Stories from the Bible - Ep 8 Rejecting God at the Mountain (Exodus 32)

Episode Date: November 20, 2021

God has shown the Israelites his power to rescue them, protect them, provide for them. Surely they have enough evidence to trust and follow what he says? The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved

Beauty, perfection, desire, deception, rebellion, judgment, hope. You're listening to Stories from the Bible. Bible stories told in order, using the words of the Bible, with introductions to give a recap and provide context. At the end of each story, you might want to pause and take a moment to reflect on what you noticed in the story, things you liked or didn't like, something the story showed you about God or about people. Don't worry if not everything makes sense. Keep listening to each episode and sit with the journey.

I'm stoked to have you on the ride. Today is story eight, but before we get there, let's recap and then hear some context for today's story. Okay, so in the Bible so far, God made the world. It was very good, but people chose not to listen to God's words, and that cut them off from enjoying life with God in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Outside the garden, rejection of God's word increased. Generations passed. One day, God spoke to a man named Abraham and promised to give him many descendants, a special land to dwell in, that his name would be a blessing, and that one day,

through one of his descendants, blessing would flow to all people groups of the earth. Abraham heard and trusted God's words to him, and so he packed up his family and moved to the place God showed him. Now, Abraham's descendants indeed grew to become a large nation. However, they were slaves in Egypt. Then God acted on his promises to Abraham to rescue them from Pharaoh. And we heard how the Israelites left Egypt after the Passover. Now, this was a significant event where the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites and didn't touch their firstborn sons. And the reason they were saved was because of the lamb's blood that the people put on their doorposts in obedience to God's instructions.

They listened to God's words and they lived. Well, after that, they quickly packed up and left Egypt. And despite being chased by Pharaoh, God protected them. He rescued them by parting the waters of the Red Sea for them to walk safely through, and he made sure that none of Pharaoh's army survived to chase them. Well, the Israelites were overjoyed, but very soon the hardships of desert travel overcame their happiness and relief. After three days' journey, they complained that they would die of thirst. But God made some undrinkable water safe, and so they had plenty of water. A few weeks later, they complained that they would die of starvation, saying they wished they were back in Egypt.

But God provided meat and rained bread from the sky, as we heard last time. Through all of this, God's desire was for them to know and remember that He was their great rescuer and provider. He wanted them to love Him as their one true God and to listen to his words. He wanted this not because he lacked anything or needed their attention, but because of his love for them. He wanted them to enjoy the life that comes from trusting him and obeying his words, rather than following the fears and ideas of their own hearts,

which would in the end only lead to misery and death, despite how attractive it might seem in the short term. God fed and led the Israelites through the desert to a mountain called Mount Sinai. There they paused and set up camp in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain and God called to him from the mountain and told him to explain to the Israelites. Tell them, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians

and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you will listen to me and carefully keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples. Although all the earth is mine, you will be my special holy nation. Then after Moses came back down the mountain, he passed on God's words to the people. And then all the people responded together, Yes, we will do all that God has spoken. Now, after that, God told Moses to tell the people to prepare

themselves to actually hear God's voice while he spoke with Moses in the cloud on the mountain. Then on the third day, there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud covered the mountain and there was a loud trumpet sound and all the people shuddered with fear. The mountain was completely covered in smoke, and the whole mountain shook. And when Moses spoke, God answered him in the thunder. And God warned Moses not to let the people come too close, otherwise they'd die because of his holiness. Then God spoke these commands, known as the Ten Commandments, and beginning with these words, he said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have any other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for

yourselves in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below. You must not bow down to them. And God continued speaking all ten commandments. And the people witnessed the thunder and the lightning and the smoke surrounding the mountain. The people trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but don't let God speak to us or we will die. Moses told the people, Don't be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and not sin.

Then God told Moses to tell the people, You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You must not make gods of silver to rival me. You must not make gods of gold for yourselves. Then God continued to speak with Moses in the cloud on the mountain for forty days and 40 nights. The story starts here. When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around his brother Aaron and said to him,

Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So Aaron said to them, Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molten calf.

Then they said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.

The Lord God spoke to Moses in the mountain and said, go quickly, go down the mountain because your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt. And the Lord God said to Moses, I have seen this people. Look what a stiff-necked people they are. So now leave me alone so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them and I will make from you a great nation.

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God and said, O Lord God, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, For evil he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven,

and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever. Then the Lord relented from the disaster he had said he would bring against his people. Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony of the Ten Commandments in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides. They were written on the front and on the back. Now, 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,

Oh, it's the sound of war in the camp. Moses said, It is not the sound of those who shout for victory, nor is it the sound of those who cry because they are overcome, but the sound of singing I hear. When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire,

ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. Moses said to Aaron, What did these people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin? Aaron said, We do not know what has happened to him. So I said to them, Whoever has gold, break it off. So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out. Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.

So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, Whoever is for the Lord, come to me. And all the Levites gathered around him, and he said to them, The Levites did what Moses ordered. And that day about 3,000 men of the people died. Moses said to the Levites, You have been consecrated today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today. The next day Moses said to the people, You have committed a very serious sin, but now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement on behalf of your sin. So Moses returned to the Lord and said, Alas, this people has committed a very serious sin,

and they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive serious sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will, forgive their sin. But if not, wipe me out from your book that you have written. The Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, that person I will wipe out of my book. So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, my angel will go before The story ends there. Thanks for joining us for today's story. You might like to take a moment to pause and think about what you noticed. Things you liked, things you

didn't like. Something that the story showed you about God. Perhaps you might even have thoughts about how this story fits into the bigger narrative of the Bible. If you'd like to look it up, it's from Exodus chapter 32. Today's story showed just how quickly the Israelites forgot God's words and the disastrous consequences. What hope is there for them? Stay tuned. You've been listening to Stories from the Bible. I'm Jen, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you. you