he proclaimed a feast to Yahweh on the morrow. This demonstrates again that the image was intended to represent Yahweh in some way. But he had by his action, probably unintentionally (he had probably not thought his ideas through), reduced Yahweh to a nature god, a fertility god, a divine being who was merely a part of natural forces, a beast, with all that that would entail for forms of worship, and not the great Lord of heaven and earth. He had dragged Him down, and that is how the people would worship Him, as a nature god and no longer the Lord Yahweh.

‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.’ He was making his best effort to ensure the continued worship of Yahweh, Whom he and the elders had seen in the Mount. He informed them that they would on the morrow celebrate Yahweh in His new form. It would appear that he, as well as the children of Israel, was not knowledgeable enough to strictly distinguish Yahweh from other gods, in spite of His great deliverance from Egypt. So while Yahweh was proposing him as ‘the Priest’ in the Mount, Aaron was demonstrating how much he still had to learn about God.

32.6 ‘And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered whole burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’

The people were eager to commence their new relationship with this god. With no thought of deliberately diminishing Yahweh they quickly reduced Him to their own level. This god could be treated with awe, but there was no danger of fearful repercussions, and then he could be manipulated by their activities. He would not thunder from the mountains. He was a cosy god.

So they rose early to meet the new day and celebrated a great feast, and then, necessarily affected by how he had been fashioned, and by overmuch wine, they began to worship him as a nature god. ‘The people sat down to eat and drink’. There is a deliberate contrast here with the elders who ‘Beheld God and did eat and drink’ (24.11). So far had they fallen. ‘They rose to play.’ That is to sing, and dance, and engage in sexual and immoral activity, loosening up their clothes and stripping them off as they would have done had they been Baal worshippers. The idea was to stir this god into action by their behaviour before him. How Yahweh had been diminished in their eyes.

‘Offered whole burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.’ Both whole burnt offerings and peace offerings had been known for many years past (20.24), and are known of elsewhere, and were now offered to the molten calf as they had previously been offered to Yahweh.

Yahweh Informs Moses Of What Is Happening Below (32.7-14).

• a Yahweh said to Moses, “Go, get yourself down, for your people whom you brought up out of Egypt have corrupted themselves (7).
• b They have turned aside from His commandments (His covenant) and made themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt’ (8).
• c Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiffnecked people” (9).
• d “Now therefore leave me alone that my wrath might wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation” (10).
• d Moses pleads with Yahweh because He is angry with the people whom He has delivered with great power and with a mighty hand (11).
• c Moses expresses his concern about Yahweh’s reputation, “For what reason should the Egyptians speak saying, He brought them forth with evil intent to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?” (12).
• b He calls on Him to turn from His wrath and repent of this evil against His people, and to remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, His servants, to whom He swore by His own self and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they will inherit it for ever” (13).
• a And Yahweh repented of the evil which he had said he would do to his people (14).

Note that in ‘a’ Yahweh passes His judgment and tells Moses that the people have corrupted themselves, and in the parallel ‘changes His mind’ about what He will do to them. In ‘b’ he declares their wholehearted rebellion and idolatry and that they have turned aside from the covenant commandments, and in the parallel is countered with a reminder that He should remember His irreversible covenant. In ‘c’ Yahweh passes His verdict on the people, and in the parallel Moses seeks to save Yahweh having a verdict past against Him. In ‘d’ Yahweh asks that Moses leave Him alone so that He can express His anger (abhorrence of sin) and consume them with the intention of producing a great nation from him. In the parallel Moses seeks that He turn away His anger and reminds Him of the effort He has already put in on their behalf.

32.7-8 ‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get yourself down, for your people whom you brought up out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your God (literally ‘these are your gods’, but it is clearly a plural of intensity), O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ ” ’

Yahweh, aware of all that was going on, for contrary to the people’s thoughts He had not taken His eye off them, now urged Moses to go down to his erring people. There was an irony in this. They had thought themselves overlooked. But He was perfectly aware of what was happening. Note the ‘your people.’ They were no longer to be seen as Yahweh’s people, for they had so quickly forsaken the covenant which forbade molten images.

‘Go, get yourself down.’ This contrasts with the ‘Up’ in the words addressed to Aaron (32.1). Both contained a sense of urgency.

‘Your people whom you brought up out of Egypt.’ Yahweh’s words are designed to appeal to Moses’ sense of responsibility. He had brought them, offering them certain promises, and he had been successful. Would he now turn his back on them?

‘Have corrupted themselves.’ This is Yahweh’s verdict on them. What they had done had come from their own inner yearnings. They had no one else to blame for leading themselves astray into false worship. They had become what they were from their own attitudes.

‘They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them.’ Only a month and yet they had so quickly pushed to the back of their minds that covenant that they had entered into so enthusiastically. They have forgotten His covenant. They would have argued that they were still worshipping Yahweh. But they were overlooking the fact that they had ignored the first two commandments. They had deliberately disobeyed Him.

‘They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed to it.’ That is, they have disobeyed the first two commandments. Notice Yahweh’s contemptuous ‘a molten calf’. They had asked Aaron to ‘make us a god’, but all he had produced was an infused metal image. They would have argued that it was Yahweh that they were worshipping but their behaviour demonstrated that this was not true Yahweh worship, for worship does not consist of using the correct name, but of how we see the object of worship. He was the gracious but demanding God of the covenant, and they now saw Him as just another nature and fertility god, malleable and well under control. They were at last on familiar, welcome ground. But God’s anger is patent. They have worshipped and sacrificed to this thing that they have made instead of worshipping and sacrificing to Him.

‘This is your God (literally ‘these are your gods’, but it is often translated as a plural of intensity), O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ The people would see the molten calf as a god, and probably as representing Yahweh. Yahweh sees it as a bunch of earrings belonging to superstitious people. So the plural is probably used to bring out the same double point as in verse 4. Firstly it can be seen as a plural of intensity expressing the multiplicity of the divine power (the name for God in the Old Testament, Elohim, is nearly always plural). But secondly it can be seen as having in mind the religiously infused earrings, with their connections with occult practises and with the gods who were seen as lying behind them. They see their molten image, Yahweh sees their earrings. All their image really represented was their old failing gods.

32.9-10 ‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiffnecked people. Now therefore leave me alone that my wrath might wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” ’

The way that Yahweh speaks passes judgment on the people but gives the hint to Moses that it is up to Moses what happens. ‘Leave me alone’ is basically saying, ‘if you wish to prevent me you can’. It is not Yahweh’s intention at this stage to destroy this people (note the contemptuous ‘this people’) but to test Moses to see what he will do, and to see whether he has the heart for the task that lies ahead.

So He tells him that He has observed the behaviour of this people and has found them wanting. Indeed has found them to be stubborn and rigid in their thinking, and even perverse. They are stiffnecked. They want their own way and not His. So He suggests that Moses lets Him exercise His anger against them so that He can consume them and then raise up a new nation from Moses’ seed. But His very words were an indirect reminder of what He had promised to Abraham’s seed (‘I will make of you a great nation’). That was indeed the basis of Moses’ call. It was the descendants of Abraham that God had sent him to deliver (2.24; 3.6-7; 6.5-8). The question is will Moses prove faithful to his calling, and to Abraham, or will he opt for his own glory?

‘And I will make of you a great nation.’ This was God’s constant promise to the fathers as Moses would well know (Genesis 12.2; 21.18; 46.3 ). But now Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be supplanted, and Moses will take their place. Is this what he wants? It is designed by Yahweh to strike a cord in Moses’ heart.

32.11-13 ‘And Moses pleaded with Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath wax hot against your people which you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? For what reason should the Egyptians speak saying, He brought them forth with evil intent to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth. Turn from your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they will inherit it for ever.” ’

How God’s heart must have rejoiced to hear the faithful words of His servant. There was in Moses no desire for gain and advantage for his own heirs. His only concern was that Yahweh might be seen in a good light, and that Yahweh might be found faithful to His promises. He was concerned only for the good name of Yahweh.

‘And Moses pleaded with Yahweh his God.’ What remarkable words these are. We can compare them with those of Abraham before Sodom (Genesis 18.23). And yet it was a response to the chink of hope that Yahweh had left him. Moses the servant was pleading with his King for the sake of his King’s reputation, because his King had intimated that he had His permission to do so.

Moses did not realise that it was a test. His honest heart was filled with a determination that men should honour the God he loved, and so he pleaded with Him. Had He not delivered ‘His people’ (note, not ‘this’ people any more, but His people) ‘with great power and with a mighty hand’. Aaron might have forgotten and blurred what had happened, the people also might have done so, but he himself would never forget the reality. It was firmly implanted in his mind.

So his first plea was on the basis of what a sad thing it would be if such exertion of God’s almighty power, resulting from His compassion for His people, should go to waste. How sad if Yahweh’s love for them did not receive its reward. It is based on the idea that a sovereign God could surely not possibly have so acted without finally bringing about His ends.

And then, secondly, he thinks with horror of what the Egyptians might say as the rumours spread back to Egypt, and he cannot bear it. Smarting from their own wounds they would jeer and point out what kind of a God Yahweh was. They would say that He had delivered only to destroy. Powerful He may be, they would say, but He was also abundantly cruel. It is clear that His whole purpose in leading the people from Egypt had been in order to lead them into the mountains and destroy them. It was not true of course. And Moses knew that Yahweh was not like that. But he cannot bear to think of the Egyptians being able to say it. It would humiliate the One he loves. And so he pleads with Yahweh to ‘rethink’. He acknowledges that He has a right to be angry but pleads that He will assuage His anger for the sake of His own reputation and good name.

And finally he thinks of his ancestors. He thinks of Abraham, that faithful man of God. He thinks of Isaac and Jacob (Moses uses ‘Israel’ for Jacob’s name because he is pleading for the children of Israel). And he thinks of what Yahweh promised them. Why He had even sworn by Himself (Genesis 22.16), and he cannot bear to think that Yahweh will withdraw from what He has promised, and thus prove dishonourable. The people may have forgotten the covenant, but Yahweh cannot do so. So let Yahweh think again. Let Him remember His covenant. He had promised them the land. He had promised the survival of their seed. He had promised that they would be a great nation. How then could He possibly renege on it so that men could scoff at His failure to keep His promises and fulfil His covenants. What a great man was Moses. In it all he was genuinely concerned only for the glory of God.

32.14 ‘And Yahweh repented of the evil which he had said he would do to his people.’

This is an anthropomorphism. It really means ‘for all outward purposes He appeared to have changed His mind for He would not now do what He had said He would do’. The stress here is on the fact that Yahweh responded to Moses. The actual physical evidence of the fact would come later. In other words Yahweh would not actually do what He had said He would do. He would not destroy what are now again described, not as ‘this people’, but as ‘His people’. It is but looking from a human point of view. Humanly speaking this was how it appeared. He appeared to have changed His mind.

But it was only outward appearance, He had not really done so. His threats had in fact only been words. He had not intended to do what He had said at all, for he had known what Moses would do. All He had wanted to do was to discover whether Moses’ heart was right for the work he still had to do, and to express His great displeasure at the behaviour of the people. It expresses how He wants the world to see things.

Moses Descends And Witnesses What Is Happening And Acts Decisively To Bring Matters Under Control (32.15-20).

• a Moses turns and descends with the tablets of the Covenant in His hands, which were written on both sides (15).
• b The tablets were written in the hand of God, and the writing was the writing of God (16).
• c They hear the noise from the camp, and Joshua say that there is a sound of war (17).
• c Moses replies that it is not of war but of singing (18).
• b When he sees the calf and the dancing he hurls down the tablets and breaks them (19)
• a He took the calf, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, strewed it in the water, and made the people drink it (20).

Note the contrasting parallels. In ‘a’ Moses comes down from Yahweh with the firm and solid covenant in his hands written on both sides. Nothing could be more secure. Under this covenant they had drunk of water from the Rock. In the parallel he takes the image, burns it, grinds it to powder, strews it in the water and makes them drink it. The elders had eaten and drunk before Yahweh (24.11), the people had eaten and drunk before their molten image (verse 6). Now they ate and drank the image itself. It is a tale of contrasts and descents. In ‘b’ it is stressed that the tablets were written with the hand of God, in the parallel the tablets are hurled down and broken. They have forfeited the hand of God. In ‘c’ Joshua thinks that he hears the sound of war, a worthy sound, but in the parallel it is rather the sound of decadence and rebellion and idolatry that they hear.

32.15-16 ‘And Moses turned and went down from the mount, with the two tablets of Testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on the one side and on the other. And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven on the tablets.’

So having unknowingly passed his test Moses went back down from the mountain. And in his hands he held the two tablets of stone on which God had caused the covenant to be written. The detail is remarkable and brings out the reminiscence of an eyewitness. He had remembered that the tablets were written on both sides. They were clearly written in the same way as earlier covenant tablets written by the patriarchs, which were stored in the Tent of Meeting. (These small indications which constantly appear, confirm that an eyewitness lies behind the narratives).

‘And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven on the tablets.’ ‘The writing of God’ probably indicates ‘God-like writing’, smooth clear writing, so perfect that it could easily be read. And they were the work of God, His handywork. It was an act of personal love so that they would remember that their covenant had come directly from God. And they had already broken it!

The fact that the tablets were of stone and were engraved brings out the intended permanence of the covenant. This testimony was to last through the ages. The permanence of the tablets compares with the total unreliability of the people. And it was the covenant under which Yahweh had constantly give them water to drink at their request.

32.17-18 ‘And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of fighting in the camp.” And he said, “It is not the sound of those who shout to achieve mastery, nor is it the sound of those who cry out as a result of being defeated, but I hear the sound of those who cry out spontaneously.” ’

Moses had once again been joined by his servant, Joshua, who had been faithfully waiting for him on the mountain. All we are told about Joshua is that he went up into the mount with Moses (24.13), and that he came down again with him. The total absence of any other comment suggests that it is only mentioned because it happened. It is just the kind of thing that might have been mentioned simply because the scribe who was doing the actual writing remembered it clearly and took a kind of pride in it. We can compare Mark 14.51-52. It gives the appearance of being the reminiscence of the inscriber. And in those days writers did not need to artificially try to make their writings sound genuine. Those who read them were not suspicious like us.

Joshua must have been bursting to know what had happened in the mount but the impression given is that they came down in silence. He could see that Moses had something very much on his mind, something of great import, and did not wish to talk, and he honoured his wishes. No doubt he would learn what had happened when Moses chose to reveal it.

And as they came down together that was when they heard noises coming from down below. Joshua was concerned. It appeared that fighting had broken out, either with some unknown foe or in order to pass the time. But Moses, grim-faced, gave a noncommittal reply, for he knew what it was. He had been given prior knowledge. It was not the cry of victory or defeat, it was the sound of wild, unrestrained shouts ringing out in false and degraded worship.

Once again we have the reminiscences of eye witnesses as the scribe remembers the conversation that they had had together. Moses had not told Joshua of what was coming, and so he had gained the wrong impression. It is clear that the camp was not yet in sight and that what they heard were simply cries ringing out through the desert air. But Moses knew what they were.

32.19 ‘And so it was that as soon as he came near the camp he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets from his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.’

When the camp loomed into sight, Moses and Joshua saw the molten calf and the wild dancing, evidence, not of a people eagerly awaiting the return of Moses, but of a people who were not concerned about him, and had lost all restraint and were engaged in wild religious celebrations. Indeed they were a people who did not want him back and were in no mood to listen. They had found another god who had clearly won their support.

The fact of such dancing is often reported on important religious occasions. On the occasions of Miriam and the women at the heavenly defeat of Egypt (15.20); of Jephthah’s daughter and the other young women as she welcomed her victorious father (Judges 11.34); of the young maidens at their religious festival (Judges 21.21); of the women from ‘all Israel’ at the defeat of the Philistines by Saul and David (1 Samuel 18.6); of David when the Ark of Yahweh was finally restored to its rightful place (2 Samuel 6.14-16). But here the impression given is that the dancing concerned not only the women but all. So Moses knew exactly what was happening. This was different. It was the unrestrained dancing of Baalism, with fertility rights, orgies and all.

‘And Moses anger waxed hot.’ No wonder he was angry. Anger ‘waxing hot’ is a theme of the passage (verses 10 and 11). He knew that he stood in the place of God. God might have restrained His hot anger at the plea of Moses (verse 14), but it still had to be expressed. This likening to the anger of God suggests that what followed had a twofold purpose. It was on the one hand necessary in order to gain control, but it was also a deliberate act in order to bring home the seriousness of what they had done.

‘And he cast the tablets from his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.’ Moses had had plenty of time to consider what he would do as he was coming down in his grim silence from the mount. His anger was like the anger of God. And God had prepared him for what he saw. What followed was not due to loss of temper but a deliberate act of righteous anger against sin and rebellion. He knew that he was acting in the name of God and so before all the people, at the bottom of the mount, he hurled the tablets of the covenant onto the hard ground and broke them. We should note that he was never rebuked for this. It was a deliberate, dramatic gesture like that of a man tearing up a contract publicly. By it he was bringing home to the people what they had done. They had smashed the covenant.

Thus they would know that He was no longer with them, and he was no longer accountable to them. And in the event it was a declaration of war. He was firmly indicating that they no longer had a part in the covenant of Yahweh and were therefore fair targets unless they surrendered. It was probably his hope that by his action he would shake some of them into supporting him. Certainly it would make them uneasy, and he could only hope.

But once the situation had been recovered it would also bring out something else. That there was now a subtle change in the nature of Yahweh’s attitude towards Israel. Up to now it had been direct and personal. From now on they would receive all at second hand, for they were not worthy. Only Moses would be allowed to see the glory of Yahweh (33.19). Israel would receive a second hand covenant (34.27-28). It was thus also an early grim prophecy of what lay before them, not only now but in the more distant future.

32.20 ‘And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.’

This is foreshortening events. It clearly could not happen before verse 21 onwards for he could not make the people drink it until he had gained full control. It is placed here to indicate his final victory before the detail of the encounter is gone into, finishing off the analysis we have seen above with victory. The result is that as we now view the battle we need not worry for Moses has already won. (This in fact was a regular method of presenting things in those days which is also found elsewhere. First the conclusion and then the process).

So it is saying that once he was again master of the situation the molten calf, that had been so carefully shaped, was hurled back into the fire from which it had come that it might lose its shape, and was then ground to powder and scattered on to water. And then he made the children of Israel drink the water. They would be made to drink their own god. It is put in the perfect tense (the tense of completeness) because it was seen as certain, as something that would happen. Thus we could translate, ‘he smashed the tablets -- and in his mind, to be fulfilled later, he took the calf which they had made --- and made the children of Israel drink it.’

