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Okay, so this is the law is good if one uses it lawfully session 29. Last week we looked at the beginning of chapter nine of Deuteronomy. And we
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asked the question, what is it that we remember? And in the interest of review and also making sure I give the short short version, uh, Israel remembered
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their guilt. And this was part of the law's ministry, but Israel remembered their guilt because it remained on them. We remember Jesus on whom our guilt was
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laid. So if you take nothing else from last week, I would be urgent that you take that. Two weeks ago in chapter eight, we also read that Israel was to remember
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the way that God led them in the wilderness. And given that that goes before the passage we're going to read today, um
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how these 40 years during their hardships in the wilderness, Yahweh fed and watered and clothed them. Now, many of the things that will be
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mentioned in the reading I'll do um for you uh I think are very intentional and most especially Moses mention of his own
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hardships. Um, so listen with that in mind uh as we read uh chapter 9 uh verses 9 through 28 I believe or 29
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finishing out the chapter in your When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the
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covenant Yahweh made with you, I remained on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. And Yahweh gave me the two
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tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them were all the words that Yahweh had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. At the end of
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40 days and 40 nights, Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Then Yahweh said to me, "Arise, go down quickly from here, for
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your people, whom you have brought up from Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made themselves a metal image."
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Furthermore, Yahweh said to me, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff- necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their
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name from under heaven and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they." So I turned and came down from the mountain, the mountain burning with fire. And the two tablets of the
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covenant were in my two hands, and I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a cast metal calf. You had
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turned aside quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before Yahweh
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as before, 40 days and 40 nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water because of all the sin that you had committed in doing what was evil in the
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sight of Yahweh to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that Yahweh bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time
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also. And Yahweh was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf
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that you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook
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that ran down from the mountain. At Tabar also, and at Masa and Kibro Hatava, you provoked Yahweh to wrath. And when Yahweh sent you up from Kadesh
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Barnea, saying, "Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you," then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and did not believe him or obey his voice. You
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have been stiff necked against Yahweh from the day that I knew you. So I lay prostrate before Yahweh for these 40 days and 40 nights, because Yahweh had
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said he would destroy you. And I prayed to Yahweh, oh Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people and your heritage whom you have redeemed through your
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greatness whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stiff neckedness of this
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people or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them. And because he hated
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them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness. For they are your people. They are your heritage whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched
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So notice uh some what I'm calling sort of a matter of emphasis. There's several several words that I would seek to emphasize for you. And I think it Moses is making making this play uh to do so.
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I neither ate bread nor drank water. He's just told them in the previous segment how they were in want of food and water and God sustained them. And
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now he reminds them up on the mountain for these 40 days and 40 nights, I neither ate bread nor drank water. Seems to have ironical intent to me. You Moses
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knew what it was to suffer the wants that Israel had suffered in the wilderness. And even over that time, Yahweh sustained him. And it puts us in
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mind, I think, naturally, of Jesus, how he too suffered want and temptation as we face it. But God sustained him and will certainly sustain us. The most
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poignant example being his temptation in the wilderness for the same period of time where it says in Matthew 4 1-4 then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the
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wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry and the tempter came to him and said to him if you are the son
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of God command these stones to become loaves of bread but he answered what's in Deuteronomy 8 It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by
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every word that comes from the mouth of God. And similarly in Hebrews 2, um I think it's in two, maybe three says, for
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because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly
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calling, consider Jesus. So Moses acts as a picture for us of the Lord in this respect. He suffered deprivation for a prolonged period of time in order to
