Stiff-Necked People

The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ The LORD said to Moses, “I see how stiff-necked this people is. Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.”

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, “Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth’? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’” So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people. (Exodus 32:7-14)

Ah, the power of persuasion. Moses would have made a great and effective debater.  He calmed God down.  No punishment for the depraved, stiff-necked people.  So, who will speak for us who continue to worship the molten, golden calf?  For many of us God is a Sunday (or Saturday) thing.  The rest of the week our thoughts tend to be elsewhere, such as on seeking money, things, and pleasure – the calf.  

Perhaps the pandemic has changed our perspective.  Some may think the coronavirus represents God’s blazing wrath and punishment for our collective sins and calf-worshipping.  Some may think the virus and its effects are a reminder that we as a people must set aside differences and be of one mind to serve the common good.  We must not be stiff-necked when it comes to public health safety and our nation’s well-being.  

Let’s hope and pray 2021 doesn’t give evidence that we are a depraved people incapable of cooperation and understanding. According to Exodus, “The LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.”  Let’s stop punishing each other for our political differences influencing how we deal with the pandemic, such as mask wearing, vaccinations, and social distancing. Let’s stop our wrath from blazing up against our own people.

Deacon David Pierce