Okay Ladies...we are at the end of our 4th week together. How are you doing with your reading? Are you staying caught up? If you need to catch up, DO NOT GIVE UP!! The readings are not that long for each day, so if you get behind you CAN catch up! I promise you and more importantly, GOD promises you, that if you persevere you WILL be blessed! God is using this blog in a MIGHTY way for HIS purposes and I want all of you to be a part of this SPECIAL work of the Holy Spirit! Stay with us daughters of the KING!
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"I don't know what happened Moses! While you were gone on that mountain for so long with God, these crazy Israelite people starting partying. They wanted something to worship while you were gone, so all I did was tell them to give me all their gold. I threw it into the fire and out popped this calf! I just don't understand it! I am not sure what happened and I just can't handle these people all by myself!" This is Mindy's version of chapter 32 verses 22-24. This is one of the funniest, if not THE funniest, lines in the Bible! I crack up every time I read it! Okay...a calf! Why not a lion, a tiger, a horse, or even an elephant? SOMETHING with a little power to it! But a calf! I mean, if you are going to worship an idol and bring the wrath of God upon yourself, make it something worthwhile. Not a weak little calf! Interestingly enough, God wanted to destroy all of them and make a great nation out of Moses. But instead of saying, "Okay great! Let's get rid of these idolatrous people and start over. Great plan!" He was humble enough to implore the Lord, or beg the Lord, to not destroy the people. My ESV Study Bible says this in the study notes about Moses at this point: "While illustrating the unfaithfulness of many of the people, the account highlights the faithful maturing of Moses as a leader and shows him bearing aspects of the Lord's character." I wonder what it sounded like when Moses broke the tablets with the 10 Commandments on it? I think I would have thrown it AT the crowd of them, not at the ground? Are you feeling me on that? About 3,000 men died that day because there is ALWAYS payment for sin.
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Now, let's back up a little bit. Chapter 30 finishes up the instructions for the items for the Tabernacle. In the middle of all that though, in verses 11-16, the Lord commands Moses to take a census of the people and tax them. This tax was to be an offering to the Lord either as a ransom or to make atonement for their lives. But King David took a census of the people in 2 Samuel 24: 1-17 out of pride with disastrous consequences. God ALWAYS looks at the heart! In chapter 31 God does something REALLY cool. He puts His Spirit on two very special people, Bezalel and Oholiab, to make all of the items for the Tabernacle and complete all the work for setting up of the Tabernacle. Notice that God had to PUT His Spirit on certain people on whom He chose to put it on for specific purposes. We will see this sprinkled throughout the Old Testament. But now, we have the AWESOME privilege of having His Holy Spirit living IN us and NEVER to be removed once we receive His Son into our heart! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!
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Check out this web site page that explains wonderfully how the Old Testament Tabernacle is symbolic of all that Jesus does for us. It is WELL worth your time! Also, Beth Moore has a fantastic study on the Old Testament Tabernacle called "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place". It is one of the first ones she did, if not the first one, and it is definitely a study to take should you ever get the chance!