In other words he determined that once he had won he would take the calf which they had made, and grind it to powder, and strew it on the water, and make the children of Israel drink of it.’

That this must have happened after what follows is confirmed by the fact that in verse 25 the people are still running loose, and still had to be brought under control. It is described here, not chronologically, but because it is the final result of Moses response to what had happened, and the main item to which the writer wants to draw attention. Let the reader not doubt that Yahweh will be victorious,

(This describing the result and then going into detail occurs also elsewhere. See for example 4.20-23; Judges 6.24-32. It was seemingly a common method in these early records to describe the main happening and then enter into the detail of how it was brought about. This was what in our day caused some scholars to talk of ‘doublets’. It was actually ancient literary method).

‘The calf which they had made.’ A pointed description. It was man made and therefore useless. And it was made at their choosing. They had wanted it and so now they could have what they wanted.

‘And burnt it with fire.’ Always a symbol of judgment on something (Joshua 7.25). It was to be rendered useless to anyone and committed to God in judgment. Burning it at white heat would also make it easier for it to be turned into powder.

‘And ground it to powder.’ Necessary for the purpose that he intended, but also an indication of its total destruction. And it could do nothing about it. It was powerless. Moses had made it like chaff without it even complaining.

‘And strewed it on the water.’ Here we have a good example of the use of the article in Hebrew. No water is mentioned in context anywhere but here. It simply means ‘the water I am talking about’. But which water was it? The point behind the account is that Moses intends to make them drink it. It is thus in the end water that he has had brought to him in vessels so that it can be passed around the people for them to drink. But Deuteronomy 9.21 tells us its source. It was from ‘the brook that descended out of the mount’, into which he had cast the powder of the molten idol. Its source was thus the water that descended from the mountain of God, a fitting source for such a purpose. God’s provision had become the source of His judgment.

(It matters little whether the powder was scattered in the brook and the water drawn from it, which Deuteronomy taken at face value suggests, or whether the water was drawn from the brook and then sprinkled with the powder. The symbolism was the same).

‘And made the children of Israel drink of it.’ They had to drink their god. It was not something that they would forget easily. So they wanted a visible god? Well, here he was. Let them drink it. Thus they would be made to recognise that their god was not heavenly, but very much earthy. And that this god was unpleasant to drink, and would soon turn into waste matter. It is noteworthy that in describing this incident in Deuteronomy 9.21 Moses tactfully misses out the drinking aspect. By then his anger had assuaged.

In the wider context this drinking must be seen as significant. The elders had previously eaten and drunk before Yahweh (24.11). The people had eaten and drunk before the molten image (verse 6). Both had thought in terms of sealing a covenant. Now they had to drink their folly. Their covenant with their new god had turned sour.

Moses Faces The Rebels (32.21-28).

This next section has to be looked at from two points of view, that of Yahweh’s sovereignty with all under perfect control, and that of Moses tactics in the face of the very dangerous situation that was awaiting him. Outwardly he went on his triumphant way without much of a problem, but if we read the account more carefully we discover that (humanly speaking) it was a close run thing. It is only this that explains what Moses did in ordering what may seem otherwise to be indiscriminate killing.

From the point of view from which it was written therefore, verses 21-28 reveal Yahweh’s sovereignty over the matter. It is a looking back after the event. It describes how Moses, having seen what was happening, and having broken the covenant tablets, dealt with what he discovered so that the opposition collapsed. It comes chronologically before verse 20. Verse 20 had finalised the description of his descent from the mount in victory. Now we are to go back and see the detail behind the victory.

Basically the writer is saying in verse 20, ‘this is how Moses taught the people a lesson’. Then it goes back to explain how he was able to do so.

The conversation with Aaron probably occurred as he approached the camp. It is then followed by the support that came from his fellow-tribesmen, the Levites, and the further punishment of Israel in the killing that had to take place. But in all this we get the impression from the text that Moses was invulnerable. That all went along smoothly. And in fact it did, because God was with him. But that comes from looking back on what happened, and knowing God was in charge. The progress of events from a human point of view was probably very different. It is this that explains the ‘indiscriminate’ killing.

For if we look at that fatal day from a human point of view we see a dangerous underlying situation. As events unfolded through the day, things would have been very different for Moses from what a casual reading suggests. Indeed it is probably true to say that humanly speaking it was only due to his brilliant tactics and dependence on Yahweh that he survived the day. For we should consider the fact that when Moses arrived the people would unquestionably be angry, and hostile to him, especially the leaders with their sense of guilt and resentment, and they would feel that Aaron was on their side. After all he had set the whole thing in motion. So they might well have been ready to do violence to Moses, and even cut him down if he opposed them (compare 17.4). They now had the God they wanted. It would be the whole nation against one man. So he had better watch his step. And Aaron’s desertion would only increase their anger and fear of what Moses would do to them unless he was got rid of. They would not submit easily.

And Moses must have known this. We become accustomed to thinking that Moses was always in control and had little trouble in remaining so. That the people were always subservient. But sometimes a closer reading indicates that this was outwardly far from the case. There were factions that constantly raised up dissatisfaction and dissent (see 17.4; Numbers 14.1-4, 10). There were factions who were ready to oppose him (Numbers 16.41). And no more so than here.

Indeed he must have been aware from what Yahweh had said that trouble lay ahead. Yahweh had warned him that the people were no longer following Him but were worshipping a molten image. That could only mean that they had disowned both Yahweh and Moses, and that Moses would be no longer welcome. If he went among them, therefore, he must have known that he might well be in grave danger. For there were an awful lot of them, and he only had Joshua, and they were angry and bitter.

Furthermore to Moses, as he considered the situation, there was the problem of Aaron. What had happened suggested that Aaron was no longer in authority, for surely had he been he would not have allowed such a thing to happen? What then could have happened to him? Perhaps he had already been put to death? So Moses in his quiet musing as he approached the camp would be more than a little concerned, and very wary about what he might find when he arrived there, and what kind of a reception he would receive.

He must have been very much aware of the large numbers of people down there, and how unreliable they could be. For this was not the first time, they had demonstrated their belligerence before. So he knew that when he arrived near the camp they might well seek to kill him in order to prevent his interference. For was it not clear that they had rejected his authority and would have appointed other leaders? And strength in numbers was on their side. Apart from God’s faithfulness, and Moses was keenly aware that he had after all rejected God’s solution for his own, his one consolation must have been that Joshua was with him so that they were lacking their best military leader. But he would know that he had to think carefully and plan how he should approach the situation. His thoughts must have been on how he could seize the initiative? Such were the things that must have been occupying his mind as they came down the mountain.

When the campsite came suddenly into view it must have been immediately clear how bad things were. The people were dancing round the molten calf in various states of undress, and their cries were ringing out as they threw themselves in abandon into their sexual perversions. The sight would have filled him with anger. Was this what they had come to? But he must have been well aware that he could not just walk into the camp and take over. Things had clearly gone too far for that. They were in no mood or condition to receive him. Indeed the likelihood might well be the opposite. He was a reject, and they would know that he had come to stop them. So he had to think carefully how to approach the situation.

We tend to forget that Moses had developed into a brilliant strategist. Somehow he knew that he had to regain his authority over the camp. But the question was, how? For in their present mood they were unlikely just to meekly surrender.

And then he fixed on his plan of action. It would require great courage, and he knew that unless Yahweh was with him it would not work. But that was a situation he had got used to, and he determined to go ahead. It had to be a question of quick action and surprise attack.

Striding forward within sight of the camp he lifted the covenant tablets above his head and smashed them to the ground. And because they saw it, it would be to them a public declaration that they were no longer within the covenant and that he was assuming no further responsibility for them as they were. That he was no longer bound to them. That he wanted nothing further to do with them. It indicated that he was rejecting them, and so was God. It was a challenge to them either to surrender to Yahweh or face up to his wrath.

Then he bravely advanced towards the camp entrance with Joshua in the hope that some would gather to his support. That was his only hope, for without that he was lost.

To his relief the first thing he saw was Aaron coming out to meet him. And from him he quickly learned the sad story of what had happened. He was probably very disappointed with his brother but that could wait another day. And no doubt from Aaron he learned the resentment and anger that there was in the camp against him.

But meanwhile at least they were now three, and an important three. The two deliverers from Egypt and Israel’s general (17.9). While the camp was without a recognised supreme chieftain, and would be in some disarray. On the other hand he knew the antagonism that there was against him in the camp. Possibly even that when they saw him they intended to kill him. The camp was in a drunken state as a result of the feast, and in an ugly mood because he had been so long away, and they would be very conscious that he would consider that they had rejected him. Moreover they now had their God with whom they were very satisfied. They would brook no interference from Moses. They had found their alternative and would not easily give it up. And Aaron no doubt confirmed his worst fears. Things looked very ugly.

And it was no doubt at this stage that he recognised that he had, humanly speaking, to gamble everything on the final daring move that he had planned, trusting in Yahweh to stand by him. Everything would depend on it. If he failed all would be lost. So coming to the main entrance to the camp he stood there with his two companions and cried out his challenge. “Who is for Yahweh? To me.” The question was left hanging in the air. The question was, would anyone respond? What would they do?

We need to stop and consider the situation in order to appreciate it. Moses and Joshua alone, with a repentant Aaron behind them. The whole people seemingly against them. It was undoubtedly a tricky situation.

Fortunately for him Yahweh had prepared the way, indeed had probably shown him this way for that reason. For his own tribe, the tribe of Levi, knowing of the plots against Moses and the dangers that awaited him, rallied to his support, probably accompanied by any loyal Yahwists who were pleased to see Moses. For once the sentries had announced that he was coming it is probable that the leading Levites had hurriedly gathered their fighting men together for the very purpose of supporting Moses. Moses was back. They knew that he would need them. Perhaps some had already been uneasy at the turn of events. He was after all of their tribe and they may well have felt that they should support him, come what may. So they now came to Moses and Aaron with that offer of support.

But the remainder did not come. They were not ready to surrender. Some would creep to their tents to arm themselves with weapons. Others would mutter and discuss what to do among themselves. And large numbers would simply ignore him and go on dancing and engaging in their sexual activity. After all, they must have thought, what could he do?

Moses must have been relieved that at least his own tribe stood by him, and by Yahweh, and his response was immediate. They may be outnumbered but if they acted quickly surprise was on their side. If they acted with speed they could retrieve the situation and gain the upper hand. They must make the first, surprise strike. So he commanded that they obtain their swords from their tents and immediately attack and slay some of the opposition and some of the blasphemous, drunken revellers before they could rally and find someone to lead them, for with Aaron being with Moses the rebels would for a short while be bereft of a central authority. Thus speed was of the essence while they were unprepared.

His fellow-tribesmen immediately obeyed him unquestioningly, obtained their weapons, and began their assault, taking all by surprise. It would be in such a context that the ‘three thousand’ (indicating a complete number) were killed. But there was no alternative.

Meanwhile some of the leaders of the other tribes had undoubtedly also become aware of Moses’ approach and must have been wondering what to do, for they did not know what he was going to do. But they were seemingly caught unprepared by the assault, and found that they were under attack before they even had chance to make their plans or collect their people together with their own weapons. And there were so many of the people who were in no state to listen to them. So without weapons to hand, and with little support, they would know instinctively that there was only one thing to do and that was to escape the avenging Levites, and hope to rally later. Thus hastily they would flee the camp and leave it in Moses’ hands, calling on their people to follow. And others would also flee as they saw the Levite slayers among them, although some no doubt sought to put up resistance. They would be among the slain. But why else would only three thousand be killed among so large a number with a fairly powerful group on the attack?

In the course of the conflict ‘three thousand’ of the opponents and revellers were slain, but the result of this was that the battle was quickly over and the camp was in Moses’ possession, with his opponents routed. Now the only thing necessary was to await the surrender of the scattered tribes, once they had sobered up and sought to return. And then he could carry out his planned punishment on them and make them drink their own god. That is how it almost certainly happened. So let us now confirm it from the text.

Having described the final certain victory punishment the account goes into more detail of how the victory came about.

• a First Moses challenges Aaron as to why he has behaved as he has (21).
• b Aaron’s reply is that the people had been set on evil, for they had said, ‘Make us God (or ‘a god’, or ‘gods’) who will go before us (22-23a).
• c They had also said, ‘For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’ (23b).
• d So Aaron rather pathetically explains why he made them a god of gold (24)
• e Moses sees the dissipated state of the people (25)
• f Then he stands in the gate and calls out, ‘who is on Yahweh’s side?’ (26).
• g The Levites respond, and he calls on them in the name of Yahweh to immediately attack all who are in rebellion and slay them (27).
• g The sons of Levi obey him and slay 3,000 men (28).
• f Moses then calls on them to consecrate themselves to Yahweh for the battle is not yet won, but Yahweh will give them the blessing (29).
• e On the next day Moses tells the people that they have sinned greatly but that he will plead for them (30).
• d He goes before Yahweh and admits their sin and pleads for them because they have made gods of gold (31).
• c He pleads that if Yahweh does not hear him He may blot out Moses’ name from His book. Yahweh’s reply is that He will blot out those who deserve it (32-33).
• b So Moses can now lead his people forward and His Angel will go with him, but punishment for the people must follow (34).
• a Finally Yahweh smites the people because they made the calf that Aaron made (35).

We note that in ‘a’ Aaron is challenged as to why he has behaved as he has (in making the calf of gold), while in the parallel the people are smitten because of the calf that Aaron made. In ‘b’ he tells how they had wanted him to make gods who would go before them, in the parallel Yahweh promises that His Angel will go before them. In ‘c’ the people dismiss Moses casually, in the parallel Moses is not treated casually. Rather he is seen as one whose name Yahweh will not blot out, whereas there are those that He will blot out. In ‘d’ Aaron explains why he made a god of gold, in the parallel Moses pleads with Yahweh because His people have made gods of gold. In ‘e’ Moses sees the dissipated and loose state of the people, in the parallel he tells the people that they have sinned greatly. In ‘f’ he stands in the gate and calls out, ‘who is on Yahweh’s side?’, in the parallel he calls on the Levites to consecrate themselves to Yahweh for the battle is not yet won, but Yahweh will give them the blessing. In ‘g’ the Levites respond, and he calls on them in the name of Yahweh to immediately attack all who are in rebellion and slay them, and in the parallel the sons of Levi obey him and slay 3,000 men.

32.21 ‘And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?” ’

This almost certainly comes timewise before the preceding verses (chronology was not in the main important to the Hebrews). Having described the event that followed the final victory the narrative now goes back to Moses’ approach on the camp, in order to explain how it happened. Moses was clearly in two minds at this stage, not knowing what lay ahead, but he was no doubt relieved, although puzzled, as he approached the camp and found his brother coming out to meet him. He recognised that Aaron had no doubt been alerted by a watchman, and that he was clearly free. Thus he wanted to know how on earth they had persuaded Aaron to do what he had done. Here was the one whom God had intended to appoint as the bringer of great blessing on His people and instead he had brought a great sin on them. He wanted to know what method they had used to persuade him. He was probably trying to find some kind of excuse for his brother as well as assess the situation in the camp.

This incident in fact brings out that although Moses was crystal clear that Yahweh was the only God, and that all others were as nothings, the same was probably not true of all, or even the majority, of Israel. Possibly not even fully of Aaron. We only have to think today how even convinced Christians can be superstitious, believing in some kind of fate that affects the world when they spill salt, or walk under ladders, or see black cats.

32.22-23 ‘And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord wax hot. You know the people that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us God (or ‘a god’, or ‘gods’) who will go before us, for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Aaron’s extreme anxiety is brought out in his words. His brother has just seemingly come back from the dead, but instead of giving him a rapturous welcome he addresses his younger brother as ‘my lord’, a clear indication of submission and guilt. Note that the theme of waxing hot continues. Anger against their sin lies at the back of this whole account. But he tries to allay his sense of having failed God by suggesting to Moses that surely he is well aware of what these people are like. They are always set on sin. And they had had enough of things as they were. That is why they had asked for an image of God. So what could he have been expected to do about it? For the people’s words compare verse 1.

32.24 ‘And I said to them, “Whoever has any gold let them take it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.” ’

Poor innocent Aaron. He had hardly been involved at all. The ‘earrings’ he had actually targeted had now become a vague ‘gold’. And the calf one that emerged from the fire having made itself! It simply came out. A wonder indeed. So the fault was all external, the people set on sin, the gold simply there available, and a self-manufacturing calf. It was not his fault. But he knew in his heart that that was not so. He knew that he had been deeply involved. It was he who had selected and decided on the use of religious talismans. It was he who had carefully prepared the gold and had equally carefully fashioned the molten calf. But he did not want to have to admit that to Moses while he was so angry. He was deeply ashamed. That was the one good thing to be said for him. That and the fact that he had come to meet Moses.

We almost see here again a repetition of the Garden of Eden. God asking what man has done, and man replying that it was nothing really, he had simply eaten what the woman had given him. For while others sin grievously our own sins never seem too serious.

But Moses was not deceived. He knew that a great deal of the blame lay at Aaron’s door. However, by the time of writing it was now in the past, and he did not want to open up old wounds, especially as Aaron was possibly dead, so we are told nothing more.

But we do in fact learn from Deuteronomy 9.20 that as a result the anger of God was directed against Aaron. For Yahweh knew all the truth And it was in the event only the intervention of Moses that saved him. It is actually remarkable that God did not insist on him being cast off, or even make him face the death penalty. Certainly he must surely be excluded from the priesthood. And yet in His graciousness God heeded Moses and still allowed Aaron to be installed as ‘the Priest’. Oh, the grace of God. He understood man’s heart. And He knew that Aaron had learned a lesson he would never forget.

32.25 ‘And when Moses saw that the people had got out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control so that they might be whispered about by their enemies.’

This description must also be referring to a time before the final disposal of the calf, as Moses next action after speaking to Aaron. For he would not have been able to enforce the drinking of the calf powder until things were under control. Indeed when he arrived at the entrance to the camp, all he found was chaos and wild behaviour and men and women satisfying their lusts without regard. And he knew now that Aaron must take much of the blame. Aaron, who should have maintained order and firm discipline, had instead encouraged this kind of behaviour, by his actions if not by his words. He was deeply at fault. It was the kind of behaviour that brought shame to the name of Yahweh and made them a source of whispered mockery among their enemies. The very use of the word ‘whisper’ indicates how shameful what was happening was felt to be. It was not the kind of thing that even their enemies spoke of openly. The ways of Canaan were despised by the desert tribes.

