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Moses reminds the Lord that He is Israel's Redeemer. This sinful, stiff-necked people
are the Lord's redeemed, typically, by the blood of the Lamb, "with great power and a
mighty hand". Moses further pleads for the name of God among the enemy: "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?" (verse 12). Finally he
reminds the Lord of the covenant established before the law of Sinai. He anticipates the
argument of the apostle in Galatians:--
"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise;
but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added
because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made"
(Gal. 3: 17-19).
Moses, the man of law, and Paul, the man of grace, speak alike. Moses does not plead
the covenant of Sinai--he goes back "four hundred and thirty years" earlier to the
covenant with Abraham: "Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Thy servants, to whom
Thou swearest 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" (verse 13).
In response to this prayer, the Lord repented of the evil He had purposed against
Israel. Over against the Lord's repudiation, Moses had placed the Lord's redemption;
against their own corruption, the degrading of the Lord's name among the heathen;
against making of Moses himself a great nation, the unconditional covenant made with
Abraham, Isaac and Israel.
Levi and Phinehas.
Moses' intercession with God did not by any means indicate a hiding or minimizing of
Israel's sin. We read that "Moses' anger waxed hot", and that, seeing that the covenant
was already broken, he cast the tables of stone to the ground, breaking them on the
mount. He cause Israel to realize their sin by compelling them to drink the bitter fluid
compounded of the calcined image, and made Aaron to understand that he had brought a
great sin upon Israel.
When Moses saw the extent of their corruption--"they were naked"--he, who had
interceded for them with God, now reveals that covenant promises do not mean
indulgence for sin, and three thousand men were slain by the sword of Levi, who were
spared the wrath of God.
Psalm 106: brings together the worship of the golden calf, and the sin of Baal-peor,
recorded in Numb. 25: There are several features that are common to the two records.
The hint of uncleanness in Exod. 32: becomes an obvious fact in Numb. 25: 1-3,
6-8. The execution by the sons of Levi in Exod. 32: corresponds to the command of
Numb. 25: 5: "Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor." The added