062. Moses--Intercessor

Moses--Intercessor

Exo 33:8-11. And it came to when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at is tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.

Guilt is the parent of fear and suspicion; conscious innocence and integrity inspire confidence and tranquillity. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous, are bold as a lion.”[*]Pro 28:1 “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God; amongst the trees of the garden.”[*]Gen 3:8 Moses ascends undaunted to meet the Lord, into the midst of tempest and fire. Behold the height of heaven, how great it is! What so distant as the Creator and a fallen creature! But lo, the distance is done, away; and, what is so intimately near as a God reconciled, and a fallen creature restored! Jehovah descending in mercy and grace; the soul arising, upborne on the wings of faith and love, must meet and unite, whether on the mount or in the tabernacle; in the temple or the closet. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him: and he will show them his covenant.”[*]Psa 25:14 We have heard of Abraham, who was called the friend of God; and we behold a communication of the same distinguished honor, to that illustrious son of Abraham who has instructed and blessed mankind by transmitting the history of this sacred friendship to the latest generations of the world. We see it still expressed in the same manner; on the part of Moses by humble submission, holy zeal and importunity, and childlike freedom and confidence: on the part of God, by the most unreserved communication of his intentions, the most endearing expressions of affection and good will. The history delivered in the preceding chapter of this book exhibited the blessed communion on the mount, suddenly interrupted, by the dreadful scene of madness and rebellion in the plain beneath. Behold all Israel eating and drinking, dancing and playing; before a dumb idol, the similitude of a brute beast. Behold “a covenant with hell” ratified by the same dread solemnities which had been so recently employed, to join a great nation in alliance with the God of heaven. The law which the plastic hand of Omnipotence had impressed on the soul of man in its very constitution: the law which he lately had condescended distinctly to pronounce in the trembling ears of all Israel; that law he had still farther condescended, with exquisite art and skill, by his own finger, to engrave on two tablets of stone, for perpetual preservation. Moses descending in haste, with this precious record in his hand, perceives at a distance the disorder which raged in the camp, and, in a transport of indignation, dashes the tablets on the ground, and breaks them in pieces. The motive was good and commendable, but the action was rash and presumptuous. We find, however, no expression of anger against that rashness; the frailty is lost and overlooked in approbation of the principle which led to it. But had not Moses’ punishment sufficient for his hasty conduct, in the irreparable loss occasioned by it, to himself and to the world? There was no occasion to chide him; his own conscience must have smitten him sufficiently, as often as he reflected on what, in the moment of impatience, he had done.

Without inflicting a positive chastisement, a righteous God can easily reprove men by making them to feel the native consequences of their own folly, and, of all the infirmities to which our nature is subject, anger most certainly and most severely punishes itself. The man who is thus animated with zeal for the glory of God, has forgotten what fear is. Aaron, under the influence of the fear of man, yielded to the popular frenzy, and fabricated the golden calf: Moses, inspired with the fear of God, defies and despises the multitude, consumes their idol in the fire, and grinds it to powder. This is that Moses of whom they talked so contemptuously a little while ago. What, not one of the thousands of Israel who worshipped the image of the beast bold enough to protect his Dagon! No; abashed they stand, and feel “how awful goodness is, and see virtue in her own shape how lovely.” A most remarkable circumstance is added to the history of the destruction of the idol, which has greatly exercised the ingenuity, learning, and imagination of critics and commentators. Moses took the dust into which he had pounded the calf, and “strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.”[*]Exo 32:20 This seems nothing more than an expression of sovereign contempt, poured upon a most worthless object: and a practical demonstration of the absurdity of idolatry. And it may, perhaps not unwarrantably, be employed as a reproof of the inordinate love of money, that root of all evil. Gold, as an instrument of commerce, as the means of procuring the things that are needful for the body, as a natural production possessed of very singular qualities, may be lawfullysought after and innocently used; but erected into a deity, valued on its own account, swallowing up every other object, engrossing the whole heart, becomes unprofitable and pernicious, as incapable of gratifying the real appetites of a rational being, as gold in its simple state is incapable of satisfying hunger, or, mingled with water, of allaying thirst. An imagination perpetually on the stretch to discover evangelical ideas in every iota of the sacred history, has perceived the method of gospel salvation, in this passage of Moses; as if the prophet intended to signify that the Messiah, typified by the water which issued from the rock in Horeb, could alone purify from the guilt of idolatry, and from all other sin.