‘Out of control.’ The idea of nakedness lies at the root of the verb, stressing the kind of behaviour that was going on.

32.26 ‘Then Moses stood at the entrance to the camp, and said, “Who is for Yahweh? To me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.’

Why did Moses stand at the main entrance to the camp? It could surely only be because this happened at the time of his arrival. But the sudden arrival of Moses had either been disregarded or had gone unnoticed by many. Their attitude may well have been that he no longer counted and they were not interested. They could deal with him later. And no doubt most of them were drunk. Although others would undoubtedly be hostile. However, they were not expecting any trouble. After all he was by himself. As usual they underestimated Yahweh and Moses.

The scene that follows is electric. Moses stands boldly at the entrance to the camp and issues a sharp and loud cry. “Whoever is for Yahweh, to me!” He no doubt hoped that the command would result in some response from the less degraded, and that therefore his other plan would not need to be carried into effect. But it was not to be. It was only his fellow-tribesmen who came in response. (The ‘all’ should be taken as meaning the large majority. No doubt some lingered among the dregs). The remainder ignored him. Thus he recognised the danger signs and that he had no choice.

The arrival of the Levites as one body indicated that the fact of his arrival had certainly been notified to the people of his own tribe. They must have been quickly brought together by their leaders. And now they came to the entrance to welcome him. They were almost certainly aware that he would need their support, and tribal feeling was strong. That is not to say that they had not been involved in what had happened. Aaron was a tribal leader and they had no doubt supported him too. But at the arrival of Moses they had come to recognise their responsibilities, and their duty towards Moses, their fellow-tribesman and erstwhile leader, and thus their duty towards Yahweh. They were in fact almost the only ones who did come to Moses and take any notice of his plea, an indication of the danger of the situation. It indicated that the mass were against him. (There would, of course, have been some others who had not participated and had hoped for his arrival. But they were seemingly not many).

32.27-28 ‘And he said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Put every man his sword on his thigh and go to and fro, entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.’

At this point Moses knew that he had to act swiftly. He had in mind three things when he made his plan, quick and severe action in the face of likely opposition, punishment for the guilty and finally the eventual restoring of order. The worst cases would be selected out simply by the fact that those who put up resistance would mainly be the most obdurate. Any others would flee once the vengeance began. But the lesson was to come home to all that what they all deserved was death, so serious was their sin. This command was commensurate with Yahweh’s command concerning dealing with idolaters (Deuteronomy 13.15).

Note that the Levites first had to collect their swords and gird them on. So they too had been in the middle of feasting. But they had come to their senses on the arrival of Moses. Now they had to go from tent to tent, ‘from entrance to entrance throughout the camp’, as commanded, and do their grisly work, quickly and ruthlessly without regard, before hostile factions could gather their senses.

All who were still involved in their own wild behaviour and failed to make their escape were to be dealt with, although the idea was clearly not to kill all, but to administer a harsh, short lesson indiscriminately and drive the others into flight. Thus would they rapidly diffuse the situation and quell any opposition.

Moses’ shout in itself would have alerted many to the danger, and, once the Levites began their work, realisation of what was happening would quickly spread, and they would recognise that things were not quite going according to plan. So, disorganised and panic stricken, for they were not brave fighters, the rest would make for safety. And that was what he wanted. Disorganised they would represent no danger to his authority

Thus the feast which had been so blasphemous ended in a short, sharp blood bath, and the re-establishment of Moses’ authority. By this action the camp was now his and order could now be finally restored among a chastened people when they crept back to the camp, all opposition having been crushed. The number who died were ‘about three thousand (eleph) men’. This might literally mean three thousand, or it may signify three sub-tribes of men, possibly the nearest to the avenging Levites when they emerged from their tents and began their work. (Eleph can mean ‘thousand’, ‘clan’, ‘sub-tribe’, ‘family’, ‘military unit’, ‘captain’, etc.). In the event Moses’ prompt action had undoubtedly prevented a major crisis, and possibly a civil war. For his own tribe would never have surrendered him without a fight.

We tend to be horrified at such loss of life. because we see Moses as almost invulnerable and not needing to use such tactics. Why, we ask, would Moses do this thing? But possibly that is because we have not recognised the true situation. Moses was clearly aware that he was at the time very vulnerable and that they might well in their present mood kill him. That if he did not act quickly all might be lost, both for himself and Yahweh. For he could see that they had turned against what he stood for and were in no mood to yield. They were in rebellion against him and against Yahweh. He thus acted as he did to save Yahwism.

For having persuaded Yahweh not to destroy them all, he had had to recognise that by doing so he had put himself in great danger. They knew nothing of his plea for their safety and were antagonistic and resentful. That was why the vital thing had been to establish his own authority, and quickly. He had known that unless he acted swiftly his own end and the end of Yahwism in its distinctiveness might be near. Indeed he had almost certainly become aware as he approached the camp that there would be a great amount of hostility against him. Why else, instead of entering the camp had he shouted from the entrance? So he had recognised that whatever happened he had to gather rapid support and quell any prospective violence, and actually save lives by quick action. And he acted to that end, and that was what he achieved. His cry at the entrance to the camp was in fact a very brave action. He might simply have been cut down where he stood. But he had trusted in Yahweh and he was, from a human point of view, saved by the loyalty of his own tribe.

Moses Seeks To Set The Situation Right (32.29-33).

32.29 ‘And Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother. That he may bestow on you a blessing this day.” ’

The question is, were these words spoken to the Levites, or were they spoken to the other tribesmen as they crept back and yielded?

If it was to the Levites it calls on them, having fulfilled their duty, to consecrate themselves, if necessary even at variance with sons and brothers. No human relationship must interfere with a man’s consecration to Yahweh. Then He will indeed bless them. But there is no real indication of disunity among the Levites. They had acted unitedly as a tribe defending their own.

Thus we must more probably see this as Moses’ response to those who had fled the camp, once they returned and were assembled. They were to submit themselves again to Yahweh regardless of what the rest of their families did. This would actually fit better the reference to choices in respect of ignoring close family, for they may have been divided by their flight. Then Yahweh would bring them back into blessing.

It may well be that it was at this point that he carried out the act of submission mentioned earlier in verse 20.

32.30-32 ‘And it came about on the morrow that Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh. It may be that I will make atonement for your sin.” And Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold. Yet now if you will forgive their sin --, and if not, blot me I pray you out of the book which you have written.” ’

But Moses knew that the death of the three thousand men had not removed the guilt of the whole, and Moses now calls on them on the day after their consecration and warns them how serious their sin has been. They had deliberately and flagrantly disobeyed God’s commandments in a major way within weeks of accepting the covenant. It was a great sin indeed. He could give them no guarantees but he promised that he would again go up to Yahweh, and this time he would pray that they might be forgiven. It is clear that he was now confident that things were under control. New leaders had no doubt been appointed, with Joshua there to give Aaron vital support. And the three thousand who had died may well have included some of his most bitter opponents.

This period of prayer also lasted forty days and forty nights (Deuteronomy 9.19), that is, over a moon period. It was a triumph of persevering prayer. Spiritual battles are not easily won.

His prayer was typical of the man. He prayed that if God would not forgive them then he must blot Moses’ own name out of his book. This book was probably the book of the living. Some cities and tribes would have records which contained the names of all living members of the city or tribe (Isaiah 4.3; Psalm 69.28; Malachi 3.16). When a person died his name was blotted out. Or it may be the book that contained the names of prominent men, the book of ‘heroes’, from which a name would be blotted out if the hero later brought shame on his city or tribe. He was ready to sacrifice his fame and become an outcast.

Some see it as the book of eternal life, but Moses nowhere indicates belief in such a concept, and he would surely have seen it as blasphemy to interfere with such a book, however strongly he felt. Whichever it is, the principle is the same. He was willing to lose all rather then see these people (who had recently planned to kill him) suffer.

32.33 ‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot from my book.” ’

Yahweh’s reply was clear. The soul that sins will die. Even a Moses could not pay the price for another. (There would be only One Who would be able to do that). The principle of individual accountability was clearly enunciated.

32.34-35 “And now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold my angel will go before you. Nevertheless in the day that I visit I will visit their sin on them.” And Yahweh smote the people because they made the calf which Aaron made.’

Now Yahweh makes clear that the people as a whole will not be destroyed, for He commands Moses to go forward with the people to the land He had promised them, and assures him that as He had previously promised His angel would go before them (compare 23.20-23; 3.2; 33.2-3; Joshua 5.13-15; Judges 2.1-5). This was a gracious promise in view of the fact that the people had themselves wanted the molten calf to go before them (verse 1). But what they would enjoy would now only be second best (33.3). Yahweh would no longer be with them in person.

However, the matter is not totally settled. Yahweh may have restrained from destroying the people because of Moses’ intercession, but punishment there must be. He would visit the camp, and at that point He would ‘visit’ them. And this was clearly followed by some dreadful judgment which smote many of the people. It was probably some plague or illness. We may surmise what as much as we like, for we will never know. Others, however, consider it refers to the day when God smote them (Numbers 14.45) and sentenced them to a further 38 years in the wilderness (Numbers 14.27-35).

Note for Christians.

We are certainly justified in comparing Israel here with ourselves and seeing their behaviour as a warning to us not to go after idols Not possibly golden idols in a literal sense, but the idols of pop stars, sporting heroes, football teams, actors and actresses, TV personalities and so on. Once any of these become too important to us they have become an idol. Once they keep us from reading the word of God or from prayer they have become an idol. Once they cause us to behave in an unseemly way they have become an idol. Once they take up too much of our thoughts or of our time, they have become an idol.

We should also recognise that the way God is revealed here has not changed. We must not be deceived. God is not mocked. And what men sow they will reap, and no misconceptions about ‘the love of God will prevent it (Galatians 6.7-8).

The Command To Go Forward - God’s Revelation of Himself to Moses (33.1-23).

In this chapter we learn of Yahweh’s command that it was now time to go forward. But there is a difference in that His people would no longer know His personal presence as they had previously. However, an angel would go before them. We do not know how long after the previous incident this was, but it links with Numbers 1-4.

Note the sequence in the chapter.

• a They are to go forward with an angel, but Yahweh Himself will not be with them (1-6).
• b Moses meets Yahweh regularly in the old Tent of Meeting face to face as a man speaks with his friend (7-11).
• b It is this closeness to Yahweh that now makes possible his bold request, and at his pleading Yahweh then promises that He will Himself go forward with them (12-17).
• a Moses asks to see Yahweh’s glory and is finally be allowed to see the back part of His glory (18-23).

The contrast between ‘a’ that they will only from now on have an angel with them, and that Yahweh will not be with them, is gloriously countered in the parallel by the His glory, even if partly hidden, will be seen by His friend Moses. And in ‘b’ we are told of his closeness to Yahweh, and in the parallel the result of that closeness is that Yahweh promises that He will after all go up with them.

The Command to Go Forward - The People Repent (33.1-6). It is quite clear that in this passage the putting off by the children of Israel of their ornaments is a deeply significant fact. Their earrings had caused them to stumble. We may possibly also see that their ornaments too were highly charged with religious significance. Thus we might see this as a putting off of their false gods (compare Genesis 35.1-4).

• a Yahweh commands Moses to go forward, with the people whom he has delivered from Egypt, to the land which He swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying ‘To your seed I will give it’ (1).
• b He promises that He will send His Angel before them to drive out the Canaanite nations, to a land flowing with milk and honey (2-3a).
• c But He Himself will not go with them because they are a stiffnecked people, lest He consume them in the way (3b).
• d When the people heard these evil tiding they mourned and no man put on his ornaments (4).
• c Yahweh tells Moses that he must inform the people that they are a stiff-necked people and that if He goes in the midst of them for one moment He will consume them (5a).
• b He tells them to put off their ornaments so that He may know what to do with them (5b).
• a The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onwards (6).

This passage would seem to indicate a new beginning after the travesty that is behind them. In ‘a’ they are to go forward as Yahweh’s people to the land which Yahweh has sworn to give them as the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The parallel clearly therefore suggest that the permanent stripping themselves of their ornaments is an act of contrition and response, and turning to Yahweh. They will choose Him over their ornaments. They no longer have anything to do with them from Mount Horeb onwards. Thus in ‘b’ when He promises to send His Angel with them to drive out their enemies and lead them into a land flowing with milk and honey, in the parallel He commands that they strip off their ornaments so that He may know what to do with them. If they do not He will be in doubt of what to do with them. While His promises are certain, the current fulfilment of them is dependent on obedience and rejection of idolatry. In ‘c’ He tells them that He Himself will not go with them because they are a stiffnecked people, lest He consume them in the way, and in the parallel confirms this verdict. In a sense ‘d’ is central to the whole. It was the moment when they faced up to their sinfulness so that Yahweh could respond to them.

33.1 ‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up hence, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “To your seed I will give it.” ’

Yahweh repeats His command to be up and moving. Their time at Sinai is finished and they must move on. The verse maps out their history in brief. They have brought up from the land of Egypt by Moses, and are bound for the land promised to their fathers and their seed (Genesis 12.7; 13.15; 15.18; etc.). This is the midway point in their journey, or should have been. Note that Yahweh now renews the promises to the fathers of seed and land which these people had forfeited by their behaviour, and He renews His promise to drive out the Canaanites from before them.

33.2-3 “And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. To a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up among you, for you are a stiffnecked people, lest I consume you in the way.”

He promises that He will send an angel before them. In view of the fact that he here says that He will not be going with them it must be questionable whether we see in this angel the Angel of Yahweh. However the point in question may not be as to whether the angel of Yahweh will go before them but rather as to whether Yahweh will Himself dwell among them in His Dwellingplace. The question is rather academic as later He yields to Moses’ intercession and Himself does go with them and promises His is presence with them (33.14).

The sixfold nations are twice three, indicating intensified completeness. Compare 3.8. They represent the whole population of Canaan, and consistently indicate their diverse nature. The Canaanites and Amorites were terms for the general population of the country and the terms were often interchangeable. Each could be used for the inhabitants of the whole country. However there was sometimes some distinction in that often the Canaanites was the term for those occupying the coastlands and the Jordan valley, while the Amorites could be seen as dwelling in the hill country east and west of Jordan. The Hittites were settlers who had come from the Hittite Empire further north and had settled in Canaan. The Perizzites were hill dwellers (Joshua 11.3; Judges 1.4 on) and possibly country peasantry, their name being taken from ‘peraza’ = hamlet. This is supported by the fact that they are not named as Canaan’s sons in Genesis 10.15 on. The Hivites may have been the equivalent of the Horites (see on Genesis 36). Their principal location was in the Lebanese hills (Judges 3.3) and the Hermon range (Joshua 11.3; 2 Samuel 24.7), but there were some in Edom in the time of Esau (Genesis 36) and in Shechem (Genesis 34). The Jebusites were the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the hills round about (Numbers 13.29; Joshua 11.3; 15.8; 18.16). But Moses would know all the names. He had been brought up as an Egyptian administrator.

‘To a land flowing with milk and honey.’ It was to be a good land for it would flow with milk and honey (Numbers 13.27; Deuteronomy 6.3). Milk flowed because there was good pasturage and, apart from in times of famine, plentiful rain. The honey would be from wild bees, (and later, domesticated bees, for it was tithed), and along with grape and date syrup, was plentiful and would later be exported to other countries (Ezekiel 27.17). Thus it provided both nourishment and sweetness.

‘For I will not go up among you, for you are a stiffnecked people, lest I consume you in the way.” An angel will go before them. But this time it is because Yahweh will not, lest because of their obstinacy and perverseness He be tempted to smite them. In other words they had lost out. His presence would not be so close and intimate. Their sin with the molten calf had burned deep. (However later the situation will be reversed at the intercession of Moses).

33.4-6 ‘And when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned. And no man put on his ornaments. And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiffnecked people. If I go up among you for one moment I will consume you. Therefore now put off your ornaments permanently from you, that I may know what to do to you.” And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onwards.” ’

The people were upset by this bad news. They were deeply saddened, and revealed their repentance by leaving off their ornaments (armlets, bracelets, earrings) as a display of mourning. It was a hopeful sign that they were recognising their need for full dedication to Yahweh, for their ornaments would undoubtedly have had a religious significance. Possibly they hoped that by removing all their talismans and mascots they would win back Yahweh’s favour. Or possibly they had even learned the lesson about religious symbols and recognised that they must have no more to do with them. Such religious symbols will regularly be seen as an indication of backsliding in the future. See Judges 8.22-27 where their use results in going astray; Hosea 2.13 where they are connected with idolatrous worship; see also Ezekiel 7.19-20; 16.17; 23.40. Christians today equally do themselves spiritual; harm when they wear or use lucky mascots and talismans.

This action brought Yahweh to speak to them again through Moses. He reminded them of their perversity as revealed in all the incidents surrounding the incident of the molten calf. Indeed He knows that they are such that He would inevitably at some point consume them. So it would not be fair on them for Him to remain near.

However, He approved of their putting off their ornaments. It was their talisman earrings that had been part of the cause of their downfall (32.2-3). Thus they should put off permanently for the future all that might be a cause of offence in order to remind Him of their continual penitence, so that He would know how to behave towards them. And they obeyed and from that day on wore no ornaments. This was possibly why Yahweh did not fully carry out His threat.

We are probably justified in seeing here a situation parallel with that in Genesis 35.1-4. There is here also a putting off of the old ways and the old idols, and a turning in full dedication to Yahweh.

‘Mount Horeb.’ Another mountain in the Sinai group. The whole area immediately surrounding Sinai was called Horeb.

The Old Tent of Meeting Where Two Friends Meet (33.7-11).

The reason that we find this passage inserted here is almost certainly because it indicates Moses’ close relationship with Yahweh. It will help to explain why Moses can dare to be so persuasive that Yahweh rescinds His determination not to go forward with the people. Like Abraham before him he dares to reason with Yahweh, seeking to make Him willing to show compassion on those who do not deserve compassion (see Genesis 18.23-33). This required an intimacy with Yahweh which the writer now explains.

We here learn of the old Tent of Meeting which preceded the Dwellingplace, and which unlike the Dwellingplace was pitched outside the camp. The idea was probably that the camp was not pure enough for such a place, and that there had to be a set space between the camp and the Tent. Or it may simply have been there so that people could seek Yahweh in solitude. Its name presumably indicated that it was a place where Yahweh could be met up with. It was not to be so inaccessible as the later Dwellingplace when it arrived.

When this Tent was first set up we do not know. But it would be unusual not to have a holy Tent of some kind connected with a large camp which was occupied by a whole nation, when that camp was their home, and they had no idols. They would require some point on which their worship could be focused. Thus this would probably have been established immediately they left Egypt. Indeed Moses would have been sadly lacking in leadership if he had not provided such a focus.

