Exodus lesson 25 - Turning to God's Word

You Shall Have No Other Gods:
The Book of Exodus

Lesson 25 Despite the People’s Sin, the LORD Renews His Covenant
the book of Exodus 33:1—35:3

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the book of Exodus
cross references in the book of Exodus
next lesson: The People Begin Constructing the Tabernacle

This material coordinates with Lesson 25 on pages 123–128 in the study book You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”—the book of Exodus 20:1–6

welcome to our in-depth study of the book of Exodus
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 28-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to our free lesson video overviews, as well as to a glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-study question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the book of Exodus 32:1–35
In Lesson 24 The Golden Calf, when Moses remains on the mountain with the LORD for 40 days, the Israelites abandon all pretense of following the law of the covenant. This apparently is a much longer period of time than they expected. Moses talks God out of wiping out the people, but once Moses sees their behavior, his own anger burns hot. He breaks the stone tablets that contained the LORD’s writing, and he grinds the golden calf into a powder before sprinkling it on water that he makes the Israelites drink. Moses asks Aaron to explain what happened, and Aaron tells Moses that the people insisted that he participate, and that when he threw the gold they brought to him into the fire then “came out this calf.” When Moses asks for those who are on the LORD’s side to come to him, members of the tribe of Levi respond. This is the tribe to which Moses and Aaron belong. Moses asks them to go through the camp killing their relatives who’d instigated worship of the golden calf. He then tells the Levites that by their violent act of killing 3,000 of their relatives they’ve ordained themselves for service to the LORD. Moses returns to the mountain to mediate for the people. Moses asks God to punish him as well as the people, but God refuses.

the LORD decides to travel with Moses
God previously announced that he wasn’t going to travel to the Promised Land with the descendants of Jacob, which caused the people to mourn. God asks them to remove their jewelry while he determines his next course of action in regard to them. While the LORD has been ready to abandon the Israelites, God doesn’t hold anything against Moses. When directly asked by Moses, the LORD agrees to travel with Moses. Since Moses intends to accompany the people, that means that God also will be accompanying them—albeit indirectly. Click on the illustration (right) to enlarge it. The original illustration is on page 127 in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. The same illustration appears on page 87 in Lesson 21 May the LORD Bless You in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers.

does Moses actually see God’s face? (01:30:53)
In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps addresses whether Moses is able to see God’s face. The book of Exodus 33:18—34:8 records the LORD clearly telling Moses that he can’t see the face of God and live. Because Moses has such a close relationship with God, however, whenever Moses spends time with the LORD, this is reflected in his face, which glows. Moses begins to take on some characteristics of God, which include elements of the LORD’s appearance. It won’t be until the arrival of Jesus that men and women will be able to look at Jesus and see God the Father, something Jesus teaches in the Gospel According to John 14:8-9. Learn more in Lesson 17 I Am the Way, the Truth & the Life in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study from Turning to God’s Word match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. You can follow along as Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 25, “Despite the People’s Sin, the LORD Renews His Covenant,” on pages 123–128 in the study book.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about Moses’ conversation with God?
Although Moses doesn’t seem to hesitate when discussing his alarm at the idea that the LORD has decided not to travel with the people, there are important things Christians can learn from the way in which Moses talks with God. Surprisingly, Moses’ request has less to do with what he wants from God and more to do with what’s in God’s best interest.

? What specifically is Moses asking the LORD to do in the book of Exodus 33:12–16?
? What does Moses say to God that suggests Moses is more interested in what’s best for the LORD?
? When is the last time that you seriously considered God’s point of view when you were petitioning the LORD for something that you wanted?
? What’s one thing that currently concerns you that you can pray about while considering God’s position in the matter?
? Consider how taking God’s point of view into account might change the nature of some of your prayers.

read the Catechism—a prelude to the Transfiguration
The book of Exodus 34:1–8 describes Moses’ experience of encountering the LORD on the mountain. This occurs quite some time after Moses’ initial encounter with the burning bush and can be viewed as similar to the prophet Elijah’s experience recounted in the First Book of the Kings 19:1–14. In paragraph 2583 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church teaches while these two events point ahead to Jesus, it’s only on the mountain of Transfiguration that Moses and Elijah, two of the most important figures in Old Testament salvation history, are able to see the face of God. You can learn more about Elijah and other prophets who served the LORD prior to the Babylonian Captivity in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided.

2583 After Elijah had learned mercy during his retreat at the Wadi Cherith, he teaches the widow of Zarephath to believe in The Word of God and confirms her faith by his urgent prayer: God brings the widow’s child back to life.

The sacrifice on Mount Carmel is a decisive test for the faith of the People of God. In response to Elijah’s plea, “Answer me, O LORD, answer me,” the Lord’s fire consumes the holocaust, at the time of the evening oblation. The Eastern liturgies repeat Elijah’s plea in the Eucharistic epiclesis.

Finally, taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living and true God reveals himself to his people, Elijah, like Moses before him, hides “in a cleft of the rock” until the mysterious presence of God has passed by. But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ,” crucified and risen.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about who writes what?
In the book of Exodus 34:27, the LORD specifies that Mose is the one who’s going to write words on the two tablets of stone that he’s carried up the mountain with him. The original tablets, which Moses cast down and broke when he saw for himself that the Israelites were worshiping the golden calf, were written by the LORD. Because those tablets were broken, there’s no record of what God actually wrote on them. The tablets written by Moses, on the other hand, are the law that the people carried with them into the Promised Land of Canaan. It’s what’s written on these stone tablets that starts to be referred to as the law of Moses and the law of the covenant. It’s worth noting that although God told Moses that he himself intended to write on the tablets the second time, the biblical text records that it was Moses who did the actual writing. The words, however, were dictated by God.

? What might be the significance of God writing on the first tablets but not on the second set?
? Although scholars usually interpret the tablets as containing the Ten Commandments, there’s no evidence that they did. Consider why these first written words of God’s remain shrouded in mystery.
? What instance in the New Testament Gospel According to John records divinely written words?
? Consider possible reasons why that account also fails to include any words that were actually written.

forgiveness—you could look it up in our archives
In this lesson, the LORD agrees to travel with the Israelites to the Promised Land of Canaan, even though God earlier had told Moses that he wouldn’t go with the people. To learn more about the permanent nature of sins—even those that have been forgiven—read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this Catholic study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out when a person or place is mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the biblical text for every lesson in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a particular passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open the link and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the book of Exodus 33:1—35:3 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following short prayer based on this lesson’s text from the book of Exodus.

O God, you reversed your decision not to travel with the Israelites
to the Promised Land of Canaan
after Moses pleaded with you.
Teach us to appreciate those who beg you to be merciful to all who sin,
and grant that we also may show mercy
to those whose behavior has disappointed us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
who showed divine mercy toward those who were crucifying him. Amen.

Lesson 26 The People Begin Constructing the Tabernacle, the book of Exodus 35:4—37:9
Lesson 24 The Golden Calf, the book of Exodus 32:1–35

you also may like our study of Saul, David & Solomon
The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provides an in-depth look at the First and Second Books of Samuel to learn how the lives of the monarchs Saul, David, and Solomon point ahead to the kingdom of heaven. The unified reign of King David is seen as a foreshadowing or type of the unity that is one of the four marks of the Church—the kingdom of God—established by Jesus Christ. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer your questions and to offer support. You may use this email to contact us directly if you’re interested in starting a Turning to God study or in having your study schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.