Faith and Wisdom

God freed his people from the Egyptians through Moses, who was his Messenger and representation thorough much of Exodus. After Israel is free, LORD guides them to a new promised land where they shall live in his favor forever, and so shall their infinite descendants.” And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God chapter 29).” God is building a whole new civilization that follows his teachings and look up to him not only as their master, but as their mentor and protector. These people go through much hardship before they encounter a land where they can settle, and this is admirable because they are strong and follow the path of religion even on hard times where their faith seems lost.

And when trouble emerges and the people doubt about everything, Moses must put them back on track and assures them that God is with them every moment of their lives helping them overcome difficulties. And when Moses tells LORD how people are having trouble going on, God replies “And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God (chapter 29).” And the people believe in his presence and fight to keep on the track of faith. For not only do they see this as their only option being in the middle of the dessert with only a God to guide them, but I would consider the possibility that many of the followers are so because they fear LORD after all they have seen him do to others. He constantly threatens those who would break his rules even with death, which is contradictory to the Ten Commandments he writes on the tablets. People tent to follow leaders many times not because they wish to do so, but because it’s their best or only choice if they want to carry on normal lives without confronting the power and authority. God is an imposing figure who accepts no ideals that go against his own, and will punish severely anyone who chooses to stray away from his path.

And when God speaks to Moses for a very long time, his people fear his absence and go into panic thinking of what to do and of what might have happened to their leader in hands of Gods. They end up building an idol of a god made of gold and they pray onto the statue without realizing the anger that they would cause on both Moses and the LORD. And Moses sees this image and destroys it and goes back to God angry and fearful of how he might react. “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold (chapter 32).” And LORD bursts in anger for they have all committed a great sin, and even if it was completely a result of their ignorance and innocence, they have acted unfaithfully by adoring some other material figure rather than the God that has done so much for the people.

People act without considering the consequences and without being completely informed in the subject, and this may lead to disaster. When you choose to do something which you don’t know about and you don’t consider the consequences, you are being ignorant. Israelites where ignorant in many occasions and they messed up even if they didn’t intend to go against God´s will. The same thing happens to us sometimes when we offend people or make mistakes which we didn’t intend to do. The lesson must be to consider everything thoroughly before taking important decisions so that we are always a reflection of what we seek to be. If the people think about the effects, they shall always, at least, reconsider the action.