Exodus 32 first gives us insight into the divine-human relationship. Moses is dialoguing with God. God�s anger burns against Israel for its unfaithfulness, and God asks Moses to �leave me alone� (v. 10). As Fretheim points out, this phrase is pivotal to understanding the passage (283-4). God�s judgment has not yet reached a �point of no return,� and God further recognizes that Moses could play a role in modifying that divine decision. Thus, we learn that the future is still open to God at this point, and we further learn that relationship will play an important role in the determining of that future, for �God here recognizes the relationship with Moses over having an absolutely free decision in this matter� (Fretheim, 284). This is further illustrated as we read past verse 10 through verse 14, where we see God change the divine mind, and relent. Moses has caused God to �not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened� (v.14). God honors relationship. This honoring goes so far as to allow relationship to have an impact on God, and therefore an impact on the future. It is of no small consequence, then, that God likewise invites us into relationship. We can all too easily take this invitation for granted, and we can also assume that we are the only ones affected by the relationship, that the scope is purely personal. This passage in Exodus reminds us that this divine-human relationship is important to God, and that through this relationship we may have an impact on God and on the future.
The second area in which we gain insight is covenant. As part of Moses� plea to God, he appeals to God as the God of covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is out of the framework of this covenant that God and Moses are operating. First, God�s original intent to judge would not necessarily be contrary to the covenant, as Dr. Fretheim notes (286). Moses, as a descendent of Abraham, would be able to carry on the line of descent of the covenant, and as we saw with Isaac and Ishmael, as well as with Jacob and Esau, the choice of an inheritor of the covenant is not unprecedented. Moses could function as a new Abraham within the existing covenant without necessarily negating it. Yet Moses still appeals to covenant in his discussion with God. God promised, in Gen. 12:2, to make the descendents of Abraham a �great nation� (this is the same promise God is willing to make with Moses in Ex. 32:10). At the time of Moses, this promise could be understood to be well on its way to fulfillment. Israel has become a numerous people, a great-enough nation to be intimidating to the Egyptians (Ex. 1:9-10). Although God could have kept the covenant another way, Moses appeals to God to uphold the covenant with God�s people, Israel. In all of this, the covenant is assumed to be in effect. God has so bound God�s self with covenant that God will maintain it. The covenant will continue. Moses� plea is for God to continue on the current path of covenant, instead of in a sense starting over. Moses� argument could be understood to say, �You are so close to fulfilling this promise you made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember our forefathers and utilize this people, imperfect though they are, as your legacy.� God has been bound by covenant, and will carry the covenant into the future. Moses is able to argue based on this covenant, and God responds by having mercy on the covenant people.
This leads us to the third insight we can gain from this passage, which concerns the mercy of God. It is important and instructive to notice that this dialogue between Moses and God is occurring while the chosen and delivered people of Israel are at that moment encamped at the base of the mountain, and are right then worshiping a golden calf. Moses is in the presence of God, the people are turned away from God to an idol. Yet even so, God has mercy on them. The people have not repented, but continue in their sin as the discussion continues. God has an obvious right to be angry. This rejection of the deliverer only a few weeks after their miraculous exodus from captivity is appalling. God�s mercy is made all the more vivid in this. It calls to mind Romans 5:8 (NIV), �But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.� God loves us as sinners, and it is God�s mercy toward unworthy people that is so amazing. This is the type of God we serve. The magnitude of the mercy can hardly be overstated. And this passage makes it vivid for us. God relents of judgement of a sinful people, a gift not unlike the salvation given to us through Jesus Christ.
Exodus 32 paints for us a vivid picture of God glowing with life and relationship, faithfulness and mercy, righteous anger and unmerited favor. The wonder and magnitude of God leap out of the passage at us. We are reminded that God is God, and further that God is moved by love, moved to compassion and mercy. Salvation and mercy are not exclusively New Testament themes. Exodus and Romans are not fatally disjointed, but lovingly connected. We do not worship two different gods, one of the Old Testament and one of the New. Instead, we worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Yahweh, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, one God, �who was, and is, and is to come� (Rev. 4:8).
