They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them they have made themselves a molten calf, and have bowed down to it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, This is thy god, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!
From the mountain God tells Moses what Israel is doing below. They have made a calf, and they now credit it with their rescue out of Egypt. This is God's own summary of how fast redeemed people can trade Him for something they made.
The sting of the verse is one word: quickly.
The speed with which corruption breaks into what God has set up in purity is remarkable. The people of Israel stood in awe of God's majesty. They had heard the solemn words, "You shall have no other gods before me." They had answered, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do." And yet after only a few short days they turn aside out of the way and make themselves gods. Does this surprise us? Is it not rather too faithful a history of the outwardly professing people of God in every age?
The calf was not a rival god brought in to replace the God of Israel.
It is probable that the calf was intended as a representation of God, and would come under the second commandment rather than the first. This form of idolatry is more plausible than openly disowning God and setting up an idol in His place. But it is just as truly idolatry, and God punished it in a way no one could miss. The same worship existed in Egypt with the bull Apis, said to represent the god Osiris. This may have given the Israelites the idea of making a calf. Jeroboam later repeated the same sin. He was afraid his people would go up to Jerusalem to worship, so he set up two calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan. He announced, "Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12:28-33).
Nobody in the camp thought they were swapping Jehovah for another god.
Let us not suppose that either Aaron or Israel intended to abandon Jehovah. It is no unfair stretch of imagination to picture their indignation at such a charge. In Israel's mind the calf stood for the God no eye can see. Aaron said as much of Jehovah in plain words. It was, as people say of all images, "a help to devotion," "a symbol of the unseen," and in that sense, the God who had brought them out of Egypt! Yet none the less they had really gone back in spirit to paganism. They had "in their hearts turned to Egypt" (Acts 7:39).
These people had watched God break Egypt and open the sea. Now they gave the calf the credit.
Did they really believe that a molten image had made the land of Egypt tremble, humbled its proud king, and brought them out in triumph? Had a calf divided the sea for them and led them grandly through its depths? So they said, at least; for what will people not say when the eye and the heart are turned away from God and His word?
Notice how their request had shifted. At first they wanted only a guide for the road ahead.
It is remarkable how little the people or Aaron saw of what their gratified desire would produce. At first they only wanted gods to go before them, to carry on what Moses had begun, and to finish their deliverance out of Egypt by leading them into Canaan. But now they treat these gods, and not Moses, as the ones who brought them out of Egypt. One departure from the fear of God may lead to incalculable damage.
At Sinai, Israel had accepted blessing on the terms of their own obedience.
Israel had indeed exposed themselves to the righteous judgment of God. They had promised obedience to God's law of their own accord, as the condition of blessing. The sprinkling of blood had sealed that covenant — the sign of death as the penalty for breaking it. That penalty they had now incurred. So God no longer treats them as His people.
Moses does not soften Israel's sin. His plea rests somewhere else.
Moses stood where God pronounced righteous judgment, but he also stood in the very atmosphere of grace. There he could take the place of intercession and prevail, because his plea was the honour of the Lord Himself. This must always be a plea that prevails, because it admits that God's judgment is righteous. Moses can neither excuse nor lessen the people's sin. It is not the place of intercession to do that, because everything before God must be truthful. What comfort for us to know of Christ that He "is at the right hand of God" and "indeed is interceding for us"!
- Quickly. Days after promising to obey every word, Israel turned aside. God's people have failed this fast in every age.
- Plausibly. The calf was not a rival god but a picture of the true one. Respectable idolatry is still idolatry, and Jeroboam later repeated it word for word.
- Sincerely. Israel would have denied abandoning God. Yet an image "to help devotion" carried them back in spirit to Egypt.
- Ruinously. One step away from the fear of God ended with a new-made calf taking credit for the Red Sea. Israel broke the covenant they had sworn to, and its penalty fell due.
- Mercifully. Moses excused nothing and pleaded God's own honour. That plea prevails — and Christ intercedes for us on the same ground now.
And Jehovah said to Moses, I see this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
On the mountain God gives His verdict on the people He had just rescued. Two questions follow: what does "stiff-necked" charge Israel with, and why does God say "let me alone"?
Earlier in the book God spoke of these same people in very different words. One writer sets the two sentences side by side:
At the opening of this book, when the people were suffering in Egypt, the Lord could say, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows." But now He has to say, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people." An afflicted people is an object of grace; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled. God answered the cry of oppressed Israel with grace; but He must answer the song of idol-worshipping Israel with stern rebuke.
What does that charge mean? One writer puts it in a sentence:
Being stiff-necked refers to the stubbornness of wanting our own way.
Israel had agreed to be blessed on the basis of their own obedience.
They had freely promised to obey God's law as the condition of blessing, and the covenant was sealed by the sprinkling of blood — a sign of death — as the penalty for breaking it. They had now brought that penalty on themselves. So God no longer treats them as His people. They had rejected Him, and had spoken of Moses as the man who brought them up out of Egypt; and the Lord takes them on the ground they have chosen... So if God dealt with Israel by the righteous demands of the law they had accepted, they were lost beyond recovery, and would perish through their own deliberate sin and turning away from Him.
The next verse says, "now therefore let me alone." One writer finds mercy in those words, not only anger:
How great was the mercy of God, that He stopped to consider the feelings of His servant in this great crisis. He knew well what Moses would think and want. He already feels the pleading of His dear servant's heart before it is spoken, for He says, "Let Me alone." Israel's sin had brought down on them the righteous anger of a holy God, but intercession mixed mercy with judgment.
