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.