Numbers 22-24: Balaam Blessing

Presented to Nipawin Corps, 22 March 2009
and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 29 July 2012
By Captain Michael Ramsay

 
Click here to view the sermon: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/03/numbers-22-24-balaam-blessing.html

Numbers 15:22-29: Go and Sin No More!

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 22 July 2012

By Captain Michael Ramsay.[1]

We just came back from furlough (vacation) yesterday afternoon. It was a good time visiting both Susan and my families. Susan’s family lives right on Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island so we were able to spend a lot of time just relaxing there. My folks brought us down to the ocean so that Susan could show our older two girls tidal pools and other Island things that one doesn’t get to see here.

We had a good time but we also acquired a story or two. The thing about stories is that they often are the result of things not going exactly as planned and neither of my stories here went according to plan and both of them resulted in us being a little delayed in our vacation schedule and both of them resulted in us having to pay a little bit more than we had otherwise budgeted. Both incidents also involved our car as well.

On our way to the coast, Susan, the girls and I had just finished our last planned rest stop for the day; we had just all piled in the vehicle to make a run for the evening ferries to the Island; we were just turning onto the Coquihalla Highway just outside of Kelowna when – bam- a blew a tire. I had never done that before. It was a bit scary and more than a bit of a surprise – especially since we just got brand new tires put on the Uplander a few weeks ago. So there we were stranded without air-conditioning in a heat wave on the Coquihalla and the car people, when I call them, tell us that we can’t all fit in the tow truck so they have to send a taxi (with its meter running) for them. This cab ride, the tire and the extra hotel stay added a little bit to our expenses for the trip but we got to meet a lot of nice people, the girls were able to spend the evening swimming in the pool instead of driving in the car, and we were none the worse for wear.

And then there was the trip home. This time we are racing to make it back to Swift Current to unpack, take care of business and get ready for the meeting today. Everything was going well until we get to Banff. I don’t know if you saw the mud-slide on the news that wiped out the Trans-Canada Highway but the mud-slide must of missed us by no more than a minute or two. We were right near where it came sliding down when we came to a sliding stop and along with a lot of other vehicles had to turn around and find another way through the mountains. This cost us another delay and a few more dollars in gas, food, and hotels but God is good and praise the Lord that no one at all was hurt in the slide and we are none the worse for wear.

Now the only reason that I brought up the extra-added expenses in the re-telling of these stories is that it sort of relates to our scripture reading today in Numbers. In this pericope we discover a whole community of people who, even though they didn’t intentionally do anything wrong, they themselves have some consequences and some extra expenses to pay. Our passage today addresses the question: what happens if you sin by accident?

The Pentateuch has a few answers here.

q       Numbers 15:22 and 24: “‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses… and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering.”

q       Numbers 15:27: “But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering.”

q       Leviticus 5:14:“If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible.”

At some point everybody has sinned and even if we do not know that we have sinned we are still guilty and responsible - Romans 3:23 reaffirms in the New Testament context, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And whatever the offence and the circumstances surrounding it, when we are wrong, we are obligated to God and society to make it right (cf. Numbers 5:6).[2] We are privileged in that, even though we have sinned, we do have the opportunity to make it right. God loves us so much that He wants us to make it right.[3]

There are couple ways that people could sin unintentionally so that these specific laws in Numbers 15:22-29 about sinning by accident might apply.

1. The Israelites might sin unintentionally by being aware that a specific law exists but they might not know that they have broken it. This would be like if you were driving down the highway and you forgot to put on cruise control and accidentally you drift over the speed limit: you are aware of the law, you just aren’t aware that you have broken in (until the red and blue lights come on behind you).

2.      And, another way this might apply, another way they might sin accidentally: Since there are so many more than just the 10 Commandments to follow, someone in ancient Israel might not be even aware of a particular law and thus unknowingly break it. In our world today there are many such situations.  There are times when we might be driving along again (I did a lot of driving on our recent trip to the Island and back!) and not notice a sign informing us that speed limit has changed until it is mentioned to us by the nice policeman or woman at our driver’s side window. In this case, we didn’t know what the law was but we are still guilty of breaking it.

