Exodus 31

v1-11: God names the people to be involved in the work of constructing the tabernacle. “Whenever God has work to do, he never lacks instruments to do it with, for all hearts and heads are under his eye and in his hand.” If God has given us the opportunity to serve Him, and “if we have reason to think he has called us to it,” we can sure that He will equip us for it.

v12-17: When we set aside a day for the Lord, “it is a sign between him and us that he has set our hearts apart” and “is evidence of his Holy Spirit at work in us.” The people of Israel, “by observing one day in seven, after six days’ labour, bore witness to the fact and declared that they worshipped the God who made the world in six days and rested on the seventh,” and by doing so, “set themselves apart from other nations” who had lost knowledge of the Creator.

v18: The Law was “written with the finger of God, that is, directly by his will and power, without the use of any instrument.” Only God can write His Law on the heart, which He does in His people now by His Spirit. It was written on two tablets, because we have “duty both toward God and toward our fellow human beings.”

Exodus 32

v1-6: The people of Israel “were weary of waiting for the Promised Land. They thought they had been kept waiting too long at Mount Sinai. Though they were very secure and comfortable there, well fed and well taught, they were restless and impatient to go forward. They had a God who stayed with them and revealed his presence with them… but that was not enough.” The delay of Moses in coming down the mountain added to their impatience. We have a warning here about misinterpreting God’s delays and becoming weary in waiting. This “can lead us into a great many temptations” and “cause a great deal of wickedness.”

v7-10: “To fall into sin quickly after we have renewed our covenants with God, or received special mercy from him, offends God greatly.”

v11-14: Moses uses God’s promises as his plea in prayer. This should encourage us to do the same, “for what he has promised he is able to perform, and the honour of this truth is committed to its fulfilment.”

v15-20: To turn to an idol is foolish. All idols, just like the golden calf, cannot help those who worship them, nor can they save themselves. Moses demonstrates this by burning the golden calf, melting it down, and then grounding it to powder.

v21-29: People cannot force us to sin. They can only tempt us. “We must never be drawn into sin by anything that others say or do to us, for we will not be proved right if we say that we were drawn in in this way.”

v30-35: Like Moses, pastors and elders, as those whom God has appointed to lead His people, are to show them “their sins and the enormity of their sins.” They are to say, “You have sinned, and so you are ruined if your sins are not forgiven. You are lost forever without a Saviour. It is a great sin and so calls for great sorrow, for it puts you in great danger.”