[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: We are on the mountain of God again this week. We are ready for Mount Sinai. Before we do start with that, I wanted to pause and say for the first four weeks, what we talked about, do a little bit of review, but also just hear from you guys what has stood out to you guys so far, what has been impactful or meaningful or insightful for you before we get going, because I'm basically after tonight, we've got five more lessons left to go and we have to hit. I'd like to hit some of the Kings. I'd like to hit Psalms. I'd like to hit Proverbs. I'd like to hit the New Testament. So we've got like eight to nine more weeks of material and we've got five more weeks left to go. So I'm trying to be judicious here in terms of what we might choose to study going forward. So I'm just curious for feedback from you guys, what's kind of been meaningful and impactful or insightful in terms of what y' all have participated in so far in this class?
I think the cosmic mountain idea, you talked about just how common it was for cultures at that time as well, to understand why God chose his interface the way he did.
So the imagery just makes sense in a way that people can understand at any time.
Yeah, the imagery, God kind of contextualizing, if you will, which would make for a great missions practicum course too. Right. Like the contextualization towards what the Hebrews might have understood in their own culture. Yeah.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: I hadn't noticed the direction east and the reference to it. You know, I went back and read even, you know, when Abraham and Lot Lot chose to go east. Yeah, that's. I didn't even pick up on that one. So that was something I hadn't picked up on. Before. Yeah. And it's, it's funny, it makes me wonder just all of the different things in our modern culture where, you know, we don't practice the art of reading as much anymore. We watch movies, we listen to podcasts where people spell it out directly for us and we don't participate in more of the creative elements sometimes. Unless you're watching like Christopher Nolan, that guy's just doing his own thing. But yeah, the direction east. I mean, I've done daily Bible reading. Like, read through the Bible stuff and just gloss over some of those elements.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Places and directions have meaning. They do, they do.
The one, I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it, but we talked a little bit about Yabal Akra. You know, the word the Hebrews use for it is zaphon, which just means north. Like it's that big mountain in the north. Right. And so you'll see zaphon used with the mountain and just used for, like the things that take place up there too. And so those tend to be synonymous. The other thing about east that I was reading is east is the same. I think we mentioned this briefly. Is the same for beginnings. Right. It's the beginning of the day. And so it's sometimes hard to know whether they're talking about the direction or talking about just like earlier times.
Yeah.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Any other thoughts?
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Well, one that I would like to get into.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Leslie Jehandefard sent me another podcast that's a six series lesson. And they don't spend as much time on like the literary elements. They more talk about what happens on Mountaintops and then they also spend a good deal of time talking about valleys. There's actually, after Elijah has his big battle with the, if you will, the battle with the priests of baal, he then goes off to Sinai and when he comes back, there's a scene where there's a king that challenges King Ahab and God is like, hey, I'm the God of the valleys too. And so they spend some time talking about that. But also, you know, I.
You might have picked this up at some point or another. Like the headstrong stuff from these theology motifs that we're picking up are really, really interesting to me. But I don't want to discount some of the more emotional aspects of this. So I think when we get into Psalms, we'll spend some time getting into, like, I think we've talked or I've tried to do justice to the idea that Mountaintops are a place where we meet God. But we have passages in the bible like Psalm 23, that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, that life is not lived wholly on a mountain. And so I think when we start getting into psalms and prophets, they really start pulling on some of those. So I think we might take some time there over the next remaining five weeks to talk about, like, I love this kind of stuff. But let's acknowledge the fact, too, that life isn't always a mountaintop experience.
Let's go ahead and dive into where we are tonight as a review we've talked about. As Michael said, mountains are a cosmic place where heaven and earth meet. Mountains are a place where God reveals himself, and mountains are a place of testing.
