Sunday, June 18, 2017

Moses: To the End of the Years in the Wilderness


Exodus 33 

1-23   And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. 

(There is "a terror of the Lord" ... Paul speaks of this in II Cor. 5) 

And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.


And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb.

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation.

And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his 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.

And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

And Moses said unto the LORD, See, THOU sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and THOU hast not let me know whom THOU wilt send with me. Yet THOU hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in MY sight.

Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in THY sight, shew me now THY way, that I may know THEE, that I may find grace in THY sight: and consider that this nation is THY people.

And HE (GOD) said, MY presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

And he said unto HIM, If THY presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and THY people have found grace in THY sight? is it not in that THOU goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and THY people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in MY sight, and I know thee by name.

And he (Moses) said, I beseech thee, shew me THY glory.

And HE (GOD) 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 shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

And HE (GOD) 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 clift 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.


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Exodus 34  

1-4   And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.

And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.


5-7   And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed,

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, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

8-17    And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

And he said, If now I have found grace in THY sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for THINE inheritance.


And HE (God) said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.


Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.


Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:


But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:


For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:


Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;


And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.


Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.



28-35   And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.


And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.


And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.


And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.


And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.


And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.


But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.


And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.




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II Cor. 3  


7-18   But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?


For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.


For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.


For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.


Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.


But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.


Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.


Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.


But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.



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In building the tabernacle in OT, we see the following:


Exodus 35


35   Them hath HE (God) filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.


When God commands a work, the materials and skilled workman are supplied to carry out that work.



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Concerning building the tabernacle:


Exodus 39 

42-43   According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.




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E-book:  Faith Building Moments from the Old Testament and Today ... Joan Boney & Pam Padgett... Amazon.com

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