The Word Was Made Flesh
In the third month after the children of Israel left Egypt, the land of bondage, they reached the Desert of Sinai. There they set up their tents in front of Mount Sinai, which was all in smoke, because the Lord had come down upon it in fire.
The people shook with fear when they saw the mountain shaking and heard the voice of God speaking the words of the Law. They pleaded with Moses: “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19).
Since the people had seen the powerful hand of God protecting them from the plagues of Egypt and opening the Red Sea before them, they were convinced that Jehovah, the true God, was with them. The proclamation of the Law at Mount Sinai, where they had seen the greatest manifestation of the presence of God, was necessary before they could proceed on their journey toward the Promised Land.
Moses said to them: “Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not” (verse 20). Moses emphasized that the purpose of God in giving His Law to the people was to keep them from sinning. And, after the Ten Commandments were repeated to them, they said: “All the words which the Lord hath said will we do” (Exodus 24:3).
“When every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood . . . and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people” (Hebrews 9:19, RSV). And he said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
Recording that experience many years later, Moses wrote: “The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire. . . . And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:12, 13).
A few days after the Israelites had promised to serve no other god but Jehovah by keeping every commandment of His holy Law - the Decalogue - a serious crisis arose in the camp.
Moses and Joshua had been called to come up to the Lord on the mountain, and as the Israelites were anxiously waiting for their return day after day, they became impatient, indulged in murmuring, and began to doubt. In their feeling of helplessness, some even suggested it would be better to return to Egypt. After a few weeks, many in the camp said that their leader had disappeared forever, and that they now had to find a solution.
Rather than perishing in the desert, they reasoned, why not return to Egypt? “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” (Exodus 32:1).
A fearful crisis, almost beyond description! In this difficult situation, several parties - God, Satan, the people, Aaron, and Moses - played a significant role, which we will analyze in a few words.
Someone may say, God certainly knew what was going to happen. Then He could have kept everything under His control so that things would not develop into a critical situation. He could, for example, have sent Moses back to the camp before the people started to become restless and unruly. Or He could have struck down some of those who began to show the wrong spirit. He could have manifested Himself to Aaron and to the people in some way, assuring them that He was still there. Why didn’t the Lord take any preventive measures until the apostasy spiraled into rioting, and the shout, “Back to Egypt,” echoed through the whole camp?
God could also have precluded the fall of our first parents as well as all other adversities through preventive measures. Why didn’t He? Because all created intelligences were endowed with freedom of option. And we must all be put to the test. God will have in His kingdom only those who will obey Him by free choice. A question that should bother all rational human beings at this time is: Are we all sure that we have made the right choice?
The enemy is always on the alert to promote his work of destruction. Therefore, the apostle Peter warns us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
The people of Israel, at the foot of Mount Sinai, were not warned specifically about the danger and the test before them. The knowledge of the Law of God which they committed themselves to obey was all the knowledge they needed for the imminent test. And how about us? Do we need to be warned at every step? No!
About the Jews who were not prepared to recognize the promised Messiah, Jesus said; “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (Luke 16:29). What does He say about us? “They have the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. Let them hear them.”
“During this [time of waiting and suspense to Israel], there was time for [them] to meditate upon the law of God which they had heard, and to prepare their hearts to receive the further revelations that He might make to them. They had none too much time for this work; and had they been thus seeking a clearer understanding of God’s requirements, and humbling their hearts before Him, they would have been shielded from temptation. But they did not do this, and they soon became careless, inattentive, and lawless. . . .
“How often, in our own day, is the love of pleasure disguised by a ‘form of godliness’! A religion that permits men, while observing the rites of worship, to devote themselves to selfish or sensual gratification, is as pleasing to the multitudes now as in the days of Israel.”1
Every crisis in the church reveals three classes of people. Where principles are involved, there are those who will stand up for the truth, even at the cost of their life. Others will be ready to sacrifice principles for the sake of convenience, under perilous circumstances. The indifferent majority will choose the popular side. Read 1 Kings 18:21.
With the cloud of God’s presence before them, and in spite of all the evidence that they had seen, the Israelites turned their heart back to Egypt. What excuse did they have? “We do not know what has become of Moses.” This is no excuse at all.
Aaron is a type of weak, vacillating, irresponsible leadership. He is a fit representative of the clergy of the popular churches in our days. Aaron wanted to keep the people happy and stay out of trouble. “And there are still pliant Aarons, who, while holding positions of authority in the church, will yield to the desires of the unconsecrated, and thus encourage them in sin.”2
When uncontrolled frenzy seemed to possess the crowd, the Lord spoke to Moses: “Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. . . .2 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exodus 32:7, 10). Was it the purpose of God to destroy the people of Israel? No! The Lord only wanted to put Moses to the test - to see if he was willing to plead for them, showing fatherly love and interest for them. This would certainly imply the application of some drastic, corrective measures. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6).
“And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people” (Exodus 32:11, 12).
As he approached the camp, Moses was filled with righteous indignation over the abominable scene - a heathen revelry, an imitation of the savagery that characterized the Egyptian feasts. He took the idol, threw it into the fire, ground it to dust, scattered it on the brook that descended from the mountain, and made the people drink of it.
Then Moses turned to his guilty brother and sternly rebuked him: “What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?” Consider the excuse that Aaron presented in self-defense: “Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, 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” (Exodus 32:21-23).
Aaron’s apology implies the following ideas characteristic of an irresponsible leader:
He would not accept any incrimination for the apostasy. “Why do you blame me?” This is the attitude of every person who, instead of admitting his evident guilt, will try to find a “scapegoat”.
He tried to project into the people the blame that rightly belonged to him. “Why are you angry with me? You know these people. You are aware that they are determined to do evil. How could I stop them?” This is the alibi also used by modern Aarons.
He indirectly suggested that, if Moses had not stayed so long before returning from the mountain, the people would not have rebelled.
Aaron’s self-justification reminds us of an old story - the arguments used by Adam and Eve when called to account for their disobedience. Many years later, Moses wrote about his intercession for the rebellious people: “And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time” (Deuteronomy 9:17-20).
The experience of Moses was recorded for a purpose. Romans 15:4. We should spend more time on our knees, weeping and pleading for our people. Read Joel 2:12-17. This is our great need as we see that “the night is far spent” and “the day is at hand” (Romans 13:12).
Back to the experience at Mount Sinai: Standing at the entrance to the camp, Moses called out: “Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me” (Exodus 32:26). All the members of the tribe of Levi, who had not taken part in the apostasy, stood at the right side of Moses. Those of the other tribes who have sinned, but were repentant, stood at the left. But there was a third group, mostly from the mixed multitude, who persisted in their rebellion against God.
Then Moses commanded the Levites to gird on their swords and kill the impenitent ones, who wanted to go back to Egypt. “And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men” (Exodus 32:28).
“Love no less than justice demanded that for this sin judgment should be inflicted. God is the guardian as well as the sovereign of His people. He cuts off those who are determined upon rebellion, that they may not lead others to ruin. . . .
“Unless punishment had been speedily visited upon transgression [at Sinai], the same results would again have been seen. The earth would have become as corrupt as in the days of Noah.”3
The Lord, in His mercy, destroys a few in order to save many, as He did at Mount Sinai; otherwise, He would have to kill many, as it happened in the Flood, in order to save a few.