Moses having executed just vengeance on the idol itself, turns in holy indignation to his weak and guilty brother, who had so readily fallen into and abetted so gross a deviation from all duty and decency. “And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?”[*]Exo 32:21--An anticipated instance of obedience to the apostolic injunction, “Thou shalt not suffer sin upon thy brother, but in any ways reprove him.” Justice on the tribunal, knows not a brother in court, but examines the cause.--Justice, with the pen of the historian in his hand, knows not blood in recording facts, but declares the truth. Justice, as the minister of God, must stifle the calls of natural affection and condemn the guilty. And here again Moses becomes a pattern to all judges and magistrates, to every minister of religion; and every relater of events. His own faults, and those of his nearest relations, are told with the same artless simplicity, as their good qualities and praiseworthy actions. Praise and censure are distributed, with the same candor and impartiality, to his own family and to strangers. .

Aaron, formerly an object of condemnation, now sinks into an object of pity; as every man must, in the day when he is called to account, and has no defence to make. “And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.”[*]Exo 32:22-24 Alas, alas! What a profusion of words is guilt constrained to employ in order to cover what it cannot extenuate or excuse. What must it be to behold a guilty world stand self-condemned before the Judge of the quick and the dead! How dreadful must it be, to appear in the number of that guilty crowd, without being able to escape unnoticed in the crowd! The scene that follows is one of those from which we turn away our eyes in anguish, or which we contemplate in silent horror and astonishment--Thousands of criminals falling at once by the hands of their brethren! The sons of Levi destined to shed the blood of many victims, to make atonement for the guilty--called to the dreadful ministry of offering up part of the guilty themselves, a sacrifice to justice to make atonement for the rest! Mark how the courage of one man has roused that of many. A whole tribe has fortitude sufficient to follow in a cause, wherein not one man was found daring enough to profess himself a leader. This is one motive, among many, to aim at being singularly good. Mark the timidity of conscious guilt. Levi was the least numerous of all the tribes; but, engaged in the cause of God and truth, the myriads of offending Israelites shrink from their attack, or fall down before them. Mark how dreadful is the brow of justice roused to vengeance. “Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”[*]Exo 32:29 What a night of horror and remorse must have succeeded a day of impiety, madness, and slaughter! What an awful tomorrow, the day of reckoning, to follow that dismal night! But the case, though dangerous, is not desperate, while there is a Moses to intercede. Has my offended Father so much tenderness left, as to upbraid, to reprove, to chastise me? His displeasure, though depressing, is not intolerable; but silent anger, resentment that neglects, that shuns, that leaves me to myself, is a burthen too heavy for me to bear. “If God vouchsafe to speak to me, though in thunder; to answer me, though from the whirlwind; there is hope concerning me. But if he say within himself, “Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone,” then I am indeed lost and undone. The intercession of Moses, in behalf of the people, now assumes a tone peculiarly earnest and affecting. “And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin: and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”[*]Exo 32:31-32 It is hardly credible that, on this passage, a system of piety has been built so refined as to issue in absurdity and contradiction. Moses is here supposed, by interpreters of a certain complexion, to express the utmost readiness to renounce his eternal salvation for what he apprehended to be the greater glory of God, and if it could be the condition of procuring salvation to Israel. Resignation to the divine will, according to them, is imperfect, till a man can cheerfully and deliberately prefer his own everlasting damnation to all the joys of heaven, if the higher interests of pubic good, and the glory of God can be thereby promoted. This, to some visionary minds, may have a specious appearance of a more sublime piety: but it is both unnatural and unscriptural; and therefore is not piety at all. As it has fallen in my way, and as this text in Moses has been connected with a famous passage in the New Testament of similar import, I will take the liberty to speak at some length, and with much plainness, upon the subject; it being a principal object in the plan of these Lectures to unfold and recommend the religion of the Bible; that is, the religion of good sense, to the neglect of all human systems, and all useless speculations, which have not an obvious foundation in Scripture and reason, and which do not obviously tend to promote human virtue and happiness.