It would seem that those who wanted to seek Yahweh would go out to ‘the Tent of Meeting’ to pray (compare 1 Samuel 1.12, although that was in front of the Dwellingplace). It was Moses who called it ’ohel mo‘eth (verse 7), the ‘Tent of Meeting’. Such a focus point for the worship of Yahweh would have been necessary right from the commencement of the flight from Egypt, and by the time of their arrival at Sinai this ‘Tent of Meeting’ would have speedily gained in awe and reverence, especially in view of the fact that the cloud descended on it when Moses entered it, an indication that it was a place where God really could be met up with.

But that even this was not to be seen as Yahweh’s home is made clear by the fact that Moses had to receive the covenant in the Mount. Yahweh would not allow them to see Him as simply a local deity.

This Tent probably also contained the ancient covenant records from which Genesis was composed, and, until the Dwellingplace was made, it would also contain the tables of the covenant. We have no knowledge of what else it contained except that Joshua was its guardian, and presumably a kind of priest. But even if such a tent had not been mentioned we would have had to assume it. How else were the nation to have a focus for worship when no symbols were allowed?

The mention of it here is presumably to stress how Yahweh’s real presence has been with Israel. That was why there was a Tent of Meeting. Now it seemed that they would lose out on this, and that Moses also would lose out, for Yahweh would no longer be with them. This further explains Moses’ concern in verses 13-16. He would miss these conversations with Yahweh.

It is also in order to highlight verses 12-23, for it brings out Moses’ cosy relationship with God in preparation for what follows. Here we learn of the kind of conversation he would have with Yahweh, and under what circumstances. It is possible that this Tent was at this stage pitched near Sinai, for it was apparently in a rocky place (verses 21-22).

We may analyse this passage as follows:

• a Moses used to pitch the Tent outside the camp. It was called the Tent of Meeting (7a).
• b Everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting which was outside the camp (7b).
• c When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise up and stand every man at his tent entrance and look after Moses until he had gone into the Tent (8).
• d When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the Tent, and Yahweh would speak with Moses (9).
• c And all the people would see the pillar of cloud stand at the entrance flap of the Tent, and all the people would rise up and worship, every man at his tent entrance (10).
• b And there Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (11a).
• a And when he turned again into the camp his servant Joshua would remain at the Tent of Meeting and not leave it (11b).

We note that in ‘a’ Moses would pitch the Tent outside the camp, and in the parallel Joshua his servant would stay there and never leave it. In ‘b’ those who sought Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting, and in the parallel when Moses went out Yahweh would speak with him face to face as a man speaks to his friend. In ‘c’ when Moses went out to the Tent all the people would stand at their tent doors and watch until he had gone into the Tent, for they knew what would happen, and in the parallel when the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the entranceway to the Tent they would all rise up and worship in the doors of their tents. And central to all this was that when Moses entered the Tent the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the Tent and Yahweh would speak with Moses.

33.7 ‘Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp. And he called it, ‘The Tent of Meeting’. And it came about that everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting which was outside the camp.’

This Tent of Meeting had probably accompanied them from Egypt and was in Moses’ overall charge. Every time they stopped and erected their tents Moses would erect this Tent outside the camp, with Joshua as his deputy, acting as priest-guardian. It was clearly easily portable, unlike the later Dwellingplace which required an army of Levites. We do not know whether, when people went out to the Tent to meet with God, they entered the Tent or whether they prayed at the entrance to the Tent. The next verse probably suggests the former.

It is significant that the Tent was pitched outside the camp. It was clearly recognised that God’s holiness was such that the camp was no fit place for it. We need not doubt that it was pitched in what would be seen as a ‘clean’ place. Once, however, the people gained the status of God’s covenant people, His ‘holy nation’ (19.6), the Dwellingplace could be within the camp, although set off from the people and guarded by the Levites. Nevertheless this position explained why continual atonement was necessary with regard to it (such as the daily offerings and the annual Day of Atonement).

33.8 ‘And it came about that, when Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent entrance and looked after Moses until he had gone into the Tent.’

The point here is that when Moses went out to the Tent all knew that unusual things happened. When therefore news reached them that Moses was going out to the Tent, which he may have done at regular times, they would go to the entrances of their own tents and watch. Moses would then enter the Tent. This suggests that this in fact was the way in which it was used.

33.9-11a ‘And it came about that when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the Tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the entrance flap of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent entrance. And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.’

The result of Moses’ entry into the Tent was that the pillar of cloud which accompanied Israel would descend on the entrance to the Tent, and this would produce awe and worship in the people, and they would bow themselves down and watch and wait. Then Yahweh would speak with Moses as friend to friend.

This seemingly never happened to anyone else. Others He heard from afar off, but Moses He met as a friend. This made it clear to people that Moses truly had a special relationship with God.

33.11b ‘And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the Tent.’

Once Moses had finished speaking with God he would return to the camp, and presumably the cloud then returned to its watch over the camp. But now we learn another piece of valuable information. It would seem that Moses’ high-servant Joshua lived in the Tent and never left it. He would thus presumably hear all that went on between Moses and Yahweh, and possibly was also there to help the people when they sought God. We must probably see that he acted as a kind of priest, or at the least a steward.

Moses Wrestles With Yahweh About His Decision Not To Go With Them (33.12-17).

The general fact about Moses’ relationship with God having been made clear, Moses now comes to Yahweh to plead for a reversal of His decision not to go with them in person any more. All hope rests in this friend of God. We may assume that this conversation takes place at one of Moses’ visits to the Tent of Meeting. It is because we know that Yahweh speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can fully appreciate this conversation between two friends. Had we not known that, what follows would lose a lot of its power.

We may analyse the passage as follows:

• a Moses complains that although Yahweh has told him to take His people up from this place He has not told him who will go with him (all he has been told is that it will be an anonymous angel). Yet Yahweh claims to know his name and that he has found grace in Yahweh’s sight (12).
• b He asks therefore that if this be true Yahweh will now show him His ways so that he may know Yahweh in return, and still find grace in His sight, and that Yahweh will consider the fact that this nation are His people (13).
• c Yahweh says, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (14).
• c Moses declares, “If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up to that place” (15).
• b For how will it be known that he and Yahweh’s people have found grace in His sight except by His going with them so that they are separated, he and Yahweh’s people, from all the nations that are on the face of the earth (16).
• a Yahweh says to Moses, “I will do this thing that you have said, for you have found grace in My sight and I know you by name” (17).

Note that in ‘a’ Moses’ complaint is that Yahweh claims to know his name and that he has found grace in Yahweh’s sight, but does not show him His ways, in the parallel Yahweh confirms that he has found grace in His sight and He does know him by name, and confirms that He will therefore do as he asks. In ‘b’ he asks that Yahweh will now show him His ways because he knows His name and has found grace in His sight, and asks Him to remember that these are His people, while in the parallel he claims that it will only be known that they have found grace in His sight by His going with them and thus proving that they are a specially separated people. In ‘c’ Yahweh promises that His presence will go with Moses, and in the parallel Moses counters that if it is not so he does not want to forward to the place ahead.

33.12-13 ‘And Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people’. And you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name and you have also found favour in my sight.’ Now therefore I pray you, if I have found favour in your sight, show me now your ways that I may know you, to the end that I may find favour in your sight. And consider that this nation is your people.” ’

Moses comes again in intercession for his people. He points out to God that He has told him to bring this people to Canaan. And yet all He has promised is the accompaniment of an anonymous angel. Why will He not send the original angel in whom was Yahweh’s name? (23.21). He is indicating that this failure does not seem to fall in line with His statement that He knows Moses by name (that is, intimately knows him, knows him as a friend) and that Moses has found favour in His sight. He feels he is being given a raw deal.

So he argues that if he really has found favour in His sight then let Yahweh show it by showing him the full facts about what His ways are going to be so that he may really know Him as He is, and what His plans are. Then he will truly know that he has found favour in His sight.

Without the knowledge gained in verse 11 especially, these words would not have sounded right. It is only because we know that God speaks with Moses as a man speaks with his friend that we can appreciate how he could speak to God like this so obstinately. What he is asking God to do is lay all the facts on the table. Then he adds a postscript.

‘And consider that this nation is your people.’ Suddenly all is light. What Moses really wants is for Yahweh to rescind His statement that He would no longer go with them. He has put it in a roundabout way, but that is at the bottom of it. Yahweh’s response to His friend is immediate.

33.14 “My presence shall go (with you), and I will give you (singular) rest.”

Yahweh relents for what He has previously said and promises His friend that He will still go with him, and that He will certainly bring him into the promised rest. Whatever the people have done, and whatever happens to them, He will not fail to keep His promise to, and show favour to, His friend. So Moses’ future is secure. But Moses is not satisfied with that. If the people are not to go up with him he really does not want to go.

33.15-16 ‘And he said to him, “If you presence does not go with us, do not carry us up hence. For in what way will it now be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people. Is it not in that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth?” ’

Notice how Moses insists on linking himself with his people, those even who had recently planned to do away with him. If God will show favour to him He must also do so to his people. For he is bound to them as one. Indeed Moses makes it clear that if God will not go with them in person, and do so faithfully to the end, then he does not want to go up. For it is only by God going with them all the way that the world will know that they are a people separated to Yahweh and that He has really shown favour to Moses. (compare 15.16; 19.5). It is only by this that Moses will be vindicated. For then the world will know that they are His holy nation (19.6). And if they are not to be known as that then his going up and their going up is a waste of time. Moses realised, if the people did not, the huge privilege that was theirs in being God’s ‘separated ones’, with Yahweh Himself as their companion. And he refused to consider any other possibility.

The cheek and nerve of Moses in making these statements gains its significance from the fact that Moses is God’s special friend. That is why he can be obstinate to the end. God had originally called him to deliver this people and lead them into the promised land (3.7-8, 16-17), and this he intended to do. If he could not there was no deal. And yet he is also submissive. He remembers Whom he is speaking to. He uses persuasion, not arrogance.

33.17 ‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken. For you have found favour in my sight and I do know you by name.” ’

Yahweh agrees to all Moses’ requests, and points out that He does so precisely because Moses has found favour in His sight and because Yahweh does know him as a friend, by name. He is God’s servant in whom He delights (a type of one yet to come - Isaiah 42.1).

Moses Requests To See Yahweh’s Glory -And Does So In The Only Way That Is Possible Even To Him (33.18-23).

Now Moses is emboldened. He has been privileged to see Yahweh more fully than any human being since Adam. He has seen Him along with the elders of Israel (24.10). He has been with Him on the Mount in personal session. He has seen Him in the pillar of cloud at the Tent of Meeting. But always He has been partly hidden. Now he begs, as His friend, that he may see His full glory.

To speak of ‘contradiction’ when speaking of seeing God is not to appreciate the great problem of what it means to see God. There are many levels of seeing God, from seeing him in the heart, through seeing Him in the cloud, through seeing Him as fire, through seeing His splendour like the splendour of the sun, up to the ultimate of a vision so brilliant that a man expires at the sight (1 Timothy 6.16).

But as Yahweh explains, Moses does not know what he asks. To fully see Yahweh’s ‘face’ could only be disaster for him, for he would immediately expire. No human flesh could bear the sight. But He promises him that he will see the hinder part of His glory. That is something he may survive. By this Moses probably saw more of Yahweh’s glory than any before or since, until the greater Moses came (Deuteronomy 18.18).

We may analyse this passage as follows:

• a Moses asks to have Yahweh’s glory shown to him by Yahweh (18).
• b Yahweh replies, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” (19).
• c Yahweh tells Moses that he cannot see Yahweh’s face and live. For man shall not see Him and live (20).
• b Yahweh tells him that there is a place by Him, and Moses will stand on the rock, and it shall come about that while His glory passes by He will put Moses in the cleft of a rock, and will cover him with my hand until He has passed by.
• a Then He will take away His hand, and Moses will see His hinder part (literally ‘back’), but His face will not be seen (21).

We note that in ‘a’ Moses asks to see Yahweh’s glory, and in the parallel he will see the back part of His glory. In ‘b’ Yahweh promises to make His ‘goodness’ and the proclamation of His name pass before him, and in the parallel He explains that His glory will pass by him. And ‘c’ is central in stressing the central truth that no one can see Him in His full glory and live.

33.18 ‘And he said, “Show me, I pray you, your glory.”

Moses had seen much of the glory of Yahweh, although only as partial revelation, but it has filled him with a yearning to see more. If Yahweh is his friend let Him show him His glory. Let him be privileged as no man has ever been.

33.19-20 ‘And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” And he said, “You cannot see my face and live. For man shall not see me and live.”’

God’s reply is that He will show Moses all that it is possible for him to see without expiring. He will show him His goodness and beauty. He will show Him all that His name means of grace and power, of love and friendship, proclaiming His name and very nature to His friend. He will show him His graciousness as revealed through His sovereign activity. He will show him the fullness of His compassion and mercy. But He cannot show him His face. That would be no kindness. That would reveal no friendship. For none can see Him full face and live. Notice how the description of His glory is so widely embracing. It is not just sheer light. it is aesthetic beauty, it is moral purity, it is glory of being, it is compassion and favour, it is mercy and love, it is all these and more.

‘I will make all my goodness pass before you.’ He will be permitted a sight of the sheer goodness and beauty of God, an awareness of His holiness and of His moral glory, the full beatific vision.

‘And I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you.’ To know someone’s name was to know him fully. And Moses will know His name as proclaimed by Yahweh Himself. And when Yahweh speaks all is clear. He will have a full revelation of what Yahweh’s name means, of what He is. He will appreciate the very nature of God (see 34.5).

‘I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’ These further promises link with the proclamation of His Name. His being gracious and showing mercy will be part of the proclamation of His name. Moses will be made aware of His sovereign power as it is revealed in the exercise of His graciousness and mercy, His all encompassing grace and mercy, that which He bestows on His chosen. He will through it recognise and be aware of the supremacy of Yahweh as the ultimate in sovereign graciousness and mercy. He will see His action in coming days showing abundant, sovereign graciousness and mercy to many, yes, to the thousands whom He will choose (34.7). All that a man can see of this he will see (see 34.6). He will know His name.

All this is Moses to know and experience, not necessarily all at once, but gradually as he is able to take it in. (See for example 34.5-7). For knowledge of God takes a long time to absorb. But there is a physical limit to what even he can know.

“You cannot see my face and live. For man shall not see me and live.” But see His full face, His full glory he cannot. For no one can see it and live.

So do we learn about the full favour to be shown to Moses, and the extent beyond which it cannot go for his own safety. And we also learn that the glory that one day we shall see in His presence is beyond telling and beyond physical endurance.

33.21-23 ‘And Yahweh said, “Look there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock, and it shall come about that while my glory passes by I will put you in the cleft of a rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by, and I will take away my hand, and you will see my hinder part (literally ‘back’), but my face shall not be seen.”’

If Yahweh is speaking from the cloud outside the Tent of Meeting it is clearly pitched near a rocky place. And Yahweh directs him to come there and stand on a rock, necessarily out of sight of the camp. Then when His glory begins to pass by He will put Moses in a cleft of the rock and cover him with His hand. For no earthly protection will be sufficient. Such is His glory that only the divine hand can prevent it from blasting him where he stands. Then will the full glory of Yahweh be revealed, and once it is safe He will remove His hand and Moses will see the aftermath, as much as a man can bear. But he will not be able to see His full glory. He will only be able to imagine what it must have been from what he does see.

The Covenant Re-Established (34.1-27).

We can analyse this passage as follows:

• a The call by Yahweh to Moses to hew two tablets and be ready to come up into the mountain and present himself on the top of the mountain where Yahweh will ‘write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets’ (1-3).
• b Moses’ obedience to His command (4).
• c The Self-Proclamation of Yahweh as the One Who is merciful but does not clear the guilty (5-7).
• d The response of Moses to His proclamation which includes the thought that they are a stiffnecked people (8-9).
• e The fact that he is now renewing His covenant, accompanied by promises of the revelation of His power in achieving the success of His people (10).
• e The command to observe that covenant accompanied by a promise to drive out the Canaanites (11).
• d A warning against making any covenant with the Canaanites because of the awful consequences in idolatry and because Yahweh is named ‘Jealous’ and is a jealous God (12-16).
• c A covenant codicil containing ten ritual requirements as selected from chapters 20-23 (17-26).
• b Yahweh’s command to Moses to, “Write these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel” (27).
• a ‘Moses is with Yahweh in the mount for forty days and forty nights, and neither eats bread nor drinks water. ‘And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words’ (28).

We note here in ‘a’ Yahweh’s promise that He will write on the tablets the words of the previous covenant, and in the parallel the fulfilment of the promise. In ‘b’ we have the description of Moses’ preparation of the tablets and in the parallel the commandment to write on them the covenant. Note especially the parallel of the words in italics confirming that it was Yahweh Who wrote the words of the covenant, and it is specifically said that they were the same words as written previously. In ‘c’ Yahweh’s self-proclamation is paralleled by the ritual response required by His people. In ‘d’ Moses’ response of penitence and admission that Israel are a stiffnecked people is paralleled by the warning not to make any covenant with the Canaanites lest they provoke Him to jealousy. In ‘e’ the renewing of the covenant is accompanied by an exhortation to observe that covenant.

Moses Prepares Two Tablets of Stone For The Re-establishment of The Covenant And Goes Up To Meet God (34.1-4).

34.1-3 ‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke. And be ready by the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to me there on the top of the Mount. And no man shall come up with you, nor let any man be seen throughout the mount. Nor let the flocks nor the herds feed before that mount.”

The first tablets had been fashioned by God (32.16; 24.12; 31.18). Now it was Moses who was to fashion the tablets. This in fact would bring out the part that Moses now played in the covenant. Previously the covenant had come from Yahweh directly to the people (20.1-18). It was all of God, for they were His people. Now it comes through the mediation and intercession of Moses. They owe to him (as we have seen) the fact that they can once more enter the covenant.

But it will still be written by God. And it will still be the same covenant as before, now renewed by this act. We are not told what was written on the tablets, but two tablets written back and front must surely have contained more than the ten ‘words’, unless they were written in very large letters. (Otherwise why not make the tablets smaller. For assuming that they followed the pattern of the previous tablets they were large enough to be able to be thrown down and smashed). But we are told that the ten words, the basis of the covenant, were the essential basis of what was written (verse 28; Deuteronomy 10.4).

‘Be ready by the morning.’ It would take Moses some time to fashion the tablets suitably, so he was given until the next day. But then he was to make suitable preparations, after which he was to present himself alone to Yahweh on top of the mountain.