And just like with us, if we break traffic or any other laws, even if we didn’t know that we have broken them and/or even if we didn’t know it was a law when we broke it and even if we didn’t do it on purpose, we still broke the law and we still have to pay the fine. So it was for the ancient Israelites. For the Hebrews, as it states in Numbers 15:24 and 27, as well as in Leviticus 5:17 (see Leviticus 4 as well), they are guilty and will be held responsible. In the case of ancient Israel, the price is a young bull (Number 5:24), a year-old goat (Numbers 5:27), or a ram without defect (Leviticus 5:17) and one has to pay that fine (or sacrifice). Even though they did not know that they did anything wrong, because God loves the ancient Hebrews and He really wants them to be right with Him; He wants them to make things right with Him so they have to pay.

This makes sense, right? How many of us have forgotten an appointment? We miss it or are late and have to reschedule. Sometimes we have to pay for the missed appointment too: that is a penalty. We, in our world today just like in Bible times, have to pay for our transgressions whether they are intentional or not. Sometimes we miss an appointment that we have been waiting months for, maybe because we were even in the hospital. It doesn’t change the fact that we need to reschedule. That is one penalty that we pay today for unintentional transgressions.

Back in Numbers 15: They have to pay. Sacrifice is required. When they sin, on purpose or not, it gets in the way of their relationship with God. God is gracious though. He’ll let them make it up to Him. If they bring Him a sacrifice (which here is sort of like a cross between a fine you pay the government after receiving a ticket or the flowers you bring your wife after an argument), if they bring a sacrifice, they will be forgiven - but they need to pay.

Now in the Leviticus version of our pericope there is a time when you need to pay even more – that’s when you sin against the Lord’s holy things.[4] The Lord’s holy things points to all that is property of the Lord in a special way;[5] that can be anything: an object, some money, a location... In Leviticus 5:14-16 it address that specifically and the penalty in this case is not just a fine of a ram but it is also restoration plus 20% (a double tithe!). So if the ancient Hebrews mistakenly sin or unknowingly or inadvertently use anything inappropriately that is dedicated to God, there is this extra penalty to pay of restoration plus 20%.

Now Dusty and Laurie are on their Summer Assignment for Training College (CFOT, which is TSA seminary).  It doesn’t seem that long ago that Susan, the girls and I were in Training College. We were in the first ever session of the new college in Winnipeg; everything was brand new when we arrived, including the college vans. We were allowed to use the college vans. We were allowed to use them to get back and forth from school. We were allowed to use them for things during the week. We were allowed to use them for personal use occasionally as well. But, we must remember that in reality these vehicles are not ours; they are dedicated to the Lord.

Now I do my best to use other people’s things properly and I do my VERY best not to misuse God’s things. I can remember one day, though, I get a nice little letter for the Attorney General’s office: “You were recorded at travelling at 70 km/hr. in a 50 km/hr. zone.” I had unknowingly misused something dedicated to the Lord and there was a penalty and I had to pay.

And today, this side of the cross, there is more… in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” And James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” There is an even greater penalty for us to be aware of. We have all committed sins knowingly or not but we also have committed capital offences – crimes worthy of the death penalty. Remember Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” If we ever knowingly or not commit adultery even in our thoughts we are guilty of that same sin – and in the Law, the prescribed penalty is death. If we commit murder in our own mind we are guilty – and the penalty in the Law is death. If we blaspheme the Lord, whether we know Him at the time or not and whether we do it on purpose or not, the punishment is death. If we call someone “you fool!”, whether we are aware of it or not, the penalty according to the gospel of Matthew may even be eternal death (Matthew 5:22). And relating back to Adam and Eve, before we were ever born, they on our behalf disobeyed God - the penalty for us is death (cf. TSA doc. 5). We are all guilty (whether we know it or not). We have all sinned (whether we believe it or not). We have all sinned and the wages of our sins – the punishment that we deserve is death. And that is a little more pricey than a sacrifice and restitution plus 20%. This is bad news.

