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From Eternity Past
was the mercy of God that thousands should suffer, to prevent the
necessity of visiting judgments upon millions. To save the many He
must punish the few.
Furthermore, as the people had forfeited divine protection, the
whole nation was exposed to the power of their enemies. They would
soon have fallen prey to their numerous and powerful foes. It was nec-
essary for the good of Israel that crime should be promptly punished.
And it was no less a mercy to the sinners themselves that they
should be cut short in their evil course. Had their lives been spared, the
same spirit that led them to rebel against God would have been mani-
fested in hatred and strife among themselves. They would eventually
have destroyed one another.
Moses’ Christlike Love for Israel
As the people were roused to see the enormity of their guilt, it was
feared that every offender was to be cut off. Moses promised to plead
once more with God for them.
“Ye have sinned a great sin,” he said, “and now I will go up unto
the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.” In his
confession before God he said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great
sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if Thou wilt forgive
their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which
Thou hast written.”
In the prayer of Moses, our minds are directed to the heavenly
records in which the names of all men are inscribed, and their deeds,
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good or evil, are registered. The book of life contains the names of
all who have entered the service of God. If any of these by stubborn
persistence in sin become finally hardened against His Holy Spirit,
their names will in the judgment be blotted from the book of life.
If the people of Israel were to be rejected by the Lord, Moses
desired his name to be blotted out with theirs; he could not endure to
see the judgments of God fall upon those who had been graciously
delivered. The intercession of Moses in behalf of Israel illustrates the
mediation of Christ for sinful men. But the Lord did not permit Moses
to bear, as did Christ, the guilt of the transgressor. “Whosoever hath
sinned against Me,” He said, “him will I blot out of My book.”