Cl – Moshe Remembered when He Cut Two Tablets of Stone 9:25 to 10:11

Moshe Remembered when He Cut Two Tablets of Stone
9:25 to 10:11

Moshe remembered when he cut two tablets of stone DIG: How does Moses demonstrate his understanding of the heart and plans of God? How do you think this speech would make the Israelites feel? Why is this story important for the people as they prepare to enter Canaan? Why does God instruct Moshe to prepare two new tablets of stone? What does this tell you about the nature of ADONAI? What is unique about the Levites (see 10:8-10)? In what way is YHVH their inheritance? In what ways will the Levites help all of Isra’el as the people enter Canaan?

REFLECT: What are the basics of the life of a believer? How are these similar to the tablets of stone as a blueprint for our lives? Who, in your life has been an intercessory prayer warrior? Who do you pray for? When you pray do you speak to the heart of God? If you pray for what you already know is the desire of His heart, how does that guarantee your prayer will be granted (timing, however, is another issue)? When ADONAI says to you, “Rise up, go, journey ahead,” where is He calling you to go to today? Will you be faithful to that call?

In the face of national extinction, Moshe interceded on behalf of Isra’el, and ADONAI responded with clemency and graciously provided a second revelation of the Ten Words.

A. The intercession of Moses (9:25-29): At last, we reach the words that stood between God’s anger and God’s mercy. Because of the golden calf incident (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Gq – The Golden Calf Incident), Ha’Shem had threatened to renounce both the Sinai Covenant (by disowning the people) and the Abrahamic Covenant (by destroying them and starting again with Moses). But Moshe, with incredible boldness, raised his hand to YHVH on both accounts. He was not demanding something of God, but was pleading on Isra’el’s behalf.²⁶⁶ So, I threw myself down before ADONAI those 40 days and 40 nights, because ADONAI had said He would destroy you.

Moses’ intercession focused on three points, on which he knew he was speaking to the heart of his God. I prayed to ADONAI and said: O Lord, ADONAI, first, do not destroy Your people – Your inheritance that You have redeemed through Your greatness and brought out from Egypt with a mighty hand. Although the people deserved judgment, there had been a divine purpose in the Exodus, and Moshe’s request was that that purpose not be frustrated through the people’s unfaithfulness. The second request went back even further than the Exodus, “Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” It is interesting to compare Moses’ use of history and selective memory in his intercessory prayer here to God, and in his address to the people. To the people, Moses recalled that history which showed their unfaithfulness, and on that basis, he called them to obedience and faithfulness. In his prayer here to God, however, Moses recalls the long history of the LORD’s covenant faithfulness and seeks His forgiveness for the people on the basis of His nature, not the people’s worthiness. If merit were the criterion, the covenant would have already been voided. Therefore, Moshe could say: Pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people or to their wickedness or their sin. The third basis of Moses’ request was related to the honor of YHVH in the eyes of Egypt. Otherwise, the land from which You brought us out may say, “Because ADONAI was not able to bring them into the land that He spoke of to them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” What kind of God would they take YHVH to be if He destroyed the very people He had so miraculously delivered? Yet they are Your people – Your inheritance that You brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm (9:25-29).

Thus, the recollection of the prayer in Moshe’s address served to bring a sobering influence on his audience; in the past, there had been moments when the whole future of Bnei Yisra’el hung in the balance. In the present, therefore, the people were to remember the past mercies of YHVH and to commit themselves wholeheartedly in allegiance to their LORD.²⁶⁷

B. The Ten Words and the Ark (10:1-5): These words indicate that YHVH accepted Moshe’s intercessory prayer. In the secular realm the renewal of a covenant after its breach involved the preparation of new treaty documents and the taking of a new oath of allegiance. And it was thus with Isra’el. At that time, indicating the time of Moses’ intercessory prayer, ADONAI said to me, “Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones and come up to Me on the mountain. Make yourself an Ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words (see Bk – The Ten Words) that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you are to put them in the ark.” The shattering of the first tablets of stone (see my commentary on Exodus Hb – The LORD said to Moses: Chisel Out Two Stone Tablets), symbolized the breaking of the covenant relationship because of Isra’el’s sin in making the golden calf. So, I made an Ark of acacia wood and cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. Unlike the first Ark, Moshe evidently made the second one himself. Bezalel and Ohaliab (see the commentary on Exodus Ew – The Appointment of Bezalel and Ohaliab) were part of the first generation that had died in the wilderness. The second Ten Word were indicative of the graciousness of God and His response to the intercession of Moses. Like the first inscription, ADONAI wrote on the tablets the Ten Words He had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, then gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the Ark that I had appointed Bezalel to make – and there they are, just as ADONAI commanded (10:1-5). Therefore, the foundation had been laid on which the covenant could be firmly established.²⁶⁸

B. Aaron and the Levites (10:6-7): This small fragment is reported in the third person as a parenthesis in the main argument. Bnei-Yisrael traveled from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah (Numbers 33:30-32) – there Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar served as cohen in his place. This indicates that God not only restored the covenant, but He also restored the priesthood to Aaron. This was grace and mercy indeed.²⁶⁹ From there they journeyed to Gudgod, and from Gudgod to Jotbah – a land of wadis flowing with water (10:6-7). The death of Aaron is now recorded. Not only did Ha’Shem discipline Moshe by not allowing him to enter the Land of promise because of his sin (see Gj – The Death of Moses), but because of the golden calf incident (see above), it seems that Aaron was likewise denied.

