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FEBRUARY 11
Exodus 32-33
Why does the golden calf have to
be on my birthday? That day was not a great day for this young nation. Yet, as
we will see so often, after a crisis, something good will come. That good thing
comes because some follower of God is moved by what happens and lays their
heart out before God. We will see this over and over. This becomes a noticeable
pattern, only because God is gracious and because some believer is there who
loves God. Where this "believer" is absent, the crisis only escalates.
Where this person is present, we see God's glory.
Exodus 32
Vs. 1-6 The people demanded an
idol. Even though idolatry can be seen in Jacob's family in Canaan, in Egypt
Israel had become trained in worshiping idols and imagining that divinity was
in that statue. Inherent in idolatry is having a god we can control. It is of
our making and we feel comfortable with its limitations and demands. This is
not only satanic deception and human manipulation, but more than all, it is the
power of sin.
The power of sin defies all
intellect and reason, all compassion and desire. Reading this story you have to
remember there was still fire at the top of the mountain. There was still a
pillar of cloud and fire, and there was still manna every morning. Two to three
million people were encamped around Mt. Sinai and the nation of Egypt was in
ruins. The people had witnessed the greatest miracles of all time; they had
heard the voice of God and they were given the Ten Commandments. So, why did
they do this? How could Aaron have let them do it? What does Satan use best,
atheism or confused spirituality? Clearly - confused spirituality. What does
sin use best? Everything.
As disciples, we need to take
care. That same depraved nature is in us. The difference is that we have been
given hearts cleansed in Christ and infused with a new life in the Spirit. Our
strength is our total dependence on the Spirit and the Word and the grace of
God. We are strongest following Christ in the harvest, focused on God's grace,
our redemption and the need of this world. As Paul said, "When I am weak,
then I am strong." We can never forget that we are spiritually bi-polar.
We need our daily time (meds) with God in His Word.
Vs. 2-5 I wonder if Aaron was
afraid. Not only did Aaron design and make the calf, but he organized the
worship. Maybe he was trying to keep the people from a full scale riot.
V. 6 The last part of this verse
is quoted in 1 Corinthians 10:7, The
people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. The word
"play" in this context would be sexual immorality. I don't know if
sex and idolatry were always mixed everywhere, but they definitely were mixed
in Canaan. It was the perfect way for man to degrade himself in every way. I
think it makes the enemy happy.
Vs. 7-14 This is a very
important interaction between God and Moses. God expressed His anger with the
people, but this was for Moses and for all of Israel to understand Him. God
knew what Moses would say and how this would be necessary for Israel.
V. 10 God had already shown the
Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, meaning, in other words, He was not
going to make a new beginning with Moses. What God says here was a
"test" for Moses; but God knew he would not only pass, but step up to
a higher level of seeking God. In this sense, Moses is a type of Christ, willing
to stand in the gap for the people.
Vs. 11-14 This is why Moses was
such a great man. It was love for God and for His people. Notice that after the
logical argument of v. 12, Moses reminds God of His covenant with Abraham,
stating that that covenant was without condition. God swore by His own self. It
means that the covenant with Abraham, in some hearts of faith, was fully
understood as eternally binding on God.
There is a line of thinking
called the "openness of God." The idea is that God can change His
mind and plans based on new data or the unexpected actions of men. Passages
like this one are often used by critics to show that God does change His mind,
that His plans are not set and that He doesn't know the end from the beginning.
God does know the end from the beginning and these verses do not disprove that.
It is important to let Scripture interpret Scripture; that is, we need to take what
the Bible says as a whole, and balance it against what we might read in one or
two verses that seem to say something different. The message of the entire
Bible is that God knows the end, and the tiny details thereof, from the
beginning. For example:
Psalm 139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it
altogether.
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every
one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of
them.
In light of God's foreknowledge
and His unchangeableness, how do you interpret what God says to Moses in this
portion? Most people see this as a test for Moses and a way to display the
shepherd's heart that God had developed in Moses during those 40 years in the
wilderness of Midian tending sheep.
Vs. 15-20 Now Moses is mad. When
he was on the mountain talking to God, the issue was still theoretical for him.
When Moses came down and saw the people, it aroused his own sense of justice
and zeal for God.
Vs. 15-16 Moses is coming down
the mountain with these amazing tablets on which God Himself had inscribed the
Ten Commandments. The commandments were the summary of the covenant that God
was making with the nation; that is, obey and be blessed.
V. 18 This is all so ironic. It
was a sound like joy, but it was defeat. There was nothing wrong with singing
and dancing. There was the idolatry, but also in v. 25 it says they had broken loose. There was something
that happened here that was a moral and social breakdown.
V. 19 I don't fully understand
why Moses broke the tablets. I would imagine that when Moses saw the extent of
what had happened and how many of the commandments had been broken, he realized
the people had already broken the covenant with God; and in his despair and
anger, he broke the tablets.
V. 20 By Moses doing this he
showed that he, a man, was showing the powerlessness of their "god."