We want to pick up in Exodus chapter one and Chapter two. So if you want to go ahead and open your Bibles to Exodus chapter one, Exodus chapter one is the opening of, hey, you remember at the end of Genesis where the story left off, there was this guy, Joseph, and he saved his family and he saved all of Egypt. But there's a king that's now in town. And this king didn't know Joseph. And this king was afraid of the Israelites because, go figure, God's mandate to the Hebrews is coming true, right? Like, he is fulfilling through the Israelites his own mandate, in the sense that In Exodus chapter 1, verse 7, the Israelites, however, were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became strong, and the land was filled with them. Like there's Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 being played out by the Israelites in the land of Egypt. But this leads the king to experience a wee bit of fear, right? In the sense of, hey, they could decide to overtake us, and that's bad. So let's put them to work. They get enslaved. And there are all these things. And one of.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: The Bible is full of all these little ironies, or I don't know the best way to say it, but all of these things where the expectation is kind of flipped on its head. So Pharaoh says, hey, the young boys, kill them all, like, without discretion. And what follows afterwards? Some biblical scholars will go in and say, like, you know, by saying, kill all the boys, maybe what he's also implying is because the girls, the women, aren't really a threat, right? Like, get rid of the men. They're the fighting people. They're the ones who are going to rise up against us in someday. And the reason that I think that that's interesting is because Pharaoh's expectation is women aren't a threat, right? And so out of chapter two, all of a sudden you have these two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. Shiphrah, which has the connotation it was beauty. And Puah tends to kind of mean splendid, or one who speaks. And so you've got Shiphrah and Puah are told, hey, kill the boys as they're born. Like, tell the wives whatever happened, like, he didn't make it, but just kill the boys. And they don't do that. They go against Pharaoh. And so they undermine his authority by going against him. And then you've got two other women who undermine Pharaoh's authority because they are following the mandate of God. They protect this little boy named Moses. Miriam does this as the sister of Moses. And then you've got Jochebed, the mother of Moses subverts the king of the land and shows that, no, this is what it looks like to follow God's command to protect life instead of take it. And then you've got, after that, the Pharaoh's own daughter subverting his authority by taking one of these Hebrew kids into her own home. And so you've got these.
I remember the first time I was taught this lesson back when I was a freshman in college.
The professor Scott Adair called it five defiant women. And not saying that these women were defiant in a way that was against God's authority, but they were defiant in a way that when someone was against God's authority, they chose God's authority over their own. And so I really love this story. Just to show that even when kings have the whole country out of whack, sometimes the women know exactly what to do.
And then Moses is placed in an ark. And the same word used for the ark that is used by Noah. And so the idea here is like, this boy who is being saved by all of these women is the new Noah, is the new Adam. So pay attention to Moses. His name, Moshe, means drawn out. Exodus in the Hebrew Bible is called names, it's not called Exodus. So names are important in this book. Moses grows up in Pharaoh's house.
We jump ahead a few years, somewhere between one and 40 years, and he ends up murdering an Egyptian who is harming a Hebrew, and he flees to the land of Midian. And I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but the guys, the team at the Bible Project, emphasize, hey, a lot of what happens over the next remaining 40 or 38 chapters in the book of Exodus kind of tugs at all of these competing identities of Moses. Like, who are you going to be Moses, are you going to be an Egyptian? Are you going to be a Hebrew? Are you going to be a Midianite? Because he flees to the land of Midian, he takes a wife from there, and he.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Lives under Jethro, who is kind of the head of those people. And so what is your identity and who are you? And I think that's interesting because if we pick up now, and where I'd like to spend a little bit of time is now in Exodus, chapter three. Pick up in Exodus, chapter three, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father in law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock into the far side of the desert.
And guess where we end up? We come to the mountain of God, to Horeb. And most biblical scholars, there are some who debate this. Most biblical scholars say that Horeb and Sinai, depending on their context, are used interchangeably. There are obviously some who say, like, no, Horeb was here and Sinai was here. But the idea, it seems, with the biblical writer here, Moses, writing this down, that maybe he's trying to draw the idea that these are the same. And so on this mountain, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush.
And the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed. And so in my notes, I have this written down as the unburning bush, if you will. And if I had had my tablet working, we would have been taking some notes in here. But you'll notice, or maybe you'll pick up, that God starts speaking to Moses. Well, we said when we talked about Abraham on Mount Moriah, like, this is the place where God reveals himself and God is revealing himself again on a mountain. Some biblical scholars that I read talked about, hey, this, this burning bush that is not being consumed.
Well, this could be one of the trees in the garden, because we don't know that the tree of life was ever consumed. So it's just an odd way that it got phrased, the word consumed instead of, like, not being burned up. And there's not a lot of consensus on that, as far as I could tell. But they do call that out just to say, like, hey, here's a tree on a mountain and it's not being consumed. So maybe there's something to that. The voice from the tree says, moses. And Moses says, here I am.
God said to him, don't come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face because he was afraid.
God goes in and starts talking about how he is going to deliver the children of Israel who have cried out in their anguish.
And in crying out in their anguish, he says, I know some people in this audience might have grown up with Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments. I grew up with the DreamWorks movie with Val Kilmer in it. So whichever one is the one you grew up with. But I hear that deep voice from the bush say, and I am choosing you. Right? David usually plays in vbs like the voice of God. So maybe we could have. Sorry, he's my brother in law. I gotta.
