Lent 24 post 17

Exodus 32.30-33.6, 33.12-34.9

 

Why doesn't God just forgive us?

These chapters in Exodus expose the sheer depth of ungrateful rebellious depravity in human sin. And although we hear, with Moses, God own resounding affirmation of his forgiving character (34.6-7), we also know, with Israel, that God cannot ‘just forgive’. Indeed, as we agonise through the suspense of the ‘negotiation’ between Moses and God (is that a fair word for these verses? It certainly sounds like it), we sense that forgiveness is a deep problem for God himself, a problem that only he can and ultimately will resolve. Forgiveness is not something casually dished out on demand, like sweets to a child.

Yesterday, the Lord had simply relented (32.14). Today, Moses specifically asks God to forgive, that is (in Hebrew), ‘to carry', their ‘great sin' (32.32). Somebody has to bear this sin. If the people do, it spells destruction. But if God will carry it himself, then they can be spared. That's the meaning of forgiveness, the offended party carrying the offence rather than inflicting its consequences on the offender.

‘But if not. . .’

Most likely, Moses means that if God intended not to forgive (and so intended to destroy) the people, then he (Moses) has no wish to carry on. Not so much offering to die for the people, as asking to perish with them, if that's what was to happen. Moses intercedes in a way that identifies himself completely with those he is praying for. Do our prayers ever reach that kind of depth?

God gives an enigmatic answer, which goes part way. He will keep one element of the promise to Abraham. Let Moses lead the people up into the land, with an angel to help. But God himself will not be in their midst,  for their own protection (33.1–3). This is catastrophic! Without the presence of God in their midst, Israel would lose all their distinctiveness among the nations. That distinctiveness included the presence of God and holiness of life (Deuteronomy 4.5–8). All of that is now threatened. This won’t do, will it? You might as well cancel chapters 25 – 31. No tabernacle, no ark of the covenant, no atoning sacrifices, no priests, no holy God dwelling in the Most Holy Place. A bleak prospect, if you’d been an Israelite. No wonder they stripped off their ornaments in repentant grief.

Moses wrestles on until God promises unambiguously that his presence will go with his people (33.12–17). Not just an angel up at the front, but God himself at the centre. They will travel together, God, Moses and the people. (Did you notice again in verse 16 how inseparably Moses unites himself with the people he prays for?) Forgiven sinners are sinful still, however, they are ‘stiff-necked’ indeed, as Moses acknowledges in 34.9. That’s why he asks God to go on carrying/forgiving them. God will have a lot more ‘carrying’ to do before this story is over. God must either bear our sin himself, or destroy us. And we will praise God for eternity that he chose the former.

Glory and goodness

But Moses hasn’t finished yet. ‘Now show me your glory,’ he asks (.18). Wouldn’t you think he would have had enough of the glory of God up that mountain for the past month? But Moses wants an even more intimate understanding of his God. God says he will cause all his goodness to pass in front of Moses. God’s glory is his goodness. Or God’s goodness is his glory. Either way, hallelujah!

This good and glorious God then defines himself in classic words that echo through Scripture,

the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving [carrying] wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished . . . (34.6–7)

 

If you want to hear those echoes, feel free to check out, Numbers 14.18, Nehemiah 9.17, Psalms 78.38, 86.5,15, 99.8, 103.8, 145.8-9, Joel 2.13, Jonah 4.2, Micah 7.18-19.