There is good news in our pericope though. After approaching the Lord in their guilt, Numbers 15:25, “The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven…” and, Verse 28: “The priest will make atonement for him...” You know what atonement is, right? It is making things right again so we will be forgiven. Numbers 15:28:“The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven.” The priest then will go to God and smooth things over. Even if one has acted out against those holy things of the LORD God himself, he will be forgiven. God will forgive them. It doesn’t matter that they are guilty. Even though they are guilty and do not know it. Even though they thought that they had done nothing wrong and they found out quite differently. Even though they are guilty, God loves them and God has provided a way for them to be restored.

When they go to the priest, they are confessing their sins (saying their sorry and meaning it) and he makes it okay. When they approach the priest they are repenting, turning from their error, and he makes it okay. When they approach the priest he offers their sacrifice this makes them okay with God.

So how much more is that the case for us in our world today, this side of the cross? When we admit our sins and ask forgiveness, Jesus makes us okay. In my life in working for the Lord and the Church, I have not had to give a priest a young bull, a female goat or a ram when I accidentally sinned; I have never had to pay a ticket plus 20% for speeding in a Salvation Army vehicle dedicated to God. And we don’t, none of us, have to pay the penalty in our world today: we don’t have to pay for Adam. Jesus already did (Cf. TSA docs. 5&6). Jesus has made us okay. He already paid our death penalty. He is both the offering and the High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). We do not have to eternally pay for accidentally committing sins. Jesus has already paid the eternal price. Jesus has made us okay.  We don’t have to pay for those sins we commit by accident or without even noticing it. Because Jesus died on that cross, we don’t have to pay for our sins, no matter how horrible they may be, whatever we have done, Jesus has already paid. Jesus has made us okay and so now we can each of us go through Christ and repent: we can say we’re sorry, mean it, and be transformed. Jesus has made us okay with God.

As we go to Jesus, the High Priest, and confess our sins and repent, we are forgiven. Jesus has already made it right for us. Jesus is the sacrifice. Jesus died so that we do not need to suffer the consequences of our own guilt (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). All we have to do is go to him. So, as Jesus is both the priest and sacrifice in our text (pericope), and it has been made right. It is okay. He died so that we can be forgiven. We can be right with God.

I don’t know what sins you have committed but they have been atoned for. You are forgiven. We have been made right with God – Jesus died and rose again; so, as Jesus told a woman who was actually caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). “Go… [Now that your guilt has been atoned for]…go and sin no more.” Go and sin no more.

In Jesus’ Name, amen.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] This sermon is based on: Captain Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 5:14-19 (Numbers 15:27-31): Go and Sin No More, Presented to Nipawin Corps, 29 March 2009 and in Winnipeg, November 2006. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/03/leviticus-514-19-num-1517-31-go-and-sin.html  

[2] John E. Hartley. Leviticus, (WBC 4: Dallas Texas: Word Books, 1992), 76.

[3] Ronald B. Allen, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Numbers/Exposition of Numbers/I. The Experience of the First Generation in the Desert (1:1-25:18)/B. The Rebellion and Judgment of a Fearful People (11:1-25:18)/1. A cycle of rebellion and atonement and the record of death (11:1-20:29)/e. Laws on offerings, the Sabbath, and tassels on garments (15:1-41)/(3) Instructions on offerings for unintentional sins (15:22-29), Book Version: 4.0.2: This section reminds us that God's attitude toward his Torah is complex: (1) he is serious about his commands; they are not trivial nor subject to the trifling attitudes of casual people; (2) but he is also gracious; …God made high demands and expected compliance, but he also provided avenues for redress when one did not comply fully. Therefore we conclude that in the Torah God speaks in grace; in the most exacting law there is mercy, and in all of the Torah the intention is to know him and to relate to him.

[4] Cf. Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary, Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1981 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 4), S. 146

[5] Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Leviticus, (NIB 1: Nashville, Abingdon Press 1994), 1040.

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Exodus 32:7-14: God’s Horeb-Bull Experience with Moses

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 08 July 2012

By Captain Michael Ramsay

Do you ever notice that when you hear a certain song or smell a certain smell or see a certain thing or go to a certain place where something has happened in your life then all of a sudden all of these memories come flooding back from that different time? You go somewhere you haven’t been for a long time and you find that there are all these memories of experiences attached to the place.

We will be heading ‘back home’ to Vancouver Island this week. Now when I use the term ‘back home’, I use it very loosely because honestly there is no ‘back home’ for me anymore. My parents made the good and right decision to sell the house I grew up in a few years ago and move to a neighbouring city. All the memories attached to my ‘home’ are just adrift, much like Shakespearean ghost, with no place really to attach themselves. When I used to go back to my childhood home in previous visits, I would enjoy walking the routes that I would frequently walk growing up: to my old schools, the old soccer fields, my friends old houses and I used notice everything and remember. I haven’t been able to do this for many years actually. Aside from the main streets, there were three trails out of my neighbourhood when I was growing up. The path through Farmer Wild’s field is long gone as all his land has been a suburb since late the last century. The trail through the blackberry patch towards my old church and junior high school is likewise blocked by a housing development and the last time I walked the path to my old elementary school, high school, and university; I couldn’t even get through as they closed down my old grade school, sold the soccer fields and put up another subdivision. It is strange for me to head to Victoria now – my parents don’t live there anymore – everything is changed. It is like they changed the password on my old Victoria life. I don’t have access to it anymore. Any memories that I don’t have backed up somewhere else, they are lost forever.

Now this isn’t really bad – of course – because if I didn’t leave that time and place behind me I would still be there and I would not have this time and place here to experience and I wouldn’t trade this for anything. I really do experience God’s goodness in Swift Current, as I did in Nipawin and Tisdale before this and on the prairies in general. My oldest two girls started school on the prairies and my youngest daughter was born right here in Swift Current. We have so many experiences here -ministry and otherwise- that we couldn’t possibly have had there –especially the wintertime experiences – and I wouldn’t pass these up for anything.

My life is quite a bit different now than it ever was before and, honestly, I am quite a bit different now too. I do not have the same profession now as I did then; I do not have the same pastimes now as I did then; I have studied and learned a lot more now and made a lot of new friends that I didn’t have then. In short, one thing that I realize every time I return to the Island is that as I have followed God’s leading into fulltime ministry in this promised land of Saskatchewan and Swift Current here, I am a different person.

Moses, as he returns to the place of the burning bush in Chapter 32, he is a very different person than he was when he first encountered God here in Chapter 3. Today, we are speaking about Moses’ reunion with God on Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai). Two weeks ago we discussed Moses’ first encounter with God on this very mountain.[1] Everybody remembers the story of the burning bush, right? God gives Moses his marching orders and tells Moses that when everything has been accomplished that the two of them will meet again at this very spot (Exodus 3:12). Well, here we are in our pericope today, back on Mount Horeb where God and Moses are gathered again – and Moses has changed a lot. Now this should be no surprise: God has provided many new experiences for Moses. A lot has happened since the first meeting on this mountain. Last week we spoke about the harrowing story of the Angel of Death, from whom God spared the Hebrews.[2] We also referenced nine other plagues that descended upon the country where Moses and the Hebrews were residing:

1. The Nile River turns to blood (Exodus 7:14–25)
2. Plague of frogs (Exodus 7:25–8:11)
3. Plague of gnats (Exodus 8:12–15)
4. Plague of flies (Exodus 8:20–32)
5. Plague on the livestalk (Exodus 9:1–7)
6. Plague of boils (Exodus 9:8–12)
7. Plague of hail (Exodus 9:13-35)
8. Plague of locusts (Exodus 10:1–20)
9. Plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21–29)

It is in this context, after the plagues, after the Angel of Death, after God buries Pharaoh’s army in the water; it is after all this that Moses and God meet again on Mt. Horeb.