Anyway, so I'm sending you go do this thing. And where. I think maybe the guys, the team at the Bible Project are picking up on something. What is Moses's first objection here in verse 11, who am I?
Who am I in the Val Kilmer version instead of the Charlton Heston version? You know, taking some creative license, he goes on to say, like, I'm the son of the man who slaughtered their children. Like they don't want to see me. Like I'm his son. Yes, I'm them, but I'm him. But I'm this and I'm. And he's got this objection. And if you've ever heard this talk before, this might not come as a surprise to you if you've never seen it before. But God's response to his objection is one that I think we all need to hear sometimes. What is God's response to that objection?
[00:14:18] Speaker B: I will be with you. Like it don't matter. It don't matter, right? Like I'm. If I'm with you. I'm the wind in your sails. I'm the strength to your arms. I'm everything that. Like, read a lot of the Psalms, they talk about God being my right hand and God is my rock. And these are some of the ideas that I wonder if they're drawing upon as they say this. And so Moses is not convinced. In verse 13, he's like, I have another objection. Like, if I go, like, it's been 400 years. You realize that, right? Like, where have you been? If I go, who am I to say is sending me?
And God says his name, right? Exodus is the Book of Names in the Hebrew Bible. So God says, his name.
I am who I am. I will be who I will be. Like the first and the last is how revelation kind of puts this. The alpha and omega. Like everything you see around you I'm the guy. I am the God of everything.
You tell them I am Situ. And he's like, okay, well, that's great.
But guess what? They won't believe me. This is Exodus, chapter four, starting in verse seven. And so he says, okay, granted, they might not believe you. So here's something. Put your staff down on the ground and watch it become a snake, not a stake. That would be a little bit different. Translation. Put your hand inside your cloak, and when it comes out, it will be leprous, white as snow. And when you put it back in, it will be cleansed again, right? Like, this is for people to know that my power is with you, that my spirit is upon you is how it says a lot in the Book of Judges, right? Like when the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson or came upon.
These are the ideas flowing here. And Moses said, okay, even if they believe me, I'm not eloquent. Like, I can't lead a crowd. What am I supposed to do to this? And God says, don't worry, I'm going to teach you what I'm going to say.
And finally, Moses says, okay, you're not picking up on my hints. God send anyone else. I don't care who it is. Just anyone else in the world would be better than me. And God says, okay, I'm sending Aaron. He will be your mouthpiece, just like you are my mouthpiece. Right?
So these are the five objections and the five responses of God. And if we connect this back to the mountain of Moriah, Moriah, what's going on here?
Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but I think that there's some connection here to the mount. Moriah said Moriah was about tests.
Then in a sense, Moses here has failed the test, right? I'm sending you. Go.
Whatever your life here is in Midian, your son Isaac, leave it behind.
Come, follow me. Right? And Moses says, no, thank you. Absolutely not.
I can give.
For every response you come up with, I can come up with one more excuse, right? Like, there is no way I'm going to do this. And God says, I am who I am, and you are going, so go. And Moses does end up following God's command. And so the reason that I'm calling that out here is because Moses.
I wouldn't just call it outright rebellion here, but Moses, opposition here is going to come up later on in the book in terms of a foil, an antitype, however you want to think of it. So let's jump ahead to.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: We're going to skip chapters four through 18. That's what gets most of the credit. And most of the movies, you've got the Moses going back and trying to tell Pharaoh that we need to go and worship our God. You need to release my people. Let them go. And Pharaoh says 10 times instead of five. No way. And different signs and wonders come in. So five happens because there are five times that there were plagues. And with the five times, Pharaoh hardened his heart, and then five more plagues happen, and then it says, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So you've got these sequences of fives here. And with those fives, even in the second set of fives, even Pharaoh's advisors are like, dude, let him go. Come on, get out of here. Like, Egypt is being destroyed. And that's kind of the point, right? Like, Pharaoh is showing what the cost of this lifestyle is. And that is the lifestyle of destruction that we saw on the mountain or Tower of Babel. I want to skip ahead to chapter 19, if you will land with me there. The Israelites have been set free. The Passover has happened, and all of this has come to pass. And they finally arrive.
Chapter 19, verse 1. In the third month, after the Israelites went out from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came to the desert of Sinai.
