Lesson 1.12: Moses In The Wilderness

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LESSON 1.12: MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS

Loved one, Moses continued to lead the people of Israel away from the Red Sea. After a month, the people came to the Sinai desert. There they complained to Moses and Aaron. They said, "It would be better if the Lord had killed us in the land of Egypt. In Egypt we had plenty to eat. But now you have brought us into the desert to make us all die of hunger" (Exodus 16:1-3).

God Gives Quail And Manna To The People

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will cause food to fall from the sky. Tonight, you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know you can trust the Lord your God" (v. 12). That night, quail (birds) came all around the camp. The people caught these birds for meat. In the morning, dew lay on the ground near the camp.

After the dew was gone, something like thin flakes of frost was on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, "What is that?" Moses told them, "This is the food the Lord is giving you to eat." So the people called the special food "manna." The Hebrew word "manna" means "What is that?"(vs. 13-15).

Moses Talks With God On Mount Sinai

In the third month, the people of Israel came to a mountain called Sinai and camped in the desert near the mountain (Read Exodus chapter 19). Then Moses climbed up the mountain to meet with God. God spoke to him on the mountain and said, "Tell this to the Israelites, 'I carried you out of Egypt like an eagle and brought you here to me. Obey my words and you will be my own special people'" (vs. 3-6).

So Moses came down from the mountain and called the elders together. He told them all the things the Lord had commanded. All the people said, "We will obey everything the Lord says" (vs. 7-8).

God Speaks To The People From Mount Sinai

Three mornings later, there was thunder and lightning on the mountain (vs. 16-19). A thick cloud came down on the mountain, and there was a very loud sound like the sound of a trumpet. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke that rose off the mountain like smoke from a furnace. The Lord came down to the mountain in fire, and the whole mountain began to shake. The noise of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Every time Moses spoke, God answered him with a voice like thunder.

In Exodus 20:1-17, God said, "I am the Lord your God. I led you out of the land of Egypt when you were slaves. So you must obey these Ten Commandments: (1) You must not worship any other gods. (2) You must not make any statues of false gods that people worship. (3) You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. (4) Remember to keep the Sabbath a special day. (5) Honor and respect your father and your mother. (6) You must not murder anyone. (7) You must not commit adultery. (8) You must not steal anything. (9) You must not tell lies about other people. (10) You must not want to take your neighbor's house, or your neighbor's wife, or anything that belongs to another person."

The people at the base of the mountain heard the thundering and saw the lightning on the mountain (vs. 18-20). The people shook with fear. Then the people said to Moses, "Please don't let God speak to us, or we will die."

Then Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid! God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him so that you will not sin."

Moses Receives Instructions From God

Moses went into the dark cloud where God was. There, the Lord gave him instructions that we call, “The Law of Moses” (Exodus 21-31). He told Moses how to make a Holy Tent as a place of worship and how to make special clothes for the priests. He told him how to make special oil for anointing the priests, how to make incense for burning in the Holy Tent, and how to offer sacrifices on special days. Finally, the Lord gave Moses two flat stones with the Ten Commandments on them.

The Golden Calf

Moses was on the mountain forty days and nights (Read Exodus chapter 32). After Moses had been gone a long time, the people said to Aaron, "Look, we don't know what has happened to Moses. So make us some gods to go before us and lead us."

Aaron said to the people, "Bring me the gold earrings that belong to your wives, sons, and daughters." So all the people gathered their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. Aaron took the gold from the people and used it to make a statue of a calf. The people said, "Israel, these are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt." Aaron built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow will be a special feast to honor the Lord" (vs. 1-5).

The people woke up very early the next morning. They killed animals and offered them as burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up and had a wild party—a party with drunkenness and sexual sin (v. 6).

The People Are Punished For Their Idolatry

When Moses came down the mountain, he heard music. When he came near the camp, he saw the golden calf and saw the people dancing. Moses became very angry. He broke the tables on which God had written the Ten Commandments. He destroyed the calf that the people had made. He melted it with fire. Then, he ground the gold until it became dust and threw it into the water. Then, he forced the Israelites to drink the water (vs. 15-20).

Moses saw that the people were naked, so he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Anyone who wants to follow the Lord should come to me." Everyone from the tribe of Levi ran to Moses. Then Moses said to them, "Every man must get his sword and go from one end of the camp to the other. You must kill those who are against the Lord."

