The God of the Exodus
December 12, 2021
Why does God threaten to destroy the idolatrous Israelites at the bottom of Mt. Sinai? He doesn’t actually do it because Moses talks him out of it. Is Moses more compassionate with the Israelites than God is? Is he more kind or loving, that he should see they shouldn’t be destroyed even when God can’t or doesn’t?
I don’t think it’s just that God is concerned for his own honor. Sure, these are his people, and all the nations around would look at God in a weird way if he saved them from slavery only to destroy them in the desert, but I don’t think that’s the only reason. Sure, these are his people, to whom he had made grand promises, and God is faithful to his promises, but I don’t think that’s it either.
After all, given a couple hundred years in the land, God does destroy his people. He gives the land from Egypt to the Euphrates to Nebuchadnezzar, and allows him to destroy Jerusalem and raze the temple to the ground. In fact, in the century or so leading up to that destruction, God sends his prophet Isaiah to make the people of Jerusalem blind, deaf, and dumb, lest they should repent and return to God (Isa. 6.9-13). God is not afraid to destroy his people, just as long as God keeps a remnant to restore.
So why doesn’t God do it with the Exodus generation? Destroy the people, preserve the remnant (Moses), start over afresh? And if he isn’t going to do it, why threaten to do it in the first place?
I wonder if part of it is to provoke questions and reflection. We ask these questions and come to the conclusion that God isn’t fond of destroying his people. Give him just a little pushback about it and he changes his mind (Ex. 32.14). God doesn’t really want to destroy his people. It’s not who he is. Even Isaiah is sent with this message of doom and destruction in order to call God’s people to faithfulness. “You’re not seeing God! He’s waiting to destroy you! Even now, he’s speaking this message to you so that, as hard headed as you are, you might turn and be saved!”
I think the other part is that God’s people didn’t know him well enough yet. They didn’t listen to Moses (and, by extension, God) because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery (Ex. 6.9). God knew that, and God understood. God called them to faithfulness, and he certainly punished them, but he didn’t outright destroy them. He was patient with them, inviting them to walk with him and learn from him, feeding them, watering them, caring for them, showing them love and compassion.
God reveals himself as the LORD in the Exodus, but what that actually means can only become clear as generation after generation experiences the faithfulness of the LORD.
—John Coffey
