OVERVIEW:
God gives instruction on the consecration of the priests; God explains how the tabernacle is to operate; God appoints specific men to oversee the building of the tabernacle; God emphasizes the sabbath day; Israel sins against God; Moses intercedes for Israel.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
God had called Moses to come back up to the mountain, and just 40 days after making these incredible declarations, Exodus 32:1 says, “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”
Sadly, Aaron, the high priest, whom God had just spent four chapters giving Moses detailed instructions (even referring to Aaron by name 39 times in His dialogue with Moses from chapters 28–31!) because Aaron would picture our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, here we find Aaron in chapter 32, verses 1–6, bowing to the pressures of the people, making a false god and leading Israel in the worship of it! They actually even commence to dancing about it naked, praising “IT” for delivering them from Egypt! Absolutely unbelievable! How in the world could they possibly be so fickle… so weak… and so downright sinful?! Especially considering God’s words to Moses concerning Aaron and the children of Israel in chapter 29, verses 44 and 45! God said to Moses, “And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” Oh, had they only known the incredible future God had designed for them!
Yet, don’t forget, the children of Israel in the Old Testament are a picture of the individual believer in the New Testament! We might do well to stop to consider how many times, like Israel, we have exercised our sinful flesh despite God’s supernatural working in our lives, and when God hasn’t worked according to our timetable, how often we have redirected the glory for victories God had wrought to someone or something other than the One to whom it was due!
Then, notice Aaron’s lame cover-up when confronted with his sin! (Exodus 32:24) Aaron actually has the audacity to say to Moses, that he simply threw the gold into the fire and out popped a golden calf! That “miracle” having taken place, the only natural thing to do, according to Aaron’s whacked out rationalization and justification, was to set it in front of the people so they could dance around it and party the day away in sensual lust! Though Aaron’s “explanation” sounds totally absurd to us, I wonder how absurd the rationalizations and justifications we sometimes try to use to “explain” away our carnal behavior sounds to God!
Sadly, the wonderful things that God had planned for His people that He was detailing to Moses up on the mountain, were at that very moment being polluted by Aaron, and the children of Israel, down at the base of the mountain. (Make note that this great sin committed by the children of Israel in Exodus 32 became a sinful “marker” or “milestone” in Israel’s history that Stephen even referenced when recounting Israel’s history to their leaders in Acts 7:41–43!) The tragic fact is, while God was painting a beautiful picture to Moses of how His people could exemplify His holiness and mercy, Israel was simultaneously painting the dreadful portrait of how God’s people so often misrepresent and adulterate His love and His word. (1st Corinthians 10:1–11)
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
Through God’s plan for Aaron the high priest – Exodus 29 (Hebrews 7:26–8:1)
Through the Once-a-year sacrifice for Atonement – Exodus 30:10 (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:7, 12; 10:10)