Chapter 9 – The Cherubim – in Exodus by Fay Berry – Ex 32.

Chapter 9 – The Cherubim – in Exodus by Fay Berry – Ex 32
Chapter 9 – The Cherubim – in Exodus by Fay Berry – Ex 32

Michael the Archangel was very angry with Israel and when he spoke to Moses he called the nation ‘your people,’ or Moses’ people and not God’s people (Ex 32:7) and He determined to destroy the nation and instead, make of Moses a great nation. Moses  pleaded with Michael and he heard him, and so the nation was saved through Moses intercession (Ex 32:14).

In great sorrow, Moses left Michael the Archangel and the Cherubim, and descended down the side of the mountain. He met up with Joshua part way, and together they descended to the camp below.  both consumed with anxiety at what they would find at the base of the mountain. Moses and Joshua would not have realised the extent of the nations sinning, until they saw the calf and the dancing as they entered the camp of Israel. In sheer frustration and anger and utter disappointment, Moses cast down the tablets of stone right there at the foot of the  mountain and the stones shattered to pieces on the ground at his feet. Forty seven days and nights, Moses had labored with Michael over these stones containing  Gods Law, and in a moment all Moses hopes and dreams lay discarded at the foot of the mount, (Ex 32:19).

How fierce Moses must have looked to Israel as he stood in the entrance of the camp. How afraid Israel would have been when they saw in his eyes their impending judgment. Then Moses voice boomed out into the newly silent air, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side-come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him, (Ex 32:26). At Moses command the sons of Levi strode through the camp and without respect of persons, destroyed 3,000 men of Israel so that Michael the Archangel’s anger might be appeased. Sin is so ugly and the consequences of sin, devastating. How grieved Moses and Joshua must have been and how miserable and ashamed Aaron must have felt, knowing that he had only escaped death through Moses’ intercession with God. How he would have regretted his sin with the golden calf.

The next day Moses ascended the mount again (Ex 32:30 ) and he pleaded with Michael the Archangel on behalf of his people and asked that he be blotted out of God’s book of life so that the children of Israel could be saved. But this is not how God works, God will only blot the sinner out of his book of life and not the sinless  and Michael plagued the people for their sins. Moses took the tent of meeting (not the tabernacle because this had not yet been built, Ex 33:7) and placed it a long way outside the camp. When he went to this tent of meeting and entered in, the Cherubim would come and meet with him at the door of the tent hidden from the eyes of the people by the pillar of cloud. Anyone of the people who wanted to inquire of the Lord had to go ‘outside the camp’ to this tent of meeting and put their petitions to the Lord through Moses (Ex 33:7), but Moses spoke ‘faces to faces’ with the Angel of the  Cherubim “as a man speaks to his friend.”  At the end of each day Moses went back to his own tent to sleep, but Joshua stayed in the tabernacle of meeting because he represented Jesus, the son of God, anda ‘new covenant’ which was not to be  confined by Moses’ covenant, the Law of Moses. Moses communed with Michael the Archangel, the Angel of the Cherubim and pleaded with him that in spite of the children of Israel’s sinning in the matter of the golden calf, that God’s “presence” would go with them through their wilderness wanderings and that the Cherubim would “keep them in the way” of the tree of life which was  the purpose that God had put the Cherubim at the entrance of the garden of Eden in the first place. What a lonely man Moses, must have been with the weight and burden of such a people upon his shoulders. Jesus was as lonely as Moses, and that is why he spent so much time in prayer to his father, asking for strength and comfort to bear the weight of his people. He had his disciples, but his disciples were so often concerned with their own affairs and did not give much comfort and support to Jesus, and so Jesus and Moses were both lonely men.  Lam 1;12 “Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow like unto my sorrow.”)

Michael the Archangel, the Angel of the Name at first refused to lead Israel on their wilderness wanderings, but  Moses pleaded on behalf of the nation and because Michael “knew him by name” and for his sake, He finally agreed to go with them, but warned that they would be punished, (Ex 32:34) and he plagued the people. How blessed was Israel that God’s angel loved Moses and listened to his supplications. Israel was such a foolish, wilful people. God had lifted them out of slavery in Egypt and had been prepared to give them the blessings of heaven yet again and again, they disobeyed him and tested his patience from day to day.  We are just like Israel, and we too grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). We have such need of God’s forgiveness.

For reassurance that the Cherubim would accompany the children of Israel on their journeying, Moses asks Michael to show him his Glory. God’s Glory was situate above the Cherubim and above the Mercy Seat. If God’s Glory, was indeed going to accompany them on their wilderness wanderings then Moses wanted to see God’s  Glory to be assured that God was with them. God agreed to show Moses His Glory but only his backward part because to see his faces would be to die. God calls his Glory his ‘goodness’ and this is what Moses saw, the goodness of Yahweh. God places his hand over Moses eyes until he has passed by and then allowed Moses to see his back parts and as he passed he proclaimed the Name of Yahweh in Moses hearing.