A Sad Comparison

In Exodus 25:1-9- God asks that an offering be taken up from among the Israelites asking for gold, silver, and bronze. Then if you read Exodus 32:2 Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf" (NKJV). Aaron later lies to Moses in Exodus 32 saying that he threw the gold into the fire and a calf came out. Clearly the Bible says that Aaron fashioned the calf. It is just so sad to me that God had asked for gold earlier in Exodus to be given willingly. It was not required yet, the Israelites were not willing to give God everything. They held back and used that gold to make other gods. Wow! So often I see myself doing that! God has given me such precious resources but instead of giving it to God I hold back and use them to serve myself!

Exodus 28:34- Serving a Holy God was serious business. Worshiping God was not taken lightly.

Exodus 29:10-14- Sacrifices were not pretty. I don't think we fully realize this. The Bible does not have pictures so we don't see how graphic it was. We read things like fatty lobes and graze over them onto the next detail we can visualize. The sacrifices were a constant reminder to Israelites that they were to take their sin seriously. Jesus died once for all but I think so many times as Christians we don't visualize we don't realize the seriousness of our sins. Reading about sacrifices just made me thankful that God sent His Son to die so that I could live.

Exodus 30:11-16- The Israelites were supposed to pay ransom money. They all had to pay the same amount when Moses took a census. I never realized that happened. After doing very little research I found out that this was the base for temple tax.

Exodus 31:1-11- God specially gifted artisans for the tabernacle.

Exodus 31:18- I love this quote "written with the finger of God." And similarly Exodus 32:16 "Now the tablets were the word of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets" (NKJV).

Exodus 32:25-29- Israel had to deal with Israelites who had sinned directly against God. It was like the first Israelite civil war. Just thinking about that makes me really sad. Brother was against brother. They chose between their families and God.

Exodus 32:33 is a very interesting verse.