Angelic Conflict part 179: Human history – Exo 32:31-33:6; Rom 9:1-4; 1:22-27; Psa 106:19-23; Num 13; Deu 1:22-36.

Title: Angelic Conflict part : Human history 179 - EXO 32:31-33:6; ROM 9:1-4; 1:22-27; PSA 106:19-23; Num 13; DEU 1:22-36.

 

To blot out of Jehovah's book, therefore, is to cut off from fellowship with the living God, or from the kingdom of those who live before God, and to deliver over to death.

 

EXO 32:32

But now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out from Thy book which Thou hast written!"

 

While almost every scholar and commentator interpret this to be the book of life, it may be that Moses is referring to the book that he is writing, which under the inspiration and personal instruction by God, God is writing which is the book of the Law, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In the entire Bible Moses' name appears 851 times and so this would take a lot of erasing.

 

If this is the implication then Moses is saying that he doesn't want his name in a book were it is written that God will not forgive Israel. This would have the same implication of sacrificial love of Israel and God's character as if Moses was referring to the book of life.

 

As a true mediator of his people, Moses was ready to stake his own life for the deliverance of the nation, and not to live before God himself, if Jehovah did not forgive the people their sin.

 

These words of Moses were the strongest expression of devoted, self-sacrificing love. And they were just as deep and true as the wish expressed by the Apostle Paul in ROM 9:3, that he might be accursed from Christ for the sake of his brethren according to the flesh. Bengel compares this wish of the apostle to the prayer of Moses, and says with regard to this unbounded fulness of love, "It is not easy to estimate the measure of love in a Moses and a Paul; for the narrow boundary of our reasoning powers does not comprehend it, as the little child is unable to comprehend the courage of warlike heroes"

 

ROM 9:1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

 

ROM 9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

 

ROM 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

 

ROM 9:4 who are Israelites

 

However, neither Moses nor Paul is qualified for such a substitutionary sacrifice. They are sinners. But they are sinners that display the love of Christ in their actions and not just in words.

 

EXO 32:32 But now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin —  and if not, please blot me out from Thy book which Thou hast written!"

 

EXO 32:33 And the Lord said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

 

EXO 32:34 But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin."

 

EXO 32:35 Then the Lord smote the people [further discipline], because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

 

EXO 33:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To your descendants I will give it.'

 

EXO 33:2 "And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

 

EXO 33:3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way."

 

EXO 33:4 When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.

 

EXO 33:5 For the Lord had said to Moses, "Say to the sons of Israel, 'You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I will do with you.'"

 

EXO 33:6 So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

 

Unfortunately this sorrow is temporary. Under discipline and divine silence we can all have a half hearted repentance and simply return to our wrong thinking after the discipline is over.

 

The idols needed to go permanently. This demands a changed system of thinking rather than an emotional sorrow that only resorts back to evil.

 

Israel's lust for idols was born in Egypt and still worked in their hearts (JOS 24:14; EZE 20:4-9).

 

JOS 24:14 Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

 

Aaron fed that appetite by giving the people what they wanted. Much is being said these days about "meeting the felt needs of people," but here was a nation that didn't know what its needs really were. People need the truth from doctrine and that’s all that they need. Leaders, especially behind the pulpit who set about to meet the current needs or whims of the people are poor leaders who want popularity and approbation and substitute that for their accountability to truth and their Shepherd. Shepherd the flock of God among you ... according to God; 1PE 5:2.

 

God does not meet the needs of people who are needy of things that oppose Him and nor should His leaders enable such for their own popularity.

 

This is the tyranny of the majority. Our republic was set up to avoid this unfortunate circumstance. Often the majority is wrong, being influenced by the KOD and the spirit of the world and so leaders with virtue are necessary. Aaron and Hur should have been operating in virtue and condemned the people and their rebellion. They should have sought the council of God as Moses so often did, and it would be Moses' prayer that would spare their lives, well at least prolong it since Aaron doesn't make it into the Promised Land anyway.

 

The tyranny of the majority happens in a pure democracy, which as James Madison wrote in Federalist 10 -

 

"A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert results from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. [Federalist 10; James Madison 1787]

 

Doctrinal teachers must never compromise any doctrine in order to please the people. The number of people in the seats is not important, but the accuracy and clarity of the doctrine taught is the most important, and it is this that God will support. The policy of the local assembly is important, which provides the privacy of the priesthood, meaning good manners, no factions causing division and slandering or maligning. All policy promotes the communication of the word of God, without price or prejudice.

 

They thought they needed an idol, but what they really needed was faith in their great God who had revealed Himself so powerfully to them.

 

Israel exchanged the glory of the true and living God for the image of an animal (Ps 106:19-23), which means they acted like the heathen nations around them (ROM 1:22-27).

 

PSA 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb,

And worshiped a molten image.

 

PSA 106:20 Thus they exchanged their glory

For the image of an ox that eats grass.

 

There is no earthly thing that is a substitute for God's glory in you.

 

PSA 106:21 They forgot God their Savior,

Who had done great things in Egypt,

 

PSA 106:22 Wonders in the land of Ham [Egypt],

And awesome things by the Red Sea.

 

PSA 106:23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them,

Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him,

To turn away His wrath from destroying them.

 

ROM 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

 

ROM 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

 

ROM 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

 

ROM 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

 

ROM 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,

 

ROM 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

 

ROM 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.

 

ROM 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

 

There are a lot of idols in our world. Some are visible like they were with Israel and many are immaterial things like power or approbation, but even the visible ones come with false doctrines promoted by demons.

 

1TI 4:1

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

 

1JO 5:20-21

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

 

About a year later, at the southern border of Canaan, Moses sent twelve men to spy out the land. In spite of the miraculous guidance, provision, protection and presence of the Lord, unbelief prevailed. After ten of the spies gave a negative report, the Israelites shouted and wept all night, again grumbling against Moses and Aaron, even threatening to stone both of them.

 

Yet murmuring and complaining are human nature; fallen human nature. That though, is not excuse, as it is often used. Should the human nature rule the divine nature?

 

And, what about the promises of God given before:

   

EXO 23:23 For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.

 

EXO 23:24You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them, and break their sacred pillars in pieces.

 

EXO 23:25But you shall serve the Lord  your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.

 

EXO 23:26There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

 

EXO 23:27I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

 

EXO 23:28And I will send hornets ahead of you, that they may drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.

 

EXO 23:29I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

 

EXO 23:30I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.

 

EXO 23:31And I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

 

EXO 23:32You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

 

EXO 23:33They shall not live in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

 

NUM 13:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

 

NUM 13:2 "Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers' tribes, every one a leader among them."

 

In Moses' retelling of the account to the ones who were about to enter the Promised Land, 38 years later, he tells how the spies were first a proposal by the congregation.

 

1PE 4:12-13

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.