In a day of confusion and sorrow, the mark of a true heart is the earnest desire to know His way through it all; and this is remarkably evidenced by the position of Moses at that time. Nothing could have been more solemn than the state of Israel; they had accepted the calf, saying, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And their mournful condition is thus described: "And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." The calf and the dancing were the objects upon which the eyes of the man of God rested as he descended from the mount. What will Moses' action be in the midst of such a scene? What are his first thoughts? Let us mark it well. Having broken the tables beneath the mount, and burned the calf and ground it to powder, his first and main thought is the vindication of Jehovah's character and name, which had been basely and falsely associated with idolatry and sin. "Who is on the LORD'S side?" is neither Laodicean neutrality nor selfish indifference. Very solemn was the test then; and how blessed to find in Levi a people superior to the claims of nature where the honor of Jehovah was concerned, so that it was said of them in relation to this action in Exod. 32:26-29, "Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant." Deut. 33:8, 9.
This then was Moses' first great act of vindication of Jehovah's claims. How blessed to think of it in this day of half-heartedness on the one side, and indifference on the other—in this day of man (1 Cor. 4:3), when the spirit of Laodicea prevails on the right hand, and the ways and mind of Gallio on the left. Very cheering and encouraging to faith are the ways of faith and devotedness in this crisis-moment when "he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey," and when it may be said, as in the days of Jeremiah, "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth."
Now observe what follows this. Having, as we have seen, vindicated Jehovah's name in judgment, and in doing so brought out the faithfulness of Levi, who by the act earned, as it were, the priesthood, Moses shows how his heart apprehended the holiness of Jehovah; and the act of pitching the tabernacle without the camp, thus separating Jehovah's name from the guilt and defilement of Israel, is a blessed instance of its kind and day as to how faith's intimacy with the Lord alone can discern what is suitable to Him. Thus it is Moses makes a place for God outside the camp, afar off from the camp, which had put a false god in His place, and changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eats grass. May we not say that this is the kind of nearness to Christ, and devotedness to His blessed interests and name, which is lacking so much at this moment? And is not this the quality of faith which He is looking for especially now, and for which He Himself commended the church of Philadelphia in these words: "For thou hast a little strength, and has kept My word, and hast not denied My name"? May the Lord give His blessed people such loyalty of heart to His blessed Son in this day.
Another point in this history is full of deep instruction just now. Moses having made a place for God outside the camp, not only removed His name from association with idolatry and sin, and thus maintained His holiness and truth, but thereby was also set up that which some would call a new test; so that we read, "And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp"—mark the words well, "which sought the LORD." Where He was, then was everything. And is it not so now? "There am I" is the rallying point of the hour. In the days of Moses some might have been contented with the camp, resting in that which once marked it, and no longer did so, but every one which sought the Lord went out without the camp.
These principles have a sorrowful but a very appropriate application to present days, for surely the Lord has been teaching us many things, and yet none more strikingly than this: that if we are to have Him who is holy, Him who is true, in our midst, it must be on His own terms. Self-will and unholiness may judge otherwise, but faith will hold fast to His revelation of Him self as the "holy and true"; and look well that such a name as His in its preciousness and value as His people's alone resource, be not associated with what is foreign to His nature and glory. Now having judged the idolatry of the people, and pitched the tabernacle outside the camp, separating the name of God from it, Moses earnestly asks to know Jehovah's way "Show me now Thy way" (Exod. 33:13). How instructive and how blessed is this; there must be a moral condition of soul for such a desire. Any way out of a difficulty, be it ever so unworthy, will ever find the largest number of adherents; but the moral state indicated by Moses' previous acts in relation to Israel's sin and Jehovah's glory, will not, cannot, be satisfied with anything less than "Thy way"—and how blessed is the reply, and how perfect it is, "My presence shall go with thee." His presence marks His way, and His way is found where His presence is. And is it not so at this moment? If we be without the presence of Christ, we cannot be in His way; but there is more than this, for Moses says further on, "For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." The way that it is known that He goes with us, is that we are separated to Him; it works both ways, only those who are separated seek Him, then finding His presence and His way, and the proof that He is with them, is that they are separated. This exclusiveness, as it has been called, works from within to that which is without; the outward part of it may be seen without the inward power-it has ever been so-but it lasts only for a time and manifests constant inconsistencies; but that which springs from within-the power of the cross of Christ (and what so exclusive and separating!) applied unsparingly by the Holy Ghost-will extend to every circle in a consistency and evenness peculiar to itself.
May the Lord teach us at this moment this perfect way of peace and rest! May His beloved people be awakened from every slumber that would incapacitate them from judging what is suitable to Himself, so that with renewed desire to please Him, they may prove the reality and blessedness of His presence and His way amid the confusion and darkness of the hour.