יְהוָ֑ה repented of evil
This is a really great story, one of my favorites! God keeps Moses up on the mountain for so long that the people give up on him, assume he's dead or skipped town, and do the logical thing: pick a new leader and find a new god. This does not sit well with יְהוָ֑ה, a jealous God, who tells Moses basically, These people of yours, I'm gonna puff up huge and white hot and incinerate them.
Moses, never one to let יְהוָ֑ה intimidate him, interrupts, MY people? I thought they were YOUR people, this wasn't my idea, YOU'RE the one who put me up to this. Moses continues, Aren't you the mighty one, leading these poor folks out of Egypt into the Wilderness only to show your axe and murder them, letting everybody see what a jerk you are. Moses so shames יְהוָ֑ה that the Bible says "The Lord repented of the evil that he thought to do to his people".
In our Sunday School class we often pause for a little theological discourse. Just so here: what's a surprising theology of this passage, this Bible story? For me, it is that יְהוָ֑ה whom we always think of as so perfect, good, pure and holy, can in fact think to do evil. Indeed, as the book of Joshua proves, יְהוָ֑ה can in fact Do evil, יְהוָ֑ה can sin, יְהוָ֑ה can act other than lovingly, יְהוָ֑ה can violate the very commandments that, through Moses, יְהוָ֑ה is about to lay on his people. And/but also, given competent spiritual guidance as Moses offers, יְהוָ֑ה can be so humble as to listen to reason and submit to chiding. יְהוָ֑ה can be led to repent of his sin. All the weasel-wording of modern Bible translations can't get יְהוָ֑ה off the hook on this one. יְהוָ֑ה thought to do evil, to sin, and was talked out of it. Sorry, but if you don't like this theological discourse and seemingly blasphemous conclusion, you are denying the truth of the Bible!
Exodus 32:1-14 King James Version
32:1 ... when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
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Breakfast. Oysters on toast. Delicious, quick and simple. Two slices thin ww bread in toaster oven and press GO. Pour sixteen or twenty raw oysters and their liquor into a pyrex measuring cup. Cover, put in microwave oven and heat for a minute and a half to two minutes. Toast and oysters should be ready about the same time. When oven dings, pull rack out partway, leaving toast on oven rack. With a fork (not a spoon, you'll make the toast soggy), remove each oyster from cup, pausing to let them drip dry, and lay on toast as shown in picture above. Push rack back in and press GO to let oysters-on-toast bake. While oysters are baking, drink the pure oyster liquor that's in the pyrex cup (may need a pinch of salt. careful, it's been boiling hot). When toaster oven dings, slide breakfast out onto a plate, sit down and enjoy. If desired, put a touch of mayonnaise (I use Hellmann's) on each oyster for creamy lemony hint.
Next time, I intend to improve the mayo by mixing in a bit of oyster sauce product of Thailand.
BLM&PTL
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