Anger of Moses

Anger of Moses
Words of Faith 3-9-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 32
[15] Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. [16] The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. [17] When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp." [18] Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." [19] When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. [20] And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

The Lord was not the only one who was angry.
Descending the mountain, Moses had in his hands two of the most precious objects ever to exist. The tablets of the Testimony were inscribed front and back with the writing of God. It was Joshua who first heard the noise of the people shouting. He thought that there might even be a war going on.
But Moses recognized that this was the sound of revelry, not victory or defeat in wartime. It was then that Moses saw for himself the calf and the dancing. His anger burned.
Moses had not been known as a temperate man. When faced with an extreme situation, he tended to react, sometimes harshly. When Moses was a Prince of Egypt and observed an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave, he lashed out and killed the taskmaster (2:11-13). Even though he was reacting to injustice, it was murder and set Moses into motion, running away. We will also see Moses strike a rock in anger when he becomes frustrated with the people (Numbers 20:11). There will be consequences for this.
In this case, the only thing within Moses' hands was the tablets of Testimony engraved by God. As his anger burned, he threw them and broke them into pieces. Moses might have had a sense that these people did not deserve this highest covenant written by the hand of the Lord if they were going to behave this way. They had betrayed one of the highest commands given to them.
For Moses, there needed to be more than just words. He burned the calf, ground it to powder, put it into water, and made the Israelites drink it! Now be sure to note that the Lord did not direct Moses to do this. Destroying the idol seems entirely appropriate. Forcing the people to ingest it was a way for Moses to force them to face the gravity of what they had done. If you want an idol so badly, you will have to drink its dust! Moses had no patience for this behavior.
It is a blessing to us that "The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet" (Nahum 1:3). We also know that "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love" (Psalm 103:8). There are consequences for actions. But the Lord loves us.

Thank You, Lord for Your unfailing love. Thank You that even in the times when we have failed horribly, You are ready to hear our prayer and forgive us. You stand read to restore us. Thank you. In Jesus' Name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.