But first he must give instructions that no one else enter the mountain, and that no cattle or flocks even come near the mountain. This was an extension of the provisions in 19.21-24. It was clear that some extraordinary appearance of Yahweh was to take place.

34.4 ‘And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.’

Moses did strictly as Yahweh had commanded him. He hewed two tablets of stone similar to the first. He also made a wooden chest to contain the tablets when he brought them back (Deuteronomy 10.1-5). But he did not take this with him. It was left in the camp to receive the tablets when he got back, probably in the Tent of Meeting. (Alternately that may have been a brief description of the Ark of the covenant, in which case it would be made later). They would be a reminder to the people that he was returning and that this time he would come with a confirmed covenant that stood firm.

Then next morning he rose early and went up Mount Sinai alone as Yahweh had commanded him. And with him he took the two empty tablets of stone.

Yahweh Makes A Proclamation Concerning Himself To His People’s Representative (34.5-7).

34.5 ‘And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.’

As ever Yahweh is surrounded by cloud. The previous chapter has brought home why this was so as never before. His glory must be hidden or it would devastate whoever saw it. And He stood there with Moses. Here again He had come to speak with His friend. ‘He stood with him there’.

‘And proclaimed the name of Yahweh.’ Compare 33.19. Thus all the glory of the previous appearance is manifested, although shielded by the cloud. He declared Who He was, He revealed What He is. The proclamation was mainly by a manifestation of Himself in the heart of Moses, a bringing home to him something of His very being.

To know someone’s name was to know him fully. Moses came to know ‘His name’ as proclaimed by Yahweh Himself. He received a full revelation of what Yahweh’s name meant, of what He is. He was enabled to appreciate the very nature of God . (We may compare the idea here with the revealing work of the Holy Spirit, only active in those who are His - 1 Corinthians 2.9-16).

34.6-7 ‘And Yahweh passed before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God full of compassion, and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

‘And Yahweh passed before him.’ We cannot even begin to appreciate what Moses experienced here (compare 33.22). His whole being was taken up with God. And then Yahweh proclaimed Himself in His fullness.

We read the proclamation, Moses experienced the full reality of the proclamation, for it was not only communicated in words, it was communicated in spirit. As he stood there in awe the glory and holiness and love of Yahweh swept through him, suffusing his whole being. Words cannot even begin to describe what he must have experienced.

Note the order of the words. Compassion and graciousness, covenant love and truth, come first. Mercy and forgiveness are of the very being and essence of God. And yet the corollary of this must be the awful judgment for those who fail to respond to that mercy and forgiveness. He will by no means clear men who do not respond. Here Yahweh reveals the future for mankind. His offer will come to them, His compassion will reach out to them, but in the end only those who respond from the heart will experience His covenant faithfulness. Those who reject it will be condemned.

“Yahweh, Yahweh.” The duality is the duality of witness. This was a full manifestation of Yahweh witnessed in the very innermost being of Moses. As the words were spoken they would illuminate Moses’ heart and mind. This is a unique ascription to God. Yah Yahweh, while coming close, is not quite comparable with it (Isaiah 12.2).

‘A God full of compassion, and gracious.’ This is part of His essential being, tender of heart, compassionate of spirit, and self-giving even to the unworthy. No words can really express it. If we add together all the compassion revealed by all the most compassionate of men throughout all history we only come up with a pale reflection of it. John later puts it simply in the terms ‘God is love’ (1 John 4.7-8). But there as here he has to temper it with ‘God is light’ (1 John 1.5). For in Him there is no darkness at all. It proclaims to us all that God wants to forgive and be forgiving. But He can only be so to those who will receive forgiveness.

‘Slow to anger, and plenteous in covenant love and truth.’ The positive note continues, but with a slight hint of warning. He is slow to anger, anger is contrary to all that He wants to be, (but the hint is that angry He will be in the end towards the continually stubborn heart). He is plenteous in covenant love and truth. ‘Plenteous’ indicates an abundant supply. There is no stinting of His love to those within His covenant (chesed indicates Scripturally love within the covenant). There is no stinting of His trueness and faithfulness. But again it can only be in truth. Truth is essential to knowing God. ‘What is truth?’ asked Pilate, failing to recognise that the Truth stood before him. Only those who desire the truth can enjoy fully what He is.

‘Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.’ There is no limit to His desire to show mercy and forgive. ‘Thousands’ is broad in its significance, it indicates a countless multitude, which no man can number (Revelation 7.9). His mercy is preserved for all of them. He wants to forgive, He longs to forgive, and there is no limit to what He will forgive. The threefold ‘iniquity and transgression and sin’ indicates the totality of sin, sin in all its forms. The One Who was all compassion declared, ‘Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men’, but the caveat was that those who finally failed to respond, those who hardened themselves against the work of the Spirit, would remain unforgiven (Matthew 12.31). Hell is full of ungrateful, unresponsive people. For ‘He will by no means clear those who fail to respond’.

‘And who will by no means clear the guilty (leave unpunished, exempt from punishment), visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Again in the midst of the light the dark side has to be revealed. He does not automatically clear men. There is no automatic forgiveness. Forgiveness is offered all of His grace but it has to be received and accepted. For those who will not turn to Him and receive that forgiveness the awful power of iniquity will continue on through the generations. Man’s failure to respond to God affects not only himself but also his progeny.

So Yahweh reveals more of His glory to Moses as He had promised, but in what He reveals He makes clear that with the renewing of the covenant He has also forgiven His people for their major lapse. That is the clear implication of His words. But within them is included the warning that if they fail to take advantage of His forgiveness worse will follow.

The Response of Moses On Behalf Of Himself and The People (34.8-9).

34.8-9 ‘And Moses reacted with great haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped. And he said, “If now I have found favour in your sight, O sovereign Lord, let the Lord, I pray you, go in our midst. For it is a stiffnecked people. And pardon our iniquity, and our sin. and take us for your inheritance.”

This new revelation affects Moses deeply. ‘With great haste’ because he is so moved he bows down to the earth and worships. But he recognises from the revelation that Yahweh has made that He has declared Himself a forgiving God, and under their present circumstances that must specifically refer to the children of Israel. So he once again seeks confirmation that Yahweh will go up in their midst. It is true that they are a stiffnecked people, perverse, obstinate, slow in response, but he asks for full pardon for all they have done and that Yahweh will again take them as His inheritance (see 15.16; 19.5).

It is important to note that although Moses is God’s friend, he does not take advantage of that fact to presume. No one is more aware than he how deeply Israel has sinned. He is finding it difficult to accept that they are truly forgiven. He has cause to know what a stiffnecked people they are. This is why God’s revelation has come in this form, because God is aware of his problem. But at last he is coming to terms with it, and is willing to accept that it really is true. It seems that they really can begin again. So for the final time he seeks assurance that all really is well, that their sovereign Lord really will go up amongst them, that He really is pardoning their sin, that He really will again make them His inheritance. It has taken time to be able to accept it but after this wonderful display of the heart of God he can no longer be in doubt.

We may feel that he had had more than enough assurance (33.14, 17), but we do not have Moses’ awareness of the holiness of God, and we were not there to see the depths and degradation of their sin. He had no doubt accepted Yahweh’s word, but it was only now that the niggle in his heart was able to subside. Many of us do understand his position. We too have in the past sinned in such a way that we found it hard to accept forgiveness. Not that we did not seek it. Not that we did not believe that God would do it. But we were so conscious of the awfulness of our sin that it took time to accept forgiveness fully. And though far above us in stature, he was a man of like passions as we are.

Yahweh Confirms That He Is Renewing The Covenant (34.10).

God replies by confirming the covenant and guaranteeing the receipt of the inheritance. He does not need to repeat the ten words. He has already confirmed that they will be written on the new tablets that Moses has brought (34.1). Instead He guarantees the fulfilment of the covenant in practical terms by promising the manifestation of His power and that He will do wonders on their behalf.

The fact that these marvels are to be ‘created’ stresses that they will be of Yahweh. He alone is the Creator. The verb for ‘create’ is never used unless Yahweh is involved. He will create marvels such as the world has never known, and no nation has ever experienced. In view of what He did in Egypt these are strong words. What He will do with His people will be awesome and terrible, even more terrible than He did in Egypt (compare Deuteronomy 10.21; Psalm 106.22). That He did do marvels we know, using extraordinary natural events to assist His people (e.g. Joshua 3.13; 6.20; 10.11-14; Judges 5.19-22). What He would have done had they been faithful and obedient and entered the land when He said is beyond our imagination.

34.10 ‘And he said, “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth, nor in any nation. And all the people among whom you are will see the work of Yahweh, for it will be a terrible thing that I will do with you.” ’

This is the promise that He is renewing the covenant, and that He is going to do wonders on their behalf which will manifest how terrible He is. Kings at the time constantly sought to establish to their people how terrible they were to rebels and to their enemies. In the same way the nations, with all their debased religion, among whom they are, will see what Yahweh will do, and will be filled with awe.

The Command to Observe That Covenant Accompanied by a Promise to Drive Out the Canaanites (34.11).

34.11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold I will drive out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”

Israel are to take care that they observe all that Yahweh has commanded them. This renewal of His promise to drive out the Canaanites is an assurance that their previous failure has been forgiven. But they must beware that it does not happen again.

The names of the nations to be driven out are the same as those mentioned regularly prior to this, but not in the same order. It is not a stereotyped list. Compare Exodus 3.8, 17; 23.23; Deuteronomy 20.17. Six is twice three indicating intensified completeness. In Exodus 13.5 five nations are mentioned. The Perizzites are lacking. This was probably because being in Egypt at the time Moses has in mind that in Egypt five was the number of completeness. In Deuteronomy 7.1 seven nations are mentioned, something which is accentuated. Seven is the number of divine completeness.

A Warning Against Making Any Covenant With the Canaanites And The Need To Destroy Their Idols Because of the Awful Consequences of Idolatry and Because Yahweh is Named ‘Jealous’ and Is A Jealous God (34.12-16).

34.12-14 “Take heed to yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you. But you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you will cut down their Asherah images, because you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

Conscious of their predilections and how they have failed in the past the main command here is that they should not to enter into covenant relationship with any in the land as depicted by the six previously mentioned groups, that is with Canaanites in the wider sense, those who follow Baalism. The alternative to making a covenant with them is to destroy or displace them, and this is emphasised by the command to destroy their gods, which no nation would allow unless utterly defeated. It should be noted that the command about gods here is a negative one even if it has a positive reason. It is not a direct command not to worship other gods, but a command to destroy them when they conquer the land because they are to worship none but Yahweh, and because they could be a snare to them. The picture of idolatry and sin as a subtle snare is common in Scripture.

Note the emphasis on how surely they must avoid idolatry by vigorously destroying all trace of it. They are to destroy their altars, dash in pieces the pillars that represent Baal, and cut down their wooden Asherah images. It is not enough to turn from sin. They must destroy all traces of it. We see here a forceful explanation and wise guidance concerning their practical and ritual behaviour once they enter the land.

34.15-16 “Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice. And you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make your sons go a-whoring after their gods.”

The theme continues. God’s concern is that they might make treaties with the inhabitants of the land so that they become neighbours, and then get caught up in their idolatry, either by eating of their sacrifices, and thus participating in their orgies, or by the sons of Israelites marrying Canaanite women and being caught up in their idolatrous and sexually perverted practises (which is precisely what did happen). The only way they can remain pure is by driving the idolaters from the land.

‘Go a-whoring.’ The Canaanite religion was debased and encouraged sexual impropriety. But the words also contain the thought of being unfaithful to the One to Whom they should be looking. To seek other gods was to behave like a whore.

There is nothing in all this that can be thought of as one or more ‘ten words’ or be compared with ‘the ten words’ spoken of implicitly in 34.1, 28. This is a command not to fraternise with the Canaanites nor to allow them to remain in the land, not a commandment or commandments with universal significance.

A Covenant Codicil Containing Ten Ritual Requirements Which Will Confirm Their Faithfulness to Their Overlord As Selected from Chapters 20-23 (17-26).

In counteracting the temptation to idolatry Yahweh now pronounces what are seemingly ten reminders of what His ritual requirements concerning Himself in the Book of the Covenant (20.1-23.33) were. The thought is that temptation is best fought by positive action rather than simply by rejection of the sin. The one who is busy about the Lord’s work will not have the time to be busy with sin.

Ten was a regular number used for lists, although the number word is not mentioned. Compare the ten Patriarchs in Genesis 5 and in Genesis 11 (paralleled elsewhere in lists). The ten plagues in Egypt. The ten ‘words’ in Exodus 20. It will be noted that apart from the first, the eighth and the tenth statements they are all ritual requirements, and that the first and last form an inclusio referring to idolatry.

But it must be admitted that the numbering of the instructions as ten may simply be due to the commentator, for the eighth may in fact be a continuation of the seventh (it is negative), which then means that we have only nine in the list, whilst the same may be true of the third which may be a continuation of the second (note that it is not a positive command). Verse 13 may also need to be included among the commands. Thus it may well be argued that we do not have ten.

• a 1). “You shall make yourself no molten gods.”
• b 2). “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib. For in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.”
• c 3). “All that opens the womb is mine, and all your cattle which are male, the firstlings of ox and sheep. And the firstling of an ass you will redeem with a lamb, and if you will not redeem it then you shall break its neck.
• d 4). “All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, and none shall appear before me empty.”
• e 5). “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In ploughing time and in harvest you shall rest.”
• e 6). “And you shall observe the feast of sevens, even of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year end.”
• d 7). “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. Nor will any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in the year.”
• c 8). “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with unleavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.”
• b 9). “The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God.
• a 10). You shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”

Note the parallels. In ‘a’ the making of molten images is forbidden, and in the parallel pagan practises with regard to idolatry are forbidden. In ‘b’ the command is to keep the feast of unleavened bread and in the parallel the bringing of the first of the firstfruits to Yahweh is commanded. It was on the first day of unleavened bread that a sheaf of the firstfruits was presented before Yahweh (Leviticus 23.10-11), ‘the first of the firstfruits’, a symbol of all the firsfruits offered to Him. In ‘c’ all beasts that opened the womb were to be offered to Yahweh as an offering, (without having been tainted by work), and in the parallel the blood of sacrifices was not to be offered with unleavened bread, nor was the feast of the Passover to be left until the morning. The holiness of all must be preserved. The offering of firstlings was closely connected with Passover (13.1), as was unleavened bread. We note also that these are the only two instructions which are not positive commands. In ‘d’ the firstborn of sons had to be redeemed, and no one was to appear before Yahweh empty. In the parallel all males were to appear before Yahweh three times a year. In ‘e’ they must work for six days and rest in the seventh day in both ploughing time and harvest, and in the parallel they must observe the feast of sevens, even of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year end, the former a rest day and the latter including rest days, both connected with harvest.

It should be noted that these ritual requirements closely parallel those in chapters 20-23. The first one parallels 20.4. The second closely resembles 23.15. And the chiasmus there which includes it, and of which extracts are included below, confirms that chapter 23 is primary.

34.17 “You shall make yourself no molten gods.”

This stands as a direct command by itself and briefly parallels 20.4. Compare also Leviticus 19.4. It may, however, also be looked at as a tailpiece to the previous verses and has very much in mind the molten calf and the similar images they will find among the Canaanites. They are not to ape their previous sad behaviour with the molten calf (32.8) when they arrive in the land, by making Baal-like images.

Having hopefully saved them from Canaanite religion Yahweh now outlines rather the positive things they should do, and there now follow a number of provisions whereby they will reveal themselves as true to Yahweh, and truly His people. Compare for these 23.14-19. These involve keeping the feast of unleavened bread; offering to Yahweh all that opens the womb, i.e. the firstborn; keeping the Sabbath day; observing the feast of weeks; the threefold appearance before Yahweh in order to maintain tribal unity; not to offer leavened bread with their sacrifices; not to leave anything of the feast of Passover until the morning; the requirement that they bring the firstfruits of their harvests to the house of Yahweh their God; and the command to avoid the magical practise of seething a kid in its mother’s milk. Most of these have been dealt with previously and simply sum up the things that reveal a good Israelite. Some are almost exact repetitions of what is in the Book of the Covenant (23.14-19). Yahweh is therefore indicating that He now looks on them as good Israelites again.

34.18 “You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib. For in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.”

Compare for this 12.15-20; 23.15. Here also it is linked with the deliverance from Egypt. The unleavened bread would remind them of the haste with which they left Egypt because Yahweh was delivering them. It may well have been a regular feast before that, but in Egypt its significance had been changed. (The observing of the Passover is spoken of later, verse 25).

34.19-20a “All that opens the womb is mine, and all your cattle which are male, the firstlings of ox and sheep. And the firstling of an ass you will redeem with a lamb, and if you will not redeem it then you shall break its neck.”

Compare here 13.2, 12-13 from which this command is constructed (although it is not strictly a command. It may well be that this is simply to be appended to 2).), especially as in 23.15 the final phrase is linked with the feast of unleavened bread above. Thus all firstborns must be either offered to Yahweh sacrificially, ransomed, or have their necks broken if unclean. Usually an ass would be worth more than a lamb, and would thus be redeemed, but there would be cases where the ass was deformed or otherwise not valuable, then the alternative would be to break its neck. It could not be sacrificed because it was ‘unclean’. See for the whole 13.2, 12-13; 22.29-30.

34.20b “All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, and none shall appear before me empty.”

The male firstborn of humans must be redeemed. This was a specific requirement. There must be no child sacrifice among the Israelites. They required redeeming because Yahweh had spared them in the night of judgment at the Passover. They therefore especially belonged to Him.

‘None shall appear before me empty.’ This distinctive phrase is all embracing. See 23.15 where it comes after describing the feast of unleavened bread and Deuteronomy 16.16 where it follows mention of the three feasts. It is either a promise that such will be the fruitfulness of the land that ‘emptiness’ will be unknown, or an injunction to ensure that they bring their gifts to Yahweh. Here then it is either again a promise of many lambs and kids or a reminder that they must not come with empty hands. Their loyalty to Yahweh must be constantly demonstrated in gratitude for provision made.

34.21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In ploughing time and in harvest you shall rest.”

The newly founded Sabbath must be observed, even when it was ploughing time or harvest. Nothing must prevent the Sabbath rest which is for all. Even the most urgent of tasks must not interfere with it, the exception being in order to deal with their beasts daily needs. See 20.8-11; 23.12; 35.2-3. It was a specific sign that they were Yahweh’s (31.13).

34.22 “And you shall observe the feast of sevens, even of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year end.”

