Why Our Only Hope Is Christ (Exodus 32-34)
Ever wondered why we say “Jesus is our only hope”? Learn how Exodus 32-34 shows the law shows us our need for salvation, but only Jesus fulfills it and makes us right with God.
Exodus 32-34
Today's Scripture Passage
A Few Thoughts to Consider
Why do we put our hope in the wrong things?
Exodus 32-34 gives us some answers with two stories: the golden calf and the radiant face of Moses. After Moses is gone for longer than the people like, Exodus 32:1-2 tells us, “they gathered around Aaron and said to him, ‘Come, make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’” Notice the dismissive phrase “this Moses” that shows their contempt.
Peter Enns writes, “This amounts to an attempt to undo what has just taken place in the preceding thirty-one chapters: the Exodus, the covenant, and the initiation of God’s presence in the tabernacle.”[1] Calves were a common form of idolatry in the ancient Near East. Enns notes, "It is commonly accepted by Old Testament scholars today that the ancients did not equate an idol with the god, but it was some sort of earthly representation of that god. Specifically, it was thought that calves or bulls functioned as pedestals for the gods seated or standing over them.”[2]
It wasn’t as though the Israelites were saying the golden calf was God. Instead, they were saying that “Yahweh’s presence is now associated with this piece of gold,”[3] breaking the second commandment in the process, which forbids making idols. Moses responds by breaking the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. As Enns notes, “The breaking of the tablets is more than just a graphic, even impulsive, depiction of intense anger. Like so much of this narrative, it is symbolic. By smashing the tablets on which is written the law—by God’s finger, no less—the law is symbolically undone. Moses’ act says to the Israelites that if they are not prepared to obey the law, they do not deserve to have it.”[4]
On one hand, God did so much to reveal who he is and that he chose Moses to lead his people. But his people still rejected him, and if not for Moses’ mediation, the people would have gotten their wish. After expressing his anger, Moses interceded to God on behalf of the people and had this remarkable exchange recorded in Exodus 33:12-18:
12 Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor with me.’ 13 Now if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways, and I will know you, so that I may find favor with you. Now consider that this nation is your people.” 14 And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 “If your presence does not go,” Moses responded to him, “don’t make us go up from here. 16 How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? I and your people will be distinguished by this from all the other people on the face of the earth.” 17 The Lord answered Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and I know you by name.” 18 Then Moses said, “Please, let me see your glory.”
God then responds to Moses and says:
19 “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live.” 21 The Lord said, “Here is a place near me. You are to stand on the rock, 22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”
As a result of this exchange, rather than starting over with a new people who will fulfill God’s covenant with Abraham, God hears Moses’ prayer and grants his request. In contrast, when the Israelites’ backs were up against the wall, they sought to make God in their image.
A Meditation to PRAY
Praise | I praise you for being the true God who is high above all.
Release | I cannot make you in man’s image. Nothing I try to add to you to make your presence more tangible will work. Only you are enough for me.
Ask | Help me, like Moses, to seek your true presence, not manmade fabrications.
Yield | I commit to doing things your way, not my own. Thank you for being the perfect sacrifice for my sin.
