Daily Thought

Moses had been on the mount forty days and forty nights receiving from Jehovah the tablets of the covenant. Down in the valley the people, under the charge of Aaron and Hur, lost sight of one who had gone up on high. They gave themselves over to idolatry and made a golden calf and worshipped it. Aaron, charged with responsibility for the people, failed miserably. He joined in their infidelity and helped forward their idolatry.

The Anger of the Lord. Jehovah’s anger was so great that He would destroy the people whom He loved, and blot out their name from under heaven because they were a ‘stiffnecked people’. Little did they know how appallingly near they were to ruin and disaster.

The danger of forgetting Christ, at God’s right hand making intercession for us, is very real for God’s people today.

The Intercession of Moses. For forty days and nights Moses fell down before the Lord interceding for them. He will turn away the wrath of God lest He should destroy the people, Ps. 106. 23. He pleaded with God for the people, God’s inheritance, whom He had redeemed. Confessing their stubbornness, wickedness, and sin, he powerfully pleaded with God to fulfil His promise and bring them into ‘the land’. He wanted the glory of God and the pardon of Israel. There were two things Moses could not endure -reproach heaped upon the name of the Lord, and Israel’s destruction.

It reminds us of the unceasing, active intercession for us by Christ, our Great High Priest.

The Salvation of Aaron. ‘I prayed for Aaron also’. Moses met Aaron’s failure with intercession. Moses was righteously angry with Aaron, but instead of writing him off in his anger, he interceded for him.

When priestly persons fail, a ministry of prayer and intercession, not harsh criticism, will meet the situation. It is beautiful to read, ‘the Lord hearkened unto me at that time’. It was not the first time Moses had stood between the Lord and the people. He had prevailed before, and he prevailed with God again.