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procure and deliver the blessing to the people of God. This is the pattern that we see in scripture over and over that there would come a time when the man whom God has appointed would deliver
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that blessing to his people and he would do so through suffering. So 40 days and 40 nights and then another emphasis I I found only at the
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end did Yahweh give him the tablets and to wait all that time and what then is he told as he's given them arise go down quickly because they've already broken
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it mo I mean think of the anguish that he goes up to receive the notorized copies of the contract and is told upon
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getting them already the people are in breach. It's a horror and we should feel that with him with him on them. Another emphasis uh were the
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all the words that Yahweh had spoken with you on the mountain. And I've made a point of this before how in in the gospels the the Lord makes those
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listening to him responsible for what was said to them uh through Moses. It it is as if they are at they were there receiving it. And
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we we find that pattern in its kernel here. The the words of which the people said, "All that Yahweh has spoken, we will do." Okay, that's that's referenced
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by Moses in Deuteronomy 5:27. And it's written in its narrative form the first time in Exodus 19:8. But these were the words of the covenant
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made as as Moses says again in Deuteronomy 5, not with our fathers but with us alive today. So if I could stress one thing throughout these several chapters, it is the continuity
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of Moses' audience with their fathers that cannot be broken. Okay? Not by the law. Um, so I neither ate bread nor drank
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water first and then the words that Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain. And a third emphasis, another pronoun emphasis, a sudden change in pronoun um
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in uh let's see in verse 12, your people whom you brought out of
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Egypt. I don't know if anybody else gets finds that chilling. that chilling. uh to to see that said if they were not a people of God's word then they were
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not a people of God at all and and here again embedded in the very language of the text is the truth expressed elsewhere that friendship with the world is enmity toward God that he
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who loves the world does not love God and and I should qu qualify in that sense love is to to to treasure to esteem okay we know that in in sending
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in sending his son that was the way that God loved the world and that is the same sense in which we will spre show our love to the outside world but we
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but to treasure it to esteem it to trust it okay that is that is the opposite of love and esteem and faith for God
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so Moses then in in chap in verse 12 becomes comes the second hears the witness of of God that he has judged rightly from his mountain. I have
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seen that's verse 13. I have seen this people. Okay. And then Moses goes on in the following verses to confirm it with his narrative. Moses uh declares himself
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the second witness to their breach of contract. All matters needing to be established by multiple witnesses. Okay. And the there's a parallelism in the verses that follow uh starting in 912.
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Um write them down here. Okay. So 912 corresponds to 9:16.
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On the one hand, God tells him, "Your people have acted corruptly, turned aside quickly. They have made themselves a metal image." And he says in verse 16, "You had sinned. You had made yourselves
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a cast metal calf. You had turned aside quickly." And then further on, Yahweh said to me, "I have seen this people." And Moses
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goes down and declares that I looked and you had sinned. Okay? And then furthermore says, I took hold of the two tablets and broke them before your eyes.
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Okay? So there all all is in plain sight. Nothing is in question. And I want to pause here and just if you've never thought about it this way before, this was a helpful way for me to think
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about it to sort of demystify. I've mentioned the that the word covenant ought not be read as a technical term or like an overly spiritual term, but
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rather is the standard form of a contract. Okay. So what Moses is doing in coming down the mountain with the two tablets is tablets is what you do when you make a contract. If
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you if you made a rental agreement or a contract to buy a house, you got a copy and the seller got a copy or the or the landlord gets a copy. Both parties to the contract gets a get a copy. And and
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it may not have occurred to you yet, but it isn't as if God ran out of room on one tablet and went to a second. This is two copies of the contract in his two hands. And he's bringing them both down
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because God intends to dwell with his people. You would take your copy of the contract to your home. The the other party to the contract would take their copy of the contract to their home. But both copies
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are coming down to the same place, the center of the Israelite camp because God intends to dwell there, too. And then finally, they are in breach of
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that contract. And what you do when you're in breach of that contract is tear up the contract. There's no more contract when one party breaches the
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contract. Okay? Hope that I hope that helps to understand what's going on and why he broke it. It's not just mere anger. He's doing what you would do when you were when someone was in breach of contract.
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I'm I'm glad you asked. So the the question is for the sake of hearing the the question is okay. But we know that God swore to Abraham by himself. So, how is it that the people can then be in
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breach of contract? Um, I'm going to I actually was getting ready to get to that um in just a second because Paul in Galatians helps clarify what's going on.
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He really asks the same question in Galatians 3 and and answers it. But I'll say one a couple of the things I've already mentioned in in previous sessions are that the the contract with
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the people was to do the words of Yahweh and they spoke they they witnessed it saying all that Yahweh has spoken we will do. So the agreement at the
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mountain was I have delivered you my words you do my words and I will be your God and you will be my people and we will dwell together. That is the contract embodied in the law.
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But Paul asked the exact same question you do. Um, which I'll get to in a few minutes. Well, okay. So, how do these things interact? Did the law can the law
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nullify the promise that God made by himself? He does answer that. Um, let me truck uh through a couple of more of the parallels and then we'll get right to that. Um, verse 94.
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Sorry. Chapter 9 verse14. Uh, let me alone that I may destroy them. Okay. And then verse 18 is following an
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order. I lay prostrate before Yahweh as before. So Yahweh tells Moses, "Get out of the way. I'm going to destroy them." And Yah and Moses' answer is to lay down
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in front of him. Okay? and to and to plead no but for your promise and your inheritance. And finally uh verse 15 the mountain
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burning with fire. He says he was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that Yahweh bore against
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Okay, underscored visually in the mountain burning with fire. Okay. And also further down, I took the sinful thing and burned it with fire. Okay, so the
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the the the visible emblem of God's wrath being taken out on that sinful thing. Okay, so he's purposeful
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in the way that he's narrating this. So really, this is then uh in these verses a tale of two fasts. Okay, Moses first, the giving of the law s because there's
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there's really two contracts that are one even in this passage. Two law contracts. The first one was was broken. No more contract. Okay. And he goes up
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to we know that he goes up the mountain to procure a new contract which is the same contract. Okay. So Moses' first fast in receiving that law served to
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increase the transgression of the people. Moses' second fast, the offering of his prayer was on account of their transgression. So there's an interplay here that maybe if you're a good student
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of Paul, uh you'll start to recognize. But I want to get to your question, which is an excellent question in Galatians 3. Uh this is beginning in verse 15.
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verse 15. To give a human example, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one unulls it or adds to it once it has been
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That's natural. You can't add, in other words, words, we were taught you can't add to the contract after signature because that's a new contract. Any addition, you've nullified the old one and that's a new thing. Okay. So, you
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can't go back on it, anol it, or add to it once it's been ratified. Okay? Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to
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his seed. It does not say and to seeds, referring to many, but referring to one and to your seed, who is Christ. This is
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what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterward does not enol a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make
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the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. That would be a different contract. Okay? But
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God gave it to Abraham by promise. Why then the law? So what so what Paul is pointing out is the promise made to Abraham that in in him all the nations
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would bless themselves or be blessed okay is not the same as the law which must be kept in it it uh uh prefigured in the order
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for circumcision. Okay the circumcision is the proto law. It must be kept. You will do this. you will mark your sons in their in their flesh. And if you don't,
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they will be cut off. And then the law, which comes 430 years later, is the eventuality of that of that law. But even back with Abraham, there's two covenants, not one. Okay? And the law is
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the eventuality, the realization of that second one. So he's saying if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. Those are different. Okay? But God gave it to
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Abraham by promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made and it was put in
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place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one. But God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God?
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Certainly not. Or may it never be, I think, is the phrase there. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by
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the law, but the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ, the seed, might be given to those who believe.
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Okay? And he goes on to speak of the law as I've spoken of it before um especially in the session I did last year on cities of refuge that the law is
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in part a prison. The law held the law held captive the people of God until the seed should come to deliver them until the high priest should die who delivered them from it.
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Okay. So the text of Moses prayer shows that Moses is drawing from what or excuse me that um Paul rather is drawing from what Moses says. The law which came
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later did not enol the promise of God. And that's really Moses point in this. You already broke it but there's more to follow. God was good for his promise. So
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in kernel form we're seeing what you're expressing in your question which is the people's breach of the law contract could not overturn how good God was for
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his promise, right? It could not overturn an agreement God had made concerning his own self in which it was impossible for him to lie. So in in
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proto form, that's why I describe it this way that Moses first served to increase the transgression of the people. Moses second fast was on account of their transgression to deal with it.
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Okay. Another way of saying that, Moses' first fast by virtue of the sin that followed it plunged all Israel under condemnation. But Moses' second fast by
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virtue of the righteousness of God following the trespass brought mercy. Okay? And I'm intentionally using New Testament like language there because I
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think what we're seeing is a picture of what was yet to come. a picture of the purposes of God laid out for us in parable form here with Moses as the main player. Uh Romans 5:15 through 21 says
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the following. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through the one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus
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Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but
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the free gift following many trespasses brought righteousness. brought righteousness. For if because of the one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive
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the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all
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men, so one act of righteousness leads to righteousness and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the
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one man's obedience, the many will ma be made righteous. Now the law came in, here it is again, to increase the trespass. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin
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reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So I I'll I'll issue the caution.
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We must necessarily remember that what's before us is a picture of what God had yet to do and is as such limited. I don't want you to think that I'm trying to draw a onetoone parallel here or
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imply that that we're in the exact same state. I've said before many times that there are pictures of us in the law and yet there are key differences that we
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must remember, ways in which the purposes of God have unfolded throughout all of scripture to their fullness and we realize that fullness and can therefore recognize the picture uh
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behind. Okay. behind. Okay. So the prayer of Moses then in the limited scope in which he was speaking concerned whether Yahweh would bring in
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all the tribes or just one. So that's the main issue before us right here. God has said I will I will destroy them and make of you a nation greater and
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mightier than they. And that's what Moses is specifically praying about. Okay? that Okay? that that that God promised in a way that it
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was impossible for him to lie, okay? That he would bring in the tribes in the fourth generation and that they would be numerous and then furthermore promised to Jacob that all of his sons would be
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brought up to that land, not just one. It would not do for him to bring in a son of Levi, make him a great nation, and say, "There I fulfilled the promise." That is not what he promised
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to the fathers. He promised the fathers that all the tribes would come in. And that's immediately speaking what Moses has in mind. Okay? He is a picture of something much greater of God bringing
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in a people for himself from every nation and family of the earth. and and in in as such what Moses is pleading is is a small microcosm of of what is
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greater that no there is a people throughout the world and and you must bring them all in. Okay. So in this way the intercession of Moses has this
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limited scope and pertains to what the people bound themselves by law to do. Okay. His intercession did not render them the
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gift of faith. Nor did it procure a lasting righteousness. It only guaranteed that Israel's seed would be brought into the promised inheritance. Okay.
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Nevertheless, we too profess that we will be brought into the inheritance that God promised Abraham because our man in glory has appealed to the father for us and he was heard. Um, you have another comment.
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That's right. Exactly. Right. He God rightly designates the people as Moses people. That's a correct statement. I'll get into that in a minute because I I put in my notes later like is that divine sarcasm?
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divine sarcasm? It is chilling. But is it divine sarcasm or is there a point to that? I think there's a point to that. They are Moses people under the law. But right their identity as God's chosen heritage goes
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back before the law. the God's promises are older than their sin and older than any righteousness that they could show. It's more than that. And mo and you're exactly right. Moses is recognizing that
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out loud and pleading that to God. Um uh he says also uh also that Yahweh listened at that time also. Um, and if
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that's perplexing at all, um, what Moses has done, uh, through verse 21 or 22 before his prayer,
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um, or before the uh, the bit about Masa and Tabarra, etc. What what he's done is he's constructed the entire narrative. You're getting it from first to last.
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You have him first going up on the mountain, then I lay prostrate before Yahweh and and crushed the cab, etc., etc. He he's already laid out part one and part two where he went up the
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mountain the first time, okay? And and came down and cleared the camp out and then went back up to plead that Yahweh would would dwell uh would
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dwell with them in the camp. Because if you read Exodus, Yahweh had said, "I'll send an angel with you, but I can't dwell with you. I'll I'll crush you. If I dwell with you, I'll consume this
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people in a moment." And that's what Moses went up the mountain the second time to talk about. You You have to go with us. If you love
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me, if I have found favor in your sight, go with us. Otherwise, kill me. Okay? But
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Okay? But um the prayer that that I read in verses 25 through 29 that that was uttered up here. So he's he's recounting
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these events these events in a thematic way and through verses 21 you've got the whole chronology from first to last. From there he he goes on
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to discuss what happened after that time and then to recount his prayer which happened back here. And then he will tell of the second
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going up again in chapter 10 verse 1- 11. I have always found this passage confusing. That's why I'm bothering
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saying this, that there is a definite theme structure here. And if you don't bear that in mind, you think Moses has got his events out of order. I've even seen commentaries that try to explain
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how it is that Moses has his events out of order. And I don't I don't understand why that would be a little careful homework would show that he's being very intentional about when he's telling
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certain things. And to give an example from Genesis that's familiar to us all. Uh Genesis 1 tells about the entire creation of the cosmos. Zips that up and God rested and it's finished. Right? And
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then you get Genesis 2 and this is before there was any man to work the ground. We've already read of the creation of man, but before there was any man to work the ground and a spring
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was going up and there wasn't certain plants, etc. You're getting detail and color about some of the things that happened during the events described in chapter 1. That's what's going on in
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chapters 9 and 10 here in Deuteronomy through about through chapter nine except for the prayer. You're getting a chronological account of events, but then there's a particular going back and
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focusing on the sec on the first prayer and the second contract. Okay. So, uh, any questions about that before I go on
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to verse 20? Sure. I really appreciate the way you
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think what you did, but I think you show theology,
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contingent on obedience, right? promise of God. He was he was going to accomplish that by a a certain a certain uh action, a a
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certain obedience of Christ in in that. Yes. And yeah, and then if you again later in Galatians, this is this is well worth reading and and it does it does on
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its own just by being itself militate against that flat view of the covenants which is modern covenant theology. And because he goes on to say that the two
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wives of Abraham, right, Hagar and Sarah, they are allegorically two covenants. Okay, he's not being accidental when he identifies two women
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directly connected to Abraham as those two covenants. He's not saying there was one here with Sarah and then much later there was one with Hagar. No, he's saying that at in Abraham's life there
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are two covenants there. There's not one, there's two. One was God will perform this. The other was performative. You must do this. And they are not the
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same. They run in parallel with one another, but they're not the same. Yes.
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Um it the essential issue with it is that and not all of them are so uh are so mono covenantal. Okay. But the the idea behind it is God made his his
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agreement with Abraham. And every covenant that follows is read in terms of that covenant he
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made with Abraham. So that when he inaugurates a new covenant, ironically not like the covenant that I made with the house of Israel when I brought them out of Egypt, um that that's it's the
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same covenant. is just administered differently. That's that's the basic, you know, uh, elevator speech for covenant theology, that it's the same covenant but administered differently
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throughout history. And I'm saying that Paul, I think, quite obviously says that is not so.
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circumcision. That's right. So circumcision then becomes the sign of the covenant. Okay. And then gets its continuence in baptism. And the r the rationale being
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well okay. So now that's expanded to the nations. And now you can baptize women. You couldn't you circumcision was meaningless for women. Um and so now
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it's more inclusive. Um, yes, that because and that's because circumcision becomes the sign of the covenant, not the sign of one of those. The way Paul
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treats it in Galatians and and really it's it's staggering. Everywhere in the New Testament, circumcision is spoken of alongside the law.
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It was made four like Abraham was told to circumcise not only himself but also his sons and his servants in their flesh 400 years before the law was given. And
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yet in the New Testament you never see circumcision spoken of separately from the law. It's often spoken of as kind of a uh the law par excalance or or the a
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placeholder for for the law. It is the law. It's what the law grows out of. So yes, that's what that's where you get the mixing up of circumcision and
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baptism. And there is a relationship between the two. But it's the relationship that we'll look at in chapter 11 of Deuteronomy where Moses says to them, "Okay, and now
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what does Yahweh require of you?" Okay? And he tells them, "Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff necked." That's the relationship between physical circumcision and the
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the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit preparing the heart whereas the sign of the law prepared the
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flesh. So um I guess any other things before I move on? I have a have a good bit to cover. Um so apologize if the pace is a little little tough, but um we'll get
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there. Verse 20. Yahweh was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. Okay, so here Moses offers the only new information in these two chapters
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that's not recorded elsewhere in the law. And it's not earthshattering new information, but it is new information. Exodus says nothing about Yahweh's specific intent to destroy Aaron, but Moses does. Not only willing to destroy
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the people, but willing to destroy Aaron. Um, if you look at Exodus 32, this is helpful to reference for what's going on. Um the first six verses here.
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When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves to Aaron and said to him, "Up make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man
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who brought us up out of the land of Egypt." Okay, so God wasn't wrong, right? They said, "The man who's brought us who brought us up out of Egypt." Notice that. Okay. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the
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land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So Moses, so excuse me. So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your
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sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and
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fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a cast metal calf. And they said, the people did, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the
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land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh."
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And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
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So we see in this few verses Aaron was the head of the people and therefore responsible. Aaron failed as head of the people because he did not withstand
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them. Aaron himself Aaron himself built the whole built the thing and built the altar in front of it when the people said these are your gods O Israel who brought you up out of the land of
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Egypt. So it says when Aaron saw this he built an altar before it. And finally, uh, this touches on the the things we've been studying in Chuck's series on Leviticus. Aaron did not distinguish
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between the holy and the common, but merged them. Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh alongside this cast metal calf."
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That's a profound failure of his office. So then verse 21, Moses comes along and undoes to the fullest extent everything
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Aaron did. Okay? First he burned it. Okay? Where whereas Aaron had melted the gold down. Okay? He crushed it. Aaron had fashioned it with tools. He
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scattered it. Aaron had gathered the gold or ornaments. And I'd even go so far as into the brook. Is he unmining the gold now? He's okay. He's going way farther in tearing down the whole
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apparatus than than Aaron went. Okay. Uh I can't think of another reason for him to u uh say, "I threw it into the brook." I don't know if anybody has any other ideas, but seemed like he was
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unmining it to me. Um so there it is. Moses destroying the abomination even as he pleads with Yahweh to spare the man who made it. Okay, now that's a now
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that's a wonderful picture, too. And I don't want to be overly typological at any point, but this one this one's another good one. Okay, we we see Jesus destroying sin even as he pleads for the
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sinner successfully. Successfully. But in Moses' case, the rebellion was far from over. Okay. He he recounts then
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in verse 22 uh other incidents of the people's failure to enter because of unbelief. Um, and I don't know uh if if you noticed this um Tabar also and at
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Masa and at Kibro Hatava and then finally at Kadesh Barnea. Um I the I've puzzled over the exact order of these incidents because they're not listed
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chronologically. Masa happened first and it happened before they got to the mountain. This is where water was brought for them out of the rock. Uh uh at Tabarah uh they
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complained of their hardships in the wilderness and they were consumed by fire. Okay. At Masa they tested Yahweh concerning water and he brought it out
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of the flinty rock for them. At Kibro Hatava they craved meat and they actually spoke against the mana. Say I think they called it this
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worthless bread. Okay. The bread from heaven they called worthless and say we want meat instead and they died with the meat still between their teeth. And then at Kadesh Barnea they rebelled
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concerning Yahweh's good land and were denied entry. Okay. And their and worst of all their reasoning was because Yahweh hated us our little ones will
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become prey. Um, one several commentators that I looked at because I mean this is it's it's perplexing that it's out of out of order. Um, several
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commentators suggested that they are listed in order of their severity of offense given to God. I don't hate that. Um, anyone else have any ideas? I know you're coming at this
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cold, but any ideas as to why they would be listed not chronologically?
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Sorry. the the the places where they tested God are list they're not listed in order their their masah is which was first is put second and so some commentators will say well this is in
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order of their offense to God like how severe the offense was to God and I'm curious if anyone has any other thoughts I don't have a good answer to that I have another question
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Very much so. And yet here in this session, I feel like you're showing us that the new generation still linkage to the sin of the old. Yes. Does that have any
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bearing on You just asked the way he is showing them he's showing them s right their sin and yet he has made the argument
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the argument they bear that sin as sons of their fathers right on the one hand they are receiving the promise made to Abraham but the reason is not because they have that
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they can shake their connection with their fathers that is an act of God to bring them in insp spite of that like so the excising of the of the old generation from the text is an act of
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God. But as as for them they they bear that that guilt on their own. And yes, all four are things that happened specifically with the old generation
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before they failed to enter. Yes. That's where they said where you where are we going? That's the that's
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the big deal. They failed to go up. That's it. That's the nail in the coffin right there. Yep. That's right. Um Okay. So my my
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punishing No, but he is making correct. They still bear that guilt. They they are they cannot shake their linkage with with those fathers. Not not on their
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own. Their righteous their righteousness is not getting getting rid of that stain of guilt at all. So both are true. God is punishing them this generation.
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Uh no, I I I I mean actually Moses is making the opposite case that in fact they are not being punished for that guilt but rather God has shown them great grace and is going up with them.
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Right. Uh so yeah I'm Yeah, go ahead. But he does remind them that they are stiff necked from the day he met from the day I met you. Right.
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They still have the same will be shown in the book of the land,
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They they bear that guilt. So that what what I said last week in in in short was that Israel bore that guilt all the way back in the wilderness right up until the Lord's coming. And for all
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who believe the Lord cleared them of that guilt by taking it on himself. But the guilt that he took on himself was all the sin that God had been patient
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with up until that time. Israel bore the guilt of their fathers. even down to the Lord's time and it had reached its high
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Oh yes, definitely definitely make a generation from generation from the guilt of but it is a note it's notable to destroy the human race. Right. And it and and that's what that's what Paul says about the patience of God passing over former sins in Romans is
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that Right. And so I'm I'm not saying that that Moses is saying, "Yeah, and God's punishing you for these things." I'm simply saying that they bear the guilt. They have stiff necks since I
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knew you. So like don't make more of what he's what he's saying than you need to understand what you did about
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Is took it on himself. Took it on himself. Right. Right. which is why we don't, as I said last week, why we do not remember our guilt as a practice of godliness.
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That's we we remember our guilt laid on Jesus. So, in a way, we do remember our guilt, but we remember it in its proper place. Um, so I I have a few thoughts on on why
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these incidents in particular were chosen and u they mainly have to do with what we saw earlier in chapter 8. Um, because I think context is is key in this. Um, I I think they're actually
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laid out based on what Moses said earlier. Okay. Uh, chapter 8 verse1 15. Who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions. Okay. Um,
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that at Tabar they complained of their hardships in the wilderness. Okay. Further on in verse 15, uh, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty
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rock. That's a direct reference to Masa. That's number two. Okay. Um verse 16. Who fed you in the wilderness with mana that your fathers did not know. Again,
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kibro hata. They specifically complained of the mana. That's three. Okay. And then finally, that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end.
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And Moses slightly alters the words of his prayer here. But in Exodus, he's recorded as as saying that the nations will say, "You brought them out with evil intent." Whereas he's taught them.
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So that's Kadesh Barnea. Okay? He's brought them out with evil intent, whereas he's saying to them in his teaching in chapter 8 to do you good in the end. So I think that they're laid
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out in that order because of what he's already taught. Um and uh that's well worth well worth noticing. Um as for his prayer, Moses stood in the breach
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between the people's sin and God's righteousness. And in an intentional rhetorical move, he places his prayer which happened on the mountain before he came down the first time. He places it
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right at the center of of his narrative. So you have the complete you have the complete one, two, okay? And then you have his prayer in
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the middle. And then he discusses in detail the second. Okay? And he does that on purpose. It's not out of order in particular. It's in
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a purposeful order. He stands in the breach between the people's sin and God's righteousness. And he places his prayer between the story of God's wrath and the story of God's mercy.
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Okay? And as I said, there's a slight uh a slight difference uh in his wording here. He says because he hated them instead of with evil intent as it's recorded in Exodus. Um and and that
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really reflects the language of their fathers at Kardesh Kadesh Barnea. And so we're he's picking up on his earlier teaching and showing how evil that statement really was. He had when they
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failed, right? They went through the they went this is my civil cross-section of time. They they went through the wilderness and came to Kadesh Barnea and said, "Because Yahweh hated us."
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But he had already prayed concerning that that the nations would not say that. Therefore, God must go up with his people and of course you're good for your promise. They're your people. Okay?
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So, it's really really horrible for them to say that all this way. Okay? Okay. And it'll it'll serve us always to remember what God had said earlier in
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the passage. Let me alone that I may destroy them. Okay. To which Moses prayer recorded in the middle was his response. Okay. So, was your people
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divine sarcasm? divine sarcasm? I'm saying no. I've previously described how Moses was the prototypical man whom God appointed. Noting the interaction that Moses shows at the beginning of
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God's revelation to his new people. how it was God's will to reveal himself and teach his people by the man whom he has appointed. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 10:2 that the people were
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baptized into Moses. That is not a mistake. So I think it's impossible for us to see Yahweh's pronouncement, your people, as some sort of dismissive or
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punitive statement. Okay? Rather, the people had gone astray. And it expresses the reality that they could not be reconciled to God, but by the man whom he had appointed.
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And the bells should be going off in our minds all over the place. We can get to to Hebrews for that. I'll sort of close up with a few thoughts on
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this. This is uh Hebrews 2 beginning with verse 10. It was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make
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the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. through suffering. That has to do with what we discussed earlier today. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one
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source. That is why he's not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation singing your praise.
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And again, I will put my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he
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likewise himself partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were
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subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it's not angels he helps, but he helps the seed of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a
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merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being
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tempted. So Moses prayer though recorded at this point in the passage thereby placing it at the center of his narrative was actually made before God before while he was still on the mountain when God said
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he would destroy the people and make a nation out of Moses. It concerned God's promise to Jacob concerning all of his sons. But it's fitting to recognize at the same time that the day was coming
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when God would make a nation out of the man that he had appointed.
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That was not yet, but it was coming. And so he is done. And Jesus is not ashamed to own us as his brothers. And the father loves us as he loves the son. Isaiah prophesied of the servant of
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Yahweh who suffered for the sins of the people that he shall see his seed. And again, as quoted in Hebrews, here I am and the children God has given me. So
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onward in Hebrews, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him. Just
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as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more
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honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a
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servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son and we are his house if indeed we hold fast
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our confidence and our boasting in our hope. So, as I read before in Romans, the teaching of the New Testament shows us many of these divine reversals. The free gift is not like the trespass. Or
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in 1 Corinthians 15, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. What God promised as well as what man could not do, what those under the law
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longed for, God did in the person of Jesus. It may have perhaps been natural for Moses to feel shame at the referral of your people because of their sins. We
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could understand that. But his prayer at that time showed that he was quick to own those whom God had redeemed. In like manner, Jesus has owned us. He is not
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ashamed to call us brothers and we are his house. If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope. Moses is a picture of our privileged place since Jesus has gone
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before us, pictured for us here in the prayer of Moses, the man whom God appointed, offering himself for our admittance that we may draw near to God
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just as Moses did and find him merciful and gracious in our time of need. the blood of a new contract, not shed as
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a witness against us, but poured out for us the forgiveness of sins. Let us pray.
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Father, you have not destroyed your people, but have taken us for your inheritance. whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you brought out of the
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kingdom of darkness with a mighty hand. You have remembered your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You have named us your father, the God and father
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of Jesus Christ. You have not regarded our stiff neckness or our wickedness or our sin. And we from the nations may say that you
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were able to do as you promised and willing, that you loved us and brought us out for life. We ask that you be with us in our
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afflictions in this wilderness. For we are your people and your heritage whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Amen.
