30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33 But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
While Moses was in the mountain receiving the commandments of God, the people were in the valley breaking the commandments of God. That is the story of chapter 32 of Exodus. God was instructing Moses how to build the Tabernacle using the gold and items the obtained coming out of Egypt. Aaron was instructing the people how to build a golden calf to worship with those same items. The gold they wasted on the calf would not be available to build the items of the tabernacle. This might be one of the most egregious aspects of this incident. In the above paragraph we might be reading one of the most engaging aspects of the story, however. Moses is willing to lay his life down for the sin of the people. This is where Moses becomes a type of Christ and shows us unconditional love for the people. Earlier, in anger at the people, he threw the tablets God gave them on the ground. Now he is throwing himself on the ground as a sacrifice for them. In this scene we see the perfect picture of wrath turned to love. God covers His own wrath with the blood and love of His own Son so that we can walk in freedom and no condemnation. The picture of this is found in the above text as Moses demonstrates this same action to the nation of Israel.
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