So far in Scripture, we’ve seen God angry on several different occasions. It’s not unusual for Him to express rage against people or groups or situations that go askew from what He wants, and one hundred percent of the time, His anger is completely justified.
That’s what makes Exodus 32:10 so shocking. After seeing the people dance and celebrate the golden calf as their god, Jehovah tells Moses to step aside: He’s going to annihilate them all and restart the “great nation” with Moses.
Moses, to his credit, intervenes. His reasons are two-fold. First, he appeals to God’s reputation. What would Egypt (and the rest of the world) think if God delivered the people from slavery, only to destroy them 50 miles from Egypt’s borders? What would that say about a so-called “God of compassion”?
Secondly, he appeals to God’s promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all told that they would have descendants as vast as the stars in the sky. To destroy Israel would seemingly go against all those promises.
In the end, Moses’ intervention has its necessary effect and God doesn’t destroy Israel. But what would have happened if Moses hadn’t spoken up?
First off, we need to remember that technically God’s promises to the patriarchs wouldn’t have been broken if God had destroyed Israel. Moses was a descendant of Abraham, after all, so a line starting with him would have still made a great nation out of Abraham. But that’s a technicality that I don’t think anyone would accept.
But starting over with Moses would still have been an even greater honor for Moses, right? The idea of being the father of Israel (instead of just the deliverer) was probably tempting. It would’ve been difficult for Moses to turn it down.
For Moses to not intervene on behalf of the people would’ve also meant Moses ignoring his own past sin. In Exodus 4:24-26, he fails to circumcise his son and God turns to destroy him as a result. It’s only because his wife Zipporah intercedes for him that Moses is still alive.
In a way, Moses is now doing the same thing for God’s people. Indeed, it’s times like this that give rise to the greatest title Moses ever held—that of mediator. Not only does he deliver the people from slavery, but he “intercedes” for them on behalf of God. Hebrews 3:1-6 calls him “faithful” for doing so.
It’s impossible to know what would’ve happened had God actually destroyed His own people, but it’s safe to say that the Old Testament would’ve looked different. And even if Moses went on to greater glory as the father of Israel, he would’ve missed the title of mediator that so closely aligned him with the servant attitude of Jesus.
