In the wilderness of Sinai, at the foot of the Mount as it steeply contrasts that great expanse of desert, Moses setup the Israelite camp.
Having ascend the over 7,000 foot peak, Moses was instructed by God to warn the people that His almighty presence would descend upon the Mount to impart to the newly released nation of former slaves their moral law.
Given strict instructions not to be upon the mountain itself when the Lord descended, they had three days to sanctify themselves before His arrival.
On the third day in the morning, as recorded in the Book of Exodus, the Lord descended in a furious tempest of crashing thunder, blinding lightning, and an impossibly dark cloud; the fury of which mankind had not seen since the dawn of time.
From within the cloud of concealment, the Lord himself descended from his heavenly throne upon the peak in fire, consuming the top of the mountain and creating a violent plume of dark smoke that ascended for miles into the sky. To this day, the top portion of Mount Sinai is blackened and nothing grows upon it.
In a remarkable exchange, an impossibly loud trumpet blasted, and as recorded in Exodus, "Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice."
And so the Lord recited to Moses the Law, while the Israelites listened.
Upon Moses arrival back at the camp, the people begged him not to let the Lord speak to them directly, as the sheer violence and power of the experience caused the whole of the camp to run in terror and get as far away from the mountain as they could.
"Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." And though Moses responded by saying, "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not" he relented and would speak with God face to face to deliver the message to his people for him.
Before his next ascension up the Mount, the command was given of how to worship the Lord in Moses absence. No idols of silver or gold were to be made, only build altars of earth and unhewn stone for sacrifice and burnt offerings.
And so Moses received the whole law from the Lord, and on another trip up the Mount he received, written by the finger of God upon tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments.
Having been upon the peak of the Mount for forty days straight, the Israelite camp began to question what had become of Moses and wondered if he was even still alive. Though physically no longer slaves, their hearts were still bound to their polytheistic Egyptian masters, and they demanded that Aaron make for them images of God's.
In fear of the horde, Aaron relented and using their earings and various gold decorations they had, made for them a molten calf.
"Get thee down;" spoke the Lord to Moses, "for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves."
Having just witnessed the incredible display of the eternal God making himself physically manifest upon the face of the earth, the people still insisted on disobeying his commands to do as they wished.
What most people don't remember from this story is that the Lord was actually moments away from committing genocide upon this people, were it not for Moses intervention.
"And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 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.
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? 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."
"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. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people."
Exodus 32:9-14 KJV
And so Moses descended the Mount and saw the sight of the whole camp singing and worshipping the golden calf, and he fell into a fit of rage.
Smashing the two tablets of stone with the Law written upon them to peices, he then cast the golden image into the fire, ground it powder and poured it upon the water for the whole camp to be forced to drink.
What follows is the most critically important part of the entire story.
"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. 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 neighbour."
Exodus 32:26-27 KJV
Moses, in his righteous zeal for the Lord, could not tolerate this act of perverse defiance against the almighty God. Those responsible for such an irreverent display of disobedience and depravity at the very foot of the Mount upon which the Lord descended upon, would be purged from the camp.
And so the tribe of Levi went through the camp till morning, slaying about 3000 men.
There are many lessons to be learned from this very compelling account of Israel's exodus. For one, at day break the next morning, Moses ascended again to the Mount to speak with the Lord, and as a perfect foreshadowing of Christ, offered himself as payment in exchange for the preservation of his people.
"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. And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."
Exodus 32:31-33 KJV
We as a Christian society today still value the immense sacrifice of Christ that paid for our sins so that by grace we are saved. Though we have completely lost our righteous zeal and the holy anger for the sacredness and purity of Christ and his law.
For Moses, it was the breaking of the golden calf and the slaying of three thousand of his own tribe.
For Elijah, it was the slaughter of 400 priests of Baal and the death of their Queen Jezebel.
For Josiah the 16th King of Judah, it was the destruction of all the pagan temples within his borders and the slaying of their priests.
For Jesus the Messiah in His first coming, it was a whip of cords and the flipping of tables to preserve the sanctity of His Father's house.
In His second coming, He will appear with eyes like fire and clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, riding a white horse and leading the armies of heaven to massacre his enemies. (Revelation 19:12-13 KJV)
Those who would deny the righteous rage of a holy warrior would try to diminsh the value of the old testament as it relates to our time today, though Christ himself said in Matthew 5:17 KJV, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
Abortion will end.
Sexualization of children and their genital mutilation will stop.
The doctrine of demons that condones mental illness and suffering will cease.
Pornography will be cast out of our society and the healing of the family and in turn, this nation will begin, when righteous men renew their zealous rage for a Holy God.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jozef Lalka is a former Infantryman with the Canadian Armed Forces and founder of War Doll.
Since releasing from the military, Jozef has devoted his life to the scriptural motivation of the warrior culture, and the mentorship of the next generation. Jozef works as a graphic designer, photographer and videographer while pursing a passion for current global conflicts and how they relate to historical events.