I-YOUniverse

Left: Moses and tablets (Rembrandt)

 

 

We’re studying Exodus 32-34 in our Neighborhood Bible Study, part of a summer Great Chapters of the Bible series.

Why read these dusty old stories?

The scribes who preserved them had lost everything. Enemies had swept through their land, destroying everything and carting off most of the people to foreign soil.

These scribes, perhaps even those who had grown up far from the Promised Land, treasured these stories.

Why?

Because they tell of a man and a people who utterly betrayed their ideals, yet found their way back; they tells us about ourselves.

They tell of God long ago turning from justifiable anger to characteristic mercy and grace, as God turns today.

Ch 32 tells the story of the Golden Calf, with the also troubling account of the slaying of 3000 who were guilty.

Ch 33 has three main sections:

• vv 1-6 God commands the Israelites to go and to strip off their ornaments
• vv 7-11 God confers with Moses at the tent of meeting, not to be confused with the tabernacle
• vv 12-23 Moses prays with hutzpah that God go with the people and that God reveal Godself to Moses

Go! Strip off your ornaments!

After the episode of the Golden Calf idol, God calls on the people to “Go!” just as God called Abraham to “Go!” They are to resume their journey to the Promised Land. But two things have changed: they are to strip off their gold earrings and jewelry, and God will not accompany them.

They compromised their core identity in idol worship. They could have become, as they once had been, “no people.”

The scribes who collected the traditions and literature of Israel did so in the exile, the terrible aftermath of the nation’s long betrayal of God. Becoming “no people” was not an idle threat to them; they had to live it.

God demonstrates amazing grace here, by calling the people back to their mission, back to their roots.

What changed?

First, God demanded they remove their jewelry, which they had used to make their idol. In the same way Jesus demanded the  rich young ruler sell his many possessions and give them to the poor, then “Come, follow me.”

Most Americans like the Israelites have many things, but we aren’t rich. Our possessions possess us; they block our access to God.

Second, God would not go with them, lest God’s anger blaze in response to their being “stiff-necked”—stubborn, hard of heart rather than pliable and poor in spirit.

Moses recognized that the promise of land meant little if God were not present with them.

God with us—the tent of meeting

Later tradition conflated the tent of meeting and tabernacle. Here they are distinct.

The tabernacle was in the center of the camp, an ornate structure for sacrifice. The tent of meeting was far off, simple and unadorned.

The author may be contrasting the elaborately dressed and ornamented priest and sacrificial cult with a plain Moses and simple tent.

Moses met with God here; the people remained at their own tents, but with gestures of profound respect.

God met Moses face to face according to this text; represented by the pillar of cloud, however, God remained hidden from the people.

Verse 23, a diverse tradition, insists for his own protection that Moses may not see God’s face. This diversity, like the diversity of the psalms (not all written by David, although we attribute the psalter to him) and the diversity of the gospels, demonstrates that, no matter how sure and sacred, no one human tradition can convey the whole truth of God. Indeed, all human traditions, all human wisdom and knowledge together, cannot encompass God’s fullness.

But “the Word became flesh and (pitched a tent) among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14-15 (NRSV)

Moses’ daring prayer

 In the final section of ch 33, verses 12-23, Moses exemplifies both intimacy with God and audacious praying, which Christians can learn much from.

Moses is not satisfied with the promise of land; he want God’s presence. He pressed God to go with the people on their journey.

Astonishingly, God changes God’s mind. God replies to Moses’ plea, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

According to the New Interpreter’s Bible on this passage, the “you” here is singular. God promises to go with “you, Moses.” Ex 33:14 (NRSV)

Moses answers, insisting “I and your people” (v. 16).

Jesus promised, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28 (NRSV)

The Israelites are a distinct people because God is with them, for no other reason.

Then, Moses prays that God reveal more of God to him.

God agrees to show Moses God’s goodness, God’s Name (character), graciousness and mercy.

This tradition varies; here God refuses to show God’s face, because no mortal can survive seeing God’s face. God sets a limit beyond which not even Moses can go.

Old stories? Yes. Our longing to be in touch with the divine Presence is as old as the human spirit—and as new as the next breath. That’s why these old stories point you and me to brand new experience.