Exodus 32:15 ¶ And Moses
turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were
in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one
side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God,
and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people
as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the
camp. 18 And he said, It is not
the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice
of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them
that sing do I hear. 19 And it came
to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the
dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands,
and brake them beneath the mount. 20 And
he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and
ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the
children of Israel drink of it.
Moses is carrying two tablets
of stone, each written on both sides by the very hand of God who created him.
This is amazing if you think about it. It is even more astounding that he threw
them down in his temper. In the next verse is something else written on both
sides.
Revelation
5:1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of him
that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with
seven seals.
Joshua thinks there is fighting going on in the camp, perhaps a
rebellion.
Moses enacts a rather tough
punishment for the Israelites, being made to drink of the residue of what they
were worshipping.
Exodus 32:21 ¶ And Moses
said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so
great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron
said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are
set on mischief. 23 For they said
unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses,
the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him. 24 And I said unto them,
Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it
me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 25 And when Moses saw that the people were
naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their
enemies:) 26 Then Moses stood in the
gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come
unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and
out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and
every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 28 And the children of Levi did according to the
word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate
yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his
brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Aaron
acts like Adam did when confronted by God. He blames others.
Genesis 3:12 And the man
said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Aaron’s lie is so outrageous, then
I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf, you wonder why he
was not struck dead at that moment. But, apparently, as David was not
terminated for his murder of Uriah by proxy, if God has a plan for someone to
carry out they will be allowed to live even if they have to drag the
consequences of their sin along with them like a piece of heavy concrete on a
chain.
Verse 25 shows us that the people are naked. Naked is a word we
have that means not having any clothing on.
1Samuel 19:24 And he
stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and
lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
Job 1:21 And said, Naked
came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the
LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
So, it is interesting how many preachers insist that in the following
verse it is not possible that Peter was working naked around a bunch of other
fishermen.
John 21:7 Therefore that
disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto
him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
Conservative Christians tend to read back 20th century
sensibilities into history. However, as has been said before, in this case in
Exodus there is another implication that is disturbing but in keeping with
ancient religion, revealed in verse 6 of this chapter.
In verse 26 Moses divides those who would remain faithful to the
God who created them and led them out of Egypt from those who would continue in
the heathen practices of ancient religion. Three thousand paid with their lives
for the pagan, carnal practices they enjoyed while Moses was away.
If you read 27, 28, & 29 in context it appears that Moses made
his call to the tribe from which the priests, the Levites who were to ensure
the worship of God, came and this call was made regardless of familial
relationship. Father went against son, and brother against brother, neighbor
against neighbor and friend against friend. This may have, based on this
context, been a way to cleanse the priesthood of idolaters. It also indicates
that perhaps not all of the children of Israel participated in the pagan worship
and the leadership was held accountable.
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