- : Exodus Chapters
- 31:
- 12-18
- , 32, 33, 34, 40
- The Sabbath Law +The Gold Calf
- Moses sees the Lord
- The Covenant renewed
- The 2 Tablets remade
- The Tabernacle is set up
- The Lord’s glory the Tabernacle
- Key Verses and Themes
- Chapter 31
- Finger of God:
Exod. 31:18
The two tablets of the Testimony were written with the “finger of God”. Remember from Week 2, this means the Holy Spirit!.
- Chapter 32
- Intercession for others:
Exod. 32:11-14
Moses intercedes to the Lord on behalf of the Israelites who had gone astray from God by worshipping the Gold Calf.
- Abraham’s Covenant:
Exod. 32:13
Moses recalls the covenant in his supplications to the Lord on behalf of the Israelites.
- The Levites:
Exod. 32:25-25
All the Levites join the Lord’s side. The Levites would eventually become a tribe dedicated to the priesthood, meaning priests would come from this tribe only. This does not mean that all Levites were priests, but all priests were Levites.
- Chapter 34
- God’s “name”:
- Exod. 34:6-7
God seems to give us another name for Himself, as He already gave one in
- Exod. 3:14
. See the discussion questions below for more on this!
- Moses’s face shines:
Exod. 34:29-30, 34-36
This occurs to Moses’s face after descending from Mount Sinai where he was speaking with God.
- Chapter 40
- Lord’s visible presence:
- Exod. 40:38
The cloud by day, and fire by night.
References to the New Testament & our Church practices
- Intercession for others
- Luke 13:6-9
See the discussion questions!!!
- Abraham’s Covenant:
Luke 1:72-73
Zachariah’s prophecy reminds of this promise too. Notice Zachariah says the promise is fulfilled/performed, because Christ did so!
- Moses’s face shines
- 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
See the discussion questions below.
- Discussion Questions
- EXODUS 32
"Intercession for Others":
What does God mean by saying "let Me alone" to Moses after the fiasco of the Gold Calf
By God saying “let Me alone” to Moses, He is doing 2 things.
Suggesting to Moses that his prayers for the protection of the people are preventing their destruction.
Telling Moses that if he continues his prayers and supplications, the Lord will indeed spare them.
Mar Aprem
“When God the Father said to Moses, “Permit me to destroy the people.” He [thus] gave him a reason to intercede with Him. Here too he showed the vinedresser that he wished to uproot it. The vinedresser made known His plea, and the merciful one showed his pity, that if, in a further year, [the fig tree] did not yield fruit, it would be uprooted”
So in the example with Moses, and the parable Christ gave us, we see that the prayers and intercession of others can delay God’s righteous judgement and wrath, turning Him towards His overflowing mercies instead. This should remind us of Abraham pleading for his nephew Lot before Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction!
- EXODUS 33
Did Moses actually see God and speak to Him face to face?
- No, because
- John 1:18,
- John 6:46
- 1 Timothy 6:16
- , even this very chapter,
- Exodus 33:20
! So know that God is incomprehensible by eyes and by mind.
What’s meant when someone “sees” God is visions, signs, the words of God, and/or in general direct and intimate communication with God, which Moses had.
So what is meant by Moses seeing God’s back?
It means things that God has already done, that are “behind” him, His acts that have already passed, which is to say it's a restricted/non-full view of God’s glory.
So humans can understand God “after the fact”, but we cannot understand Him face on, His Divinity (Godliness).
- EXODUS 34
Why did God have Moses make two new blank tablets?
Because Moses broke the first ones after coming down from Mt. Sinai and seeing the Gold calf that the Israelites were worshipping.
- "God's Name":
God’s name: Does God have 2 names?
- We ask this because He also have His name in
Exod 3:14
from Week 1, “I AM”. Although technically this isn’t really God’s name as much as it is a description of a characteristic of His (Always existing). Because he didn’t tell Moses “my name is” but just said “tell Israel I AM sent you”.
His first “name” is to show His eternal, unchanging nature and essence. It sort of does not make sense because how are we supposed to understand it, like we discussed in Week 1?
This second “name” shows His His moral character and attributes, especially in ways humans can understand. The timing of this name was also important; He says this shortly after the Gold Calf fiasco to show His mercy and compassion to the Israelites, so that they would return to Him and not fear.
- "Moses's Shining Face":
What’s significant about Moses’s face shining and his veil?
It shows the closeness of Moses to God; how major a prophet he was! There is a reason the Jews honor and revere Moses so much, hence we see them always bring up Moses to Jesus in the Gospel.
But what does St. Paul have to say about this veil? Read
2 Corinthians 3:7-18
St. Paul is saying, if the Old Testament, which through the Law, taught people and made them aware of the consequence of sin, and therefore brought death and condemnation of sin, was so great that Moses’s face would shine after he received said Law, how much greater is the New Testament, which brings righteousness and the ministry of the [Holy] Spirit.
St. Paul goes further, however, noting that this very same veil now still exists, in that whenever a Jew [as in someone whose faith is Judaism in this context] hears the Law of Moses read at a synagogue or reads it in the Torah, they have a veil covering their face, meaning making them blind, because only Jesus Christ takes away that veil.
Why? Because the Old Testament was “transitory”; it was a shadow of the New Testament, which is Christ, and believing now in the Old Testament, but not the New, which is the Gospel of Christ, means you are blinded by a veil!
- EXODUS 40
What happens in this chapter?
The Tabernacle is finally set up by the Israelites, alongside all its altar and furniture, and the Lord’s presence, His Glory, enters in, so much so that even Moses could not enter the Tabernacle.
Slowly but surely the things that need to be in place for the Law to start being fully upheld are starting to take form as we finish Exodus and head into Leviticus.
- This Week's Study
- —Prepare for
- our second Exodus
- exam, covering Weeks 5-7, and
- some important topics from Weeks 1-4, on Monday,
August 4th.