These two feasts are mentioned together, in order to prepare, along with the feast of unleavened bread, for the next verse. See also 23.16 where both feasts are spoken of together. Both are harvest festivals, one for wheat and the other for vintage. As a competent leader Moses would have made himself aware of what weather conditions were like in Canaan, and what harvests there were, and God obviously knew.

‘The year end.’ That is, looking from the point of view of the farmer who would see the final harvest as the end of his agricultural year as the ‘year end’ agriculturally, after which all must begin again with the coming rains. Or it may signify that the yearly round of three feasts is over. Or indeed both. Israel had been told that they must officially observe the festal year commencing with Abib (Nisan), the time of the Passover (12.2). But all farmers would also see their agricultural year as naturally ending at the vintage harvest. There were no calendars on the walls or methods of enforcing calendars in those days. Agriculturally vintage was the ‘year end’. That later this was so is evidenced by what was possibly a schoolboys’ tablet of about 10th century BC discovered at Gezer which outlines an agricultural calendar.

34.23-24 “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel. For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders. Nor will any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in the year.”

Compare 23.17. The three feasts were to be times when all Israelite adult males came together to renew covenant, to worship together, and to hear the reading of parts of the Law. This was what would keep them united and keep Yahweh’s requirements before them. And there major intertribal decisions would then be reached. It would be necessary because once they were in the land they would be spread wide. God would enlarge their borders.

The assurance was also given that when they were engaged in these festivals Yahweh would ensure that no one from outside would look with ‘desire’ on their land and invade it (compare Proverbs 16.7). This promise is made uniquely here.

34.25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with unleavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.”

This is the only negative command in the list, and it may therefore be that it should be seen as a continuation of verses 23-24. For this instruction compare 23.18. ‘My sacrifice’ here is presumably referring to the Passover sacrifice, as the second clause suggests. The point behind it is that the Passover sacrifice must be offered without anything being added, and that therefore excludes offering with it a cereal offering of unleavened bread (compare Leviticus 2.4-10), or the unleavened bread which was a part of the seven day feast which followed Passover. It must be offered on its own. It stood uniquely as a reminder of the deliverance of the firstborn (compare verse 19, the connection is made in the chiasmus). All leavened bread will have been removed from their houses prior to that feast so that it is not saying that it can be offered with leavened bread. The offering of leavened bread was forbidden altogether (Leviticus 2.11-12) apart from with peace offerings (Leviticus 7.13). It suggests that He saw the Passover sacrifices as a special and unique bond between Him and His people, not to be intermingled with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was the prime reminder of the great deliverance on which His covenant was based. Both the blood of that sacrifice and the remnants after feasting were especially holy to Yahweh. But there is also here a parallel with verse 19 (see analysis), which also refers to offerings, and originated at the time of the Passover.

34.26a “The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of Yahweh your God.”

Compare 23.19a. The first of the firstfruits probably refers to the sheaf of the firstfruits brought to Yahweh on the first day of unleavened bread. But it may mean, and certainly symbolises, the choicest of the firstfruits or literally what ripens first. The point was that Yahweh would receive His portion before His people received theirs as an acknowledgement that what they received came from Him and belonged to Him. The firstfruits that grew were to be dedicated to Yahweh and would, in fact, be available to the priests. These were to be tokens of their gratitude for His provision. ‘The house of your God’ refers to the Dwellingplace. Wherever God revealed Himself could be called ‘the house of God’ (Genesis 28.17), for it meant a dwelling-place, where God had revealed Himself. Here it therefore meant the place where God was approached, the Tent of Meeting and later the Dwellingplace (Tabernacle).

34.26 b “You shall not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk.”

Compare 23.19b. Elsewhere among the nations kids were quite possibly boiled in their mother’s milk so that the resulting magical mixture could be sprinkled on the fields hoping to produce fertility. This has been claimed as witnessed to, for example, in The Birth of the Gods, a Ugaritic text, but it is probable that the text was misunderstood. It was a practise forbidden to Israel. The fact that it is paralleled here (see analysis) with not making a molten image, and is included in this list of ritual requirements would seem to confirm its idolatrous connections.

So all these provisions are extracted from earlier enactments and repeated so as to re-establish the covenant.

Completion Of Yahweh’s Intentions In Verses 1-4 (34.27-28).

34.27 ‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Write these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Moses is now told to write down the words spoken to him before Yahweh, as a symbol of the re-established covenant. ‘After the tenor of -’ looks back to a previous explanation, something that has been said or written previously (compare Genesis 43.7), again stressing that these are not original commandments.

34.28 ‘And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.’

Moses again remained in the mountain for over a moon period (compare 24.18), sustained solely by God. Going without food and water for so long a period was a recipe for disaster, but Moses came out from the experience unharmed. He may well have been in a state of suspended animation for a part of the time. Deuteronomy 9.9 tells us that this fasting also occurred on his first period in the Mount.

This is in contrast with the time when, with the elders, he had eaten and drunk before Yahweh (24.11). This was no joyous celebration or covenant giving sealed by a covenant meal, but a solemn reception of revelation from God.

‘And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words.’ The question here is, who is ‘he’. If we had been told nothing earlier we would read it as meaning Moses. But in Hebrew the antecedent can also refer to another who is mentioned as long as it is made clear in the context. And here it is made clear in the context. It is describing the fulfilment of verse 1 (see also Deuteronomy 10.2, 4 which are very specific). Thus we must refer it back to ‘with Yahweh’. It was Yahweh who wrote on the tablets the ‘ten words’ of the covenant, as He said He would in verse 1, and they were the same as those on the original tablets (verse 1). Moses was probably in a state of ecstasy, either watching the process or oblivious of it. (The verse must be interpreted in its present context, for that is the context in which it is found. Any previous theoretical context is irrelevant as we have no way of telling what the exact theoretical words were in that theoretical context).

The Glory of Yahweh Appears on the Face of Moses (34.29-35).

This passage may be analysed as follows:

• a When Moses comes down the mountain the skin of his face shines, although he is unaware of it (29).
• b When Aaron and the children of Israel were aware of it they were afraid to approach him (30).
• c Moses calls Aaron and the rulers to him and obediently they return to him and Moses spoke with them (31).
• d All the children of Israel come near and he gives them the commands that Yahweh has given him in Mount Sinai (32).
• d When he had finished speaking he put on a veil (33).
• c When Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out (34a).
• b Then he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what Yahweh had commanded (34b).
• a And the children of Israel then saw that the skin of his face shone, and he put the veil on his face until he again went in to speak with Yahweh (35).

In ‘a’ Moses coming down from the mountain and his face shining is paralleled by Moses’ face shining and going in to speak with Yahweh. In ‘b’ Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to approach him and in the parallel they have learned to bear it while he speaks to them what Yahweh has commanded. In ‘c’ Moses calls Aaron and the rulers to him so that he can speak with them, and they come despite the shining of the skin of his face, and in the parallel when he goes in to speak with Yahweh he takes off the veil so that his face is shining. Thus the two way communication takes place when he is unveiled and the skin of his face is shining. In’ d’ all the children of Israel approach to hear what Yahweh has commanded and hear him with unveiled face, but when he has finished he veils his face.

34.29 ‘And it came about that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the Mount, that Moses did not realise that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with him.’

Note the repeated ‘came down from the Mount’ which is typical of ancient writings. The repetition means that the hearers recognise the emphasis and go along with it. It was because he had been in the Mount with Yahweh that his skin shone. He was carrying in his hands the two Tablets of Testimony. But Moses was unaware of the fact that his face was shining with an unearthly glow.

Note also the use of pronouns. ‘His speaking with him,’ As in verse 28 we have to gather who is who from context. Was it as a result of God speaking with Moses, or of Moses speaking with God? Either is possible.

34.30 ‘And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to approach him.’

The shining of Moses’ face was such that even Aaron was reluctant to approach him. Nor would the children of Israel. There was too much of God about him. The distance that they stood back is shown by the fact that the verb ‘coming near’ is used of all Israel who could hardly all get very near.

34.31-32 ‘And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. And afterwards all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that Yahweh had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.’

But Moses would have none of it, and he called them to him. Whatever God’s purpose was in this it clearly included their facing up to this manifestation of His holiness as they received details of God’s command. Then Aaron and the tribal leaders took their courage in their hands and came to him, followed after a time by the whole of Israel. After that he gave them as commands all that Yahweh had said to him on the mountain. The unearthly glow on his face would bring home his words to them far better that any eloquence. The tablets he presumably deposited in the Tent of Meeting.

‘The rulers of the congregation (the gathering).’ Those who were leaders, the ‘elders’. The congregation was a name used to describe the Yahweh-worshipping host of Israel (12.3, 6, and often).

34.33 ‘And when Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil on his face.’

Once he had finished delivering Yahweh’s words he put a veil on his face, no doubt at the request of the people who could no longer stand the glory that they saw, which even then was but a pale reflected glory. Had they endured it and let it speak to their hearts what a difference it might have made. But the people grumbled when they thought that God was not watching over them, and again grumbled when He manifested His presence in such a way that it spoke to their hearts. Like many they preferred God at a distance, but not too great a distance.

34.34-35 ‘But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out, and he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses ,that the skin of Moses’ face shone. And Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.’

From then on when Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to talk with Yahweh he took the veil off, and when he came out he would deliver Yahweh’s message to the people unveiled. But then he would don the veil until he again went in to speak with Yahweh. Thus did Yahweh’s message always come over with the sense of Yahweh’s holiness and glory supporting it, emphasising its unique importance. We are not told at what point this manifestation ceased.

The Command Comes To Keep The Sabbath (35.1-3).

Whilst at first this command appears to be on its own and not connected with the context its positioning is in fact very important. For at last after the to-ing and fro-ing of the past days, work could begin on the Dwellingplace. The people were now firmly back as Yahweh’s people and in Yahweh’s favour, and they would show their gratitude accordingly. But they first needed to be reminded that with all their enthusiasm, and with all the sacredness of what they were about to do, the Sabbath rest must be maintained. No work was to be done on the Sabbath, even that of constructing the Dwellingplace, and no fire was to be kindled, even for the purpose of forging sacred things. The Sabbath must be kept sacrosanct.

The Necessity to Keep the Sabbath (35.1-3).

This can be analysed briefly as:

• The words which Yahweh has commanded are that work shall be done for six days (1-2a).
• The seventh is to be a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh (2b)
• Whoever does any work in it shall be put to death (2c).
• You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the sabbath day (3).

This can be seen as both a progression and a chiasmus. In ‘a’ work is to be done for six days so that in the parallel any one who makes a fire on the seventh day is in the wrong. In ‘b’ The seventh is a solemn rest so that in the parallel anyone who works on it will be put to death.

35.1-3 ‘And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, “These are the words which Yahweh has commanded, that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to Yahweh, whoever does any work in it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the sabbath day.” ’

The importance of the Sabbath day is again highlighted. Men should work for six days, but the Sabbath was a day of solemn rest. Whoever worked on it would be put to death, and this even included the making of a fire. Making a fire actually involved considerable labour, for unless some means of lighting it was to hand, such as a lighted torch, or burning coals, it had to be lit by twirling one stick in a depression on a board, or by rubbing two sticks together. This would include fires for cooking, for it would not be required for heating, and fires for forging what was required for the Dwellingplace. The former was already in principle forbidden (16.23). Thus work on the Dwellingplace must also not take place on the Sabbath.

The Work On Building The Dwellingplace Begins And Is Satisfactorily Completed In Accordance with Yahweh’s Command (35.4-38.31).

The preparations for the Dwellingplace and its furniture include gathering all the necessary materials, sewing material together, skilful workmanship and planning in order to make use of the available personnel, with the most skilful work being done by the experts.

It may be asked, why was it necessary for the details of the Dwellingplace and its contents to be repeated twice, firstly in the giving of the instructions (25 ff) and then in its actual construction? We may suggest the answer is as follows. Firstly there was a great emphasis on the need for all to be constructed exactly in accordance with the pattern shown to Moses in the Mount (25.9, 40; Numbers 8.4; Hebrews 8.5; 9.23). Thus it was necessary to demonstrate first, that the pattern was given by God, and then second that it was followed.

But why was the pattern so important? That brings us to the second reason. The double stress on the construction of the Dwellingplace was evidence of the importance of the lessons that could be drawn from it. It was a twofold witness. And there were two complementary reasons why the pattern was important, one was so as to ensure that no taint of false ideas entered into the Dwellingplace lest it fail to portray the truth about God as precisely as possible and thus lead Israel astray (how easily they were led astray at every opportunity), and second because it revealed heavenly truths that could be revealed in no other way (Hebrews 9.23).

To sum up but some of those truths; it revealed that they worshipped the invisible God; it revealed that He was their merciful King; it revealed that His light was constantly shed on them; it revealed that they were His people and that He would constantly feed them; it revealed that He could be approached and would offer mercy; it warned that He was holy and must not be approached lightly; it made clear that although He was there among them there was a huge difference between man and God, and between creation and its Creator; and it revealed that constantly sinful man needed constant atonement. These are equally lessons that we need to recognise today when many approach God too lightly and overlook His holiness. It is true that Christ has made for us a way into God’s presence more wonderful than the Dwellingplace, and that through Him we can approach Heaven itself, but let us not forget that that is because of the greatness of Who He is, the greatness of the sacrifice He offered, and the wonder of His intercession for us. It is not because we are less sinful, but because of Who He is and What He has done for us. And as we thus study the details of the Dwellingplace let us learn that we approach a holy God, which we can only do without fear because of the wonder of what Christ has done for us. Without Him we would shrivel up in God’s presence.

We may analyse this whole section as follows;

• a The gathering of the materials (35.4-29).
• b Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God, and he and Oholiab, the skilled overseers, are filled with wisdom and all manner of workmanship for the task (35.30-35).
• c The skilled overseers with the skilled men go about the work (36.1-4).
• d The generosity of the people is such that the collecting of materials has to cease (36.5-7).
• c The wisehearted make the curtains and frames, and the veil and screen (36.8-38).
• b Bezalel (no doubt with assistance from Oholiab and the skilled workmen) makes the furniture (37.1-38.20).
• a The sum of the gold, silver and brazen copper described (38.21-31).

Thus we note that in ‘a’ the materials are gathered, and in the parallel the precious metals used are described. In ‘b’ Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God for the task of making the furniture and in the parallel he ‘makes’ all the sacred furniture. In ‘c’ the ‘skilled overseers’ go about the work, and in the parallel the ‘wisehearted’ make the curtains and frames. And central to all in ‘d’ the people’s generosity overflows.

So the overall picture it that the materials are gathered, the overseers and skilled workmen are given wisdom by God and go about their work, the gifts overflow and become too many, the skilful workmen make the framework and curtains, and the skilful overseer the furniture, and the precious metals obtained and used are then assessed. But all this is given in detail because of the importance of the work and to enable all to see their part in it.

For us the message comes over how important are all aspects of the work of God. We must now look at the detail.

The Request For The Freewill Offerings of the People (35.4-29).

This passage can be analysed as:

• a Yahweh has commanded that they make a willing offering to Yahweh (4-5a)
• b List of requirements: precious metals, cloth, wood, oil and spices, jewels, and especially oil and spices and the stones for the ephod and the breastpouch (5b-9).
• c Every skilled (‘wise-hearted’) man among then was to come and make all that Yahweh has commanded - tent, ark, veil, table, lampstand, oil, incense altar, anointing oil, incense, screen, brazen altar, laver, hangings of the court, pegs, priestly garments (10-19).
• d All the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought Yahweh’s offering, for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man that offered an offering of gold to Yahweh. (20-22).
• d Every man, with whom was found bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and dolphin skins, brought them. Every one who offered an offering of silver and bonze brought Yahweh’s offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it (23-24).
• c And all the women who were skilled (‘wise-hearted’) span with their hands, and brought what they had spun, the bluey-violet, and the purpley-red, the scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in skilfulness spun the goats' hair.’ (25-26).
• b And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastpouch; and the spice, and the oil; for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense (27-28).
• a The children of Israel brought a freewill-offering to Yahweh; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring, for all the work which Yahweh had commanded to be made through Moses. (29).

Thus in ‘a’ the command came out for freewill offerings, and in the parallel freewill offerings are brought. In ‘b we are told what was required, and in the parallel what the rulers brought is listed. In ‘c’ the skilled men came and made what Yahweh commanded, while in the parallel it was the skilled women. In ‘d’ the details can be switched around as we like between the two. The point is that the people departed and then brought their gifts.

35.4-9 ‘And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh commanded, saying, “Take from among you an offering to Yahweh. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, Yahweh’s offering: gold, and silver, and bronze, and bluey violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and dolphin skins, and acacia wood, and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastpouch.’

Compare here 25.3-7 to which this is very similar. A list of requirements for constructing the Dwellingplace are given, and the people told to make their offering to Yahweh from a willing heart. God wants nothing that is not willingly given. But he who gives to God will not lose by it. It included the precious metals, the different dyed cloth and skins, the acacia wood, the oil and spices, and the jewels required for the ephod and breastpouch. For more detailed exposition see on 25.1-7.

The Skilled Workmen Are Called To Assist (35.10-19).

35.10-19 ‘And let every skilled (‘wise-hearted’) man among you come, and make all that Yahweh has commanded, the Dwellingplace, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the Ark, and its staves, the mercy-seat, and the Veil of the screen; the Table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the showbread; the Lampstand also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light; and the altar of incense, and its staves; and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense; and the screen for the door, at the door of the Dwellingplace; the altar of burnt-offering, with its grating of brass, it staves, and all its vessels; the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court; the pegs of the Dwellingplace, and the pegs of the court, and their cords; the finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron ‘the priest’, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office.’

The skilled craftsmen were to bring their skills freely and make the different furniture and components of the Dwellingplace which Yahweh had commanded. For details of these see on 25.10-28.43. Note that the order in which they are mentioned goes from the Holy of Holies to the outer court depending on the level of holiness. This order differs from that in 25-30 because the intention is different. There the aim was to present first the details of the means by which Yahweh approached His people, followed then by the means by which they approached Yahweh. Here it is in levels of holiness. We should note that in making this furniture they were not following their own likes and dislikes, but only concerned to do His will.

The People Bring Gifts In Abundance (35.20-29).

35.20-22 ‘And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and brought Yahweh’s offering, for the work of the Tent of Meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold; even every man that offered an offering of gold to Yahweh.’

