JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q1. God Is Angry at Rebellion - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q1. Read Exodus 32:1-14. What had the people done that was so bad? How can a loving God be angry? Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?

[QUOTE]What had the people done that was so bad? How can a loving God be angry? Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation throught Moses justified?

They demanded that their be Gods made, which shall go before them, because Moses who brought them out of Egypt, they didn't know what had happen to him. Out of ingnorance they fashioned a golden calf and built an altar around it and began to worship that thing. After which they eat, drink and rose up to play.

Yahweh was angry because the people had sinned. Elohim clearly states, that we should not have another before him.

What ever sentence that Yahweh decides on is justified because it is He who made us, and not we ourselves. It is He who can cause both body and soul to burn in the lake of fire for eternity.

Geraldine

What had the people done that was so bad?
They worshipped an idol

How can a loving God be angry?
If he would never get angry at sins I would think he did not care.

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?
Yes

The Israelites had created their own gods to displace the LORD as the one to be worshipped as their Deliverer. I thought it was interesting that the idols were made from golden earrings given to them by Egyptians before the exodus. They essentially brought symbols of the idolatry of Egypt with them on their journey to the promised land. And now they were worshipping the gods of Egypt. How relevant is that to modern Christianity?!!

Because I know that every attribute of God’s character is holy, I know that His anger is holy. Which means it is sinless. When it comes to sin, about the only word to convey the depth of His feeling is hatred. He hates sin and what it does to those He loves. He hates anything that draws our attentions and affections away from Him. And it would make Him angry when that happens. Yet any response He has or action He takes would be morally perfect and sinless. I believe any sentence He passes on sin would be justified because His justice is also holy. And He can choose to accomplish His will in any way He desires.

the people wanted fellowship and worship..and like many groups today began to do just that..they leaned to their own imagination
and had some real "fellowship"
we're reminded in Prov 3:5,6 to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding..in all our ways acknowledge Him..and He will direct our path..we need intercession and God's word to remind us of the Lord's provision..as moses did..and we need Him directing our path.

ed

Q1. Read Exodus 32:1-14. What had the people done that was so bad?
Yes, it was bad before Moses could even get the ten commandments down to them they had already broken the first two of them. They had turned back to what God had brought them out of idols. He had proved to them he was the Real GOD not a fake that could do nothing, yet they want something they can see and touch. How short is their memory that they do not know the power of God, the power he has shown them in their deliverance.


How can a loving God be angry?
Yes, he can be angry he was anger with Adam and Eve and they where punished for the sin they did. This anger of God is how they ended up slaves in Egypt to begin with. They know of the wrath of God they knew throughout the generations speaking of God about his wrath still they chose to defy him and his Holiness.

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?
I am glad that God is God and not me I would have destroyed them long before he did for all the summering and complaining they did. He is a Holy God he would have kept him promise for the seed of Abraham. He cannot look upon sin think of when Jesus was on the cross. He said My God My God why have you forsaken me. That is because God cannot look upon sin. So it was justified.

The people went to Aaron with concern since Moses had been gone in the mountains for a long time and they lost trust and faith in God, so they wanted Aaron to make a god they can see. Aaron went ahead and provided the golden calf for them and they started worshipping it.

This was before the 10 commandments were made. I dont know the bible well enough to know what the people were using as guidelines outside of prophets and personal experience with the Lord , but I think it was general knowlege at the time that He wants no other gods before Him. The fact that they lost faith in God combined with putting the golden calf before Him was bad. Plus, according to the bible version I am reading, Aaron did nothing to convince the people to hold off and wait for God to follow thru and return Moses to them. Aaron himself led the people to sin.

I agree that a loving God can be angry. How would we clearly know the difference between right and wrong? And what would be our incentive to keep our relationship right with Him? What I dont understand is how God - who is pure love - would want to do *evil* to His people.

Yes, I think God's sentence to destroy Isreal and raise up a new nation thru Moses is justified! Even Aaron couldnt be counted on to keep the people on the right track with Him. The thing is, these people were descendents of Abraham with whom God was pleased. Wouldnt something similar happen with Moses' descendents too? I think there would be a very good chance that history would repeat itself anyway because people are sinful.

The people turned to idols to worship, instead of God.

God can be angry, because the people turned to everything God stood against.

Yes, His sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nations through Moses was justified.

What did the Isrealites do wrong?

After God protected them from plagues, delivered them from slavery in Egypt, gave them the gold of their captors, miraculously parted the Red Sea for them to cross, provided daily food and water, and even clothes and shoes that did not wear out...you would think they might be at least a little grateful. But no, they whined and complained about almost everything, including Moses' leadership. Then, in a final insult to the Almighty God, as soon as Moses was out of sight upon the mountain, they had Aaron fashion a new god, a golden calf, out of the very gold God had provided them. No wonder God was angry! (Unfortunately, it seems that even in modern-day America, blessed as we have been, our behavior is much the same).

How can a loving God be angry?

I think His anger stemmed from His great love for these people He himself had created, as well as His complete holiness. Nobody can make me as angry as the people I care most deeply about. If I read in the newspaper of some evil deed done by a stranger, I shake my head in wonder or disgust, then go about my business. But if a dear friend or family member of mine is involved, I may fume for days (and sometimes nights too). There is no end to my distress until something is resolved.

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?

Yes, entirely. Moses was not without fault, but he obeyed God when no one else would. He had a yearning to know God on a personal level. And since he was a descendent of Abraham, he could father a new nation in fulfillment of God's promise that Abraham's seed would produce a great nation.

