Occurrences at Mount Sinai
It is really affecting to listen to the manner in which God speaks by the prophet Isaiah, (chap, xliii. 26), “Put me in remembrance; let us plead together; declare thou that thou mayest be justified.” In the two preceding verses, the Lord reminds his people tha they had not called upon him, nor brought their offerings to him, from an impulse of love; but that, on the contrary, they had made him to serve with their sins, and wearied him with their iniquities; and yet that it was he, who blotted out their sins for his own sake, and remembered not their transgressions. If it appeared to them that their services had been too insignificant and trifling to be brought into account, God calls upon them to plead with him, and point out any other way in which they expected to be justified — whether they could find out any other, and would not be constrained, in the end, voluntarily to confess, that their whole salvation rested and consisted in the forgiveness of their sins.
In Jeremiah ii. 35, mention is also made of a pleading, or litigation, between God and man, which must of necessity be experienced by every one, as there expressed: — “Thou sayest, because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me; behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.” And frequently the process is long before an individual heartily confesses, without limitation, exception, or excuse, that he has sinned, and has nothing to plead before God; so that a certain writer does not improperly say, “That man is truly a deeply experienced Christian who thoroughly believes himself to be a sinner.”*
But when this object is once properly attained, and the man sees that he has lost his cause — then occurs what is mentioned in Isaiah ii. 18, “Come now, and let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; and though red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
May the Lord plead in such a salutary manner with us, whilst continuing the consideration of the history of his people in the wilderness!
Heb. xii. 18 — 21.
“For ye are not come unto the mount, that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest.
“And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the w6rd should not be; spoken to them any more.
* Still stronger is the language of our own countryman, Thomas Adam, who says, “He who knows himself to be a devil, is in a fair way to become a saint.”
“For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart.
“And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.”
We have preferred selecting the above passage for the continuation of our meditations on the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, although without the intention of showing the great privileges implied in the negative mode of address adopted by the Apostle, when he says, “Ye are not come to Mount Sinai;” to which he opposes Mount Zion.
We intend now to consider, with the Lord’s gracious assistance, what further happened at Mount Sinai, which may be regarded in a two-fold point of view. We see first, how the people, notwithstanding all their promises to the contrary, burst the bond of the covenant, and exposed themselves to the punishments threatened in it. And secondly, how they were compelled to take refuge in the mercy of God; and how Moses did not rest, until he was fully assured of their complete forgiveness.
According to the agreement which had been entered into, God, after having given the ten commands, spoke no more himself with the people. The mountain continued enveloped in a thick cloud. Moses ascended it, and returned with many additional laws, to which all the people most willingly agreed, and which they promised to keep.
Moses, who had hitherto ascended alone, now received command to take with him an escort, which consisted of seventy-three persons — Aaron, his two sons, and the seventy elders. However, a great distinction was made between Moses and those who accompanied him; for the latter were only to stand at a distance and worship, whilst Moses was commanded to approach nearer. They had previously been sprinkled with the blood of the covenant. They then saw the God of Israel, doubtless in human form, as a fore-token of his subsequent incarnation. Nothing, however, is mentioned of his appearance, except that “there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire-stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness.” (The high-priest wore a robe of this colour.) “They saw God, and upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand,” — that is, to slay them; although he had said, no one could behold him and live. Both is accordins: to truth. No sinful man could bear to see God, as God, without a mediator. But in the mediator he is gracious; and so he manifested himself here. The sight proved refreshing to the attendants of Moses, for it is added, “When they had seen God they did eat and drink.” Thus they suffered no injury from it. Does not David also pray, “Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.” (Psalm lxxx. 19.)
