Exo 32:9-14 | KingComments | STEP | While God still speaks to Moses about what concerns His heart, He sees how the people behave. It is as if He is addressing Moses about this when He speaks to Him about “your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt”. God does not want anything to do with a people who behave like this. He asks Moses’ permission, as it were, to destroy them, and says to Moses that He will then make of him a great nation. The way God speaks here shows how much He seeks to have a relationship with man. Every human being can understand this reaction from God. But this does not mean that God is equal to man. He does not speak from an impulse, but deliberately. The people deserve nothing but to be wiped out. What an ingratitude! What an insult to God, Who so manifested Himself in goodness and grace. It is also understandable that He wants to make of Moses a great nation. Moses knows Him and serves Him faithfully ( ). It shows that God desires a people who know Him and serve Him faithfully. God makes himself known here as Someone Who can be hurt, as Someone Who does not look on unmoved at everything that happens on earth. He shares with people what is going on with Him. In this case He does so to hear from Moses what He will do. The point is not that He doesn’t know what to do, or that He would lack the power to do what He wants. He involves Moses to bring out something of Himself in him.

‏ Exodus 32:9-14

God Speaks to Moses About the People

While God still speaks to Moses about what concerns His heart, He sees how the people behave. It is as if He is addressing Moses about this when He speaks to Him about “your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt”. God does not want anything to do with a people who behave like this. He asks Moses’ permission, as it were, to destroy them, and says to Moses that He will then make of him a great nation.

The way God speaks here shows how much He seeks to have a relationship with man. Every human being can understand this reaction from God. But this does not mean that God is equal to man. He does not speak from an impulse, but deliberately. The people deserve nothing but to be wiped out. What an ingratitude! What an insult to God, Who so manifested Himself in goodness and grace. It is also understandable that He wants to make of Moses a great nation. Moses knows Him and serves Him faithfully (Heb 3:2). It shows that God desires a people who know Him and serve Him faithfully.

God makes himself known here as Someone Who can be hurt, as Someone Who does not look on unmoved at everything that happens on earth. He shares with people what is going on with Him. In this case He does so to hear from Moses what He will do. The point is not that He doesn’t know what to do, or that He would lack the power to do what He wants. He involves Moses to bring out something of Himself in him.

Moses Entreats for the People

“Moses entreated the LORD his God.” The LORD is his God. He knows Him. After all, he has been in conversation with Him for forty days, hasn’t he? His reaction evokes deep admiration. Moses does not accept God’s proposal. All self-interest is lacking. He does not repeat the words of God, but speaks to God about “Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt”.

For his plea in favor of the people, Moses appeals to two things. The first appeal is to God’s Name and fame among the Egyptians. By showing His power to Egypt, Israel has become His people. Secondly, he reminds God of the promises He made to the patriarchs. These promises are made unconditionally, independent of the faithfulness of man.

The outcome of Moses’ plea is that the LORD reconsiders His intention to destroy His people. God wants to be entreated. He uses prayer, the intercession of His own, in the way He goes with His people and with each of His own. The first ground for prayer is also for us to remind God that He has redeemed us from the world. The second ground for our prayer is what He said in His Word. He always wants to be reminded of this by us. Not because He forgot, but to notice that we have not forgotten it, that we live by the promises of His Word.