And after they journeyed from Rephidim, they came to the desert of Sinai, and they camped in the desert. Israel camped there. And where are we? But yet again, in front of the mountain, right? Like this is in my. I'm using the net translation here, the new English translation.
It just says in front of the mountain. Like you should be picking up on what mountain that we're at here as one of my ways. That one of the subtexts, I guess, I'm reading into this. Moses went up to God and the Lord called on him.
Thus you will tell the house of Jacob and declare to the people of Israel, you have seen what I've done in Egypt, how I've lifted you out on eagle's wings, which calls forward to Isaiah, chapter 40 and brought you to myself. And now if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession. You're going to be in my own heart, if you will, out of all of the nations, for the earth is mine, and you will become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Right? Like this is the point of who Israel is supposed to be. This goes back to what was the original mandate and blessing to Abraham.
Does anybody. Can someone summarize to me what the Blessing to Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant was, I will make you a great nation.
You're going to be more than the stars, more than the desert grains of sand. And I will bless you so that you can bless all of the families of the earth. All of the nations is one of the translations there. So this is God saying, you are the fulfillment of that promise. You're here. You are a nation of priests.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: It calls into question that after the golden calf and the Levites are chosen as the priestly tribe. Like, we're the 12 tribes, not all supposed to be a part of this calling, right? Like, there wasn't supposed to be the clergy and the laity. It was supposed to be all of us working together to be God's priests, the priestly nation.
These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites. So Moses came and summoned the elders. He set them before them all these words that God had commanded. And the people answered and said, all that the Lord has commanded, we will do. So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.
They said, yeah, we're in.
You brought us out of Egypt. Absolutely.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: We'll follow you to the ends of the Earth. And so, you know, this is kind of a high point, if you will, in terms of the story here.
The Lord starts talking to Moses, I'm going to come to you in a dense cloud. He kind of explains what's going to happen.
And then picking up in verse 16, like after this discourse here, a popular motif in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, on the third day, which is used a little bit in the New Testament, that might call into question some ideas there.
On the third day in the morning, there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain and the sound of a loud horn, and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. Now, Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire and smoke. And it went from smoke of a great furnace. And the whole mountain shook violent. Like, there's lightning and thunder and there's fire and there's earthquakes. Like earth, wind and fire is all happening right here at the. God is. God is all these things which. There were gods of fire, and there were gods of the earth who caused earthquakes, and there were gods of storms. Baal. BAAL was one of the gods of a storm. Yabalakkara was a place, as the Mediterranean came up onto this mountain, that a lot of storms happened. So God's like all those things that you're aware of, that all the other gods around you, all the other nations like all those things, all of the things that they are looking to. I am all of them wrapped up into this one package right here.
So the covenant has been affirmed.
The people are a little weak in the legs because of this impressive show that God has put on here. And chapter 20 is one of the more famous passages in the Old Testament. It is in my Bible called the Decalogue is how it's kind of written in the older texts, the 10 words, the 10 instructions. We tend to call them the 10 commandments. But the idea with it being decalogue was not that these were some mean sovereign kings, 10 things that were to be told to us, that instead these instructions in terms of the covenant that we just said we would follow, these are the ways that we enter into that.
This instruction will guide us into that. And I don't think that's a bit of a stretch, right, because you read the book of Psalms. And how do the psalmists describe what we translate as the law? But they have is the word Torah.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: How do they talk about.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: The books of law here at the beginning of their Bible in the books of Psalms? Just cherry pick some verses that come to mind.
We sing one, or at least we teach it to our kids. Psalm 119. I think it's verse 105.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Right? Like this is something that guides me up and down the mountain, right?
My favorite one, the prologue to the book of Psalms. So Psalm chapter one if you want to turn there, right.
Psalm one.
I had to memorize this one when I was maybe in sixth grade. I don't have it memorized anymore.
How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway of sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers.
How blessed is the one who is not acting like Pharaoh and the people of Babylon.
Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord's commands, his words.
He meditates on them and he meditates on them day and night. And the person who does this is like a tree who is planted by flowing streams. It yields its fruit in the proper time and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he does.
But the wicked are not so. Instead they are like wind driven chaff. For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment. Nor can sinners join in the assembly of the godly.
Certainly the Lord Guards the way of the godly with his instruction.
But the way of the wicked ends in destruction.
Even Paul, one of our New Testament scholars, right? Well, he was an Old Testament scholar, but writing on New Testament topics. Does anybody remember in Romans, chapter seven how he talks about the law?