The threat came with an offer: God would make something of Moses himself.
That "let me alone" said a great deal. It was God saying to His dear servant, I know you have a true heart for Me and My people. If there had been self-importance in that dear man of God, what a fine opportunity this was! He could have stood up and said, "Well, the people have brought this judgment on themselves. I could not help it, and now God is going to make something of me. I will take it." How lovely it is of Moses: he refuses. He refuses himself. He refused the world when he was in Egypt; that was the first thing, and now he refuses himself.
Two chapters later Moses uses the same phrase again — but now as his reason for asking God to come with them:
In Exodus 34:9 Moses pleads, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, please go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people." And we know — I know — that sin in me is the ground of my being lost; and yet sin in me is the very ground of my going to God to keep me, now that sacrifice has come in. It shows a wonderful character of grace, its overflowing fullness, to give as the ground of God's being with us what was the ground of judgment — once sacrifice has come in.
- Seen. God's word moved from "I have seen the affliction of my people" to "I have seen this people." Affliction draws out His grace; stubbornness must be humbled.
- Stubborn. Stiff-necked means the stubbornness of wanting our own way.
- Owed. Israel had promised obedience as the condition of blessing. On that ground the calf left them lost beyond recovery, and God no longer treated them as His people.
- Opened. "Let me alone" was mercy as well as anger. God already felt His servant's pleading before Moses spoke, and Moses refused the chance to have God make something of him.
- Reversed. Once sacrifice came in, the ground of judgment became the plea. "It is a stiff-necked people" is now the reason to ask God to go among us.
And now let me alone, that my anger may burn against them, and I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation.
Israel broke the first commandment while Moses was still on the mountain with God. Now God tells His servant to stand back so judgment can fall — and offers to build a new nation out of Moses himself. Everything in the chapter turns on what Moses does with that sentence.
The threat is not arbitrary. Israel had agreed to the terms themselves.
They had freely promised to obey God's law as the condition of blessing. The sprinkling of blood sealed the covenant, and that blood was the emblem of death — the penalty for breaking it. They had now brought that penalty on themselves. So God no longer treats them as His people. They had rejected Him. They had spoken of Moses as the man who brought them up out of Egypt, and the Lord takes them on their own ground... So if God dealt with Israel by the righteous requirements of the law they had accepted, they were lost beyond recovery, and would perish through their own wilful sin.
The threat carries an opening inside it. God asks Moses not to hold Him back — which shows Moses that he can.
How great was the mercy of God, that He stopped to consider the feelings of His servant in this great crisis. He knew well what the thoughts and desires of Moses would be. He already feels what His dear devoted servant is pleading for before the words are spoken, for He says, "Let Me alone." Israel's sin had called down on them the righteous anger of a holy God, but intercession mingled mercy with judgment.
The second half of the verse offers Moses everything a man might want.
Was that not a splendid chance for Moses, if he had not been what he was? If there had been self-importance in that dear man of God, what a fine opportunity for him. He could easily have stood up and said, "Well, the people have brought this judgment on themselves, and I could not help it. Now God is going to make something of me, I will take it." I think it is so lovely of Moses — he refuses. He refuses himself. He refused the world when in Egypt, that was the first thing, and now he refuses himself.
God had called Israel Moses' people. Moses hands them back to the One who redeemed them.
He does not for one moment make the sin of the people look smaller — this he could not do. Nor does he ask for mercy, for there was no room for mercy in the covenant of Sinai. So he throws himself upon God, and upon what His glory required for the people He had redeemed... God had said to Moses, "your" people; but Moses pleads that they are "His" people. He will not accept the breaking of the link.
God already knew how Moses would answer. The point of the words lies elsewhere.
How could Moses alone bury over two million people? Also, would a nation fathered by Moses be any better than Israel? God knew all this, and He knew the heart of Moses toward Israel. But He spoke this way for our sakes. He wanted to draw our attention to the intercession of Moses for Israel, as a picture of the intercession of the Lord Jesus for us even when we fail badly. On the one hand, we must realise how fierce is the anger of God against every evil thing put in the place He alone is entitled to. On the other hand, we are to see the great value of the intercession of the one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The picture has a limit. Moses pleaded God's glory; Christ pleads sin already put away.
What comfort for us to know of Christ that He is at the right hand of God, and that He is also interceding for us. He knows the righteous judgment of God. He knows too the evil of our sin. But His intercession rests on this: He Himself has vindicated the righteousness of God by putting away our sin.
Moses' answer to "let Me alone" was to refuse to leave God alone.
More than once you can see the tremendous power of prayer — tremendous because God gives it. It can even turn the mighty God from His purpose when He means to deal in judgment. Think of that!... But Moses would not let the Lord alone. He would not let God make him a great nation at such cost to stiff-necked Israel.
- Cause: Israel accepted the covenant on their own terms. The calf brought down the penalty they had agreed to, and the law left them beyond recovery.
- Opening: "Let Me alone" is a threat with a door in it. God feels His servant's pleading before he speaks it.
- Refusal: Moses turns down the greatest offer of his life. Having once refused the world, he now refuses himself.
- Ground: He never makes the sin look smaller. He pleads God's glory and insists they are still God's people, not his.
- Result: Intercession turns the judgment aside — a picture of Christ pleading for us when we fail, though His plea rests on sin already put away.