Most Christians often get frustrated because they are tempted to break the Commandments and often do. Moses got frustrated too because he also broke all the Commandments as if they are one.
On the other hand, Jesus never broken any Commandments but was wrathful because His people did.
Things were not so bad for the Israelites who were wandering in the wilderness for forty years as it had been for the Kenites (Cain’s seed) as they wandered in the world for one-hundred and twenty years. Nobody, perhaps not even his sons, worked on the Ark because nobody was willing to do that. A good guess is that Ham did very little work because he disrespected his father.
Now, the time had come for work for the Israelites. Moses
had found grace as is written:
32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. 33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. (Exod 34:32-35).
In verse 35 when Moses removed his vail, they saw that he had been transfigured.
Noah had found grace, and undoubtedly the “Garment of Adam” had been put upon him for preservation while the work was done.
Now, in the time of Moses, the Israelites work was ready to commence. Noah had built and Ark for God and themselves for God to be with them. I submit that Lucifer was on that Ark, either in Ham or his wife, and that God was on the Ark in Melchizedek who sacred writings say carried the bones of Adam on that Ark; both him and Seth.
By the time of Moses, the Garment of Adam had been stolen and was in possession of those of Nimrod’s line who would have used it unworthily due to lack of contrition. From there, the Garment was lost to the world.
Rather than material fabric, God put onto the flesh of Moses spiritual “fabric.” Moses, while on the Holy Mountain had God put onto him another “fabric.” Moses put on the Holy Spirit while on the mountain and was transformed. The Israelites just like Peter, James and John would witness much the same with Jesus in apostolic times.
Moses had been transformed for the work ahead, and why was
Jesus transfigured?
29 And as He (Jesus) prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. 30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: 31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:29-31)
Just as Moses was about to do his work, leading them to the gate to the Garden Paradise, Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus about His work — to “accomplish,” or literally to finish. Jesus said what on the Cross as He gave up the Ghost? “It is finished” (John 19:30).
What would happen to Jesus at the transfiguration? (1) His countenance was changed and (2) His raiment revealed the change as He radiated the Glory of God. Much like Jesus, Moses had been transfigured when he saw the back side of God, and now he could finally see the Glory in the Face of God that had been withheld from him on the Mountain of God, and even perhaps the same mountain.
What happened to Moses when he saw the Glory of God? Before he had been a wrathful man, and after seeing the Glory of God his countenance changed to one of lovingkindness for his sinful people.
But Jesus was never and angry man… or was He? When scripture spoke of the wrath of God, that was the wrath of pre-incarnate Jesus. Something did happen to Jesus when He was transfigured; the work ahead would be one of grace and not of wrath. Right there on the spot, Jesus fulfilled the Law, and the work was to finish the Law by grace. His work was hard work (ergon) so that ours would be ergonomic (katergazomai), to “accomplish” salvation without working.
Wrath was removed from Jesus. He would no longer overturn the usurers’ tables at the Temple out of anger but would die for the merchants that he had scared so much.
Moses changed as well. He was no longer a bearer of hard works, but another type of work; work that the Greeks called “katergazomai.” Paul used that same Greek word when he wrote for people to “work out their salvation” (Phil 2:12).
When Moses was angry, the people obeyed out of fear. God to them was a wrathful God and Moses had demonstrated the same wrath when he “turned over their tables” by breaking them. (Those tablets were tables of the Will of God.)
Then Moses went back and God wrote new tables with the same words as before. One big difference — the wrath was gone, and glory took its place. It was the same words, of the same material, by the same hand, and carried there by the same person; but the countenance of Moses had changed to be more like Jesus than the angry God that the Israelites had thought Him to be! The Spirit of the Law was all that had changed!
Everything was the same but how Moses presented the Law. It was not really works the second time, but tables to demonstrate love for God. Speaking of loving God and others, Jesus said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat 22:40).
Moses returned with a new countenance; the first time as “Angryman” and the second time as “Kindman.” No longer would the exodus be about pleasing Moses but God Himself, and the second set of commandments were more about countenance than the Law.
Now consider a modern comparison: Arthur on the sitcom, “King of Queens,” confronted the merchant with a small yam that he wanted to buy. He was not just an ordinary person, he wanted what the rich would get. He asked the clerk to go in back and get a better yam, and the clerk went to the back and came back with the same yam. Arthur then praised the second potato, but unbeknownst to him, it was the same potato. Well, that was the perception of the Israelites. They finally got the better “potato,” but it was the same “potato”!
God modified Moses and his new countenance modified the behavior of the Israelites. Moses had passed along loving kindness to them that he had received from God. The tablets were new but of the same substance. Moses was new but of the same substance. Moses had changed in Spirit and so had the tablets because Moses presented them in a different manner than the first ones.
The same goes for the “Ten Commandments” as we still call them. It all lies in how they are presented! Theologians and preachers present them as “commandments,” but they are really the itemization of the Last Will and Testament of God to which He desires that His children ascribe.
So, what was Joshua doing on the Holy Mountain with Moses. He was witnessing the Last Will and Testament of God. He was the “testator” to the Will and God’s Will was signed in the Name of Jesus — as Joshua ascribed to it. Jesus would probate the Will of God hundreds of years later and “sign” it in His own blood.
All the time the Hebrews were looking at Moses (Water) they should have been looking at Joshua (Yahweh saves). All the while Campellites are looking at water, they too should be looking at Jesus in the living water of the Holy Ghost. The “one baptism” of scripture is not the baptism of water but the Holy Ghost.
Face it, all the while that you focused on Moses in the Book of Exodus, you missed Joshua. You might have noticed his name, but not his purpose! All the while some are focusing on the baptismal, they are missing the Spirit!
Just as Jesus was transfigured and His countenance changed, so did Moses’ countenance. Not stopping there, the “countenance” of the Law changed as well. It went from hard work to willing work. It went from ergon to ergonomic.
It turned out that there was no work at all in the Commands! Revering God was not work, and neither were the “thou shalt nots.” It takes no work to not do things! Even Moses had misperceived them as hard work, but God changed him. He had a change of heart, a change of mind, and even a changed flesh.
What’s more, with his new countenance, the Israelites were
transformed by God: With the new “person” of Moses, the countenance of the
people change as well:
5 Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord… 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. (Exod 35:21)
What had changed among some of the Israelites? For some, perhaps most of them, God stirred up His Spirit in them. Perhaps like Jesus, some virtue left Moses for them. Their countenance changed because they saw the glory of God in the face of Moses. They saw that Moses was the “image” of God inside and no longer would they need Apis, the golden calf.
Which “yam” are the tablets of stone for you? Are they the ones to be broken as the first tablets or are they those for perpetuity that were stored in the Ark of God until the end? And somewhere those same tablets will exist until Jesus comes again to “break” them, not only in Spirit, but in real substance.
How do you look at the Words of God on the tablets? Are they commands that you can never accomplish or are they the conditions of the Will of God that you want to keep because you love and honor the Father and desire His Estate in heaven” It is written, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). That is what God Wills to us and for us!
For Jesus, the change in His countenance was for building the invisible Church for residence in God’s “House” in another realm. For the willing Israelite workers of the exodus, they were about to build for God a temporary “House” (a Tabernacle) because their hearts had changed. It was no longer about them, but about God. No longer were the tablets of stone about their will but about the Will of God!
Like it or not, the “Ten Words” of God remain His Will to this day. Whether they are things to be accomplished with no work, or hard work, depends on how the worker looks at them and that would depend just whose spirit is in them.
(picture credit: Bon Appetite; "Difference between a sweet potato and a yam")
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