Like after saying, yes, we're not held to the law, but there's still something to it, what does he say about the law? Listen, if I hadn't had the law in front of me, how would I have known what it was to covet my neighbor's wife? Or how would I have known what it looked like to do this? The law was there, preparing my heart for Christ.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: The instruction of the Lord is good.
It is pleasing to the ears.
Psalm 19, which is a creation psalm, talks about the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies above declare his handiwork. I think it's verse seven starts picking up, starting like almost a complete left turn, saying like, the law of the Lord is perfect.
It's beautiful, it's awesome, right?
So we've got that happening on the mountain of God here.
And after that, after the blessings of the law come down, we have in Exodus, chapter 24, I told you all we were going to be going fast paced tonight. So we're trying to fly through a whole book in one night.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Picking up in 24.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: We have the covenant confirmed again. Moses is told again, come up to the mountain of the Lord with Aaron, nadab, Abihu and 70 elders and worship from a distance. Moses alone may come near the Lord, but the others must not come near. Moses came and told the people the Lord's words and all the decisions. And all the people answered, yes, we're in, we got it.
Let's see, jumping ahead to verse nine. Moses and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel went up and they saw God, right? This is the mountain of seeing.
This is Mount Moriah all over again.
Here is a place where we get to see God and they saw the God of Israel, verse 10.
Under his feet.
It was something like pavement, but it was sapphire, but it was clear, like the very sky itself, which jumps ahead to Ezekiel. Ezekiel pulls on this imagery and Revelation pulls on this imagery, but it also kind of calls back to in the Garden of Eden, which we talked about as another mountain.
Listen, the gold that's a part of this river, it's gold, but it's perfect gold. It's clear, it's awesome, it's powerful.
There's. I think it's Psalm 84.
Maybe it's Psalm 76 starts talking about all of the stones and how clear they were.
It calls upon this almost apocalyptic language of like, I want to tell you what it was like, but it was so unlike anything that I. I've ever experienced before.
This is the best I can do.
But even though they saw God, he did not lay a hand on the leaders of Israel.
So they saw God, and we're back in the garden again.
They ate and drank, right? Like, this calls ahead to the communion of our age, our dispensation. Using a word I don't think I've ever used teaching a Bible class before, right? But like, this is communion. We get to sit at in the throne room of God, eating and drinking.
And so the Israelites, their elders are doing that here at the mountain of God. So Moses is told to come on up. And we get to the end of the chapter, and it sticks in here, this little idea that, oh, and by the way, Moses, this time, he went up, was up there for 40 days and 40 nights.
And what follows next in Exodus 25:37 is a series of discourses given by God to the people of Israel about the tabernacle.
I'm coming to be with you is basically how this section starts, right?
I'm coming to be with you. I'm going to live among you, right? This is Emmanuel, God with us. The glory of the Lord is coming down off the mountain. And this is where it is going to rest.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: And it calls. We've already talked about the ideas of garden in the sense of how it was decorated, how it was separated, the articles and elements that were in there.
But I want to see between chapters 25 and 31, there are a number of times where we are told and God said to Moses.
[00:31:26] Speaker B: The first one is really long.
The rest of them are just small, four or five sections of verses at a time. See if you guys, starting in Exodus chapter 25, going through Exodus chapter 31, see how many times you can pick out. We are told, God said to Moses, you can work with a partner, you can work with someone next to you. If you just want to do this meditatively, see if you can count how many times we were told, God said.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: How many are y' all up to?
Did anybody get through? You got seven.
That's how many I got. And the last time that we saw God saying something, sequences of seven goes all the way back to the beginning, that you have seven days where God says something. And it was so. And so you have here the seven instructions. The first day, the first day is God created light. And a lot of what happens in that first discourse, that long five chapter discourse, is, hey, there should be an altar of incense in there. There should be an altar outside. There should be a candlestick. And this is what it should look like. Like there are seams of light that pop up there.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: I'll be honest, when I was reading some of the Jewish scholars, their connections to days two through four.
Two through four, yeah. Are a little weak in my mind. But I do think that there's, even if they are weak connections. The idea that there are seven, especially when you get to the sixth.
The sixth instruction, I think, is what it is inside of the sixth instruction, starting in chapter. I think it's 31 here. Yeah, the sixth instruction, 31:1.
See, I've chosen these two guys of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled them with the spirit of God, my spirit, and given them skill and understanding and knowledge in all ways.
And they're supposed to oversee this, right? Like who's made on day six, but the people who are supposed to oversee God's creation. And then in chapter 31:12, the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites, don't forget that fourth commandment. I want to remind you of that, that the Sabbath day is important.
The Sabbath day is a day of rest. It is a day of remembrance, just like I did on the seventh day. And so it is interesting, even if not every single one of the discourses follows along perfectly in there. I think there's something to it in terms of what God is doing and saying, hey, these things, this is all happening again. This time it just didn't happen necessarily with the flood or did it? Because the waters parted and the waters were brought back together over the people of Egypt. But I didn't do it over the whole Earth because I remember that promise.
So in response, the people of God in chapter 32, make a calf.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: They immediately say, we know that big scary cloud up there told us that it brought us up out of Egypt, but we don't like big scary clouds. We like this nice domesticated calf that we can take care of. And so we make the calf and it is our God, right? And Aaron, when Moses comes down, says, I don't know what happened. I put the gold inside the furnace and the calf came out like.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: I mean, Adam and Eve, they played the blame game pretty hard. Blaming it on a calf that jumps out of the fire is a new low.
But the thing that I think is interesting is after all of that happens starting in chapter 33.
The Lord says to Moses, go up to the land I promised you. I will give it to your. I told Jacob, I will give it to your descendants. I will send the angel before you.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: So re giving the command, right?
But in verse three, the second part. But I'm not going with you.
You're a stiff neck people, and I might destroy you on the way, right? Just go, but leave me behind, okay? And God said, like the whole tabernacle thing is the idea of, I'm coming with you. And so if Moses was tested on the mountain before, and the people were tested over 40 days at the mountain, like, are you? Can you be patient enough with me just for 40 days to listen?
Now Moses is being tested again.
Moses was told to go before, but now God is saying, go, but I'm not going with you. And Moses is the one who is transformed here.
Because Moses responds starting in verse 12.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: See, you have been saying to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: I know you by name. And also you have found favor in my sight. And if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight and see that this nation is your people.
So now, all of a sudden, the person who was afraid because he didn't know who he was, Moses.
[00:36:43] Speaker B: Knows exactly who he is.
My place here is to listen to you, God, and bring all of these people along with me. And I've learned in just this short time, right? Like maybe a year, maybe 18 months.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: I understand. I know who I am because you have made me into the person I am supposed to be. So Moses stood between God and the people. And Moses.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Goes into intercession again after God objects. Now God objects in verse 14. My presence will go with you. I will give you rest.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: And then Moses says, if your presence does not go, or if you destroy us, like, what are the Egyptians going to say?
And the Lord relents of his anger, we're told. And then Moses says, I want to see all of you.
Verse 18. Show me your glory. The Lord said, I'll make my goodness pass before you. But you can't see all of me.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: You can't handle it.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: And I hope I haven't skipped it here.
Verse 5. The Lord descended. Chapter 34, verse 5. The Lord descended in a cloud, stood with him, and there proclaimed the Lord by name. So now the Lord saying his name again. But it's not just. I am who I am. It is I am who I am. I am who I am. The Lord, the Lord. The full name of me is the Compassionate, the gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgetting iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means leaves the guilty unpunished. Responding to transgression of fathers, dealing with children and children's children, and to the third and fourth generation. Like, if you want to know who I am, it's right here. And the Psalms echo this as a yes. Praise be to God that this is who he is. It's only Jonah if you go back and read the book of Jonah, who uses this as a negative connotation, like God. I knew you were the God of compassion. I knew you were abounding in love, and I didn't want the Ninevites to have part of it. But every other place it's used, it's used well. And ending off, I know we're over time. And chapter 40, excuse me. 39, 43, chapter 39, 43, Moses inspected all of the work.
One translation is, Moses saw the work.
And behold, just as the Lord has commanded it, they had done it, and he blessed them well. Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 1:31 say, God saw all that he did, and behold, it was good, they had done it well. He had done it well, and God blessed them so. So Moses, standing for the people of Israel as the intercessor of God, is doing the work of God or taking part in that work. And then In Exodus chapter 40, verse 33 says, Moses completed the work. Genesis chapter 2, the heavens and earth were completed.
And then in the end of chapter 40, starting in verse 34, God's presence descends on the tabernacle and the tabernacle. Now this very tall tent amongst a bunch of other shorter tents is now God's own mobile mountain that will travel with the people of Israel wherever they go.
And we'll pick up somewhere else in the Old Testament next week. Not quite sure where yet, so I haven't set up my homework or anything. I'll put it in the groupme. But hope you all have a great week. Thank you all for being here.
