Chapter 31 begins telling how God put His Spirit in different men giving them the wisdom and craftsmanship to make all the intricate designs and details of the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings.

THE SIGN OF THE SABBATH This is a critical passage when discussing the keeping of the sabbath today. Exodus 31:¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” The Sabbath was a sign between God and Israel only. The day itself was chosen b/c God rested on that day in the creation week. Genesis 2:³ Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” But that verse does not say that God commanded Adam and Eve to observe the Sabbath (which is what the 7th Day Adventists claim). Most scholars believe that Moses wrote Genesis during the 40 years of wilderness wandering, about 2500 years after the creation week. By the time he wrote Genesis, Moses and the Israelites would have been commanded at Mt Sinai to keep the Sabbath, so it is understandable that he includes the verse in Genesis 2:3 telling why God sanctified the Sabbath. But again, it does not say that God commanded all mankind to start keeping the Sabbath from the beginning of time. Nowhere in Genesis do we find Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob observing the Sabbath. The 7DA’s will quote Jesus when He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” as if Jesus is saying that the Sabbath was a command for all men from the beginning, but that is not what Jesus meant. Jesus was saying that the Sabbath was not a law that overrode common sense situations like healing on the Sabbath (which he was doing) or getting an ox out of the ditch on the Sabbath (which the Pharisees did). But Jesus is not changing to whom the Sabbath was given to: it was given to Israel and not all mankind. Also, in the book of Nehemiah it says, ““Then You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws,
good statutes and commandments. “So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, and laid down for them commandments, statutes and law through Your servant Moses.” (Nehemiah 9:13-14). He did not make the Sabbath known before Mt Sinai in Exodus 20 in the giving of the 10 commandments. It does say in Exodus 16:22-30 that on the way from the Red Sea to Mt Sinai that the leaders came to ask Moses why they were to gather twice as much on Friday as other days of the week and Moses told them about the Sabbath, and they “rested on the Sabbath day” (Exodus 16:30). But if the Israelites had been keeping the Sabbath all along they would have known why they could not gather manna on the Sabbath. Also, they are in the wilderness of Sin which is very close to Mt Sinai and just a very short time before the giving of the 10 commandments in Exodus 20. Yes, Jesus kept the Sabbath as well as all the Law of Moses b/c He was a Jew and the Law of Moses was still valid when he lives. Yes, Paul and other Jewish Christians kept the Sabbath b/c they were Jews and the Law was binding on all the Jews (Christian or not) until 70 AD when the Hebrew writer said that the Law would “disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). Any Christian, Jew or Gentile, can keep the Sabbath if they so desire. It is actually still a good thing to put away worldly pursuits, pleasure, and business and rest on the Sabbath. Many Gentile Christians do keep the Sabbath, but they should not make it a test of fellowship on other Gentile Christians who do not believe that they are commanded to keep the Sabbath. One final point. Many denominational preachers have said, “we should keep the 10 commandments today, even the 4th “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy”, but they say that “Sunday is the Christian sabbath”. Nowhere does the Bible say that God changed the Sabbath to Sunday. The Sabbath has always been from 6pm Friday to 6pm Sunday. We Christians do not make Sunday a rest day, but most Christians assemble on Sunday b/c that is the day that Jesus arose from the dead. BTW, it is interesting that the 7DA’s agree that Jesus was raised on Sunday. Another thing to point out is the inconsistency of those who claim to keep the Sabbath today. The penalty for breaking the Sabbath was death. Exodus 31:¹⁴ Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.” I’m always amazed at how Sabbath keepers ignore this penalty. They might try to make the penalty a “ceremonnial” law that was done away with by Jesus, but how can they ignore this passage in Exodus 31 where he is giving the penalty for breaking the Sabbath as a “perpetual” covenant. I hope this discussion of the Sabbath was helpful to you. I tried to cover all baes on this issue. Now you must decide if you wish to observe the Sabbath rest in any way.

THE GOLDEN CALF Chapter 32 begins the incident of the making and worshipping of the golden calf. The unbelief of the Israelites is hard to fathom. They saw the 10 plagues. They saw the Red Sea kill Pharoah’s chariots and believed (Exodus 14:31). It had only been about 3 months since the crossing of the Red Sea. Sure, Moses was up on Mt Sinai a long time (40 days and nights) and they began to wonder what had happened to him. But to get Aaron to make a golden calf and say “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”? What happened to that belief they had as they watched Pharoah’s army drown? And look at Aaron’s role in this incident. When Moses came down from the mount with the two tablets of stone, he confronted Aaron. Aaron said, “So they gave gold to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” Moses saw that the people were out of control “b/c Aaron had let them get out of control” (Exodus 32:24). This is God’s newly appointed high priest. Moses had to be greatly disappointed in his brother Aaron’s actions in this incident. Moses’ anger burned against the people, he ground the calf into powder and made them drink it, and called upon the Levites to kill 3,000 of the rebels. Life Lesson: It is difficult at times to believe in a God whom we cannot see. The Israelites wanted to have a god they could see, so they made the calf. You can understand why idolatry is so prevealent in so many non-Christian cultures and religions. I struggle at times to believe in a God whom I can’t see, who fills the universe in some spiritual way. That is hard to believe! I’m thankful for the resurrection of Jesus that assures me that Yahweh truly exists.

