For 40 Days – Day 7: Covenant Renewed: Content

Key Episode Scripture: Exodus chapters 32-34

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7 ESVUK)

After considering the context of this episode, the idea in considering the content is to check the action in which the forty days feature. It’s definitely worth reading and listening to chapters 32 to 34 of Exodus. This is not a replacement for that. This is more of a summary of action.

Exodus 32

1-6 – Impatient over Moses’ absence, the people conspire to set up gods to be the Lord to worship and do so under the instruction of Aaron, who crafts a golden calf and sets up a festival for the people to celebrate this god.

7-10 – Meanwhile, God informs Moses of what the people are doing and says they are “stiff-necked”, so he’s ready to wipe them out and start again with Moses.

11-14 – Moses appeals on behalf of the people, arguing that it would look bad if God took them out of Egypt to wipe them out. He also appeals to the covenant of the ancestors. God relents.

15-20 – Moses, with tablets written by God, returns to the people and informs Joshua that the sound he hears isn’t war but singing. When Moses sees what’s going on, his anger leads him to smash the tablets, burn the golden calf to powder, and force folks to drink powdered water.

21-24 – Moses asks Aaron what happened; Aaron explains things in a way that gives the impression the calf just came out that way.

25-29 – Moses’ response to a people let loose is to call out those on the Lord’s side – which the Levites respond to. Moses instructs them to go through and kill. 3000 men are duly killed. Moses refers to those Levites as ordained to bring about a blessing in their actions.

30-35 – The day after, Moses says he’s appealing to God for atonement. Moses appeals to the Lord. God’s still going to blot out those who sinned. He’ll send an angel to lead the people but still deal with the sinners. He unleashes a plague on the people for the calf.

Exodus 33

1-3 – God tells Moses to take the people to the Promised Land. He’ll send an angel and clear out those already there, but He won’t go with them because He’s likely to wipe them out, and they’re stiff-necked.

4-6 – God tells Moses to tell the people they’re stiff-necked, and He could wipe them out, so they must remove their ornaments. The people are sorrowful when they hear this and duly obey God.

7-11 – Moses sets up a tent outside the camp to converse with God. People seeking God go there, too. Whenever Moses goes, people respond with reverence. The pillar of cloud shows God meeting Moses as friends meet. Joshua doesn’t leave the tent when Moses goes.

12-16 – This is the setting for Moses to ask God to show him His ways to find favour. Moses appeals for God’s presence to go with them, marking the people as distinct from others on earth.

17-23 – God accepts Moses’ appeal. Moses asks to see God’s glory. God sets up a divine encounter, pronouncing who He is and what He does while stating that anyone who sees His face will die. God sets things up so Moses can see the back, not the face.

Exodus 34

1-9 – God tells Moses to bring two tablets to replace the broken ones and sets stringent conditions for the meeting. Moses follows the instructions and meets God on Mt. Sinai. God meets Moses and declares He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving but not letting the guilty get away with it. Moses responds in worship and asks God to pardon and forgive the people and go with them even though we know what they’re like.

10-17 – God asserts the covenant He’s making and how He will astonish all observers with what He does. He’ll drive out the various inhabitants from the land, so the people must avoid making a covenant with them. God will wipe out the idols as He’s a jealous God, or else the people will integrate and follow other gods – they must not make gods from metals.

18-20 – God instructs the people about the Feast of the Unleavened Bread and the significance of the firstborn.

21-24 – God informs the people to maintain sabbath rest at all times and observe special feast days; three times a year should be marked as special occasions to meet the Lord for the people.

25-26 – God instructs conditions for sacrifice, the feast of the Passover, where the best of the first fruits should go, and not boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk.

27-28 – God tells Moses to write the words as this is how the covenant works. Moses is there for all this over 40 days without eating or drinking. He’s also writing the Ten Words on the two tablets.

29-33 – Moses’ face shines after the close encounter of the divine kind, which puts off the people. Moses invites them to come close, shares what God said, and then puts on a veil.

34-35 – Moses takes the veil off when he is with God. When he comes out, he shares God’s words before putting the veil back on.

Next, we will explore some of this episode’s fascinating concepts.

For His Name’s Sake

C. L. J. Dryden

Shalom