Now, we hesitate not a moment to affirm, that the doctrine attempted to be built on the united texts of Moses and of Paul, has not the foundation of the prophet and of the apostle to rest upon; and that it is not calculated to serve any one purpose of religion, wisdom, or virtue. The passage in the New Testament alluded to, is that of the great apostle of the gentiles, and runs thus, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsman, according to the flesh.”[*]Rom 9:3 It is too well known to need any proof, that there are in every language, and among all nations of the world, certain modes of expression in common use, which it were unfair to interpret according to the literal import of the words, and which accordingly, if translated into a foreign language, and applied to the modes of thought and expression, used in a different age and country, might convey a meaning very different from the original one, perhaps diametrically opposite to it. Is there a man in his senses, who will pretend to assert that Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, one thousand five hundred and fifty years before Christ, affixed the same idea to these words, “Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written,”[*]Exo 32:32 which a dogmatic maker of systems in France or England in the eighteenth century thinks proper to affix to them? Is it a certain point that the apostle Paul, and such a one, mean precisely the same thing, when the former writes “anathema,” and the latter in the phraseology of his own language, thinks fit to render it by the word “accursed?” In truth, both expressions evidently are figurative, and can be fully understood only by appealing to the genius of the original languages, the spirit of the men who use them, and the occasion on which they are employed. Moses, in a moment, explains what he understands by “the book which God had written.” For what saith the answer of God to this expostulation? “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.”[*]Exo 32:33 And what saith history? “All that generation died in the wilderness,” without being admitted into the land of promise, according to the original destination of Providence, or as it was “written in God’s book.” Follow Moses to a similar situation on another occasion, and see how he expresses himself; and let the one passage explain the other. The people became discontented with their food at Taberah, and lusted for the provision of Egypt; God was displeased and threatened to consume them’; Moses, grieved in spirit, thus presumes to expostulate. “And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant; and wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, (as a nursing father beareth the sucking child) unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I gave flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me: And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.”[*]Num 11:11-15 The expression, “Kill me out of hand,” is plainly equivalent to that used in Exodus, “Blot me out of the book which thou hast written.” What then is the fair meaning and construction of the words of Moses? “Lord, grant the pardon of this people to the prayers of thy servant; who would rather submit to everlasting misery than fail to obtain his request?” Horrid, blasphemous, absurd! No, but nature, piety, and patriotism unite in saying as he does. “Lord, if thy decree against this people may not be reversed; if justice demand their utter extermination, let mine eyes be first closed in peace. Subject me not to the cruel mortification of surviving all my nation, and of enduring the insults and scorn of our enemies. In mercy take me first out of the world, where I should only lead a life of sorrow find regret, heavier than death itself.” The word anathema used by the apostle is of the same import with the Hebrew word used by Moses. They both denote a person or thing devoted, separated by a vow or curse, one excommunicated and separated from society. And his meaning is this, “I most solemnly protest; God and my own conscience are my witnesses, that I speak the truth as it is in my heart; the infidelity of my countrymen after the flesh, is the matter of the deepest concern and regret to me; to such a degree, that if it could be the means of curing their prejudices, and bringing them to Christ the Redeemer, I care no what estimation I might be held in the church. Let me cease to be an apostle, let me be as one cut off from the society of the faithful, for some atrocious crime; let me be vile and contemptible in the eyes of the world; but the Israel of God be gathered to the Redeemer, and brought within the bond of the covenant of grace.” Moreover, Paul does not directly form even this wish: but conditionally, “I could wish,” were it lawful for me to form such a wish, and if the granting it could any way contribute to the accomplishment of a purpose so desirable. The sentiment, then, of those mystics, has no warrant either in the language or in spirit of any of the persons whom God has proposed to us as patterns in Scripture.

Besides their being unscriptural, what can be more extravagant and unnatural, than those ranting expressions of one of that order?[*]Angele de Foligni. Eveque de Meaux Instruct. Pastor. Page 341. “Though I were sure of being condemned to hell, I would not cease from my penitential acts, and from depriving myself of all comforts for the love of God. If I am to be cast into hell, O my God, stay no longer, make haste, and since thou hast forsaken me, finish thy work, precipitate me into the bottomless pit.” Catharine of Sienna thinks fit to express herself thus on the same subject: “Though it were possible to feel all the torments of devils and damned souls, yet should I never call them pains, so much pleasure would the pure love of God make me to find therein.” These are evidently the idle speculations of persons too much at their ease, whom one hour of exquisite torment would bring to their senses, and teach a sounder divinity. What is the foundation of our love to God? His love to us: the good which he has done to us, and that which we still expect from him. I feel it impossible for me to love one, whose interest or caprice requires that I should be tormented everlastingly. I love the Lord because he hath delivered me from the curse of the law; because he hath saved me from going down to the pit: because he “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”[*]Eph 2:6

Moses by entreaty obtains a short reprieve for the offenders; but a plain intimation is given that they should not pass wholly unpunished. “In the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”[*]Exo 32:34 The meaning of this threatening is fully explained in the sequel. All that generation of men were blotted out of the of the living; their carcases fell gradually in the wilderness; they were not permitted to see the good land promised to their fathers; plague upon plague overtook them, till they were consumed for their idolatry; of the worshippers of the golden calf not one entered into Canaan.