Vs. 21-24 Everyone always
notices how Aaron tries to pawn this off on the people and chance. I threw it (gold) into the fire and out came this calf. And to think that Aaron
would become the high priest of these people. God will change Aaron through
this event and it will show God's patience and grace.
Notice that Moses gives Aaron
the responsibility. If Aaron had led, he might have stopped the people from
bringing sin upon themselves. He should at least have tried to stand in the
way.
Vs. 25-29 There was such
disorder that whatever order had existed up until now had crumbled. This will
actually be a big event in the history of Israel, because when Moses called,
all of the Levites came to him. It doesn't mean that some people from other
tribes didn't come, but no other tribe, lock, stock and barrel, completely gave
themselves to the Lord like this. This then is the selection and ordination of
the tribe of the Levites to be the servants and teachers of the people in the
worship of God.
V. 25 Notice Moses' word about
giving their enemies something to laugh at. I wonder if spiritual enemies were
also in view. God is making a nation to be a witness to the nations. It has
only been 40 days since they made a covenant with God. Satan is going,
"Seriously, dude, this is way too easy."
V. 27 The Levites help Moses
dispense justice. Apparently whatever happened as a result of this idolatry was
measurable. It appears that most of the people joined in the worship, but only
these 3000 were found having committed adultery or murder or rape or whatever.
This judgment probably reflects a violation of commandments 6-10.
Vs. 30-34 Now that Moses himself
has seen what the people have done, he pleads again for them. This is why Moses
was a great man and follower of God. This entire section will explain something
in the next chapter about why the people worshiped God when Moses went to the tent
of meeting.
V. 32 The book seems to be a
concept they already had regarding who would be acceptable to God and live with
Him. Now it might have been the book
of the census they were going to be taking, or it could also be that in these
months they had already been compiling a written record of the people and their
ages. However, it seems that since God wrote the book, it is the Book of Life,
meaning that the line of faith from Adam to Moses already understood that God
was keeping a record and only those who were in the book would live with Him.
Note that Moses is willing to stand in the gap and take the place of the
people.
V. 33 God says that only those
who sinned will be punished.
V. 34 This is God promising to
continue to lead Israel. God is saying that Moses would lead the people to the
place He promised, but that was still 10 or more months away.
V. 35 I would guess that the
plague was aimed at those who had instigated the worship or were guilty of what
the 3000 had done, that Moses and the Levites had missed. This will begin to
show the people, that the sins of a few affect the entire congregation.
Exodus 33
Vs. 1-6 After this event, God
tells Moses to go with the people; but that He, Himself, will not dwell in the
middle of the people because if His holiness came in contact with their sin, they
would go, "Boom!"
This statement by God launched
another crisis, and the people mourned when they heard it. They were beginning
to understand that their sin and disobedience was a major issue. God was not an
idol or a religion. He was a Person to be dealt with in a relationship.
Vs. 7-11 All of this disaster
brought this custom into being. God said He would not come among the people,
and so Moses had to go outside the camp to meet with God and intercede for the
people. The people worshipped, knowing that their sin was separating them from
God and that Moses was going out there to ask for mercy for the people. Again,
this is another "good" thing that came from the malfunction with the
calf.
This tent was not the
tabernacle. When the tabernacle is built, it will be exactly in the middle of
the people with God's presence in the tabernacle. All of what is happening here
is leading up to that.
V. 11 It is interesting that
Joshua basically lived there, making sure, I suppose, that no one from the
people tried to sneak in to get a peek.
This whole adventure led to a
crisis and Moses and the people knew it. If God could not and would not dwell
in their midst, they were cooked. For Moses especially, the load was
unbearable, and he needed God's presence and assurance.
Vs. 12-23 Now we get an idea of
those first conversations Moses had with God in that tent. This is a very
important and interesting portion of Scripture, especially for us as disciples.
V. 13 What was Moses asking for,
another miracle? The people had seen miracle upon miracle with no real change
of heart. Moses didn't need to see another miracle. Moses wanted to know God.
In my mind, this passage makes Moses great.
Vs. 14-17 Even when God promises
that His presence will go with Moses and that He will give him rest, Moses
doesn't stop.
V. 18 In his weakness Moses
could have asked for anything, but in v. 18 he says, Please show me your glory. His deepest desire and need was that he
wanted to know God personally. He didn't want to have to rely on the ups and
downs of experience and events. He needed something more stable and unchanging
than successes and his own feelings. He needed to see and know the heart of
God. In God showing Moses His innermost heart, Moses knew he was welcomed in
and accepted. What will happen will not make Moses perfect, but it will
increase his faith. There is something in this that also happened to the
prophet Elisha.
Vs. 19-23 Notice that whatever
is promised here is different than when Moses and the others ate with the Lord.
What Moses is about to see is different. Also, this is not simply sight. There
is a very personal thing happening that will give Moses the ability to lead
another 38 years. It isn't visual; it is spiritual. Moses asks to see God's
glory, and God tells Moses three things will happen. How do those three things
represent God's glory? More on this tomorrow when it actually happens.