Now as God and Moses are getting reacquainted, the LORD is giving Moses all kinds of ideas, advice, rules and commands as to how the community of Israel is to look since it has left Egypt. Among the many commands that God has been explaining to Moses since Exodus Chapter 19 are the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; cf. Deuteronomy 5). God himself writes these with His own hand on both sides of two tablets (Exodus 31:18; but cf. 34:28). (He probably even makes a duplicate copy of these Ten Commandments too!)[3] God and Moses have been alone together, away from the Israelite community that they recently delivered from Egypt for more than a month - almost a month and a half – now (Exodus 24:18). They have been spending this time together when all of a sudden God tells Moses something: God says that Moses better get down to his people because something is very wrong.

It is this conversation between Moses and God that really captured my attention, especially since we recently read their prior conversation on this mountain together as a congregation. Exodus 32:7-14:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ [This verse may also be translated as the singular, “this is your God”][4]

“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God. “O Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

So did you catch this little interplay? God says “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt” (Verse 7). 

Moses then confidently replies to God - Verses 11 and 12 - with, “O Lord…why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.”

God is saying to Moses that these bad people who are making this horrible idol are Moses’ people.[5] Moses replies “oh no, Lord, these bad people are your people.” This is kind of neat. It is especially interesting if we remember the previous conversation that the Lord had with Moses on this mountain. [6] Do you remember the conversation took place when the Lord told Moses to bring the people back with him to Mt. Horeb?

Recorded in Chapters 3 and 4, The LORD says to Moses, “I have come down to rescue the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians.

Moses says, “I can't do that. I can’t rescue your people. Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I tell them?”

The LORD says, “I will make the Egyptians favourably disposed to My people…” God says, “I will do it!” Then, Moses says to God that he can’t deliver God’s people.

God replies, “You don’t have to do it. I will deliver my people.”

Moses says, “I can’t deliver your people; send someone else please.” This goes on so long and Moses refuses so much to do what he is told to do that the Bible mentions that God becomes angry with Moses (Exodus 4:14).

In Exodus 3-4, Moses is afraid and trying to shirk responsibility for the Israelites but in Exodus 32 God is the one who says that He wants nothing to do with this people. The two different encounters on this same mountain remind me of an antagonistic parent who, when she reads a good report card of one of her children, Mom then says to Dad, “My daughter did such a great job” but when the principal calls them into her office the very next day for some unrelated behavioural problem she turns to her husband and says, “Your daughter has really gotten into trouble this time.”

It is not really that way here, of course. Those who have been reading through the Bible with us will notice how much Moses has changed for the better between Chapters 3 and 32 of Exodus. Moses has changed a lot between his first meeting with God on Mount Horeb and this next one. God, I think, is baiting him a bit here in our text today.[7]  He is testing Moses, knowing full well just how much Moses has grown since he has come to know the LORD personally.[8]

In their first conversation on this mountain, when it appears that Moses did not know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob very well, Moses is more afraid of the Israelites than he is of God (Exodus 3:13). He is afraid of the Israelites, that they won’t believe him. He doesn’t want anything to do with their salvation because he is more afraid of embarrassing himself than he is concerned with following God while the LORD delivers them from slavery (Exodus 4:1-14; cf. Matthew 10:28). God remembers this conversation and here and now as He meets Moses again on this very same mountain, He does a role reversal with Moses.

God plays the other character in the script. God now says to Moses that He wants nothing to do with the salvation of Moses’ people. God remembers very well the last time they met on this mountain and that Moses had said that he didn’t want to bring them to salvation; now God is setting Moses up with this test of sorts so that Moses can either continue in his hesitation and doubting of the Lord or he can repent and follow God in leading the Israelites towards salvation in the Promised Land (cf. Exodus 33:12-23, 34:10-29). Moses chooses correctly. Moses is a new man. Moses repents. He changes and Moses now earnestly, voluntarily pursues the fight for the salvation of God’s people (Cf. Exodus 33:12-23). God calls Moses. Moses accepts God’s invitation. Moses is now in a personal relationship with God and Moses no longer cares more about himself than the salvation of others (Exodus 32:7-14, Exodus 4:1-14); Moses has repented, he is changed. This is important.