MOSES’ INTERCESSION FOR THE ISRAELITES WHO MADE THE GOLDEN CALF While on the mount, God told Moses about the golden calf. Exodus 32:⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰ Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” What a temptation for Mosses! For God to make of Moses a great nation instead of Abraham! But Moses pleads for God not to destroy the people. He reminds God of his covenant to Abraham and what it would look like to the Egyptians if He destroyed them after after all those plagues to save them. Later in Numbers 13-14 Moses will again intercede for the people when the 12 spies are sent out and God is ready to destroy the people and make the great nation out of Moses, not Abraham. Numbers 12 says that Moses was the “meekest man on earth” and his intercession for the people on several occasions proves that. Moses even told God, Exodus 32:³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” He takes his role leading the people that seriously! Life Lesson: How is your intercessory prayer life? 1 Timothy 2:1 urges that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people.” I use rhe ACTS prayer model: Adoration (praise), Confession (of sins), Thanksgiving, Supplication (intercession for others). I don’t know exactly how intercessory prayer works to convince God to do things or to not do things. I do know that Moses’ intercessory prayer changed God’s mind about destroying the people. Exodus 32:¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.” Some teach that all things are predestined and that God never changes His mind, but several verses show where God planned to do something but intercessory prayer changed His mind. Pray, believing that your prayer might convince God to change His mind about something that looks inevitable.

GOD SPEAKS TO MOSES FACE TO FACE AND HIS FACE SHINES Moses had a temporary tent (the tabernacle had not been built yeet) where God would speak to him “face to face as a man speaks to a friend”. Deuteronomy 34:10 says that Moses was the only one God ever spoke face to face with. Exodus 34:29-35 tells us that Moses’ face would shine after he came from speaking with God in the tent as he told the people what God had to say to them. To keep from diminishing the importance of God’s word to them, he would put a veil on after speaking so they could not see the fading glory in his face. In 2 Corinthians 3:12-13 Paul said that the unbelieving Jews that he was trying to convert were hearing the new covenant teachings with a veil over their minds preventing them from the seeing the fading glory of the old covenant. Life Lesson: People should be able to see a change in our countenance after we spend time speaking with God in prayer. They should be able to see that our personal one on one time with God and in meditation on His word delights us, convicts us, assures us. We should come out of that prayer time with happy and peaceful expressions on our faces. Life lesson: Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 4 after talking about the veil that was keeping the Jews from accepting the fading glory of the old covenant: ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” God has shown us the spiritual light of salvation through Jesus, the Light of the world. John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” But there is a veil over the minds of unbelievers that keeps them from seeing that Light. It might be their pride, their refusal to give up their sinful lusts, their intellectual arrogance, their bitterness over bad things that have happened to them, their rejection of belief in God b/c of the existence and of pain and suffering, their belief that science and evolution negates the need for belief in God. Do you have a veil that keeps you from seeing the light of the gospel? You read God’s word but it doesn’t change you. You have some veil that keeps you from really seeing the spiritual light that God can give you.

MOSES IS GIVEN A SPECIAL GLIMPSE OF THE GLORY OF GOD Moses was burdened with leading these obstinate Israelites and you can understand why! He told God, “I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You” (Exodus 33:13). “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:18) Exodus 33:²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” Moses did as God said and saw a glimpse of the glory of God that no man has ever seen but him. It gave him the assurance he needed to lead the people. God also gave Moses a summary of His “ways” and His attributes: Exodus 34:⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; ⁷ who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” ⁸ Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.” In Judaism, Exodus 34:6-7 is called the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy Exodus 34:6-7 is  mentioned between 15 and 27 times by various biblical authors, including King David (Psalms 86:15, 103:8, 145:8), Joel (Joel 2:13), Jonah (Jonah 4:2), and Numbers 14:18. This makes it the most cross-referenced verse in the old testament, showing its importance. The verses are cited whenever God is about to punish sin, to forgive sin, to be patient with disobedient Israel, etc. Life Lesson: Romans 1:20 says that we can “clearly see the invisible attributes of God” by the things He created, That is called “natural revelation”. But the incredible design of the universe and the human body doesn’t tell us what that Creator is like? It takes special revelation from God’s mouth to tell us what God is like. He gave that special revelation to Moses and He gives it to us in His word. Are you studying the word daily to. know God’s ways and attributes? Life lesson: The “nature” of God is a critical topic. Many struggle with belief in God b/c of the existence of pain, evil, and suffering. How can a loving God allow such? How can a loving God command the Israelites to commit genocide of the Canaanites? How can a loving God allow my little child to die? Why does God often allow the righteous to suffer and the wicked to prosper? Billy Graham’s fellow evangelist preacher, Charles Templeton walked of the campaign trail and became an atheist b/c of the existence of evil in the world and his belief that science and evolution refuted the Bible. He wrote his book, Farewell To God, in 1996 and died an atheist. Do you ever have such doubts about the nature of God and His ways? Find a place where you can ask God to show you His glory and His ways. That place might be an inner room in your house, a church prayer room, a rock by a beautiful lake or mountain. Tell him about your struggles and how much you need a special glimpse of His glory to keep you faith going and to help you with your struggles. He will reveal Himself to you just as He revealed Himself to Moses.