NOTES for Exo 32:7-14
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: |
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. |
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: |
10 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. |
11 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? |
12 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. |
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. |
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. |
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Who are the people of God? And what is their history? We are used to looking at this history through the eyes of an ordinary earthly person. We know history. We know that the people of God are the Jewish people. We know that Abraham was their father, and Moses was the great prophet who led them out of Egypt. We know what the Jewish people's road from Egypt to the land promised by God was like. And it seems to us that it could not have been otherwise. In our own way, we are right: history has no subjunctive mood.
But that is in our world. In a fallen and therefore limited world. In the great world of God, which has always remained His Kingdom, everything is different. There an alternative is possible. Our history exists there not because of any necessity - social, political, economic, or any other kind - but because of God's choice and decision. A decision that also takes into account people's free choice. Those people whom God addressed when He wanted to make them fathers and spiritual leaders of the people. Those people to whom He gave the Torah. Those people who, while Moses was not nearby, each made their own choice: to take part in worshiping the calf or not.
That is why alternatives are always possible in God's great world. Nothing is predetermined. Everything can always be begun again, including the history of the people of God. Everything is possible for God, but He looks at the person. At his choice.
God says to Moses: you see, the experiment has failed. Or is about to fail. The people were given a chance, but they will not be able to use it - that is already clear. "Your people," God emphasizes, speaking to Moses. Yours, not Mine: My people do not dance around the calf. So perhaps, God says to Moses, shall we begin again? For example, with you: you are faithful to Me, you know Me, and I know you. From you, with My help, another people will come; they too will be given a chance, and this other people descended from you may make better use of it than the present one.
But Moses does not want to abandon what has been started. He says: what about Your plan? After all, this is a witness to the whole world. Can it really fail? Let us still try again. That is what Moses says to God. And God agrees with His prophet. And the history of the people of God continues. The people below thought: Moses settled the matter. At a high price - all the apostates were killed - but he settled it. That is how it looks from earth. From heaven it looks different. But among Moses' contemporaries, only he knew this. And maybe the few people to whom he dared to tell it. And now we know it too. All that remains is to choose.
Readings for 13 April 2026
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