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Day 84 – Standing in the Gap Exodus 32:1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us elohiym that will go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in your wives’ ears, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He received the gold from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your elohiym, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it and made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to JEHOVAH.” 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 7 JEHOVAH said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought 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 themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your elohiym, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 JEHOVAH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now, therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.” 11 Then Moses pleaded with JEHOVAH his Elohiym, and said, “JEHOVAH, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.’” 14 JEHOVAH relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. 15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on one side and on the other they were written. 16 Now the tablets were the work of Elohiym, and the writing was the writing of Elohiym engraved on the tablets. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 He said, “It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear.” 19 As soon as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 Then he took the calf which they made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. 21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22 Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people; they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us elohiym that will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ They gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.” 25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on JEHOVAH’S side—come to me.” All the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him. 27 He said to them, “Thus says JEHOVAH Elohiym of Israel, ‘Let every man put his sword on his side and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. About three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29 Then Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to JEHOVAH, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.” 30 Now, it happened on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to JEHOVAH; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 Then Moses returned to JEHOVAH and said, “Oh, these people committed a great sin, and made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” 33 JEHOVAH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 Now, therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Malak will go before you. Nevertheless, on the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” 35 JEHOVAH plagued the people because of what they did with the calf Aaron made. God’s name: JEHOVAH – Self-existent, Eternal Elohiym – Mighty God Malak – Messenger God’s Character: Judge Lawgiver When things take too long, people take matters into their own hands. They make decisions based on emotions and make things worse than if they waited for the person in charge of the project to lay out the plan. Israel had waited forty days for Moses to come down from the mountain after speaking with Elohiym. They didn’t know what happened to him, so they convinced Aaron to make them a golden calf and proclaimed it was their elohiym. JEHOVAH told Moses the people sinned against Him and told him to get down to His people. When Moses saw what the people did, he broke the tablets of stone, Elohiym had given him at the base of the mountain. Then he turned the golden calf into powder and scattered it on the water and forced them to drink it. Moses then asked who was on JEHOVAH’S side, and the tribe of Levi came to him. Moses told them to go through and kill all those who sinned against JEHOVAH. They killed three-thousand men before Moses told them to consecrate themselves and returned to the top of Mount Sinai and pleaded with JEHOVAH for the people. JEHOVAH told Moses to stand aside because He would destroy Israel, but Moses stood in the gap for Israel and pleaded for their lives, reminding Elohiym of His promise to make the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob a great nation. Elohiym listened to Moses and didn’t destroy His people. Every day you see the results of bad decisions made by government leaders. What do you do? Do you stand in the gap as Moses did and pray for your leaders? Do you ask Elohiym to give them wisdom? What about poor decisions by your church leaders? Do you pray for them and bring them before Elohiym? Or do you walk away and let them destroy themselves? Too often Christians shake their heads, talk against what their leaders do, but never stop to pray for them, to stand in the gap for them, put their lives on the line for them, or seek Elohiym’s guidance in how to change the minds of their leaders. By yourselves, you know you can’t change the decisions your leaders made. However, Elohiym can. JEHOVAH told Moses what the people did before he went down to them and saw their lustful behavior before a golden calf. His immediate reaction was to destroy the tablets of stone by throwing them down against the base of the mountain. Moses had spent forty days on Mount Sinai, receiving the law from Elohiym’s hand, and in one moment destroyed what Elohiym gave him for the people. You need to be careful that you don’t make matters worse when you see how people who call themselves Christians behave toward Elohiym and each other. Anger shouldn’t be your first answer to poor behavior. Prayer should be your first response. Moses needed to go back to Elohiym and get a new set of tablets because he destroyed the first in his anger toward the people. When he went back to JEHOVAH, he asked Elohiym to forgive them, but if He couldn’t, then to blot his name out of His book. Elohiym told him, He would blot out those who sinned against Him. This was the first time you saw mention of Elohiym’s book. From this, you know one thing, your name is written in the book, and your name can be stricken from the book. You also saw Elohiym didn’t strike any name from the book. Nobody is above forgiveness. JEHOVAH forgave His people when He didn’t blot them out of His book. Instead, JEHOVAH told Moses He would send His Malak to go with them to guide them to the Promised Land. You need to stand in the gap for your leaders and each other. You need to pray for wisdom in the decisions they make and that they will always look to Elohiym for the decisions they make. You’re never alone when someone stands in the gap for you. Pray. Be a gap-stander. Let’s pray: Father, help me stand in the gap for Your people, for government leaders and church leaders. Let me stand in the gap for those who know you but have strayed from You. Let my prayers come before You to turn the hearts of the people to You in the decisions they make. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 11 April 2024 by Valerie Routhieaux The image belongs to me.