101 — The History of Covenant Law, Part 5

The Golden Calf Event

Moses’s time on Mount Sinai, the first 40 days and nights, was not a minute to lose. Not only was there a lot of stone carving, but there were also two detailed sets of codified laws to hash out between YoHeWaH and His servant and friend.

I’m reasonably sure that Covenant law was discussed, but there was also the mission of addressing Plan B, which was already underway below. If Israel broke their agreed-upon Covenant with YoHeWaH, what then? Israel was well on its way to idolatrizing themselves as the work between Moses and YoHeWaH took place.

A broken Covenant would lend YoHeWaH a good reason to slay all of Israel and begin again with Moses literally.

“And YoHeWaH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” Exodus 32:9–10

But Moses proved his worth as a faithful servant of the people. Moses, standing as the mediator between the two (YoHeWaH and Israel), basically caused the Almighty to remember His covenant with Abraham.

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And YoHeWaH relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.” Exodus 32:13–14

So, YoHeWaH’s reasoning rendered another kind of Plan B, which was to punish Israel by instituting the Levitical Priesthood. These Levitical Priesthood laws are codified in Exodus 25 through 31.

Exodus 31 concludes with the following words, setting the stage for The Golden Calf Event…

“And He (YoHeWaH) gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of The Mighty One of Israel.” Exodus 31:18

Thus, the events following the ratification of Covenant Law in Exodus 24 are followed by the codification of Levitical Priesthood Law in Exodus 25 through 31. The Hebrew Date is 4–28, the day before the Feast of Pentecost.

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”” Exodus 24:1–4

Wham, bam, thank you, Ma’am. Israel has idolatrized itself.

The Covenant made just 40 days prior has already fallen into the depths of judgment. Aaron lends the time setting…

“When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to YoHeWaH.” Exodus 32:5

The math is straightforward.

Exodus 19:1 occurs on 3–16, the day Israel left Egypt's borders, only in the third month. After three days of commanded consecration, YoHeWaH gives Israel the spoken laws of His Covenant on the 19th of the third month. The next day, on 3–20, Israel agrees to the Covenant, thus ratifying Covenant Law accordingly. The following 40 days and nights brings us to the events of the next verse.

“And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” Exodus 32:6

The Almighty had seen enough…

“And YoHeWaH said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And YoHeWaH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” Exodus 32:7–10

As mentioned above, Moses interceded on behalf of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and on behalf of wayward Israel. A true mediator for sure. That said, there was a bitter pill to swallow yet lingering for Israel, both in the interim then and there, and the long-range landscape of Israel's ancient history.

“Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of The Almighty, and the writing was the writing of YoHeWaH, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.” Exodus 32:15–20

Many have claimed that ingesting colloidal gold has many health benefits, although modern science has not supported such claims. Israel benefited physically from Moses's judgment; his action also wrought a biblical typology. Gold is a typology for knowledge. Silver, another substance many make and ingest, is a type of wisdom. Indeed, the physical nation of Israel at that moment lacked both, as the story continues into chapter 33.

After the lesson of The Golden Calf is learned, it's on to America. Yes, you heard that right, on to the promised land, told to Abraham, America.

“YoHeWaH ” said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Exodus 33:1–3

Wait, how do we know that YoHeWaH is speaking of America? Count the nations to which YoHeWaH would drive out. How many are there?

Six.

Now, just forty years later, how many do we see?

“When YoHeWaH, your Mighty One brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you,” Deuteronomy 7:1

How many nations do you see?

Seven.

What gives?

Well, it's pretty simple. The Bible is written in poetic prophecy and typology. YoHeWaH uses many codes to hide information from those who supposedly have eyes to see. Once you apply just a little well-known history concerning the peoples that made up the Western North American Indians, you can then catch the code YoHeWaH is using here in this text, which matches the text in Exodus 23:23, where these same six nations are listed once again, in light and in conjunction with the messenger that goes before Israel… An Angel unable to forgive.

“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.” Exodus 23:20–21

You want another witness?

Think critically about Ezekiel’s words as he imparts a valuable historical lesson about the Exodus and Israel's wilderness wandering during Moses' time.

“On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. And I said to them, ‘Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am YoHeWaH, your Mighty One.’ But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.” Ezekiel 20:6–8

“Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I WOULD NOT BRING THEM INTO THE LAND that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands, because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness.” Ezekiel 20:15–17

In verses 6–8, Israel’s Mighty One recounts His promise to bring His people to a land flowing with Milk and Honey. This promise was made to Israel long before the Golden Calf Event, before the Exodus, while Israel was still in Egypt, as stated in verses 6 through 8 of Ezekiel 20. Then, after the sin of idolatry, that promise was placed on hold via the Golden Calf Event. YoHeWaH brought Israel into the temporary dwelling, the tabernacle, which is known today as Israel in the Middle East. YoHeWaH states, “I WOULD NOT BRING THEM INTO THE LAND that I had given them”. This point can not be understated.