For us as disciples, as we yearn
to serve Christ in the harvest, what is it that we really want? It takes a long
time to finally distill the pure desire out of us and our motives. We work and
see successes and failures and realize that none of them last or change us in a
way that lasts. What Moses asked for was the only thing that truly makes sense.
We need to know the Lord, to see His heart and be welcomed into His heart. This
was Paul's desire in Philippians 3. If our service depends on results, we are
dead. If our mood and faithfulness depend on visual results, we fail. When we
serve, knowing and seeing the Lord as our love and treasure, fully welcomed and
beloved, we follow with joy and faithfulness regardless of what the voices of
men say to us, or what the "results" look like.
Not that this portion has
anything to do with me, but I'm glad I can latch onto this truth on my
birthday. I don't want my relationship with God to be through bowing to the
"calf" of results or what others think of me. If I get to blow out
the candles, this will be my wish, Show
me Your glory.
Matthew 26:69-27:14
Matthew 26:69-75
Nothing is more haunting than Luke's
account of Peter's denial, where in the middle of Jesus' ordeal, there is a
break in the action and Jesus hears the rooster and looks out to the courtyard.
His eyes meet Peter's, knowing that Peter has just publicly "sworn to
God" that he doesn't know Jesus. Poor Peter. Like every great leader,
before he became useful, he had to hit the wall at 500 mph and become broken.
Matthew 27:1-14
Vs. 1-5 As they led Jesus away, Judas now understood that Jesus would be
killed and that the people would blame him. Used by Satan to achieve Satan's
ends to have the Jews incur the guilt of killing their Messiah, Judas had not
achieved his end. What would 30 pieces of silver get you? It couldn't have been
the money. Maybe he thought he could corner Jesus, and Jesus would finally have
to show His power and destroy the Romans. Judas might have escaped the wrath of
the people by committing suicide, but not God. The minute he croaked, he was
standing before God. What was he thinking? But Judas wasn't the only one who made
mistakes. Satan never understood the mystery of the incarnation or the mystery
of that strange, funky nation that would be formed at the resurrection of
Christ, bound by no common language, race or boundary, bound only by the
cleansing, justifying, sanctifying blood of Christ and His indwelling Spirit.
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:8, None
of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory.
And to make Satan's defeat
complete, by God's grace, Israel will rise and fulfill its destiny and burn
brightly for its Messiah in earth's darkest hour. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky
above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and
ever. (Daniel 12:3)
Vs. 6-8 You don't find anything
more irrational or ironic than this. They paid Judas to betray Jesus to His
death. That was OK. But to use this blood
money for religious purposes was, according to their "law,"
sinful. So they bought a field for the burials of foreigners.
Vs. 9-10 This is referring to a
prophecy in Zechariah 11:12-13 almost verbatim. So what does this have to do
with Jeremiah? Jeremiah 19 refers to the plot of ground, the potter's field. This field would insure the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Zechariah describes the price of the betrayal. Here, the
field and coming judgment are what’s in view.
Vs. 11-14 Pilate really lived in
the Roman capital of Judea in Caesarea, on the coast. He came to Jerusalem
during the feasts because of the risk of riots and to enjoy the festivities.
You really have to put all of
the gospels together to understand Jesus' interaction with Pilate. For his
part, Pilate tried all sorts of chess moves on the Jews to release Jesus. He
finally caved into personal fear when the Jews threatened to tell Caesar on
him. Pilate gave in. He didn't have to. Rather than being trapped in playing
chess, there is that one unexpected, invincible move where you simply throw the
board into the air and say, "This is what I'm going to do regardless of
the cost." And you obey God. It sure simplifies things.
Psalm 33:1-11
This is a great psalm of praise.
Notice that there is no mention of distress or danger or crying out. That is
all behind David as he wrote this.
V. 1 Notice that praise is
native and natural to the upright. How do you know if a person is upright? They
are praising God.
V. 3 So where does that new song come from? And when does it
arrive on our lips? It isn't natural and it comes at a price. Read Psalm
40:1-10. If the Lord hasn't fully led a person through their pit and bog, He
still has hasn't put the new song in their mouth. It comes in His time and when
we are ready. We need to draw close to Him and wait as disciples. What a tough lesson.
Vs. 4-11 Notice the words used for the Word of the Lord.
Notice too that the creation is evidence of God's eternal power and divine
control. For
his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)
Proverbs 8:33-36
V. 33 This is a command. It is
something we are to actively seek and pursue in all situations. It is a part of
prayer and our relationship with God.
V. 34 And here is the blessing
for those who do it.
Vs. 35 & 36 are a very
powerful contrast, and v. 36 is a truth that most people will not realize until
it is way too late.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are interested in growing
deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the
growth of a discipleship culture in the church, that is, groups of 3-4
disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to
reach out and make disciples, who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most
universal and important discipleship manual we have and it is the key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here,
or what we are to be doing, or whom we are to be following. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us, as disciples, focused on Christ and our role in His
harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be
willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their
growth as disciples, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome
to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own
observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition
or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any
point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as
I understand it. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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