God had hitherto condescended to conduct defend Israel, in that wonderful symbol his presence, the pillar of cloud and fire. Provoked by their rebellion, their Protector and Guide withdraws from them, and they are left to pursue their march, through paths of their own choosing. The adage says, “Whom God means, to destroy, he first infatuates.” Had it run more simply, “Whom God means to destroy, he first forsakes,” it had been just and more consonant to the tenor of Scripture. When Jehovah has withdrawn as a friend, he is not far off as an enemy. But what must it have been to one who felt like Moses, to be commanded to proceed to the conquest of Canaan, destitute of the presence and support of God, the glory and the strength of Israel? It was like sending a ship into a tempestuous ocean, without ballast, without a mast or sail, without a rudder or compass, to be driven at the mercy of every blast; and laid under the necessity of sinking in the mighty deep. Moses apprehends the full extent of an attempt so perilous, and deprecates it with all the energy of supplication. He apprehends no ill, save one, that of being deserted of God. He trembles at no foe, but their best friend estranged. The wretched multitude now see their nakedness, and are ashamed. In vain do gold and jewels attempt to hide the deformity of a soul that has lost its innocence. They were not more eager, the other day, to contribute their ornaments to the formation of an idol, than they are now to hide them out of sight, as the monuments of their dishonor. “What fruit have they now in those things whereof they are ashamed?” A face of mourning is seen over the whole camp, and every face is clothed with despair. Direction is given to remove the tabernacle without the camp. A few who had continued faithful, adhere to that divine instrument of protection, and follow it. The cloudy pillar, which, during the period of riot, sedition, and revolt, had in wrath departed, returned to its destined residence, the tabernacle. In the eyes of astonished Israel; Moses enters undismayed into that mansion of divine glory, proceeds to meet God, as a man to meet his friend; renews the conference in the plain, which had been broken off on the mount, The result is, God graciously relents, being mindful of his covenant, and again undertakes the safe conduct of his people, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest,”[*]Exo 33:14 and all again is peace. And thus conclude the controversies between disobedient and gainsaying children, and their tender-hearted relenting Father. He is not to be “overcome of evil, but overcomes evil with good.” But what is this I hear? Moses soliciting for still farther manifestations of the divine perfections? Who had seen, who had heard, who had felt and enjoyed so much of God as he? And yet still he is importunately entreating, “Lord, show me thy glory.” O my friends, how many things of God do “angels still desire to look into?” There is “a breadth, and length, and depth, and height, in the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” The response of the oracle to this request, is not less extraordinary than the request itself. “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock; and will cover thee with my hand, while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not, be seen.”[*]Exo 33:19-23 This opens a field of meditation too ample to be now entered upon. Let it be reserved for the entire ground of another evening’s excursion into the region of Scripture: and let us contemplate with wonder the scene which has just passed before our eyes. Does the whole story seem to any one incredible? Let the horrid scene which this great metropolis exhibited not many years ago,[*]June, 1780. arise upon his recollection. Let him think on the frenzy, which, like a mighty torrent, carried every thing before it: which fired the city, overawed the senate, and threatened the dissolution of all regular government. Who can tell the dire effects which desperate enthusiasm, suddenly bursting out and exciting universal terror and consternation, may produce. Had we not seen it with our eyes, we could scarcely have believed, that consequences so momentous should have issued from a source so contemptible. The resolutions and operations of a lawless multitude are truly formidable. Unopposed, they rush on as an overflowing flood; resisted, they melt away; they are scattered like chaff driven by the wind.

Observe, O man, how the most difficult lessons of religion, patience, and forbearance, and forgiveness, are taught thee by the example of the great Jehovah himself. Dare thou to think of vengeance for a petty, a misconceived, and imaginary offence, when thou beholdest the most glorious of all beings, passing by, blotting out the most heinous, the most unprovoked insults, and when thou hearest him proclaiming his name, “the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin?” “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thins enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”[*]Rom 12:19-21 “I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”[*]Mat 5:44-45

“Follow on to know the Lord.” Expatiate in nature’s ample field, and you will, find profit and instruction blended with delight. Explore the wonders of eternal Providence, and you will see constant cause to rejoice in the thought that there is a GOD who judgeth and ruleth in the earth. Dive deeper and deeper into those mysteries of grace which “angels desire to look into,” and break forth into songs of joy, that “GOD is love.” “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”[*]John 17:3 Now “we know part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”[*]1Co 13:9-10

Nature now presents in every plant, in every pebble, mysteries that defy the searches of the wisest and most acute; then “the wayfaring man, though a fool,” shall comprehend systems the vastest, most complex, most abstruse. Providence now exhibits an apparent inconsistency and disorder, which confounds the reasoning pride of man; then, God will fully vindicate his ways to man, obviate every difficulty, resolve every doubt, remove every scruple. In Scripture “are some things hard to be understood,” in our present state of ignorance and imperfection: then, the veil shall be removed, and “we shall see face to face,”--“then shall we know even as also we are known.” Then the promised Spirit of wisdom and revelation shall “teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance.” Then shall he “open” our “understanding,” that we may “understand the Scriptures.” “Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus!”