SHEMOT 32

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

...spiritually dark as were the Egyptians with all their wisdom, the Israelites could boast of little more light than they. The relative condition of these two people was very similar to what it is now in regard to the Jews and papal nations among whom they are scattered.

The Jews have a vague idea of the promise made to Abraham, and therefore cherish the hope of restoration to Canaan; but of the name of God they are as ignorant as the generation to whom Moses was sent.

"Who is Yahweh," said Pharoah, "that I should let lsrael go? I know not who the Lord God of Israel is."

This is the predicament of existing nations. They are called by the name of Christ, but as to God's character, they are as ignorant of it as of His person.

As to Israel of "the fourth generation," we have seen that "they understood not" when Moses supposed they would have recognized in him their deliverer; and, when God was about to send him for that very purpose forty years after, Moses inquired what he should say unto them when the elders of Israel should say to him, "What is his name?" -- The name of him whom he styled the God of their fathers (Exod. 3:13-16).

Thus, without understanding of the promises, ignorant of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and serving the gods of Egypt, they differed only from the Egyptians in being the oppressed instead of the oppressor, and "beloved for the fathers' sake" -- a type of their present condition, preparatory to their everlasting emancipation from the tyranny of as ignorant, but more brutal, nations, than themselves.

Such was the benighted condition into which God's people Israel had fallen

"when the time of the promises (the end of the four hundred years) drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham."

Elpis Israel ii.4.1.

19 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.

Moses' anger

Meekness is an indispensable trait in the children of God.‭ ‬This is the reason for the many references to it in the Bible.‭ ‬It is described as of great price in God's sight‭ (‬1‭ ‬Pet.‭ iii. ‬4‭)‬.‭ ‬Not only are we enjoined in a general way to cultivate this virtue‭ (‬Col.‭ iii. ‬12‭; ‬1‭ ‬Tim.‭ vi ‬11‭)‬,‭ ‬but we have the occasions enumerated when it is to be present and to preside:‭ ‬in the reading of the Word‭ (‬Jas.‭ ‬i. 1‭); ‬in the setting forth of the truth‭ (‬1‭ ‬Pet.‭ iii. ‬15‭); ‬in the restoring of transgressors,‭ ‬and the recovery of the misinformed and misguided‭ (‬Gal.‭ vi. ‬1‭; ‬2‭ ‬Tim.‭ ii. ‬25‭); ‬and in the exhibition of any and every good work‭ (‬Jas.‭ iii. ‬13‭)‬.‭

As an incentive to faithfulness in this matter,‭ ‬we are told that Christ was specially sent to enlighten the meek‭ (‬Is.‭ lxi. ‬1‭)‬.‭ ‬That it is the meek who are to receive providential guidance and favour‭ (‬Ps.‭ xxv. ‬9‭)‬,‭ ‬and that it is for the meek that the Kingdom is prepared‭ (‬Ps.‭ xxxvii.‬11‭; ‬Matt.‭ v. ‬5‭)‬.‭

But let us pause and enquire—What is meekness‭? ‬Let us not confound meekness with weak-mindedness or timidity.‭ ‬Moses was a very meek man—an exemplary one—yet he could lead Israel in battle,‭ ‬and deliver to a disobedient nation the unpleasant messages of God.‭

Meekness,‭ ‬from the Bible standpoint,‭ ‬is a quiet,‭ ‬humble,‭ ‬submissive attitude towards God and His word.‭ ‬How scarce is the virtue in the world in which we live‭! ATJ

‭The Christadelphian, Jan 1899

When Moses came down from the mount, at the end of the forty days, he found the people in the full tide of their apostate worship, and was so fired with anger at their folly that he flung out of his hands the divinely-written stone tables which he had received from the hand of God on the mount, and unsheathed the avenging sword by the hand of the Levites, to the destruction of a multitude of the apostates.

Whether we apply this to the first or second manifestation of the prophet like unto Moses, we see a parallel. At his first coming, he found Israel in a state of complete departure from the law of the Lord, and fulminated in terrible wrath against them, both by word of mouth and deeds of judgment, expelling a sacrilegious crowd from the temple courts with a whip, and afterwards chastising the nation sorely by the sword of the Romans. Concurrently with this outburst of indignation, he flung the law of Moses out of his hands in nailing it to his cross, and taking it out of the way as a ground of acceptance with God.

At his second manifestation, he finds the professing Gentiles in a similar state of apostasy and idolatry, and flames with a similar vengeance against

"them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ",

At the same time, he flings the gospel invitation to the ground in withdrawing it from further operative force among mankind, and "shutting the door" against all further admission to the kingdom and glory of God.

Law of Moses Ch 12

30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto Yahweh; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.

Here appears to be the foreshadowing of the ascension of Christ to make intercession for the transgressors (Isa. 53:12). The parallel at his second coming would be found on his acting as a priest on his throne when the kingdom has been established after the world has been taught righteousness by judgment (Zech. 6:13; Ezek. 45:17; Isa. 26:9; Rev. 15:4).

Law of Moses Ch 12