Exodus 32:10 Meaning Moses’ Mirror
Exodus 32:10 The meaning is explained best through the important Biblical Mirror Principle. If God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), He could not also want to consume His people. There has to be something else going on. Let’s take a closer look.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:” (Exo 32:9)
This was at the golden calf incident. God knew what was going on but Moses, still up the mountain, was not yet aware of it.
Since leaving Egypt, the people were causing problems for both God and Moses and Moses certainly had reason to be frustrated and impatient. God’s words to Moses would certainly have led Moses to think of his own feelings in relation to the people:
“Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” (Exo 32:10)
Isn’t this, in a way, God holding a mirror to Moses? What would Moses have to decide? “Do I want to be the head of a great nation of my descendants?” It seems he did not have to think about it for long. Here was Moses’ response:
“And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 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? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest 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. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” (Exo 32:11-14)
What was Moses’ concern?
“… why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?” (Exo 32:11)
There was no doubt that the people were very rebellious. Moses was not denying that – he had plenty of experience himself of how the people kept challenging his leadership.
“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? …” (Exo 32:12)
Moses’ concern was actually for God’s reputation among the Egyptians and other nations. He reminded God of His promise to Abraham and his descendants which would include Moses himself and all the people of Israel.
“… Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest 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. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” (Exo 32:12-14)
God was presenting a choice to Moses, to help him see something about himself. Would he respond in a selfless or a selfish manner?
Fortunately, Moses passed the test by showing a greater concern for the people than for himself. This would actually have reinforced in him the attitude he expressed for his people and help him deal with what he was about to see:
“And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” (Exo 32:19)
Perhaps God said what he did to prepare Moses (have him think of mercy) for dealing with the golden-calf apostasy. It can show us the benefit of maintaining a selfless attitude in our own hearts towards others so that we can deal with them in mercy.
Exodus 32:10 Reversed
When, a short time later (verse 19), Moses saw the golden calf and the partying of the people around this idol, he may have had more reason to think that God would carry out His threat.
It is interesting that Moses turned around and also tested God.
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (Exo 32:31-32)
Was Moses testing God? He was certainly making an unselfish proposal. We could see it as a test of God’s love for His people. Of course, God who is love (1 John 4:8) and Who is ever-merciful would pass the test.
It is interesting that God was using the human meaning of “wrath” in His test of Moses. See a study on the meaning of wrath https://characterofgod.org/wrath-anger-definition/ which shows that God’s wrath differs from man’s.
Here is another passage with the same idea as Exodus 32:10. This was when the people responded negatively to the report of the twelve spies over a year later.
“And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:” (Num 14:11-20)
Moses reminds God (bold verses above) of how He described His own character in Exodus 34:6-7.
Exodus 32:10 and the passage above illustrate the principle of the mirror – presenting two options with the need for the person to make a decision based on the state of their heart.
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