The Omission of Moses

In the account that Moses makes in the book of Exodus, there is no mention of a serious sin that Israel committed, and that, without a doubt, aggravated their evil. It is about idolatry. Reading the Exodus account, it seems to us that it was simply God's sovereignty that allowed Israel to go into slavery. However, God's sovereignty does not run in different ways than his justice in dealing with men.

They not only fell into slavery by God's design, in order to have mercy on them, and thus obtain a people for themselves, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). There is also this other element – they had sinned. Moses omits it, but Joshua and Ezekiel mention it. Moses was too aware of his own mistakes, his own disobedience, to exhibit that of others. However, in his time this would also be revealed.

In his farewell speech to the second generation of Israelites, Joshua says it in the following terms: "...the gods which your fathers served... in Egypt" (Joshua 24:14), and Ezekiel, for his part, it says like this: "But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me; they did not get rid of the vile images they had set their eyes on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger against them in Egypt" (20:8).

Those sins only came to light later, for our teaching and profit. Always, when the just hand of God moves, it is because there is some degree of responsibility in man. God is not unfair, although sometimes we accuse him of such, when we do not know his reasons.

Idolatry is the worst sin. Israel had not yet learned from these failures. Many more years would have to elapse, and many other setbacks would have to occur, before definitively leaving the idols. Is it not so also with us? However, God's patience waits for us to repent, and to lay hold of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sins that appear later are those that have not come under the power of the precious blood. When sins are confessed and the blood of Christ is invoked, they are gone forever. It is convenient for us to learn to use the resources that God has provided us, so that we do not leave any pending account with him.

The omission of Moses is the delicacy of the Lord towards us. Our God is a forgiving God. His righteousness imputed from him to us is so perfect and efficacious that he can present us holy and blameless before him. It was so even in Balaam's prophecies to Israel (Num. 23-25); it is mostly so in the words of the gospel of grace, where we are declared righteous once and for all, by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ. Where are our old sins? "You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Mic. 7:19).

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