Phase 1. The Covenant and the Tabernacle
As we have seen in earlier articles in this series, Exodus 19-40 opens with the Covenant (Exod 19-24) and the plan for the Tabernacle (Exod 25-31).
The first of these sections begins with a reference to God’s covenant with Israel. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine” (Exod 19:5). This is followed by the theophany on Mount Sinai (Exod 19), the ten commandments (Exod 20), and the rest of the book of the covenant (Exod 21-23; cf. 24:7). Lastly, this first section concludes with the establishment of the covenant (Exod 24).
Once the covenant has been ratified by the shedding of blood (Exod 24:5-8), “Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights” (Exod 24:18) to receive the blueprints for the Tabernacle (Exodus 25-31). That the Tabernacle is part of the Covenant is confirmed by the seventh “the Lord spake unto Moses” saying, where we are told, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath… for a perpetual covenant” (Exod 31:16).
Phase 2. Sin endangers the Covenant and the Tabernacle
Tired of waiting for Moses to return from the mount, the people get Aaron to make a golden calf, which they worship, offering sacrifices to it, as if the calf was the god which delivered them out of Egypt (Exod 32:1-6, 21-24).
Furious, the Lord sends Moses down to deal with Moses’ people, which Moses had brought out of Egypt, who had corrupted themselves (Exod 32:7-8). “And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exod 32:9-10). God is threatening to destroy the people of Israel, so He can start over with Moses, just like He had done with Noah.
Moses intercedes, giving two reasons for the LoRD to reconsider: first, God’s reputation would be tarnished; and second, God should remember His faithful servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and the promises He had made to them. In response, the LoRD repents of the evil He had intended to do to the people (Exod 32:11-14).
When Moses arrives at the camp, he sees the calf and the dancing, and he smashes the two tables of stone, reflecting that Israel had broken the covenant (Exod 32:15-16, 19; cf. Jer 31:32; Heb 8:9). Moses burns the calf, mixes it with water, and makes the people drink it (Exod 32:20). Responding to Moses’ request, the Levites go through the camp killing those who were guilty, totally about 3,000 men (Exod 32:25-29).
Moses intercedes on behalf of the people, offering to be blotted out on their behalf:
“And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin ––; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exod 32:31-32).
The Lord responds to Moses’ plea, including a command for Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land, supported by an angel of the Lord:
“And the Lord said unto Moses… Therefore now go, lead the people… behold, mine Angel shall go before thee” (Exod 32:33-34).
God continues, explaining in more detail, especially that He would not be going up in the midst of the children of Israel, because He would consume them if He did:
“And the Lord said unto Moses… I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way… For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee:” (Exod 33:1-6).
Israel was a stiff-necked people; if God were to stay in their midst, He would consume them. The threat was so imminent that Moses takes his tent outside the camp, away from the people, and sets it up as a temporary “tabernacle of meeting” (Exod 33:7-11). Further, if the LoRD was not going to dwell among the people, then there would no longer be any need for the Tabernacle.
Phase 3. The Covenant renewed and the Tabernacle built
Moses understands the seriousness of the situation, and continues pleading with the Lord:
“Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people… And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name” (Exod 33:12-17).
The issue is whether the LORD will continue to go up with the Israelites or not. Moses tries to understand how to approach God on this question. God indicates that His presence will be with Moses (Exod 33:14), to which Moses argues, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up form here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exod 33:15-16 TNIV). At last, God concedes, He will do as Moses has asked, that is, He will go with His people (Exod 33:17).
As a result, the Tabernacle is constructed and God fills it with the cloud of His glory (Exod 35-40). Exodus 35 picks up where Exodus 31 left off (the children of Israel must keep the Sabbath), as if the episode with the golden calf had never happened.
Exodus 34 contains the renewal of the covenant. It starts with God telling Moses to hew out two tables of stone to replace the two he had smashed (Exod 34:1-4). The LORD appears to Moses, proclaiming His name, “The LoRD, The LoRD God, merciful and gracious, longsu$ering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exod 34:6-7; cf. 33:19).
Moses immediately bows his head and worships, saying, “If now I have found grace in thy sight, O LoRD, let my LoRD, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a sti$fnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance” (Exod 34:9). Moses is here referring to God’s agreement to go among them (cf. Exod 33:16-17). Moses acknowledges God’s repeated statement that the people are stiffnecked (Exod 32:9; 33:3, 5): the people have not changed, but God is merciful, so Moses pleads for forgiveness.
God responds by renewing the Covenant, “Behold, I make a covenant… And the LoRD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel” (Exod 34:10, 27-28).
The details of this Covenant show that it is a renewal of the Covenant described in Exodus 19-24:
- Nations driven out before the Israelites. “Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite… For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders” (Exod 34:11, 24a) recalls “For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them o$f” (Exod 23:23).
- No covenant with the inhabitants of the land. “Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest” (Exod 34:12, 15) echoes “I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods” (Exod 23:31b-32).
- A snare unto thee. “Lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee” (Exod 34:12) recalls “For if thou serve their gods, it shall surely be a snare unto thee” (Exod 23:33).
- Break down their images. “Ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves” (Exod 34:13) echoes “but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images” (Exod 23:24).
- Worship no other god. “Thou shalt worship no other god” (Exod 34:14) reminds us of “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works” (Exod 23:13; cf. 20:3, 5). “Thou shalt make thee no molten gods” (Exod 34:17) is more specific and targets the Israelites’ particular sin (Exod 32:4, 8; cf. 20:4).
- Sabbath rest. “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest” (Exod 34:21) repeats “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest” (Exod 23:12; cf. 20:8-11).
- Three covenant feasts. “The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep… And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel” (Exod 34:18, 22-23) echoes “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread… And the feast of harvest… and the feast of ingathering… Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God” (Exod 23:14-17; cf. 34:24b).
- “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk” (Exod 34:26; cf. 34:19-20) repeats “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seeth a kid in his mother’s milk” (Exod 23:19).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One