Exodus33
God sent an angel before them
1 And the LORD said to Moses, Walk, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob saying, To your seed I will give it: 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: 3 To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you; for you are a stiff-necked people: so that I won’t consume you in the way.
- God planned to distance Himself from the stiff-necked Israelites so that His holiness wouldn’t destroy them.
- The meanings of the roots of the names of the peoples that God destroyed show the parallel they can represent to our enemies of pride, fears, the false things of our heart, and evil. He promised to give them the best land on earth.
- Ezekiel 20:6 In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
- Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
4 And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned: no man put on his ornaments. 5 For the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff necked people: I will come up into the midst of you in a moment, and consume you: so take your ornaments off, that I may know what to do to you. 6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by mount Horeb. 7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one that sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of the congregation that was outside the camp.
- The ornaments were signs of pagan worship.
- God wanted to be in the midst of His people but the people kept turning from Him to evil.
- They saw His glory and His power in Egypt and at the Red Sea.
- He was right there with them and they didn’t get it. They kept turning to false things. God wants man to seek Him.
- Acts 17:27 that they might seek the Lord…though He is not far from every one of us.
8 And it happened when Moses went out to the tabernacle that all the people rose up, and every man stood at his tent door and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 11 And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And he returned to the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tabernacle.
His presence goes with us and gives us rest
12 And Moses said to the LORD, Look, you say to me, Bring up this people: and you have not let me know who you will send with me. Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have found grace in my sight. 13 So please, if I have found grace in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people. 14 And he said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.
- Matthew 11:28, 29 Come to me all you who labor and are heavily loaded and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and low of heart and you will find rest unto your souls: For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
15 And he said to him, If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here. 16 For by what will it be known here that I and your people have found grace in your sight? Is it not in that you go with us? So we will be separated, I and your people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth.
- The right attitude toward God’s grace is to be content to be loved though we are terribly unworthy.
- We need to expect to be blessed though completely unworthy of God’s blessing.
- Matthew 1:23 His name will be called Emmanuel, God with us
17 And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing that you have spoken: for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. 18 And he said, I beg you, show me your glory. 19 And he said, I, Myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 And he said, You cannot see my face: for no man will see me, and live.
- In verse 12 God told Moses that he had found grace in His sight.
- The word name, proclaim the NAME of the Lord more importantly means person.
- God was going to proclaim His person before Moses.
- Man made of earth dust is too frail to see the infinite glory of the Lord. We couldn’t bear to have the sun two feet away from us, passing by us neither the presence of the Lord until He makes us like He is.
- Revelation 1:16 tells us why, “…his countenance was as the sun in his strength.”
21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you will stand on a rock: 22 And when my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away my hand, and you will see my back parts: but my face will not be seen.
Exodus 34
1 And the LORD said to Moses, Cut two tablets of stone like to the first: and I will write on these tablets the words that were in the first tablets that you broke. 2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning onto mount Sinai, and present yourself to me there in the top of the mountain. 3 No man is to come up with you; let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let no flocks or herds feed before that mount. 4 And he cut two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name/person of the LORD.
God is merciful, gracious, and longsuffering
He is abundant in goodness and truth
6 And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, but will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children to the third and to the fourth generation.
- God is just, right, and holy.
- He does not want us hurting others or ourselves.
8 And Moses hurried and
bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. 9 And he said, Now if I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord please go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity
and our sin, and take us for your inheritance. 10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will
do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth or in any nation: and all the people among you will see the
work of the LORD: for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you this day: behold, I am going to drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- The Amorites, Canaanites, etc rejected their Maker and worshipped evil gods.
- “Cult worship of el baal, immoral deities, worshipped by debauchery centered around cult objects and phallic figurines, sex-centered human sacrifice, a cult of serpents, sacred courtesans, and eunuch priests the sordid depths that can scarcely be imagined…” Col. R.B. Thieme Jr.
12 Be very careful never to make treaties with the people in the land where you are going, so that it not trap you: 13 You are to destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:14 You are to worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15 So that you not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one of them call you and you eat of his sacrifice; 16 And you take their daughters to your sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make your sons go a whoring after their gods. 17 Make no molten gods.
- God made us.
- We cannot make Him.
- Anything man makes is not God.
- God is jealous.
- He is jealous because His love for us is so great.
- It is not sane to worship lumps of metal or carved statues that can’t do anything.
- Psalm 96:5 all the gods of the nations are idols: but he LORD made the heavens.
- Isaiah 48:11 For my own sake, even for my own sake, I will do it: how can I let my name be polluted? I will not give my glory to another.
