After three thousand of their fellow Hebrew were slain at Moses’s command, the Hebrew were feeling ashamed and repentant for their idolatrous betrayal of Yahweh, and we too, after sinning, prudently should atone so that we do not end up be written out of God’s book of life, and denied access to heaven.
Here is the quote from The New American Bible: “On the next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the Lord, then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin.’ So Moses went back to the Lord and said, ‘Ah, this people have indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for themselves! If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not, strike me out of the book that you have written.”
My response: It is very noble for Moses to offer himself up as a sacrificial goat to appease the Lord’s anger, when Moses had not sinned, but he so loved his people, that he would give up heaven voluntarily for their sake. God of course will not accept this unfair bargain but is moved by Moses’s selflessness and affection for his people—even after ordering 3,000 of them to be slaughtered.
New Bible: “The Lord answered, ‘Him only who has sinned against me will I strike out of my book.’”
My response: I interpret Yahweh wiling to strike the sinner out of His book, as the person who has sinned against God indirectly by sinning against oneself or other humans, against nature or animals and plants, or by affronting God Himself directly.
New Bible: “’Now go and lead the people whither I have told you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin. Thus the Lord smote the people for having had Aaron make the calf for them.”
My response: How can the people have seen and known that God’s angel was going before them to show them the way, and yet they betrayed God, and worshiped a golden calf. If I saw an angel moving across the sky at night with a flaming sword in hand, I would not easily disbelieve in the powerful deity who sent the angel to guide lost humanity.
God forgives the Hebrews their sins, but still smote them. It is true that forgiveness is not the same as justice imposed, and God forgives us, but we still have to spend some time in Purgatory to pay off our sins—if we ever get even to Purgatory!
Here are these same lines from the Holy Bible: “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin.”
My response: Moses is the middleman seeking to make possible atonement or reconciliation between the Hebrew and Yahweh; Moses knows this rift must be healed if ever the Hebrews are enjoy peace, happiness and prosperity in a new homeland and in the next life. When we sin and a rift grows between God and oneself, one should do penance and atone so that the rift can be closed up.
Holy Bible: “And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.”
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