Exodus 32:7-14 (NRSV)
Read Exodus 32:7-14 on biblegateway.com
Verse 7The Lord said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; Verse 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" Verse 9The Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Verse 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation." Verse 11But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Verse 12Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Verse 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" Verse 14And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
Devotion
The assigned texts for this week all point to our need for repentance, but in this reading from Exodus, it is God who repents!
Moses has gone up the mountain to be with God, and Aaron has been left in charge. The hoards who’ve come out of Egypt, however, take over and a golden calf is built. The anger of the all-seeing God of the Hebrews is kindled, quickly mounting to a raging inferno. But Moses intercedes on behalf of his people, and God repents: “And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.”
God repents! God’s change of mind is based on nothing else but a promise. In fact, Moses reminds God of God’s promise to Abraham, a promise of descendents and land. That is a good place for us always to begin: with God’s promise. Everything else emanates from this.
Prayer
Thank you, O God, that your promises overcome everything else, even the raging fires of our sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.