First of all, the blood-soaked land known today as Israel in the Middle East has never been the fulfillment of a land flowing with milk and honey. When the spies went into the land to spy it out, we find their pronouncement that this was the land flowing with milk and honey.

“At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. IT FLOWS WITH MILK AND HONEY, and this is its fruit.” Numbers 13:25–27

Indeed, before Israel took the land through much bloodshed, certain sections were bountiful. However, after Israel entered the land... not so much. The fact is, not at all. There is zero reference to the Middle Eastern land of Israel ever being a land of such abundant resources naturally. The case has been made that the reference to milk and honey refers to abundance or various consumables other than grain produced by the land animals and the land itself, all of which pale in comparison to the amount of natural wealth found in America.

Moreover, no nation in the history of the world has produced more milk and dairy products, as well as food sweetened with sugar, than America. Anciently, if you wanted to refer to something sweet, you used honey as its synonym. America has been blessed with the ability to utilize the cane sugar found in the Caribbean region of the American Atlantic Islands, but it has also become a health curse. Truly, America is the land flowing with milk and honey, not the Middle Eastern nation of Israel. Joshua and the other 11 spies bearing witness to the land would no doubt be amazed at the comparison between that time and today. If pressed to state which land was the true promised land, I have no doubt they would quickly retract their statement in Numbers 13.

Back to the account in Exodus 33…

“When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For YoHeWaH had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.” Exodus 33:4–6

The disastrous word was the immediate and prophetic delay of entering the promised land, plus the fact that YoHeWaH would separate Himself from Israel during this significant delay… But wait, YoHeWaH did not separate Himself from Israel during the forty years they would wander in the wilderness of Sinah and Sin. The fact is, YoHeWaH was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, every step of the way. So what is meant by YoHeWaH’s statement, “but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people”?

The point of the question should cause a light bulb to go off in your mind. YoHeWaH's statement refers to the next 3,450 years, during which time YoHeWaH will physically separate Himself from Israel until the millennial reign. This is a time when Israel would be brought into the Promised Land of America after He slowly drove out the six nations prophesied to inhabit this mighty land of abundance, flowing with milk and honey. Those six nations spoken of in that text are the Western North American Indians, direct descendants of the six Canaanite nations listed twice in the book of Exodus.

The Tent of Meeting

Maybe one of the most hidden typologies of all scripture is found in the following passage.

“Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and YoHeWaH would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus YoHeWaH used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” Exodus 33:7–11

Upon reading the above text, I can see how people might assume the typology being spoken of here is that of a church or temple building—some religious holy place where a deity would commune with mere human beings. However, I see something much more than that. Notice the above passage from the LXX.

“And Moses taking his tent, pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp. And it was called the tent of the testimony. And it came to pass, all the ones seeking The Eternal went forth into the tent outside the camp. And when Moses went forth into the tent outside the camp, all the people stood watching, each one by the door of his own tent. And they contemplated Moses going away unto the entering into the tent…… And the attendant, Joshuah, the son of Nun, a young man, did not go forth from out of the tent.” Exodus 33:7–11 LXX

There is a distinctiveness inherent in this piece of information regarding the early forms of government within ancient Israel. The following points can be made.

1—The tent is called “The Tent of The Testimony,” a distinct clue as to what was at the center of this form of worship. The word “testimony” is another word for Covenant.

2—The tent and, by extension, the people who visited it were set apart from the other people of Israel. The keyword is “set apart”.

3 — I’m pretty sure this was not a large tent. It was Moses’ personal tent. The point is that these set-apart people were small in number, much like the ratio of Elijah to the Priests of Baal —400 to 1.

4 —Joshua, who was to reign as the physical king over Israel after Moses’ death, was anointed of the Covenant before he was worthy to govern Israel. He spent the 40 years of punishment wandering in exemplary fashion. Again, the goal of the Gospel of Christ is righteous government, and Joshua’s desire to fill his head with as much Covenant Law knowledge as possible prepared him to be the worthy King over Israel. It is also worth noting that Joshua penned two chapters in The Book of the Law, also known as The Book of the Covenant, as a co-author with Moses.

This concludes the Golden Calf Event portion of The History of Covenant Law. Up next, the Second Set of Tablets…