The people from the tribe of Levi obeyed Moses, and that day about 3,000 of the people of Israel died. God's anger burned against their idolatry (vs. 25-29).

Moses Sins Against God

For forty years, Moses led the people of Israel in the Sinai wilderness. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11).

Yet, Moses made one serious mistake. At Kadesh there was not enough water for the people, so the people met to complain against Moses and Aaron. They said, "Why did you bring us into this desert? Do you want us and our animals to die?" (Numbers 20:1-5). Moses became very angry with the people.

The Lord said to Moses, "Take your brother Aaron and the crowd of people and go to that rock. Speak to the rock in front of the people. Then water will flow from the rock."

Moses and Aaron told the people to meet in front of the rock. Moses said, "You people are always complaining. Now listen to me. I will cause water to flow from this rock." Then Moses lifted his walking stick and hit the rock twice. Water began flowing from the rock (vs. 7-11).

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "You did not honor me. You did not show the Israelites that the power to make the water came from me. So you will not lead the people into the land that I have given them" (v. 12). In this way, God showed that everyone, small and great, must obey Him.

God Promises To Send A Prophet Like Moses

Toward the end of his life, Moses called the people of Israel together and said, "The Lord your God will send you a prophet. This prophet will come from among your own people, and he will be like me. You must listen to this prophet.

The Lord said to me, 'I will send them a prophet like you. I will tell him what he must say, and he will tell the people everything I command. This prophet will speak for me'" (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).

Moses Dies On Mount Nebo

Finally, Moses climbed Mount Nebo which was across the Jordan River from Jericho. From there the Lord showed him the Promised Land. The Lord said, "This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have let you see the land" (Deuteronomy 34:1-4).

Then Moses, the Lord's servant, died there in the land of Moab. Moses was 120 years old when he died. He was as strong as ever, and his eyes were still good. The people of Israel cried for Moses for thirty days and stayed in the Jordan Valley until the time of sadness was finished (vs. 5-8).

Key Points Found In This Lesson

1. God provides for His people. God has not promised to make His people rich, powerful, or famous, but He has promised to take care of our basic needs. Without God's help it would have been impossible for so many Israelites and their animals to live in the desert for forty years. There was not enough food or water there. Yet, God gave them meat, manna, and water to keep them alive. The people of Israel complained, but they owed their lives to God.

2. God is an awesome God. The people of Israel shook with fear when they saw the glory of God and heard Him speak with a voice like thunder. Yet, Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid! The Lord has come to prove that He loves you. He has come to test you. He wants you to respect Him so that you will not sin."

God knows that sin can ruin our lives and even kill us. He shows us His power and speaks to us with authority so that we will listen to His warnings. He wants us to respect Him so that we will not sin. God loves us and does not want us to get hurt.

3. God does not allow the worship of other gods. God made an agreement with the people of Israel. The Ten Commandments were ten rules that God considered important. These two commandments stood at the top of the list: (1) You must not worship any other gods. (2) You must not make any statues of false gods that people worship. Don't worship or serve idols of any kind because I am your God.

God is still the same today. He loves everybody everywhere, and He wants everyone to love Him. He is calling all people. He is saying, "Come to me." Yet He will not be one of several gods. He will not even be the first of several gods. He is the only true and living God. All other gods are useless and lifeless idols. He wants us to worship Him only.

4. The Ten Commandments contain eternal value. Even though these commandments were given to the Israelites, and not to us non-Jews (Gentiles), they contain eternal principles that we should follow—principles that are repeated again and again in the Bible.

It is still true that we should worship God only and that we must not bow down before statues of any kind. It is still true that we must never use the name of God in the wrong way and that we should honor our father and mother. It is always wrong to murder anyone, to commit adultery, and to steal things that belong to others. We must not want to take our neighbor’s house, wife, or anything else.

Even the Sabbath law contains an eternal principle. We should set aside one day each week for worship. The day of worship would later be changed from Saturday to Sunday, but the principle behind it remains the same. We need to worship God.

5. God promised to send to Israel a prophet like Moses. God would tell Him what to say, and He would speak with the authority of God. People would listen to the prophet and obey His commands. More than 1,200 years later, the prophet like Moses was born. If you know your Bible, you know that prophet was Jesus, the Christ (Acts 3:20-23).