Moses now ascended, according to divine command, a higher part of the mountain, to receive fi’om the Lord the tables of stone. He was obliged to wait six days before any thing was said to him. For the glory of the Lord dwelt upon the mount, and covered it during the six days with a cloud. All this time Moses ate nothing, any more than during the following thirty-four days; for he passed altogether -forty days upon the mount. Those first six days, which Moses spent in total silence and abstraction from every creature, must have been of a very peculiar kind, during which his soul entered into a complete introversion, and into an extraordinary calmness, recollection, and simplicity. And that state of mind will have been produced in particular perfection, which Samuel expresses in the words, ‘’ Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Habakkuk means th’fe same thing, when he says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” (chap. ii. 1.) Of Jesus himself we read, that he spent whole nights in prayer, which was doubtless a very particular species of prayer, and of a very sublime kind, such as perhaps few of his believing people understand, receive, or practise. Some, however, who are said to have been gifted with it, have written much on the subject. But if we only become increasingly poor in spirit, grieved on account of sin, meek, hungry, and thirsty after righteousness, pure in heart, and peaceful in this way, every thing else shall be added unto us. From hence, however, it is evident, that continued occupation, even in laudable things, does not altogether harmonize with an advanced state. In order to become the recipients of immediate divine communications, a recollection, abstraction, and tranquillity, must precede. Incessant speaking and hearing do not accomplish it; “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
On the seventh day, God called Moses to him, and made him acquainted with various commandments and ordinances, which are recorded in Exod. xxv. — xxxi. The most remarkable of these is mentioned in chap. xxv. 40, “Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount;” which command was likewise repeated in the sequel. Not only does Stephen allude to this circumstance, (Acts vii. 44), but also the Apostle, as very remarkable; and the latter deduces many important inferences from it. This command had reference to the tabernacle, and the whole of the divine worship celebrated in it, as it was also afterwards continued in the temple. This was to be minutely ordered, according to what Moses had seen on the mount. But what was it that was there shown him? Not a figure of that which he was to carry into effect on earth, like some architect, forming a plan or model of some building, to be erected according to it. That which Moses saw, the Apostle calls’’ heavenly things,” therefore reality; that which he represented in the Levitical worship, which consisted of earthly images, and outlines of those real and heavenly things. Hence, what was shown to Moses must have been extremely important, and we shall not be going too far when we say, that he clearly perceived that there was a very different priest besides Aaron and his descendants; a very different sacrifice and incense than the latter presented, a very different blood than that which he shed; a very different atonement to that which he made; another and different purification than what he effected; and, in short, a very different order of things to that which was being instituted. This was doubtless the hidden wisdom of which David says, that God would make it known to him, and the reason why he was enabled to say, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not” — why Isaiah said of the Lord’s servant, “He shall maike his soul a sacrifice for sin;” — and Zechariah, “He shall take away the people’s sins in one day;” — and why
Daniel considered it something still to come, when the transgression should be finished, sin made an end of, and reconciliation made for iniquity. But it is, at the same time, easy to conceive why the public worship of God was so agreeable; for although not the thing itself, yet it was the lively representation of the one great future sacrifice, by a priest according to the order of Melchizedeck. And does not the Lord’s supper, under the New Testament dispensation, serve likewise as a sensible representation and realization of the one eternally valid sacrifice of Christ, offered up once for all on the cross? Will it, therefore, not be celebrated with so much the greater joy by all those who acknowledge the necessity of this sacrifice for themselves individually?
At the termination of the audience, which Moses had of God on this occasion, he received two tables of stone, on which God had written the ten commands. Meanwhile, the long forty-days’ stay of Moses on the mount made a very unpleasant impression upon the unruly people, who manifested, in a very lamentable manner, that they had stony hearts, and that it required a particular exertion of divine power, in order to write the laws upon them. They gathered themselves together against Aaron in a menacing manner, with the absurd requisition to make gods for them, who might go before them. Christ says, “foolishness proceeds out of the heart of men;” and here we truly see how far this can be the case. Can there be any thing more irrational than that a man should make gods? And yet this was demanded by the very people, who, only six weeks before, experienced the most visible and astonishing proofs of the existence and glory of the only true God. What a host of sins appear crowded together on this occasion; what ingratitude and disobedience! They are even able to give a reason for their conduct by saying, “As for this Moses, we wot not what is become of him.” They act as though they scarcely knew such a man, so strange had he become to them. They ascribe their bringing up out of Egypt to him, which they consider as a mean piece of service; and thus scandalously did they behave only six weeks after the giving of the law. Was it the latter, therefore, that called their perverseness to life, the more it was opposed to its manifestation? Is the law then the power of sin? Instead of slaying it, does it cause it to revive? Does it take occasion by the commandment to excite in man all manner of concupiscence? Is it so necessary to be slain by the law, in order to take refuge with another?
But what shall we say to the conduct of Aaron, to whom the people applied — the brother of Moses, the high-priest, and one who had enjoyed the distinguished privilege of seeing God himself? Instead of warmly opposing such a mad proposition, he even aids them in it; at least, he seems desirous of acting with uncommon prudence in the matter, in order to secure himself on every side. Apprehensive for his own safety, he did not oppose them; and, hoping to bring them to a different way of thinking, he requires of them their golden ornaments, which are, however, not too highly-prized to be withheld for such a purpose,, but they give them up immediately. He then made them a golden calf; and we are willing to hope he imagined that a calf, even of gold, would appear to them too absurd, and that they would recognize their own brutal folly at k the sight of such a molten image, as well as become conscious with disgust of their being thus placed in the same rank with the Egyptians, who idolatrous] y worshipped an ox as their god. But it is only the truth which makes free, nor can any-deviation from it prove beneficial. The people were well satisfied with it, and cried out, “These be thy gods, 0 Israel! which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,”
Aaron now thought he would show extreme prudence, and sought to induce the people not to honour the calf as their real God, but only as an image of the true God; hoping this would be a small sin, or even none at all. He therefore made proclamation, and said, ‘* To morrow is a feast to the Lord.’* Thus he introduced a mixture of divine and idolatrous worship, by which the first two commandments were transgressed at the same time. The people were very well satisfied with this self-chosen worship, which always pleases man better than that which God ordains. They rose up early on the morrow, and assisted in the sacrifices which Aaron offered up, and in the afternoon they sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. This was consequently a species of divine service which was very congenial to the flesh. They played, or, as it literally means, they laughed and played all kinds of tricks by way of pastime.
