Resurrecting Moses

[cizz]

I found this article on line that has provided me a way to express something I've been struggling with for years to put into words...my so called backwardness and contrary understanding..

In this article Steven Rodeheaver brought to light some of  the changes that Moses went through from staying in the presence of God,

http://www.crivoice.org/biblestudy/exodus/bbex44.html

Excerpt:

The Moses question is this: would Moses' leadership of Israel be resurrected? You will recall that the event that set chapters 32-34 in motion was the construction of the golden calf. And why was the calf made? Not because Israel intended to reject or disconnect from this liberating, sustaining, promising power named Yahweh. No, the calf was made as a replacement for Moses. Israel rejected Moses as their Yahweh leader, as their Yahweh connector. They wanted a better, more controllable, more "on time" connection.

Remember their complaint when Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain? "Make us gods (connections to Yahweh). As for this fellow Moses, we don't know what has happened to him." This rejection of Moses led to an attempt to reduce Yahweh, thus breaking the covenant. Yahweh has restored the covenant; it is no longer in question. But what about the rejected Moses? Yes, he has found grace in the eyes of Yahweh, but what about in the eyes of Israel? Will Moses be able to continue on, in an effective manner, as the leader of Israel? Will Yahweh resurrect the leadership of Moses?


Before getting to the answer of that question in 34:29-35, let's look at "this fellow Moses" a little more closely. When Yahweh told Moses what Israel was doing, and that He intended to destroy Israel and make a new people out of Moses, what was Moses' response? If you were Moses, what would your response have been? If Yahweh would have included my family and friends in the deal, I probably would have said yes. But not Moses. Moses attempts to calm the face of Yahweh. He succeeds in buying a little time for Israel. He intercedes for the people who rejected him, passing up an opportunity to become the father of a great nation.

Moses made his way down the mountain and saw firsthand Israel's sin. He became as angry as Yahweh. When he called Aaron to account, Aaron basically told Moses that it was his own fault. "The people said, 'Make us gods. As for this fellow Moses we don't know what has happened to him.'" We hear between the lines: "Moses, if you had been here, if you hadn't been so long on the mountain, this would never have happened. It's your own fault for staying away so long, so get off my back." If you had been Moses, what would you have done? I probably would have gone back up the mountain and asked Yahweh if the offer was still good. But not Moses. Moses would go back up the mountain, but not to take Yahweh up on His offer. Instead, he attempted to cover/atone for Israel's sin. He even tried to leverage Yahweh into forgiveness by telling Yahweh to "blot me out" if He would not forgive Israel.


When Yahweh decided to send Israel to the promised land without actually going with them, Moses continued to probe the heart of Yahweh. Moses and Yahweh both knew that a messenger of God is no replacement for Yahweh's Presence. Yahweh decided to go with Moses. "My Presence will go with you (singular) and I will give you (singular) rest." That probably would have been good enough for me. But not Moses. Moses wanted the "you" singular to be "you" plural. He answered back to Yahweh, "If Your Presence does not go with us, don't send us up from here." Yahweh , "I will do the very thing you have asked, because you have found grace in my eyes and I know you by name."

Moses is amazing. The people rejected him. Aaron (and I assume the others) blamed him. And yet he interceded for the people, even passing up a deal to be made great. He operated out of the best interests of the people (and Yahweh, from his limited perspective) even when the people had discarded him. Simply amazing. What enabled Moses to do this? To be so gracious and caring for a people that attempted to rid themselves of him?

I don't think the "early" Moses would have done this. Remember way back in chapter 2 when he intervened between two fellow Hebrews who were fighting? When they gave him no respect and he realized his slaying of the Egyptian was public news, he fled to the desert and apparently had no intention of going back. He was through with his fellow Hebrews. And in the wilderness journey from the Sea to Sinai, Moses reached his last nerve with the people. When they grumbled against Moses about no drinking water he cried out to Yahweh, "What am I to do with these people? They are ready to stone me."

But this Moses has changed and grown from someone with no intention of going back, to someone who cried out "what am I to do with these people," to someone who cried out for mercy on behalf of the people. The people had not really changed that much from the beginning. But Moses had become their intercessor, and amazingly, how they (mis)treated him does not lessen his passion to intercede for the people.

How can this change in Moses be explained? All I can surmise is that spending so much time in the Presence of Yahweh has changed him. Yahweh's passion for the people consumed him, became his own passion, so that he could not discard the people even when they discarded him. Yahweh's passion became his own passion so extensively that in his intercessory work, when Yahweh appeared ready to discard the people, he held Yahweh to Yahweh's own passion. In his daily, continuous encounter with Yahweh, Moses took on the character and heart of Yahweh. From being in the Presence Moses became a man of hesed love for the people.

Please read the full article at the link it goes on to speak about Moses' radiant shining face..

[cizz]

"Did these people really understand what they were being called out and lead to be?" The answer I have come to is NO they did not understand...

The next question I have, "does anyone understand what and who Moses was to be?"

Here is my understanding of what Moses was called to be..and what he was not called to be ..

Moses was not just someone God chose to boss these people around and keep them in line, he wasn't even chose to pass out threats of destruction to keep these people obedient, he was not God's bully!  God chose Moses as the one He was going to grow and raise up (like a child) to instill a heart within him that would cry out with an unimaginable love for others, a love that would push him to overcome every fear he had so much so that he would be able to stand face to face with God Himself and say FORGET IT! I won't go without them and WE will not go without YOU! So much so that Moses desired to be completely blotted out if the terms were any different..

Moses was called to be the example to these people.

Having said that...these people were chosen to be grown and raised up (like children) to be instilled with a heart that would cry out with an unimaginable love for others so much so that they will overcome every fear they have and even be able to stand face to face with God Himself and say WE WILL NOT GO WITHOUT.. THEM or YOU! blot us out if the terms are any different..or you could be broken and on your knees sobbing, snotting, crying  in the presence of God, begging for real mercy of don't just kill me and leave behind any painful memory of me for my loved ones, but un-create and blot me out of existence completely, make it so I  never was...

Now ask yourself, why? when these people were told and asked to go over and TAKE that promise land, let's go do a little warring and destroying to get it! their hearts didn't kick in and they find no love for others? Ask your self why their little borders of ME and US did not extend? Have the little borders grown any since then? Is there any willing to give up their special chosen-ness and lay it all down for ALL?

Moses' set a wonderful example in everything he did, he was a tiny mustard seed, a speck in the middle of these people and these people were a speck in the middle of all people...

But even Moses' had not grow to a full understanding of just how far those borders of US were to go...

Jesus was the FIRST to lay it ALL down for ALL people...the first to expand the little borders to cover the whole of us all..

With the threat of world destruction today..what will you do? with a personal promise to be saved out and away from that destruction, what will you do? It's the same words and promise that God said to Moses.. My presence shall go [with thee], and I will give thee rest. 

My understanding may sound backwards and crazy, but I can live with this mercy...