Destruction of the Calf

Exodus 32 Continued

19. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

We can only imagine, as I suggested before, the terrible contrast between spending weeks in the glorious presence of Yahweh Himself and coming down into the camp and seeing such degrading sin. It must have set the sin against the background of God’s perfection and therefore shown it up in all its horrific reality. No wonder Moses’ anger grew hot when he saw this people, who a mere forty-seven days before had willingly agreed to a holy covenant with the God Whom Moses had been serving, now committing such an egregious act of betrayal against Him.

The Golden Calf

Exodus 32

1. 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.

The people grow restless when nearly six weeks pass and Moses still has not come down from the mountain. Bullinger points out that the Hebrew here is not delayed, but “put them to shame by his not coming down.” Perhaps they had been assuring each other that he would come back down any day, and day after day passed and that did not happen. Now, they become tired of waiting, and they form an official assembly, here put in Hebrew that they met in qahal, and did so before Aaron, whom Moses had left in charge of them. Where Hur, who was left in charge along with him, we are not told. The people demand Aaron go into action and make them gods, to walk in their presence.

Jehovah’s Master Workmen

Exodus 31

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Now we have another communication from the LORD to Moses.

2. See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:

Bullinger calls the word see the figure Asterismos or Indicating, “Employing some word which directs special attention to some particular point or subject.” This word see points special attention to the calling by name of this man Bezaleel.

This man’s name is given as an ancestry. This is rather like the last names that came from Scandinavia, where one’s last name was based on one’s ancestors. My own last name, Johnson, is actually the name of my great-great grandfather John. (By rights, my name ought to be Stevenson.) My ancestors included other names, like Anderson and Engebretsdater (for a daughter). In the same way this man is identified by his ancestors, only in this case he is not given one “last name” just going back to his father, but going back multiple generations to the ancestor of his tribe in Israel. Judah was the tribal father, Hur the grandfather, Uri the father, and Bezaleel the man in question.

The Laver, Holy Anointing Oil, and Incense

Exodus 30 Continued

17. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Once more, Yahweh speaks to Moses, giving him more instructions.

18. Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

Moses is to make a basin of brass, but since it is intended for people to wash with it, it is called a laver. Bullinger suggests that brass in this case probably refers to what we would call copper or bronze. The foot of the laver is what we would call the base, and was also to be of bronze. It was for washing, and so was to be filled with water.

The laver was to be placed between the tent of meeting and the altar. When those who were privileged to enter God’s presence were approaching the tabernacle, the thing they would encounter first of all was the great, brazen altar of sacrifice, and after that was the bronze laver. That is because the altar is for sinners, whereas the laver is for priests, in order to cleanse them for worship. Bullinger points out it is not included in Exodus 25-28, but is added here after atonement, and suggests that John 13:10 is the Divine antitype. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. One who has been washed of his sins by Christ’s blood is clean, and does not need to wash again. Yet as he travels through life he soils his feet in walking through this world, and so he needs his feet washed. This was the point of Christ washing His disciples’ feet, and this was also the purpose of the laver: to cleanse the priests from their daily contamination before coming into God’s presence.

God Behind the Scenes

One of the strangest of the historical books of Scripture is the book of Esther. It is a post-exile history, along with Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Although it shares some similarities with these books (especially with Daniel, dealing with God’s people in exile far from their land), it contains one feature unprecedented elsewhere in Scripture: it does not contain any name of God.

The only other book that seems the same at first glance is the Song of Solomon. That book contains no name of God in many English versions, but in Hebrew it is there, though in a compound word. In Song of Solomon 8:6, the Author declares that love and jealousy (which in this case I would define as the desire for marital exclusivity) are “Yah’s flame,” Yah being a shortened form of Yahweh. That love is Jehovah’s fire is perhaps the theme verse of the book, and so the name Yah appears very prominently in the Song of Solomon. Yet there is no such name of God in Esther, even in a compound word. Why is a book apparently devoid of any reference to God contained in the Bible?

The Golden Altar and the Census

Exodus 30

1. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

Next, the LORD orders Moshe to make an altar for the burning of incense. It is to be made of shittim wood. This is just a Hebrew word transliterated into our alphabet without being translated. We believe this was the common acacia wood of the very wilderness where Israel was then located.

2. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same.

The cubit is again the Hebrew ammah, meaning probably a forearm. We guess that the cubit was about eighteen inches, though the religious cubit may have been as much as twenty-five inches. Its length and breadth are both a cubit, as this is to be a square altar as one looks at it from the top. On the side it is to be a rectangle, however, as it is to be two cubits or about three feet high. It is also to have horns made of the same acacia wood.

Holy Priests and the Holy Altar

Exodus 29 Continued

29. And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.

These holy garments Aharon wore were not just his either. They were to be passed down to his sons after him, when he was no longer able to fill the high priestly office. His sons who became the high priest were to be anointed as well in them. The word consecrated means “to fill the hand.” Their hands were to be filled, as Moshe had filled the hands of Aharon and his sons, with the service they were to perform before Yehovah while they were wearing these special, set-apart garments.

30. And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

The son of Aharon who takes over after him as high priest is to put these holy garments on for seven days when he comes into the tent of meeting to serve in the holy place within it. These seven days will correspond with the seven days Aharon and his sons are to be consecrated, as we will read in verse thirty-five. Thus the garments and the priesthood will continue even long after the death of Aharon the priest.

The Malta Omission

A very interesting and instructive event is recorded for us in Acts 28:1-10. There we read of Paul and Luke, on their way to Rome for Paul to appear before Caesar, shipwrecked on the island of Malta. “And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold” Acts 28:2 (New King James Version used throughout). Paul unknowingly picked up a bundle of sticks in which a poisonous snake was resting. When he threw the bundle on the fire, the snake came out and bit him. The natives expected him to swell up or fall down dead, and when he did not, they decided he must be a god. This was a foolish and superstitious notion, and we would suspect that Paul would have strongly denied it, as he and Barnabas once did in Lystra, Acts 14:14-18. Yet though he may have done so, Luke does not record it, a strange omission.

Installing the Priests

Exodus 29

1. And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,

Now we have instructions for the hallowing of the priests Aharon and his four sons. Once they are hallowed they will be able to act as priests. To hallow means to make holy, and that which is holy is that which is set apart. If I have many cups but I set one aside only to be used on holidays, I have hallowed that cup. The cup is now hallowed to me for this special use. Regarding God, that which is hallowed is that which is set apart to God for His special use. Being hallowed to God is far more important than having something just hallowed to me.

Moshe is to take two animals for their hallowing. One is to be a young bullock. “Young” is actually two words, ben baqar or “son of the herd” of the cattle. Along with this young bull he is to take two rams. All of these animals are to be without blemish.

The Breastplate and Other Garments

Exodus 28 Continued

22. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.

Moshe is to make linked chains at the twisted ends of the woven work of the breastplate. These are to be made of pure gold. The symbolism of the purity is obvious, the same word being used for ceremonial cleanness. The gold may stand for value or glory.

23. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

Moshe is also to make two golden rings on the breastplate, one on each extremity of the plate.