When they heard Moses’ words the people went away, and stirred in heart and spirit, as many as were made willing brought their offerings to Yahweh of jewellery, and ornaments and gold. Note that it included men and women. They gladly sacrificed their ornaments and jewellery. Many of them, of course, they had earlier abandoned at Yahweh’s command (33.5-6). But none of the people were left out and we may be sure that Yahweh noticed each contribution as He did the contribution of the widow woman in the Temple in the time of Jesus (Mark 12.42-43).

35.23-26 ‘And every man, with whom was found bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and dolphin skins, brought them. Every one who offered an offering of silver and bonze brought Yahweh’s offering; and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were skilled (‘wise-hearted’) span with their hands, and brought what they had spun, the bluey-violet, and the purpley-red, the scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in skilfulness spun the goats' hair.’

Both men and women brought what they could, the men providing dyed cloth, fine linen, and so on, including acacia wood that they were keeping by for another purpose. And the enthusiastic women did the skilled work of spinning in their tents at home and then brought it to Moses’ workers. Clearly goats’ hair was seen as requiring special expertise.

35.27-28 ‘And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; and the spice, and the oil; for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.’

The wealthier leaders brought the more valuable jewels, especially those which were required for the ephod and the breastpouch, and spice and oil. The latter being for the lamp, for the anointing oil and for the incense.

35.29 ‘The children of Israel brought a freewill-offering to Yahweh; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring, for all the work which Yahweh had commanded to be made through Moses.’

So all who were willing brought their gifts freely so as to complete the work which Yahweh had shown Moses as requiring to be done.

The Skilled Overseers Are Described To The People (35.30-36.1).

This may be analysed as follows:

• a Bezalel has been called by name and filled with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship (35.30-31).
• b And this in order to devise skilful works in gold, silver, brazen copper, cutting of stones, and in wood, to work all manner of skilful workmanship (35.32-33).
• b And he and Oholiab have had it put into their hearts to teach, and they have been filled with wisdom of heart to work all manner of workmanship of the engraver, and of the skilful workman, and of the embroiderer, even of those who do any workmanship and of those who devise skilful works (35.34-35).
• a And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every trained man, in whom Yahweh has put knowledge and understanding so as to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded. (36.1)

Note that in ‘a’ there is the giving of understanding and knowledge, which is repeated in the parallel. And in ‘b’ there are the skilful works and the workmanship which are equally mentioned in their parallel. We note also how important it is seen to be that the most skilful workmen work on the Dwellingplace.

35.30-36.1 ‘And Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of expertise; and to devise skilled work, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skilful expertise. And he has put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them has he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of expertise, of the engraver, and of the skilful workman, and of the embroiderer in bluey-violet, and in purpley-red, in scarlet and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any expert work, and of those that devise skilled work. And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every trained man, in whom Yahweh has put knowledge and understanding so as to know how to do all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded.’

The work is seen as so important that Bezalel is ‘called by name’ and filled with the Spirit of God. He is a chosen one of Yahweh and in overall charge of the skilled work, and is expert in engraving, metalwork, jewellery and carpentry. Oholiab is especially the expert in embroidery. Both are gifted by Yahweh for the work. With them will work every trained man whom Yahweh has gifted.

For these verses see 31.1-11. Moses informed the people that these two men had differing skills, and filled with the Spirit, would contribute their expertise and would teach others also. The embroiderers did the complicated work, the weavers the straight weaving. All had a part to play in this work of God. It is noteworthy that Moses bring the people in on everything. He wanted them to feel a part of what was done.

The Work Begins and the Offerings Pour In (36.2-7).

This can be analysed as follows:

• a The expert trained men who were stirred up by Yahweh are called by Moses to begin the work (2).
• b They receive the gifts from Moses which had been give for the work of the Sanctuary (3a)
• c Freewill offerings are brought every morning (3b)
• d The skilful men who are doing the work which Yahweh has commanded them to make come to Moses (4).
• c They declare that the people are bringing too much (5).
• b Moses proclaims that no one is to make any more offerings to the Sanctuary (6a).
• a The people refrain, for the stuff was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much (6b-7).

We note that in ‘a’ the experts begin the work, and in the parallel there is more than sufficient to do the work. In ‘b’ gifts are received by the Sanctuary, and in the parallel gifts to the Sanctuary are to cease. In ‘c’ freewill offerings are brought every morning and in the parallel they are too much. And central in ‘d’ is the activity of the skilful workmen who are obeying the commands of Yahweh.

The Skilled Overseers Are Set To Work with Their Helpers (36.2-3).

36.2-3 ‘And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every man of expertise, in whose heart Yahweh had put technical knowledge, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it: and they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. And also they brought to him freewill-offerings every morning.’

Moses then set Bezalel and Oholiab to work, and all their skilled assistants who had been willing to provide their services, and gave them what the people had brought for the making of the Sanctuary, and the freewill offerings that the people continued to bring each day.

The Complaint That The People Are Giving Too Much (36.4-7).

36.4-5 ‘And all the experts, who wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they did, and they spoke to Moses, saying, “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded us to make.” ’

So generous were the people that the skilful workmen had to call a halt to their giving through Moses. They were giving overmuch, and there was too much material around which was probably hindering the work (all the skilful workmen complained). At least in this the people were showing their repentance for the past and hearts now overflowing with gratitude to Yahweh.

36.6-7 ‘And Moses gave an order, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, “Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.’

So Moses gave the order that no more gifts be brought for the work on the Dwellingplace, because they had sufficient. Clearly the people were delighted that Yahweh still consented to make a home among them, and their generosity was overflowing. And there was no shortage of materials for what had already been given was quite sufficient and to spare.

The Making of the Dwellingplace (36.8-38.20).

From this point on the chiastic framework is replaced by a straightforward delineation of the different work done on the Dwellingplace following distinct patterns as is required by the subject matter. Thus we have in chapter 36 working outwards the making of the inner curtains (36.8-13), then of the outer curtains of goat’s hair (36.14-18), then of the protective covering of skins (36.19). Included is the working of the curtains, their dimensions, the coupling, the loops and the clasps (36.8-13, 14-19) in that order. This is then followed by the making of the frames, their dimensions and their sockets (36.20-30); and then by the making of the bars, the Veil with its pillars and the outer screen with its pillars (36.31-38).

In chapter 37.1-38.8 we have, commencing in the Most Holy Place and moving outwards, the making of the Ark, the Mercy Seat (in the Most Holy Place); the Table for the showbread, the Lampstand, the Altar of incense; (all in the Holy Place); the anointing oil and incense (used in the Holy Place); the Altar of burnt offering and the Laver together with their method of transportation (in the courtyard). That is then followed by the making of the curtains and the gate of the courtyard (38.9-20).

The Curtains of the Sanctuary (36.8-13).

36.8-13 ‘And all the men of expertise among those who wrought the work made the Dwellingplace with ten curtains. Of fine twined linen, and bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the artistic workman, Bezalel made them. The length of each curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains had one measure. And he coupled five curtains one to another: and the other five curtains he coupled one to another. And he made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: and he made them in the same way on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling. He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling: the loops were opposite one another. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the Dwellingplace was one.’

The coupling together of the ten curtains to form the Sanctuary is now described, compare on 26.1-11. It is a reminder that the Dwellingplace needed the beautiful curtains, but it also need the couplings without which the curtains would have been useless. We cannot all be curtains, but we can all be couplings, both by prayer and witness and general and reliable support.

The Curtains of Goats’ Hair Protecting the Sanctuary Curtains (36.14-18).

36.14-18 ‘And he made curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the Dwellingplace: he made eleven curtains. The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain was four cubits: the eleven curtains were the same size. And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling. And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together, that it might be one.’

This next task was the making of the outer cover of goatskin. See on 26.7-13.

The Outer Protective Covering (36.19).

36.19 ‘And he made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of dolphin skins above.’

As in 26.14 not much is made of the final protective cover. It was not seen as really part of the Dwellingplace. But see on 26.14.

The Framework For The Sanctuary Which Will Support The Curtains (36.20-34).

36.20-34 ‘And he made the frames for the Dwellingplace, of acacia wood, standing up. Ten cubits was the length of a frame, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each frame. Each frame had two tenons, joined one to another. Thus did he make for all the frames for the Dwellingplace. And he made the frames for the Dwellingplace: twenty frames for the south side southward. And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty frames; two sockets under one frame for its two tenons, and two sockets under another frame for its two tenons. And for the second side of the Dwellingplace, on the north side, he made twenty frames, and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one frame, and two sockets under another frame. And for the hinder part of the Dwellingplace westward he made six frames. And he made two frames for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. And they were double beneath; and in the same way they were entire unto its top to one ring: thus he did to both of them in the two corners. And there were eight frames, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every frame two sockets. And he made bars of acacia wood; five for the frames of the one side of the Dwellingplace, and five bars for the frames of the other side of the Dwellingplace, and five bars for the frames of the Dwellingplace for the hinder part westward. And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. And he overlaid the frames with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.’

The frames were an important part of the Dwellingplace giving the support required. They formed the skeleton without which it would not stand. There are always some who must bear the burden unseen to enable others to do their work. See on 26.15-30.

The Inner Veil And The Outer Screen (36.35-38).

36.35-38 ‘And he made the veil of bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim; the work of the expert workman, he made it. And he made for it four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver. And he made a screen for the door of the Tent, of bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; and the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their capitals and their fillets (or ‘connecting-rods’) with gold; and their five sockets were of bronze.’

The making of the veil to separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, and of the screen guarding the entrance to the Sanctuary is now described. See on 26.31-37. The information about the capitals and connecting-rods is new.

The Making of the Furniture - The Work Overseen By Bezalel (37.1-38.20).

Bezalel had responsibility for all the sacred furniture. We may assume, however, that he obtained assistance in the more general work. We note that the order of furniture made commences from the Holy of Holies and moves through the Holy Place to the outer court.

There is here a continual general pattern commencing with the making and description of the item of furniture, followed by the making of the means of its transportation (rings and staves) (37.1-38.8).

The Making of the Ark (37.1-9).

37.1-9 ‘And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: and he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, in on its four feet; even two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And he made staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. And he made a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And he made two cherubim of gold; he made them of beaten work, at the two ends of the mercy-seat; one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: he made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy-seat at its two ends. And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; the faces of the cherubim were towards the mercy-seat.’

Note that it is stressed that the Ark was made by Bezalel himself. The best was made by the best. For details of the Ark see on 25.10-22.

The Making Of Table For The Showbread (37.10-16).

37.10 ‘And he made the table of acacia wood: two cubits was its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height: and he overlaid it with pure gold, and made for it a crown of gold round about. And he made for it a border of a handbreadth round about, and made a golden crown for its border round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet. Close by the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. And he made the vessels which were on the table, its dishes and its spoons, and its bowls, and its flagons, with which to pour out, of pure gold.’

For the Table details see on 25.23-30.

The Making Of The Golden Lampstand (37.17-24).

37.17 ‘And he made the lampstand of pure gold: of beaten work he made the lampstand, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, were of one piece with it. And there were six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of one of its sides, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side: three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower, and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And in the lampstand were four cups made like almond-blossoms, the its knops, and its flowers; and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it. Their knops and their branches were of one piece with it: the whole of it was one beaten work of pure gold. And he made its lamps , seven, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, of pure gold. he made it of a talent of pure gold, and all its vessels.’

For the lampstand details see on 25.31-40.

The Making Of The Altar of Incense (37.25-28).

37.25-28 ‘And he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit was its length, and a cubit its breadth, foursquare; and two cubits its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. And he overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns: and he made for it a raised ridge of gold round about. And he made for it two golden rings under its ridge, on its two ribs, on the two sides of it, for places for staves with which to bear it. And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold.

For the altar of incense details see on 30.1-10. These verses were omitted by LXX possibly because the fact of the non-appearance of the Altar of Incense with the Table and the Lampstand in chapter 25 influenced their thinking.

The Making Of The Anointing Oil And The Incense.

37.29 ‘And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.’

For details of these see on 30.22-38.

The Making of The Altar of Whole Burnt Offering (38.1-7).

38.1-7 ‘And he made the altar of whole burnt offering of acacia wood: five cubits was its length, and five cubits was its breadth, it was foursquare; and three cubits was its height. And he made its horns on the four corners of it; its horns were of one piece with it: and he overlaid it with bronze. And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the firepans: all its utensils he made of bronze. And he made for the altar a grating of network of bronze, under the ledge round it beneath, reaching halfway up. And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grating of bronze, to be places for the staves. And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze. And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to bear it; he made it hollow with boards.’

For details of the Altar of Burnt Offering see on 27.1-8.

The Making of The Laver (38.8).

38.8 ‘And he made the laver of bronze, and its base of bronze, of the mirrors of the ministering women who gathered at the door of the Tent of Meeting.’

The laver was made of bronze and was made from the mirrors of the women who would gather at the entrance to the Tent Of Meeting. This would suggest that pious women used to gather at the entrance to the old Tent of Meeting in order to worship and pray. It was clearly their wish that their mirrors be used for something special. For the laver see 30.18-21. This touching note confirms the genuineness of the narrative. It is a note of authenticity. For the use of the mirrors in this way would not be known at the time of the instructions concerning the laver, but it was known once the work was completed.

Mirrors in the Old Testament period were usually round or oval and made of metal, cast and highly polished. Their use in Egypt, and the Egyptian expertise in polishing the metal from which they were made, is well known and examples can be found in the British Museum. Furthermore several bronze examples from the Middle Bronze Age onwards have been found in Palestine, of a form common throughout the Near East. The Hebrew word for ‘mirror’ (maroth) appears to be taken directly from the Egyptian ‘maa’.

The Making of the Court (38.9-17).

38.9-17 ‘And he made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their connecting-rods were of silver. And for the north side a hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their connecting-rods, of silver. And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their connecting-rods, of silver. And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. The hangings for the one side of the entrance were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three; and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. And the sockets for the pillars were of bronze; the hooks of the pillars, and their connecting-rods, of silver; and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver; and all the pillars of the court were connected with silver.’

For the court see on 27.9-15. Here however is added that the capitals were overlaid with silver.

The Entrance Screen (38.18-19).

38.18-19 ‘And the screen for the entrance of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. And their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their connecting-rods, of silver.’

‘The height in the breadth.’ That is, its height. For details of the entrance screen see on 27.16-18.

The Making of the Pegs (38.20).

38.20 ‘And all the pegs of the Dwellingplace, and of the court round about, were of bronze.’

See also on 27.19.

The Sum Total Of What Was Used In Making The Dwellingplace (38.21-31).

It will be noted that this is now dealt with commencing with the most valuable and going down to the least valuable. The gold was for the items in the inner Sanctuary, the silver for the sockets of the inner Sanctuary and the brazen copper for the court of the Dwellingplace and the things within it. The presumed intention is to outline the total amount of ‘precious metals’ use in the making of the Dwellingplace.

38.21-23 ‘This is the sum of the things for the Dwellingplace, even the Dwellingplace of the Testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest, and Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses. And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in bluey-purple, and in purpley-red, and in scarlet, and in fine linen ’

The sum total of what was used is about to be detailed, ‘the sum of things for the Dwellingplace’. Note the emphasis at this stage when all was new on the fact that the Dwellingplace will house the Testimony. Note also that the materials were under the command of Moses, and that Ithamar dispensed them. Possibly he was the one among the sons of Aaron who had the necessary skills. He then passed the materials to the Levites, who no doubt watched over the work, and through them to the overseers, Bezalel and Oholiab and their helpers. The Levites had seemingly already gained a special position due to their ‘faithfulness’ at the time of the molten calf.

We are then informed that the skilled overseers had done all that Yahweh had commanded Moses. Bezalel had been in overall charge. Oholiab’s speciality had been in engraving, embroidering and weaving.

38.24-26 ‘All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. There was a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.’

We need to consider these verses carefully for if we do not we will misinterpret their input. Firstly we must recognise that what is being described is ‘the sum of the things for the Tabernacle --- as they were assessed --- by the hand of Ithamar’ (38.21). Then we are given the assessments for gold (verse 24), silver (verse 25) and brazen copper ( verse 29) in that order. So the assessments are the totals of all that was collected. Thus while at a casual reading it appears as if the silver was that collected at a numbering of the people (in accordance with 30.11-16), 35.5, 24 make quite clear that silver was also collected as a freewill offering, which must also be seen as included in the amounts stated, which are the sum total available for use.

We are first given the full total of the gold. It was 29 talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels (verse 24), a huge amount considering their situation even though they had ‘spoiled the Egyptians’ (Exodus 12.36). On the other hand the Egyptians might well have stripped themselves of their gold in order to get rid of the Israelites whose God had caused such problems. This was presumably all given by freewill offerings. Then we are told what the amount of silver collected was.

‘And the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and seventy five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. There was a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.’

Firstly we note the description, ‘the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation.’ So the silver being described was given by ‘those who were numbered of the congregation’. They were its source. But it is extremely unlikely, indeed in view of the descriptions, impossible, that the freewill offerings (35.5, 24) would be ignored here, for the whole purpose of the narrative is to show how much gold, silver and bronze went into the Sanctuary, and going by the amount of gold collected the silver by freewill offerings would presumably be even greater. That being so the 100 talents and 1,775 shekels must be seen as the total of all that was collected, including both that collected in the numbering and that collected by the freewill offerings (all collected from the males of the families, ‘those who were numbered’, but not necessarily limited per head). But to suggest that the freewill offerings of silver would be ignored when the freewill offerings of the gold and brazen copper were assessed is quite frankly incredible.

The note that follows must therefore be seen in that light. We must ask, what exactly is it saying? And in answer we would suggest that it is basically declaring that the total amount of silver collected and in use was the equivalent of what would have been collected if the numbering of men had amounted to 603,550 at half a shekel per head. It is looking at a theoretical situation and saying that the silver collected was so huge an amount that had it been collected in a census that is the number of men who would have been required to contribute it.

It may indeed be that there was no numbering, and that the whole is theoretical, that it is saying ‘had they been numbered this would have been the number of men required to make up all this silver’. It may in fact all have been collected in freewill offerings, and that Moses was so impressed by the amount collected that, in the light of 30.11-16, he was simply trying to bring out its impressiveness. He may simply have been seeing in his mind’s eye such a numbering and be describing it in order to bring out the large amount of silver used. But it seems more probable that there was a numbering which contributed towards the total amount of silver received.

‘For every one who passed over to those who were numbered.’ In the numbering the men were seen as having passed from the group waiting to be numbered to the group that had been numbered. This suggests a knowledge of the numbering of smaller groups. But there is nowhere else in Exodus where there is any suggestion that such a numbering ever actually took place. The first one is in Numbers 1. Thus their passing over may simply be in Moses’ mind as a theoretical exercise.

