Scripture Passage that Caught my attention today: Exodus 32:7-14 The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
Ex. 32:11 But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
Observation: Verses 7 and 11 are polar opposites. God says the people are Moses’ people and that Moses brought them out of Egypt. Moses says that the people are God’s people who God brought out of Egypt. And then using a little “what will the neighbor’s say?” logic, Moses convinces the Lord to change his mind.
Application: I love this passage! Had Moses not spoken up, the promises found in 50 chapters of Genesis and the previous 31 chapters of Exodus might well have been for naught.
It occurs to me that there is tremendous virtue in speaking up for and on behalf of the downtrodden of every tribe and race and creed, even if, like Moses, we might be personally upset with and/or deeply disappointed in them.
It is noteworthy that Moses’ compassion for and identification with the people of Israel enabled him to summon up the courage not only to plead with the Almighty on behalf of the people, but also to request (see verse 32) that his own name be blotted out of the book if God would not relent. Moses may be known as the law-giver, but he clearly had a softer side as well. Such sacrificial compassion I find far more compelling than much of the self-righteous rhetoric (often from purportedly Christian enterprises) that is so prevalent today.
Prayer: Lord, thanks for creating people in such a way that we can even have deep and abiding discussions with you, so much so that sometimes even you are moved with compassion to change your mind. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Readings today included: Exodus 30-32 and Acts 8)
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