Secret References to Christ In the Old testament Scriptures. Kenneth B. Alexander
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Название: Secret References to Christ In the Old testament Scriptures

Автор: Kenneth B. Alexander

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Религия: прочее

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isbn: 9781456618124

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СКАЧАТЬ Aaron proclaimed a feast for this new god which probably turned into a feast of debauchery. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom  you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. “They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and  have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” (Ex 32:1-10). Some commentators have suggested that this calf represented the Egyptian bull-god Apis, but this seems unlikely because Apis was not worshiped as an image. Even so, the bull symbolized fertility and sexual strength. This explicitly violated the second commandment (20:4-6; cf. 20:23), which the people had already received from God verbally through Moses. Nonetheless God was ready to destroy the people over this great sin.

      Moses took up the cause of the people arguing they not be destroyed. “Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?”. On the mountain He had called the people “Moses’ people”. But Moses turned the table and rightfully so when he said to God they were His (God’s) people. He went on: “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people” (Ex 32:11-14). One of the few places in Biblical history when a man argued with god and got Him to change His mind.

      “Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets” (Ex 32:15-16). “As soon as Moses came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it” (Ex 32:19-20). Aaron tried to make an excuse for what he had done. “The people made me do it” he said (reminiscent of Hitler’s henchman—“I was just following orders”). Moses response was: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” So  the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day” (Ex 32:27-28).

      If there ever was a type of Christ in the Old Testament it was Moses in this situation. Moses atoned for the people and stopped God from destroying them. He atoned to God for their sin, putting his own life on the line to compel God to forgive them. He helped God save face because destroying the people would make Him look bad to the nations. Christ is our intermediator continually before the face of the Father on our behalf. Hebrews says: “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He ever lives to  make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). He also drew on the compassion of the Father who would “that none perish” (Proverbs 29:27)

      Moses made his plans very clear to the Lord and the Lord likewise. Moses said: “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” Moses wanted to know the ways of the Lord as contrasted to His own. Psalm 103:7 says: “He [God] made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel”. There is a great gulf in knowing the ways of the Lord and His acts (miracles etc.). “And God said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here” (Ex 33:13-15). Moses knew that in himself he was nothing without the Lord. Moses proposed an even bolder request of the Lord: “Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (Ex 33:18-23).

      “Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. “So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain” (Ex 34:1-2. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a COVENANT with you and with Israel.” The Lord considered the Ten Commandments a memoralization of the covenant He had made with the people.

      The two key-words in the Bible for covenant or alliance are Heb. berîṯ and Gk. diathēkē. berîṯ, usually refers to the act or rite of the making of a covenant and also to the standing contract between two partners. diathēkē is the Gk. translation (lxx) of the word berîṯ which is taken over in the NT. Its meaning is ‘testament’ (New Bible dictionary (3rd ed.) 234). In the case of the Sinai Covenants from the standpoint of God they could rightly be called “promises”. In this case the covenants were very one-sided in that God promised many things while he only required the Israelites to do a few things—love Him and obey His commandments. Hebrews says this of God’s covenants: “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you” [Gen 22:7] And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them  an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to  the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of  the hope set before us” (Heb 6:13-18). God swore allegiance to the Covenant by Himself since there was no one greater to swear by.

      An oath is a statement by which people give assurance that they have spoken the truth or by which they obligate themselves to perform certain actions. God is usually invoked as guarantor of the oath, with the expectation that a broken or false oath will be punished. Oaths thus are a holy ritual and to swear falsely is to profane God’s name (Exod. 20:7; Lev. 19:12). Swearing by God’s name was most solemn (Matt. 26:63) (Harpers Bible Dictionary, p. 716). When men swore by an oath it an oath before God and a failure to perform the oath is considered a sin against God. The Hebrew word for ‘oath’ comes from the number seven, the sacred and magical number in Hebrew culture. In Genesis 21 seven lambs are used as witnesses СКАЧАТЬ