A Devotional on Exodus 32 (part 1)

(For this devotional to be most effective read Exodus 32 first and perhaps even thumb through Exodus to get a general idea of the context.)

When God states to Moses that He would destroy Israel because He saw what they were doing Moses steps in and intercedes for the people.

Before diving in though, a few things must be pointed out.

It should be noted that Scripture is setting the stage with a shadow of the Christ. Moses is the shadow of Jesus. We see in the text a legitimate cause for the LORD to destroy His people. Moses steps in as a representative of Israel and pleads for MERCY.

His basis to see God relent is that God has made a promise that He must fulfill and God will be mocked if He lead a people out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness because He couldn’t make them obey.

Because of this intercession of Moses, God “relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.”

However, this all being said it should be understood that what God stated He was going to do He could not have without lying and disgracing His name. Both of which are not possible for God. (II Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2) Secondly, we already know from this point that YAHWEH is all knowing and doesn’t forget. So, the arguments that Moses brings to His attention, He already knew.

This makes the whole event seem pointless until you remember the point of the text is to point to Christ in which the real dilemma is solved.

How can a righteous God save a wicked people, for His name, when the very act of saving seems unjust?

Imagine a judge today pardoning a serial killer and letting him go free on the basis that he felt loving and forgiving that day, this would cause every man and woman to stand up and cry out against the injustice!

But in the Moses account no answer is given for how God can do this; because, he was the shadow, but in the Christ account it is.

Just as Moses presented himself as atonement for the people, so did Jesus Christ. However, Moses atonement offer was rejected, Jesus Christ’s atonement was not! He offered himself to appease the wrath of God and therefore became a public display of God’s justice (Romans 3:24-26) even in His justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5).