Coming down the Mountain

 

 

Exodus 32:15-29

 

October 30, 2024

 

Coming down the Mountain

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back, they were written.  The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.  When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.”  And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.  He took the calf that they had made, and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.

And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?”  And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.  For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’  So, I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So, they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.  And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’”  And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day, about three thousand men of the people fell.  And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

 

I’m sure that we can not grasp what Moses had in his hands, two tablets written by no one other than God.  I would imagine Joshua offered to carry them for Moses, but they were of great value; they were the written words of God.  Do you recall the definition for meekness: “True, biblical meekness is a self-control of strength that makes us lambs in our own causes and lions for the cause of Christ.

 

That day, the people did not see a meek Moses, but a lion.  Is anger always bad? We are told in Ephesians 4:26-27, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,  and give no opportunity to the devil.”  One might wonder if the devil did not believe he had won a great battle when Moses threw down the tablets and they broke?

 

But God’s power rested on Moses, for his anger was first directed at his own brother, who had allowed this to happen.  And Aaron would have no trouble living in 2024, in that, like so many, it was not his fault, and he lied about how the calf was made by his own hands. 

 

I believe God is still asking, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.”  If you are a follower of Christ, put on your sword. Do you know where it is? It is not designed to kill but to give life.  Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  

 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice