First Violation of the Covenant Agreement
DAYS pass.. and more nights of darkness from moon to moon on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.
Our scene of scripture turns to Moses alone with God; but to the Hebrew people waiting beneath Sinai with Aaron, this exodus from Egypt is going nowhere.
Exodus 32:
When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods..
4 He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.
Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
IDOLATRY!
20:1 וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה לֵאמֹֽר׃
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
20:3 לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָֽיַ׃
Penalty for breaking your COVENANT
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:6 KJV
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.
Exodus 24:3 KJV
Moses appeals to the Lord’s mercy
Now on Sinai, after the Lord tells Moses how the people have sinned, Moses pleads:
32:12 .. Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself…
So the Lord relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.
Exodus 32:14 CSB
See their Shame
Moses now descends Sinai and witnesses the idolatry for himself. Aaron then answers Moses when he becomes angry at the people:
22 “Don’t be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil.
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
naked unto their
shame among their enemies:)
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said,
“Who is on the Lord’s side?
Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies
Exodus 32:25b KJV
- You may not have read about NAKEDNESS or ever heard of SHAME in the welcoming worship of your church.
- This translation of Exodus 32:35 from the King James Version of the Bible will not appear on your Sunday School walls.
Moses’ reference to the nakedness of God’s covenant people before their enemies applies even to our shame today, including those of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus.
Naked before our enemies:
Shame on US!
WAIT! Did I miss something?
NO, you didn’t. It’s about an OATH — an application of LAW we all understand.
See how the world now looks askance upon our nakedness — a ‘United’ States which once claimed to be a new land of promise, a nation which acknowledged GOD in its oaths and laws of the land.
What does a covenant of man have to do with the Lord our Creator?
Pharaoh and the kings of Canaan, Palestine and the promised land worshiped other gods — idols to which men sacrificed to the nature of our own sin — idols in the places the Lord promised to conquer for Israel.
All translations of the Hebrew word (naked) point back to an incident in Egypt where we first see this word used.
From the wilderness of men choosing between the LORD God and their desire of IDOLS, it’s worth a quick look back (and a bit more waiting on the Word of the Lord).
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