The world hasn’t changed. The other characters in this story haven’t changed. The Israelites haven’t changed in this episode of the golden calf (or bull). They are still the same people who complained about the straw in the bricks (Exodus 5:21) and they will continue to grumble through the desert as God drags them kicking and screaming towards salvation out of respect to their forefathers and for the sake of their children.

Aaron hasn’t really changed either. Have you ever met those people who when they are talking with you, they seem to agree with everything you say but then when they talk to someone else they tend to agree with them 100%  – even if opposite ideas are being espoused? The character of Aaron seems to be a bit like that to me. When Moses tells him in Chapter 4 that they are supposed to talk to the Israelites and Pharaoh, he seems to go along quite nicely (Exodus 4:27-5:1). In Chapter 32 when the Israelites are on the verge of revolt and they ask Aaron to make an image for them, he seems to go along quite nicely with them too and then when Moses comes back, he immediately runs over to his side yet again (Exodus 32:1-6, 21-24).[9] Aaron and the Israelites haven’t changed. Human nature doesn’t change. God doesn’t change. What changes is Moses after he enters into a personal relationship with God. Before Moses responded to God’s call, he was afraid of people and now he is zealous for the LORD. Instead of begging God to please send someone else, in Chapter 32 he heads down the mountain, takes the bull by the horns and with confidence reminds Israel from where their salvation comes. As Moses enters into a personal relationship with God, he repents and he is changed into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, cf. TSA doc. 7).

This changing relationship is available to us all. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” If God can transform a cowardly, complain-y, murderer into a tool for salvation for His people, just think what he can do with us. This transformation, as we dedicate our lives to the LORD, it is the most wonderful thing and you never need regret it. Just like I can’t return home to where I grew up because it doesn’t exist anymore, if you are really willing to leave your old life behind you, God can and He promises that He will turn you into a brand new creation, an instrument of His to herald His salvation to the world.

Let’s pray.

http://www.sheepspeak.com/

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, Exodus 3-4: “Go!” presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (24 June 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/exodus-3-4-go.html  (accessed 05 July 2012)

[2] By Captain Michael Ramsay, Exodus 12:24-28: Remember, presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, (01 July 2012). Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/06/exodus-1224-28-remember.html  (accessed 05 July 2012)

[3] But Cf. Walter Brueggemann, The Book of Exodus, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 839.

[4] Brevard S. Childs, The Book Of Exodus, (The Old Testament Library: Westminster John Knox Press: Lousiville, Kentucky 2004), 556, 566.

[5] Cf. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Exodus/Exposition of Exodus/III. Divine Worship (25:1-40:38)/B. False Worship of the Golden Calf (32:1-34:35)/1. Golden calf (32:1-29), Book Version: 4.0.2

[6] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, The Book of Exodus, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 937

[7] Alan Cole, R.: Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1973 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 2), S. 227: YHWH repented. Another ‘anthropomorphism’ (more properly an ‘anthropopathism’) by which God’s activity is explained, by analogy, in strictly human terms. The meaning is not that God changed his mind; still less that he regretted something that he had intended to do. It means, in biblical language, that he now embarked on a different course of action from that already suggested as a possibility, owing to some new factor which is usually mentioned in the context... We are not to think of Moses as altering God’s purpose towards Israel by this prayer, but as carrying it out: Moses was never more like God than in such moments, for he shared God’s mind and loving purpose.

[8] cf. Jacqueline E. Lapsley Friends with God?: Moses and the Possibility of Covenantal Friendship. Interpretation (April 2004) 58: 117, doi: 10.1177/002096430405800202

[9] Brevard S. Childs, The Book Of Exodus, (The Old Testament Library: Westminster John Knox Press: Lousiville, Kentucky 2004), 564.