Year 1, Week 11, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 11, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Exodus 31-32.

Today’s reading completes the plans for the building of the Tabernacle as well notes what the Israelites had been doing while Moses was away. Exodus 31 reports on the skilled workers that the LORD would provide to complete the Tabernacle. To do the work, the LORD would fill the men with His Spirit. Empowered by the Spirit, they would have the knowledge and skill for the task. Exodus 32 describes how Israel turned away from the LORD during Moses’ absence. Moses was up on Mt. Sinai for forty days as he had received details concerning the Tabernacle (Exodus 25-31 records these details). While at the foot of Mt. Sinai, the Israelites had Aaron build a golden calf and in so doing broke the covenant the LORD had made with them. As Moses returned to the camp, the LORD’s anger burned toward them.

What struck me in today’s reading is what it reveals about the LORD’s commitment to dwell with His people. The Tabernacle was the LORD’s provision for blessing His people with His presence: “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4). The Tabernacle, which symbolized the satisfying beauty of the LORD, was provided for the good of His people: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2). Each facet of the Tabernacle’s construction would be done in the presence and power of the Spirit: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.” (Exodus 31:2-5).

Back in Exodus 25, when Moses began recording the details for the Tabernacle, the observation was made that seven times it would be said from Exodus 25-31, that the LORD spoke. These seven occurrences paralleled the seven times in Genesis 1 that the LORD spoke when He made all things. Exodus 25:1 records the sixth time that the LORD spoke, which coincides with the sixth day of creation—the creation of man, who was formed by soil and the Spirit and subsequently worked the garden. With the sixth statement in Exodus, the Tabernacle would be built by men, who would be empowered by the Spirit to do their work. Further, the seventh word in Exodus, which parallels the seventh day, concerns Sabbath: “And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.” (Exodus 31:12). Just as the goal of creation consisted of the presence of the LORD providing rest from His creating work, so the end result of the Tabernacle would be to provide rest. The ultimate Tabernacle arrived in Jesus: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a). And thus, the fullest rest is available, not in a day, but a person—Jesus: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).

However, while the LORD is making plans to dwell with His people, “they have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:8). The LORD’s assessment is not good: “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” (Exodus 32:9-10). The LORD stated His intent to destroy Israel and transfer His promises from Abraham to Moses.

But Moses intercedes becoming Israel’s mediator: “Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand…Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” (Exodus 32:11-13). While the LORD will allow Israel to experience some consequences of their idolatrous actions, He does receive the appeal to His own glory and the reminder of His promises and the LORD’s wrath subsides. Moses offers himself: “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:31b-32). The LORD does not take up Moses on His offer, for He already had plans for a better Mediator through Jesus: “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe