Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year

Day 116 of Immerse: The Golden Calf and Moses' Intercession

In Day 116 of the Immerse Bible Reading Experience, we delve into the dramatic events following Moses' prolonged stay on Mount Sinai. The Israelites, impatient for Moses' return, pressure Aaron into creating a golden calf idol from their gold jewelry. Celebrating the idol with feasting and pagan revelry, they invoke God's anger. God informs Moses of the people's corruption and expresses His intent to destroy them. Moses intercedes, reminding God of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which leads God to relent. Moses returns, destroys the calf, and rebukes Aaron. In a severe action, the Levites, following Moses' command, execute 3,000 people for the sin. Moses again intercedes for the people's forgiveness. God promises to lead them to the promised land through an angel but warns of the consequences of their stubbornness. He sends a plague in response to their idolatry. As they continue their journey, Moses sets up the tent of meeting where he converses with God face-to-face, a remarkable testament to his leadership and the intimate connection he shares with God. This episode underscores themes of faith, obedience, leadership, and intercession.

00:00 Introduction to the Daily Bible Reading
00:04 The Golden Calf Incident
01:55 Moses Intercedes for the People
03:34 Moses Confronts Aaron and the People
04:38 The Levites' Loyalty and Consequences
05:29 Moses Seeks Forgiveness for the People
06:32 God's Instructions and the Tent of Meeting
08:48 Conclusion and Farewell

Welcome to Immerse: Beginnings! Buy a copy of Immerse Beginnings at Tyndale.com
4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1. What stood out to you this week?
2. Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3. Did anything make you think differently about God?
4. How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience
  1. Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.
  2. Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together
    for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open,
    honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.
  3. Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 483) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

What is Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year?

Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.

This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.

Malcom: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.

Day 100 and 16

When the people saw how long it was taking
Moses to come back down the mountain,

they gathered around Aaron, come on.

They said, make us some
gods who can lead us.

We don't know what happened to
this fellow Moses who brought

us here from the land of Egypt.

So Aaron said, take the gold rings
from the ears of your wives and sons

and daughters and bring them to me.

All the people took the gold rings from
their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down
and molded it into the shape of a calf.

When the people saw it, they exclaimed,
oh, Israel, these are the gods who

brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Aaron saw how excited the people were, so
he built an altar in front of the calf.

Then he announced tomorrow
will be a festival to the Lord.

The people got up early the
next morning to sacrifice burnt

offerings and peace offerings.

After this, they celebrated
with feasting and drinking, and

they indulged in pagan revelry.

The Lord told Moses, quick,
go down the mountain.

Your people whom you brought from the
land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

How quickly they have turned away
from the way I commanded them to live.

They have melted down gold
and made a calf, and they have

bowed down and sacrificed to it.

They are saying, these are your gods.

Oh, Israel, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt?

Then the Lord said, I have seen
how stubborn and rebellious these

people are now leave me alone so
my fierce anger can blaze against

them, and I will destroy them.

Then I will make you
Moses into a great nation.

But Moses tried to
pacify the Lord his God.

Oh Lord, he said.

Why are you so angry with your
own people whom you brought from

the land of Egypt with such great
power and such a strong hand?

Why let the Egyptians say their God
rescued them with the evil intention of

slaughtering them in the mountains and
wiping them from the face of the earth?

Turn away from your fierce anger.

Change your mind about this
terrible disaster you have

threatened against your people.

Remember your servants,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You bound yourself with an oath to them
saying, I will make your descendants

as numerous as the stars of heaven, and
I will give them all of this land that

I have promised to your descendants,
and they will possess it forever.

So the Lord changed his mind
about the terrible disaster he had

threatened to bring on his people.

Then Moses turned and
went down the mountain.

He held in his hands the two stone tablets
inscribed with the terms of the covenant.

They were inscribed on
both sides front and back.

These tablets were God's work.

The words on them were
written by God himself.

When Joshua heard the boisterous
noise of the people shouting

below them, he exclaimed to Moses.

It sounds like war in the camp.

But Moses replied, no, it's not a shout
of victory nor the wailing of defeat.

I hear the sound of a celebration.

When they came near the camp,
Moses saw the calf in the

dancing, and he burned with anger.

He threw the stone tablets to the ground,
smashing them at the foot of the mountain.

He took the calf they
had made and burned it.

Then he grounded into powder,
threw it into the water, and

forced the people to drink it.

Finally he turned to Aaron and demanded,
what did these people do to you to make

you bring such terrible sin upon them?

Don't get so upset.

My lord.

Aaron replied, you yourself
know how evil these people are.

They said to me, make us Gods.

Who will lead us?

We don't know what happened to
this fellow Moses who brought

us here from the land of Egypt.

So I told them, whoever has
gold jewelry, take it off.

When they brought it to me, I simply threw
it into the fire, and out came this calf.

Moses saw that Aaron had let the people
get completely out of control, much

to the amusement of their enemies.

So he stood at the entrance to the camp
and shouted, all of you who are on the

Lord's side, come here and join me.

And all the Levites gathered around him.

Moses told them, this is what
the Lord the God of Israel says.

Each of you take your swords
and go back and forth from one

end of the camp to the other.

Kill everyone, even your
brothers friends and neighbors.

The Levites obeyed Moses command
and about 3000 people died that day.

Then Moses told the Levites, today,
you have ordained yourselves for the

service of the Lord, for you obeyed him.

Even though it meant killing
your own sons and brothers today,

you have earned a blessing.

The next day, Moses said to the
people, you have committed a

terrible sin, but I will go back
up to the Lord on the mountain.

Perhaps I will be able to
obtain forgiveness for your sin.

So Moses returned to the Lord
and said, oh, what a terrible

sin These people have committed.

They have made Gods of
gold for themselves.

But now if you will only forgive
their sin, but if not, erase my

name from the record you have
written, but the Lord replied to

Moses, no, I will erase the name of
everyone who has sinned against me.

Now go lead the people to
the place I told you about.

Look, my angel will lead the way
before you and when I come to call the

people to account, I will certainly
hold them responsible for their sins.

Then the Lord sent a great plague
upon the people because they had

worshiped the cath Aaron had made.

The Lord said to Moses, get going.

You and the people you brought up from the
land of Egypt go up to the land I swore

to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I told them I will give this land to
your descendants and I will send an angel

before you to drive out the Canaanites.

Amorites, Hittites, parasites,
hives and cytes go up to this land

that flows with milk and honey.

But I will not travel among you for you
are a stubborn and rebellious people.

If I did, I would surely
destroy you along the way.

When the people heard these stern words,
they went into mourning and stopped

wearing their jewelry and fine clothes.

For the Lord had told Moses to tell them.

You are a stubborn and rebellious people.

If I were to travel with you for
even a moment, I would destroy you,

remove your jewelry, and find clothes
while I decide what to do with you.

So from the time they left Mount
Sinai, the Israelites wore no

more jewelry or fine clothes.

It was Moses practice to take
the tent of meeting and set it

up some distance from the camp.

Everyone who wanted to make a
request of the Lord would go to the

tent of meeting outside the camp.

Whenever Moses went out to the tent of
meeting, all the people would get up and

stand in the entrances of their own tents.

They would all watch Moses
until he disappeared inside.

As he went into the tent, the pillar of
cloud would come down and hover at its

entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses.

When the people saw the cloud standing at
the entrance of the tent, they would stand

and bow down in front of their own tents.

In inside the tent of meeting, the
Lord would speak to Moses face to

face as one speaks to a friend.

Afterward, Moses would return to the
camp, but the young man who assisted

him, Joshua son of none, would
remain behind in the tent of meeting.

This concludes today's
Immer Reading experience.

Thank you for joining us.