EXODUS 33
The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” 4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” 6 Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
– Exodus 33:1-6
EXODUS 33 THE ORDER TO GO TO CANAAN
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
After Moses’ intercession for the Israelites’ grievous sin
The Lord God ordered Moses to bring them to Canaan
They could have been punished and not reach that promised land
But the Lord was faithful to fulfill his covenant promise to Abraham
There was one thing that they lost: God will no longer be with them
The people of God mourned and stripped themselves from ornaments.
The Lord wasn’t going to be with them as they travel to the Promised land. Despite their grievous idolatry, the Lord was still going to bring them to the land that was promised to Abraham, but they won’t be accompanied by God anymore. They mourned and stripped themselves from their ornaments.
Many people think that they can just go ahead and sin and there won’t be any consequence to what they do. They haven’t realized that God hates evil and will not tolerate or condone it. Once we have sinned, there is a corresponding consequence to it. God is love and sin opposes the very essence of God. He hates sin therefore it needs to be punished when even if it is his own people who commits it.
REFLECTION
- How do you think the Israelites feel after hearing the consequence of their sin?