From the connection in which things of this kind are here mentioned, as arising from a declension from God, and an idolatrous worship, a valid inference may be drawn respecting worldly amusements, and what we who are called Christians ought to think of such things. It is evident we ought to regard them as pertaining to idolatry, and totally incompatible with godliness. The children of Israel suffered so severely for their playing and dancing, that it cost the lives of three thousand of them. Jesus says, “Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall weep and lament.”
Thus did mirth prevail throughout the camp. They joked and laughed, sang and danced. In their merriment, they reflected neither on God, of whom they had been so much afraid, nor on Moses, who had been of such indispensable service to them, nor on the ten commandments, which the Lord himself had enjoined, and in which he had expressly forbidden them to have any other god beside himself, and the making of any graven image. They were merry and jovial. But on the mount, the matter was viewed in an entirely different light. This ought to have been their chief concern — not how they regarded it, but how it was looked upon from above. This would have been as useful as it was necessary. But this they neglected, and such is the case also with thoughtless men in general. They care not for the opinion of others, nor for what their own consciences or even God himself says upon the subject. O lamentable frivolity! Whither will it lead? How entirely it must be put away; what minute attention must they learn to pay to God, in order that it may go well with them!
The Lord, however, spoke with Moses concerning this affair. Scarcely had the latter received the two tables, when it was said to him, “Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” God here acts as a stranger; he calls the people no longer his, but belonging to Moses, which he, and not God, had brought out of Egypt. But in this mode of speech, something gracious was concealed. For a hint, as it were, was given him, to gainsay the Lord, and to put upon him the thine and the thou. Of this he immediately availed himself, and said, “Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?” A singular question, when there was so much cause for wrath existing.
The Lord made Moses acquainted with the sin which the people were committing. “They have turned aside,” said he, “quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, * These be thy gods, O Israel! which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt;’” although in their disobedience they thought not of God, yet he thought of them to recompence them. He added, “I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiff-necked people. Now, therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation.” God had certainly a right to act as he threatened to do, if the mediator of the ancient covenant had given his consent to it. But in calling upon him to do so, he gfves him at the same time to understand, that without it he would do nothing. He attacks Moses on that side, on which most men are the easiest overcome, when he says, “I will make of thee a great nation.” The Lord was too well acquainted with his servant, to be apprehensive that he would agree to any thing which did not harmonize with his counsels; on which account he was enabled thus to put him to the test. Moses saw very clearly, that every thing was left to him, when the Lord said, “Let me alone,” and that consequently his people’s cause was won. With regard to the honour, he referred even this back to the Lord, and reminded him of what the Egyptians would say, if he were to act thus; he also called to his remembrance the oath which he had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, when he had sworn by himself to give them the land; and thus showed the impossibility of acting otherwise than graciously towards his people. Thus had Moses an opportunity of discharging his office of mediator between the people and God; and he prayed and said, “Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.” And with this the Lord was well pleased. Why should he be angry, seeing that he could be gracious?
Thus comforted, Moses descended the mountain, with the two tables in his hand, on which the finger of God had inscribed his laws. Even at a distance he heard the noisy mirth which resounded from the Israelitish camp. On coming nearer, and perceiving the golden calf, and the people dancing around it, a holy zeal and indignation seized him, so that he threw the two tables of stone out of his hands, against the foot of the mountain, and brake them in pieces, not from a disgust at the commandments engraven upon the tables, but at the disobedience of the people, as though he had said, ‘* What should such reprobate people have to do with such holy commandments? Why speak of any command to such a rebellious race, since they hear it only ta forget and transgress it!”
This act of Moses, however, is neither commended nor censured; and therefore it is not permitted us to do so. The people had indeed broken the tables of the law, and required other tables and other writing. But are not we ourselves in the same case?
Moses now took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and .ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. Aaron received a severe reproof, and Moses said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.” These he commanded to go through the camp, with their swords in their hands, and slay every idolater they met with, which they did; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. The next morning he said to the people, “Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up unto the Lord, peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.” Nor did he cease, till he had again thoroughly restored every thing to its former footing.
We see here a lamentable proof of the unspeakable corruption, not only of the hearts of the Jewish people, but also of the human race in general, of which Aaron also furnishes- a painful instance. Let us not leave the matter with the Jews, and ask, how could they possibly act in such a manner? Let us rather acknowledge that we are no less corrupt, no less inclined to evil, and when the temptation presents itself, no less capable of evil, and, therefore, no less culpable than they. Let us sincerely humble ourselves, and turn to the Lord, and flee, with all earnestness, to the throne of grace, and not cease our supplications, until our sins, which are great, are forgiven. “Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned; heal us, and we shall be healed!”