After the parenthesis above, we are referred back to Horeb. While the high-priestly duties in the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, were confined to Aaron’s family, the task of guarding the Torah and the Ark were committed to the Levites (see my commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah An – Priests, Levites and Temple Servants).²⁷⁰ At that time, when God ordered Moses to make the second set of tablets, ADONAI set the tribe of Levi apart to carry the Ark of the Covenant of ADONAI as they marched into battle in Canaan, to stand before ADONAI to serve Him and to pronounce blessings in His Name – as is the case to this day.  Therefore, Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers – ADONAI is his inheritance, just as ADONAI your God had promised about him (10:8-9).

A. Summary of Moses’ intercession (10:10-11): I stayed on the mountain like the first time – 40 days and 40 nights. The medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Rambam) taught that the second 40-day period began on the first of Elul and culminated on the day of atonement (see the commentary on Leviticus – Yom Kippur), when a glowing Moshe returned with two new tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. ADONAI listened to me that time also and was not willing to destroy you. The intercession of Moses was effective because it went to the heart of God’s own priorities as Moshe already knew from his long, intimate, relationship with YHVH. Moses knew His people, His promises, and His Name. As a model of intercession, his prayer stands at the head of a list of prayers in the TaNaKh that follow a similar pattern and focus on the same priorities (Dani’el 9:1-19; Nehemiah 9; and Joel 2:17b). It is a powerful model for God’s people in any generation.

There is, of course, a mystery about prayer in general and intercession in particular, and this classic case study of intercessory prayer never fails to raise questions about the ways of God and the implications of how the conversation unfolded between YHVH and Moses. Was ADONAI really serious about His declared threat to destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they (9:14)? If Moshe had not interceded, would Ha’Shem have carried out the destruction of Isra’el? Had the LORD really forgotten the things about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that Moses challenged Him to remember? Did Moshe actually change God’s mind?

In answering such questions, it seems important, first of all, to say that there is not much point in wrestling with alternative hypothetical scenarios poised by such questions. The scriptures claim lay before us a genuine encounter between Moses and YHVH in which history meshed with prayer in a meaningful way. Asking, “what if” serves little theological purpose. Secondly, however, it seems equally important to preserve the integrity of the encounter. Both God and Moshe appear to be having an honest conversation. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the LORD’s anger was exaggerated for mere effect; no suggestion that Ha’Shem’s threat was a bluff intended to gain some hasty repentance. Psalm 106:23 indicates the serious nature of the event: So [God] commanded their extermination, had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to turn His wrath from destroying them. The threat of destruction was real.

Likewise, Moshe took God’s words with the utmost seriousness. His reaction to the divine wrath was not a patronizing dismissal of authority, “You can’t be serious!” Rather, he recognized that this was a sincere threat that could be countered only with an appeal to the prior words and actions of YHVH Himself. The paradox is that in appealing to ADONAI to change, he was actually appealing to ADONAI to be consistent – which may be a significant clue to the dynamic of all genuine intercessory prayer. So, on both sides, it is vital to maintain the full seriousness of the words spoken and the intentions expressed through them. Otherwise, the whole encounter, and more significantly, the whole personal relationship between the LORD and Moses loses both credibility and personal integrity.

Then, ADONAI said to me, “Rise up, go, journey ahead of the people so that they may go in and possess the Land that I swore to their fathers to give to them” (10:10-11). The whole section (see Ch – Moses Warns Isra’el) ends, as it began in 9:1, with the onward movement of the people into the Land of Promise. In the light of all that had come between the beginning and the end of this section, this should be a humbled people about to move into the Land. A people with every confidence in their God, but with no illusions about themselves.²⁷¹

Dear Heavenly Father, We love to focus on Your love which is great, but You are also holy, holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3). The threat of eternal destruction is very real for those who do not choose to love and follow Yeshua as their Messiah and Lord. He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36). It is a joy to know that the promise of eternal life in heaven is also very real for all who love and follow Yeshua as their Lord and Savior. For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation (Romans 10:9-10). We look forward to praising You forever in heaven. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen