-Bob’s Bible Study Series July 1997; King James Version
Before we begin this study let us review the two parallel accounts: Exodus 32:1-35 and Deuteronomy 9:8-21.
Exodus 32:1-35 (Note: For several days now, Moses has been up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments.)
1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, 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. 2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. 6. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15. And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I fear.
19. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 20. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. 21. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23. 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. 24. 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. 25. And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:
26. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. 28. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 31. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
Deuteronomy 9:8-21
8. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. 9. When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water: 10. And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
11. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. 12. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. 13. Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 14. Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
15. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 16. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17. And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
18. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 19. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me at that time also. 20. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. 21. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.
Now let’s look at some of my notes.
Moses describes God’s countenance, because of the peoples’ idolatry, as “fierce wrath” (Exodus 32:12), and, “anger and hot displeasure” (Deuteronomy 9:19). God became so angry, He instructed Moses, “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation”1 (Exodus 32:10). In Deuteronomy, Moses records, “let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot their name2 from under heaven.” (Deuteronomy 9:14)
1Scofield’s note (The New Scofield Reference Bible, C.I. Scofield, D.D., copyright 1967, New York, Oxford University Press, 114.) on God’s threat of destruction reads like this:
(Exodus 32:10) God was testing Moses by offering to replace Israel with a new nation descending from Moses. Theologically, a test of this kind must be considered in light of the sovereign will of God that underlies all human decision. For Moses, this test was real, even though the proposed destruction of srael was not in God’s plan, as shown by the Abrahamic Covenant and such promises as Genesis 49:10 to Judah. Likewise Christ in the Gospels offered Himself as king to Israel even though His rejection and His death on the cross, according to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23), had to precede the glorious kingdom.
During this study, I will assume that on those occasions the Scriptures mention “blotting out names from His Book” that this is referring to God’s blotting out names from His Book of Life. (Revelation 20:12, among others)
And so we introduce our study today. In a discussion I was having with a young man at work, he mentioned, that God blotted Aaron’s name out of the Book of Life. He referred to Deuteronomy’s account for a Scripture reference. Please take some time to read over the following notes. Even if he and I do not agree, I have enjoyed this study, and consider the boy to be a good Christian young friend.
For the moment, it seems God was wanting to destroy all the Hebrew people including Aaron and rebuild a nation from Moses. And, because He is God, He could have done this very thing.
Believing this destruction declaration from God to be for real, Moses did not “Let God alone” as God had instructed him! For fear of “the anger and hot displeasure” of the Lord (Deuteronomy 9:19), Moses quickly acts on behalf of his people. He “besought the Lord” (Exodus 32:11) in intercessory prayer. “And I fell down before the Lord, ... I did neither eat bread, nor drink water” (Deuteronomy 9:18).
Moses’ steps include:
1. Re-focusing. In Exodus 32:26, he asked, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Let him come unto me.” The people had allowed themselves to become discouraged, diverted, and depraved.
2. Purification. Three thousand were slain (Exodus 32:27-28).
3. Consecration. Exodus 32:29, “For Moses had said, 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.” While consecration is used along with purification in verses 28 & 29, consecration will have a much deeper meaning when the tabernacle, its contents, Aaron and his sons are consecrated (see Exodus 28; 40:9-16 & Leviticus 8). Some scholars suggest that the consecration of Aaron, his sons, the tabernacle and its contents occurred later that year.
4. Intercession. In his interceding for his people, Moses pleads to God that He will turn away from His fierce wrath (Exodus 32:12). See Exodus 32:30-35 and Deuteronomy 9:18-20; 10:10; Psalm 106:23. Exodus 32:14 reads, “And the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do with His people.” So, God changed His mind and did not destroy all the people 3, only 3.000. God, since Abraham, had promised several blessings to the Hebrew people if they would but obey Him. In Deuteronomy 11, the promise of these blessings was renewed although God had stated earlier to Moses “whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book” (Exodus 32:33). Forgiveness is evident here.
3Actually, God had no need to change His mind. In His infinite wisdom, He knew all along what He would do in regards to the Hebrew people, Aaron, and Moses. His plan for the Hebrew people prevented their complete destruction, as mentioned in Scofield's note (footnote #1).
5. Restoration. Exodus 33:1-6, the “land flowing with milk and honey” (verse 3) are remembered. God remembered His promise to Abraham regarding the land of promise (verse 1).
From the verses in Exodus 32:14 and 33:1-6, the threat of destroying all the Hebrews and blotting them out of the book had apparently passed. They were disciplined, forgiven, and placed again on their journey. Aaron was not among those slain. It would be approximately 40 additional years before Aaron would die. Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible dates the golden calf worship 1491 B.C., and Aaron’s death 1453 B.C., (Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible, Frank Charles Thompson, D.D., E.D., copyright 1964, B.B. Kirkbride Company, Inc.)
Further evidence of Aaron’s forgiveness of the golden calf incident. Aaron was instituted as the High Priest over the Tabernacle later that year. His sons were to serve as priests under him (Leviticus 8). Additionally, Aaron’s rod was one of the three items to be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant. (For the listing of the items placed inside the Ark, see Hebrews 9:4. For the story of Aaron’s rod, see Numbers 17:1-11. As you may recall, “Aaron’s rod” had “budded to prove that Aaron was God’s chosen.” Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, page 98, Herbert Lockyer, Sr., Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 1986. Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible dates the budding of Aaron’s rod 1471 B.C., approximately twenty years after the golden calf incident.
Also consider the Aaronic benediction later that year (Numbers 6:22-27): “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”
All of these events occurred some time after the golden calf incident. And, to me, they show a wonderful picture of God’s forgiveness.
Additionally, consider the following Scripture reference. Ps 106:19-23; 19. They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 2.0 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21. They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; 22. Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea. 23. Therefore he (God) said that he would destroy them (“them” included Aaron), had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
Other occurrences of the idea of "blotting out names"
In Deuteronomy 29, Moses presents the people before the Lord to enter into covenant with Him (verses 1, 2, 9, 10, 14, 15). To emphasize God’s great wrath on the one who flatters himself in his wickedness, Moses says, “The Lord will not spare him, but the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law” (Deuteronomy 29:20).
When studying and understanding the Scriptures, the Bible student should be watchful as to who is speaking and what is said. In Deuteronomy 9:14; 29:20; and 2 Kings 14:27, it is said that “the Lord shall blot out his (or their) name(s) from under heaven. “It is not said in these verses that God will blot out their names from His book, as in the believer’s removal from the promise of Heaven. It is said that their names will be blotted out “from under heaven”, as in their physical removal from this earth, their destruction. This, God did to three thousand as a result of the golden calf worship (Exodus 32:27-28).
It is Moses, in his prayer of intercession, who says, God if you do not forgive them, "blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written" (Exodus 32:32). The Lord does reply, "Whosoever hath sinned against me, I will blot out of my book" (verse 33). Still, the record clearly shows He forgave (Exodus 32:14; Deuteronomy 9:19, 20), rather than blot their names out of His book. Making the people drink the water where Moses scattered the gold dust (Exodus 32:20), slaying the three thousand (verses 32:27-28), and sending a plague upon the people (verse 35) were the only acts of punishment recorded as a result of this sin. The nations continual cycle of falling into idolatry eventually led to Babylonian captivity (Acts 7:43, and others)
What God desires to do to the repentant person is blot out his iniquity! See Psalms 51:1, 9. Should He blot out of His book all who have sinned against Him, no one who has ever lived would remain in the Book except Jesus Christ! And we certainly would not remain in the Book, either! See Psalms 14:1, 3; Romans 3:10-12, 23; Hebrews 9:22; Romans 6:23.
A final occurrence of the phrase “blotting names out”: He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before His angels (Revelations 3:5).
And who are those who “overcometh?” Consider these closing references:
I John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
I John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Certainly the believer can have the assurance that our names will not be blotted out because of our sins. But because we have committed our life to Christ, this is not a license for reckless living. See Romans 6:1-13.
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2. God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? 4. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.
5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: 6. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: 9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. 10. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God./p>
11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God.
Because we are saved, we learn to yield ourselves to God. Also see Romans 12:1-2. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
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May God speak to your heart! Bob Conar