Israel Worships a Golden Calf
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In deep sadness the people buried their dead. Three thousand
had fallen by the sword; a plague had soon after broken out in the
encampment; and now the message came to them that the divine
Presence would no longer accompany them in their journeyings: “I
will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people:
lest I consume thee in the way.” And the command was given, “put off
thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” In
penitence and humiliation, “the children of Israel stripped themselves
of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.”
By divine direction, the tent that had served as a temporary place
of worship was removed “afar off from the camp.” This was further
evidence that God had withdrawn His presence from them. The rebuke
was keenly felt, and to the conscience-smitten multitudes it seemed a
foreboding of greater calamity.
But they were not left without hope. The tent was pitched without
the encampment, but Moses called it “the tabernacle of the congrega-
tion.” All who were truly penitent and desired to return to the Lord
were directed to repair thither to confess their sins and seek His mercy.
When they returned to their tents, Moses entered the tabernacle. The
people watched for some token that his intercessions in their behalf
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were accepted. When the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the
entrance of the tabernacle, the people wept for joy, and they “rose up
and worshiped, every man in his tent door.”
Help From God, a Necessity
Moses had learned that in order to prevail with the people, he must
have help from God. He pleaded for an assurance of God’s presence:
“Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show
me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy
sight: and consider that this nation is Thy people.”
The answer was, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give
thee rest.” But Moses was not yet satisfied. He prayed that the favor of
God might be restored to His people and that the token of His presence
might continue to direct their journeyings: “If Thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here
that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that
Thou goest with us?”