Alternately there may have been such a numbering at the time of the freewill offering, with the half shekels collected, with those then added to those gathered in the freewill offerings. But in the end it is the total amount of silver that is being emphasised, not the number of men, so that the one main point from it is that the Tabernacle contained so much silver that it was sufficient to ‘redeem’ 603,550 men. It is saying that that is the theoretical amount of men that the silver represented in the Dwellingplace indicated. The result is that that would therefore probably be seen as the number of the ‘ideal’ Israel. This probably explains why that is the number to which Numbers 1 works. It is a number obtained by using other symbolic numbers. See our commentary on that chapter. That being so, the phrase ‘and the silver of those who were numbered of the congregation was --’ may be seen as announcing the whole of the silver gathered from the men who were numbered, not just that gathered as a half shekel ransom.

Others take a different view and therefore have to suggest that the freewill offerings were ignored. But in our view that is to ignore the clear intention of the whole passage, which was not about numbering but about how much was collected.

With regard to gold it was plentiful in Egypt, being imported from the parts of North Africa to their south, a rich gold producing area. When the Israelites left Egypt they brought with them much of the silver and gold in Goshen (Exodus 12.35), and possibly from wider afield, having been given it by Egyptians and others keen to see them gone.

The Use of the Silver.

38.27-28 ‘And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made connecting rods (or fillets) for them.

Of the silver the talents were used for making the sockets for the Sanctuary itself. There were one hundred of them (40 + 40 + 16 + 4). The remaining silver items were made from the one thousand, seven hundred and seventy five shekels of silver.

The Use of the Brazen Copper.

38.29 ‘And the brazen copper of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. And with that he made the sockets to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the brazen copper altar, and the brazen copper grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pegs of the Dwellingplace, and all the pegs of the court round about.’

The brazen copper of the offering is that brazen copper which was brought by the people in their free-will offering towards the Dwellingplace (35.24). The main use made of it is here described. With it was made the entrance sockets, the altar of burnt offering with its grating and vessels, the sockets for the pillars of the screen for the outer court and for the entrance, and all the tent pegs.

The Making of the Priestly Garments (39.1-31).

39.1 ‘And of the bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

We now move on to the making of the priestly garments to be used by the priests for ministering in the Holy Place, and those made especially for the use of ‘the Priest’. All was done ‘as Yahweh commanded Moses’ (a constant refrain).

The Ephod.

39.2-5 And he made the ephod of gold, bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And they beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it into the bluey-violet, and into the purpley-red, and into the scarlet, and into the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman. They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together; it was joined together at the two ends. And the skilfully woven band, that was on it, with which to gird it on, was of the same piece and like its work. It was of gold, of bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

For further details of these see on 28.6-8. Note the explanation of how the gold was interwoven with the cloth which is only mentioned here. Possibly Moses had watched them at work.

‘As Yahweh commanded Moses.’ This refrain will appear throughout the chapter. It was important that Yahweh’s instructions were seen to be carried out.

The Shoulder Stones For The Ephod

39.6-7 ‘And they wrought the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, graven with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel. And he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel; as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

The actual making of the stones engraved with the names of the children of Israel, to be borne on the shoulder of the ephod, to keep them ever before Yahweh, is described here. See on 28.9-12.

The Breastpouch.

39.8-14 ‘And he made the breastpouch, the work of the skilful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was foursquare. They made the breastpouch double: a span was its length, and a span its breadth, being double. And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, chrysolite, and beryl was the first row; and the second row, a garnet, a lapis lazuli, and an onyx; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a turquoise, a sardonyx, and a jaspar: they were enclosed in enclosures of gold in their settings. And the stones were in accordance with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, for the twelve tribes.’

Here we have the description of the making of the breastpouch to contain the Urim and Thummim, together with its twelve stones engraved to represent the tribes of Israel. See for further details on 28.13-21.

39.15-21 ‘And they made on the breastpouch chains like cords, of interwoven work of pure gold. And they made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpouch. And they put the two intertwined chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastpouch. And the other two ends of the two interwoven chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in its forepart. And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastpouch, on its the edge, which was towards the side of the ephod inward. And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in its forepart, close by its coupling, above the skilfully woven band of the ephod. And they bound the breastpouch by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skilfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastpouch might not be loosed from the ephod; as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

The making of the means by which the breastpouch was connected with the ephod is described in detail. See on 28.22-28. Both the breastpouch and its connections were ‘as Yahweh commanded Moses’.

The Priestly Robe Under the Ephod.

39.22-26 ‘And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. And the hole of the robe in its middle, as the hole of a coat of mail, with a binding round about the hole of it, that it should not be torn. And they made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of bluey/violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, and twined linen. And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates on the skirts of the robe round about, between the pomegranates; a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, on the skirts of the robe round about, to minister in; as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

The making of the bluey-violet robe to be worn directly under the ephod is described, a kind of long, flowing tunic made to be slipped over the head, with the hole for the head having strong binding round it so that it would not tear, and thus introduce defect into the Holy Place, and decorated at the bottom of the skirt with pomegranates and bells in sequence, acting as an announcement to God that he was coming (as every servant had to be announced), and letting those outside know that he was still alive. They may also be seen as making a joyful noise to Yahweh. See for all this on 28.31-35.

The Basic Robes, Head Gear and Breeches.

39.27-29 ‘And they made the robes of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, and the turban of fine linen, and the goodly head-caps of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, and the girdle of fine twined linen, and bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer; as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

Then is described the making of the fine linen, woven robes. For Aaron this was the under-robe worn beneath the robe of the ephod. For his sons it was their basic robe, all of woven work. Also made was Aaron’s turban, the caps for the sons, the breeches, and the girdle of multi-coloured materials. It will be noted that here the breeches are mentioned along with the other garments, and not deliberately separated off as they were previously, but this is describing what was done, not initially introducing them. For all these see on 28.39-43. They were all made exactly as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

The Golden Head-plate.

39.30 ‘ And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it a text, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO YAHWEH. And they tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on over the turban; as Yahweh commanded Moses.’

And finally they made the golden head-plate to be worn over the turban, with its declaration that ‘the Priest’ was holy to Yahweh. See for details on 28.36-38. This too was made as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

The Final Summation.

39.32 ‘Thus was finished all the work of the Dwellingplace of the Tent of Meeting: and the children of Israel did in accordance with all that Yahweh commanded Moses; so did they.’

In final summation the fact that all the work was done exactly as Yahweh commanded is again stressed. All was done according to His will. Would that we could all say the same, that we could say, ‘I have done all as Yahweh has commanded me’.

Note the equation of the Dwellingplace with the Tent of Meeting. The old Tent of Meeting has been replaced by it.

All That Has Been Made Is Brought To Moses (39.33-43).

39.33 ‘And they brought the Dwellingplace to Moses: the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets; and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of dolphin skins, and the veil of the screen; the ark of the testimony, and its staves, and the mercy-seat; the table, all its vessels, and the showbread; the pure lampstand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil for the lamp; and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door of the Tent; the brazen altar, and its grating of bronze, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base; the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, its cords, and its pegs, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the Tent of Meeting; the finely wrought garments for ministering in the Holy Place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. In accordance with all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as Yahweh had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.’

Finally all has been brought to Moses. It will be noted that the goatskin covering is clearly seen as part of ‘the Tent’, although they were not part of ‘the inner Sanctuary’, whereas the final protective skins were neither. The first showbread has also been made and that too has been brought. And it is observed that after his inspection all the work was declared as being in accordance with the pattern that had been shown to him in the Mount. That was of crucial importance. And so Moses not only approved all but gave them the divine blessing.

The Dwellingplace Is Set Up (40.1-8).

We note again that the order goes from the most holy (the Ark) to the least holy (the hangings of the court) as is customary when dealing with the details of the Dwellingplace.

40.1 ‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “On the first day of the first month shall you raise up the Dwellingplace of the Tent of Meeting. And you shall put in it the Ark of the Testimony, and you shall screen the Ark with the veil. And you shall bring in the Table, and set in order the things that are on it; and you shall bring in the Lampstand, and light its lamps. And you shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the entrance to the Dwellingplace. And you shall set the altar of burnt-offering before the entrance of the Dwellingplace of the Tent of Meeting. And you shall set the laver between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and shall put water in it. And you shall set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the entrance of the court.’

‘On the first day of the first month.’ That is on the month of Abib (Nisan) round about March or April. It was the official New Years day.

Moses is now commanded to set up the Dwellingplace, and place the furniture in it, commencing with the Most Holy Place. The Ark of the Testimony is placed in it, containing within it the covenant tablets, and the veil is then to be put in place immediately, to screen the Ark. Moving to the Holy Place, the Table, Lampstand and altar of incense are to be put in place, and the showbread placed in order on the Table, and the lamps lit on that first evening. The screen for the Sanctuary is then to be set up. And finally, moving into the court, the bronze altar and the laver, the latter filled with water, are to be put in place. Then the outer screens are to be erected, together with the entrance screen.

So even before all is sanctified great care is taken to preserve the holiness of each section in descending order.

It will be noted that the altar of incense is to be placed ‘before the Ark of the Testimony’, that is in as close proximity to it as the veil will allow, and probably as we have seen between the ends of the two bearer-poles for carrying the Ark, which protrude into the Holy Place (1 Kings 8.8). It is noteworthy that this altar is always mentioned last of the furniture in the Holy Place, and this in spite of its prominent position. That is because it deals with a man’s approach to God rather than God’s approach to man. That is why when it was first introduced it was only dealt with after all those things which covered God’s approach to man. The text is consistent.

The Anointing With Holy Anointing Oil Of The Dwellingplace and All Its Furniture (40.9-11).

Once again the anointing begins in the inner Sanctuary, then to the brazen altar and its vessels, then to the laver and its accompaniment and then to the priests themselves (the only holy things that leave the Dwellingplace regularly).

40.9-11 ‘And you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the Dwellingplace, and all that is in it, and shall sanctify it and all its furniture: and it shall be holy. And you shall anoint the altar of burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar shall be most holy. And you shall anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it.’

All is then to be anointed with the holy anointing oil to ‘sanctify’ it, that is to set it apart to its holy purpose. It is now Yahweh’s. All in the Sanctuary is holy, that is set apart to and belonging to Yahweh. The bronze altar is ‘most holy’ in contrast to all else in the court, a warning to all but the priests not to approach it too closely except when necessary. It is not more holy than the Sanctuary and its contents (compare 30.29).

The Installing of ‘the Priest’ and His Assistants (40.12-15).

40.12-15 ‘And you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water. And you shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. And you shall bring his sons, and put coats upon them; and you shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office: and their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.’

The installing of the priests follows. Firstly ‘The Priest’, and then his assistants in the priestly office. It commences with the washing of water to remove earthiness and physical defilement. Then Aaron is clothed by Moses in the holy garments set apart for ‘The Priest’, and Moses anoints him with the holy anointing oil and ‘sanctifies’ him, that is, sets him apart to a holy purpose and as belonging to Yahweh.

After this the sons are brought forward and Moses is to dress them in their priestly robes, and anoint them so that they too may minister in the priestly office as assistants to ‘the Priest’. And this anointing is to be seen as setting them and their descendants apart for ever in an everlasting priesthood, as long as the anointing continues. The provision is always that if they prove unworthy the anointing will cease. There are no genuine anointed Aaronic priests today.

In Leviticus 8 only Aaron is specifically anointed on the head (verse 12), although his sons share in that anointing by the sprinkling on them of the oil (verse 30). This may be what is in mind here.

The point is not that their anointing will follow the same pattern as their father’s, but that they too will be anointed with the holy anointing oil. He was exclusively ‘the anointed Priest’ (Leviticus 4.5, 16; 6.22; 16.32 etc.). The oil was poured on him (29.7; Leviticus 8.12) but only sprinkled on his sons (29.21; Leviticus 8.30). Eleazar would have oil poured on him when he later became ‘The Priest’.

However it may be that ‘and you shall anoint them (when you anoint them as Priest), as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office: and their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations’, refers to the future when each Priest will be anointed from among the sons of Aaron on his inauguration as High Priest.

Today it is all who are truly His who are set apart as priests in accordance with His promise to make His people a kingdom of priests (19.5-6; 1 Peter 2.5, 9), and all, both male and female, are anointed with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2.20, 27; 2 Corinthians 1.21), and sanctified as set apart to a holy purpose and as belonging to Him (1 Corinthians 1.2; 6.11; Hebrews 10.14). And all are assistants to the One Who uniquely and for ever is ‘The Priest’, our great High Priest (Hebrews 9.11; 10.21). And that priesthood does not involve a continuation of physical sacrifices, for the final sacrifice was offered once for all in Christ (Hebrew 10.12), but a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and dutiful service (Romans 12.1-2; Hebrews 13.15; 1 Peter 2.5), and involves showing forth the excellencies of Him Who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Peter 2.9).

40.16-17 ‘Thus did Moses. In accordance with all that Yahweh commanded him, so did he. And it came about in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Dwellingplace was raised up.’

So Moses did exactly as he was commanded, and on the New Years Day the Dwellingplace was raised up and fully furnished and sanctified. The Israelites erected the Dwellingplace on the first day of the first month, almost exactly one year after the they left Egypt (verses 2, 17). This was about nine months after Israel had arrived at Mount Sinai (compare 19.1). The making of the Dwellingplace had taken less than six months, a sign of their genuine dedication and enthusiasm. What a great day it was that it was now ready.

40.18-33 ‘And Moses reared up the Dwellingplace, and laid its sockets, and set up its frames, and put in its bars, and reared up its pillars. And he spread the tent over the Dwellingplace, and put the covering of the tent over it (above upon it); as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he took and put the Testimony into the Ark, and set the staves on the Ark, and put the mercy-seat on top of (above upon) the Ark: and he brought the Ark into the Dwellingplace, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the Ark of the Testimony; as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he put the Table in the Tent of Meeting, on the side of the Dwellingplace northward, outside the veil. And he set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he put the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting, over against the Table, on the side of the Dwellingplace southward. And he lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he put the golden altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil: and he burnt on it incense of sweet spices; as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he put the screen of the entrance to the Dwellingplace. And he set the altar of whole burnt-offering at the entrance of the Dwellingplace of the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the whole burnt-offering and the meal-offering; as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he set the laver between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which to wash. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet at it. When they went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed; as Yahweh commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the Dwellingplace and the altar, and set up the screen of the entrance of the court. So Moses finished the work.’

So finally the Dwellingplace was established, and as each part was put in place the activity for which it was prepared also took place. The Testimony was put in the Ark. The showbread was set in order on the Table, the Lampstand was lit, incense was offered on the altar of incense, a whole burnt offering and meal offering was offered on the bronze altar, and they washed their hands and feet in the laver. So was each given its first use.

Note how often the phrase ‘as Yahweh commanded Moses’ appears. In this chapter it occurs seven times, the number of divine perfection. It also appeared seven times in the previous chapter. Thus there were two series of seven (or fourteen in all). And further to this there were expressions which indicated the same thing. Thus there is great emphasis on the fact that the Dwellingplace is in accordance with the divine pattern, and continual emphasis on the fact that Yahweh has been obeyed.

‘He spread the tent over the Dwellingplace, and put the covering of the tent over it.’ Here we see the distinction made between the Dwellingplace proper, the tent of goats’ hair, and the outer covering of skins. The distinction is not, however, always maintained, and the whole is sometimes called the Dwellingplace.

Yahweh Commissions the Dwellingplace (40.34-38).

All the work having been completed and the Sanctuary set up Yahweh comes and sets His seal on it. We may analyse this last passage as follows:

• a The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwellingplace and Moses was unable to enter into the Tent of Meeting because the cloud abode on it and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwellingplace (35-36).
• b When the cloud was taken up from over the Dwellingplace, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys (36).
• b But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was taken up (37).
• a For the cloud of Yahweh was on the Dwellingplace by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys (38).

Note that in ‘a’ the cloud covering the Tent of Meeting and the glory of Yahweh filling the Dwellingplace is mentioned twice as dual witness to the unique occurrence on this first erection of the Dwellingplace, then in the parallel we are told that the cloud was on the Dwellingplace, and the fire by night, making the third and complete witness. In ‘b’ when the cloud was take up they went on, and in the parallel if it was not taken up they did not go on.

40.34-35 ‘Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwellingplace. And Moses was not able to enter into the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud abode on it, and the glory of Yahweh filled the Dwellingplace.’

Once the Dwellingplace was set up the cloud covered it and the glory of Yahweh filled it. The result was that such was the glory that even Moses, who had experienced so much of the glory of Yahweh, could not enter it. Note the repetition of the covering by the cloud and the entering of the glory of Yahweh. Something repeated twofold is certain and sure (Genesis 41.32). In the old Tent of Meeting Moses had been able to enter it because the cloud remained outside. But that was not Yahweh’s dwellingplace.

That the Tent of Meeting referred to is the Dwellingplace is confirmed by the fact that:

• 1) The Dwellingplace is in context constantly called the Tent of Meeting (verses 2, 6, 12, 24, 26, 29, 32).
• 2) That the cloud would necessarily accompany the glory to veil it.

This excessiveness of glory was necessarily only for a short time. It was a short term manifestation, followed by the lesser manifestation of cloud and fire. That the glory gradually faded, as did the glory on Moses’ face, is revealed by the fact that activity would, of course, take place within the Sanctuary. Aaron had to enter it twice daily to light and dress the lamps (27.20-21). Incense had to be offered twice daily (30.7-8). The showbread had to be placed (Leviticus 24.8). (See also Leviticus 10.13). Thus we must assume that such manifestation as remained became restricted to the Most Holy Place. But the cloud clearly hovered above the Dwellingplace so that it could be seen, and probably the fire also.

4.36-38 ‘And when the cloud was taken up from over the Dwellingplace, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys, but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of Yahweh was on the Dwellingplace by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.’

The pillar of cloud and fire now abode in or on the Dwellingplace. And while it remained there it was clear that Yahweh wished to remain there. But when the pillar ‘was taken up’ then it was time to move on. And the pillar would then go before them. Yahweh was fulfilling His promise to be among them to the letter. (See Numbers 9.15-23). But the very verb ‘was taken up’ (niphal - ‘was come up’) may suggest an outside agency. Yahweh was not limited to the Dwellingplace.

The graciousness of God is revealed in that the pillar was always discernible, either as cloud or fire. The cloud could be seen in the daylight, and the fire in the darkness. They knew that He was there.

So the book which began with Israel being brought into bondage under one king ends with Israel being led into freedom under another King, One Who dwelt in unapproachable glory.

IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?