Read Exodus 32 here or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
31:18-32:6 {p} He ended speaking / He gave the tablets to Moses / idolatry committed (covenant broken)
32:7-14 {p} YHVH: Let me consume them / Moses: Relent, please / YHVH relented
32:15-35 {s} Moses and the aftermath / intercession for forgiveness / YHVH’s answer
31:12-32:6 {s+p} Strong Theme: Sabbath reminded, however Israel set aside a feast day of their own making on which to worship
Was God really intending to destroy all of Israel and make a new nation of Moses, and but for Moses’ intervention we would have the children of Moses today instead of the children of Israel? No. When we attempt to grasp the meaning of a passage, our understanding of that passage must align with other Scripture, if we want to be sure we have the correct understanding. Scripture is truth and truth does not contradict. The understanding of one passage, if it is a correct understanding, will not contradict the correct understanding of another passage.
Remember that in Genesis, over and over again, God fulfilled His word, even if He didn’t have any humans who believed Him. Now He is going to forget His word and forget His promise? That contradicts what we already know about YHVH, therefore I do not believe that is what the passage is teaching.
I am sure that Israel’s idolatry did not please Him, but we have to remember, this is the same YHVH who endured hundreds of years of idolatry from Israel before allowing judgment to come upon them. And He is going to lose His patience over one incident?
No – a prophetic picture is being painted here. Moses, remember, is a type of Messiah. The events of His life are teaching who Messiah is and what He will do when He comes. The big picture of chapter 32, is:
Man’s Sin;
God’s Wrath;
Messiah’s Intervention.
The intervention is in the form, not only of intercession, but listen to what Moses says:
Then Moses returned to YHVH and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin–but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” Exo 32:31-32
Moses is asking to be made a substitute, so that the wrath of God will fall upon him and not on them. Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what Yeshua has done in substituting Himself to drink the cup of God’s wrath for the sins of the world, to spare the world His just wrath. Torah is foreshadowing the gospel of grace!
If there are questions, these are good resources:
Exo 30:11-34:35, Finding Messiah in Ki Tisa – Christine Miller
Exo 31 and 32, Changing times and law – Christine Miller
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