18 You will keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that open the womb are mine; and every firstborn male among your livestock, whether ox or sheep,. 20 But you are to redeem the firstborn of an ass with a lamb: and if you do not redeem him then you are to break his neck. You will redeem all the firstborn of your sons. And none will appear before me empty. 21 Six days you are to work, but on the seventh day you will rest: in plowing time and in harvest you will rest. 22 You are to observe the feast of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. 23 Three times in the year all your male children are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out the nations before you, and enlarge your borders: no man will desire your land, when you will go to appear before the LORD your God three times during year. 25 You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; nor will the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning. 26 The first of the first fruits of your land you will bring to the house of the LORD your God. You are not to boil a kid in his mother’s milk. 27 The LORD said to Moses, Write these words: for after the pattern of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread, and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments
- God promised that no one would steal their property when they went to worship God.
- Redeeming the firstborn was a reminder that God gave His only born Son to buy us back to Himself from evil.
- Leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible. It permeates all it touches and puffs it up.
- Pride is the source of all our sin. Pride makes self big.
- Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
29 And when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shined while he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shined and they were afraid to come near him. 31 So Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him: and Moses talked with them. 32 Then all the people came, and Moses gave them the instructions the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 And Moses put a veil on his face until he finished speaking with them. 34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses that the skin of Moses’ face shined: and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.
- Moses’ face actually shined with the glory of God when he would be in the presence of God, then it would fade gradually.
- When we look at God in our hearts, it brightens our outlook and is seen on our faces.
- 2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Exodus 35
1 And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said to them, These are the words that the LORD has commanded to do them. 2 Six days work will be done, but the seventh day will be a holy day to you, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whoever does work in it will be put to death. 3 Do not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day.
- God gave clear commands for man’s good.
- Is mankind is so stiff necked that we only obey God on threat of death?
- Romans 3:10 There is none righteous no not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
God took a freewill offering to build His dwelling
4 And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel saying, This is the thing that the LORD commanded saying, 5 Take an offering from among you to the LORD: whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, silver, and brass, 6 Blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, 7 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and acacia wood, 8 And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 9 And onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.
- The gold represented the utmost worth, therefore Deity.
- Silver represented redemption. Things are purchased with silver.
- Brass represented judgment.
- The blue represented heaven, the purple represented royalty, and the scarlet represented God’s love poured out for us.
- The acacia wood was a beautiful hardwood that resisted insects and disease.
10 And every wise hearted one among you will come and make all that the LORD has commanded; 11 The tabernacle, his tent, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its poles, its pillars, and its sockets, 12 The ark and the its poles, with the mercy seat, and the veil of the covering, 13 The table and its poles, and all its utensils, and the showbread, 14 Also the candlestick for the light, and its furniture, and its lamps, with the oil for the light, 15 And the incense altar, and its poles, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door at the entrance of the tabernacle, 16 The altar of burnt offering, with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand, 17 the hangings of the court, its pillars, and their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the court,
- God had provided for what He required.
- Oil symbolized the Holy Spirit.
- Without the oil the light did not burn.
- All of these were pictures of our Lord.
- The showbread is ‘the bread of the face of His presence.’
- John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me will never hunger; and he that believes on me will never thirst.
- Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
- John 8:12 Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
18 The tent pegs of the tabernacle, and the tent pegs of the court, and their cords, 19 The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office. 20 And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, earrings, rings and jewels, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered an offering of gold to the LORD.
- God cares about our gifts to Him. In Genesis 1 God recorded His creation of heaven and earth in 31 verses. In Numbers 7 He recorded the offerings given at the dedication of the tabernacle in 89 verses.
- Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat opposite the treasury and watched how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And a certain poor widow came and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, Truly I say to you, That this poor widow has cast in more than all those who have cast into the treasury:
23 And every man, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and badgers’ skins, brought them. 24 Every one that offered an offering of silver and brass brought the LORD’s offering: and every man with whom was found acacia wood brought it for any work of the service,
- 1Peter 1:18 you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your vain behavior received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot:
He filled the willing with wisdom to do the work
25 And all the women
that were wise hearted spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun, both blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun
goats’ hair. 27 And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate; 28 And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet
incense. 29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering to the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. 30 And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, the LORD has called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah; 31 And he has filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; 32 To make designs for working in gold, in silver, in brass, 33 And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to
make any manner of skillful work. 34 And he has put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with wisdom of heart to do all kinds of work, like the engraver and skillful workmen, and the embroiderer, in blue, in purple,
in scarlet, and in fine linen, and like the weaver, doers of every work and devisers of designs.
- They were building a place for God to dwell among them. Now God dwells in man’s heart.
- Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
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SUMMARY: Exodus 33-35
- The LORD sent His angel before them
- His presence goes with us and gives us rest
- God is merciful, gracious, and longsuffering
- He is abundant in goodness and truth
- He promised to cast out nations before them and enlarge their borders
- He commanded freewill offering to build His dwelling