Eph 4:26 - Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

This to the question of a loving God and an angry God. I love the music that comes from New Orleans. I am saddened, sickened, and angered by all the perversions that keep me from enjoying that music live because of all the things that go on where it is played live. God has created a happiness beyond music if we just could learn to hear it pure and it might be smooth or it might be like a mighty wind but it would be as he is and he just is. I cannot place on God my definition of love or my sin that anger might cause me because in him it is pure and sin is not added to it because he knows the end and so even if he takes our life here from us he has provided beyond that for us.

The people of Israel had made a golden calf to be their god. They forgot who really brought them out of Egypt. God is completely separated from sin. He is offened by sin. We are told if we love God, we must hate evil. If God destroyed Israel and started again God would still keep His proismes to the patriarchs because Mose was an offspring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The people had made the golden calf, to worship it.

The people were declaring that the golden calf which they had just made had brought them out of Egypt. This was impossibly out of line with truth - or sense for that matter. God had shown Himself in signs and wonders to the people of Israel, and had personally oversighted their deliverance out of Egypt. Anger was the appropriate emotional recognition of this injustice.

God's response to destroy Israel and raise a new nation through Moses was entirely justified. It is His creation and He can do what He likes with it, including destroy it if it doesn't please Him

1. The people failed to trust God, lack of faith. God is always present with us even though we can't see Him. If but for a moment we look around us it is obvious His presence is there. If we ponder a minute what He created, it becomes impossible for us, the created, to fashion an image of the Creator. This is part of what the people did.
A direct violation of Ex20:5-4. God created them. God delivered them from Egypt. God provided for them. Yet they decided to worship another being. God placed them perfectly to receive his blessing and get the most from it. They became impatient and unfaithful, instead deciding to worship anything that would give more.

2. We tend to forget that love is not an emotion. 1Cor13:4-7 tells us what love is. In modern society the trend is to focus on a loving(emotion) God. Let us not forget there is more to God! For God to be who He is anger must be a part of Him. Don't confuse holy anger, justice, love sadness, joy etc. with our human ideals.

3. Yes!! God makes no mistake or error!! Again for God to be God justice must be a part of Him. I know what I deserve, and it isn't the gift God has handed me at no cost.


The people didn't have a book of scripture to ponder and study as we have. However, they were close to hearing God's own voice talk to them.

Lesson 2 Q 1
Read Exodus 32:1 -14. What had the people done that was so bad?

The people had broken the law. They worshiped a golden calf that they demanded Aaron to make and claimed that the idol brought them out of Egypt - blasphemy.

How can a loving God be angry?

Because God is holy, separated from sin and our sins offend God's very character. His nature is utterly opposed to injustice, sin, and human degradation. God is a loving God but He can become angry because of His own holiness.

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?

Yes. Since Moses himself is a direct descendent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God's promises to the patriarchs would be fulfilled.

Q1. Read Exodus 32:1-14. What had the people done that was so bad?
They were worshipping another "god" - the golden calf that they had made. They took off their gold earrings and then Aaron made a golden calf. They're worshipping something made with human hands. And Aaron's defense to Moses was as bad - "24 "I said to them, `Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
God had delivered the people from slavery, protected them from the plagues, parted the Red Sea, led them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night, sent manna from heaven and meat in the form of quails covering the camp and bread on the ground when they were hungry, provided water when they were thirsty, etc. How quickly they forgot, and still wanted something visible. Jesus says in John 20, "Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." But, how quickly we also forget, when God answers our prayers, or we don't take notice. And, today, people worship things like the television set, shopping mall, golf game, etc.
Ex 34:14--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--
De 4:39 "Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

How can a loving God be angry?
Righteous anger.
God is holy. God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
Deuteronomy 23:14 says "He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you."

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?
Yes. God is just...
Deuteronomy 32:4 "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

What had the people done that was so bad? How can a loving God be angry? Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?

Not only had the people turned to worshipping an idol but they gave the idol credit for delivering them from Egypt. Anger indicates a concern about something, therefore God was showing that He cared. It is a just sentence, by worshipping the false god and crediting it with what God did for them they were spitting into the very face of their deliverer and the only true lover of their souls.

What had the people done that was so bad?
They turned from worshipping God to worshipping a man-made idol.

How can a loving God be angry?
A loving God ought to be angry when His children do wrong. I aint no God(!) but I love my kids and I do get angry when they do wrong, so I fully understand God's anger.

Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?
Yes. There are always consequences for our actions - if we do what is right there are good consequences, but if we sin...

Q1. Read Exodus 32:1-14. What had the people done that was so bad? How can a loving God be angry? Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified?

Even though the Israelites had seen God miraculous works, through their impatience and lack of faith, they turned toward false idols instead of trusting in God when Moses didn't come down from the mountain right away. They were ignoring the command he had just given them: "Do not make idols of any kind".

God was angy because of the continued disobedience and lack of faith. This was a rigtheous anger. Then God first wanted to destroy the peole he was acting consistently with his justice. When Moses pleaded for mercy God spared them. God did not change his mind but changed his behavior to remain consistent with his nature.

I am enjoying this study soo much. What the people were doing bad was they were building idols made of gold. Not praising God. God gets angry and He also has a great sense of humor, He has to with what he has to put up with sometimes in His children!!!!!!! Moses had to remind God what He said about the descendents and that is when God relented.

WHAT THE PEOPLE HAD DONE THAT WAS SO BAD WAS TO "FORGET"REAL QUICK,HOW GOD HAD BROUGHT THEM OUT OF EGYPT,OUT OF SLAVERY,BECAUSE GOD LOVED THEM.THE PEOPLE QUICKLY,TURNED BACK TO IDOL WORSHIP,BUILDING THEMSELVES AN IDOL TO WORSHIP.THIS MADE GOD VERY ANGRY.GOD IS A LOVING GOD,AND HE SHOWED THE PEOPLE HOW MUCH HE LOVED THEM.IN RETURN TO GODS LOVE THEY BECAME CURRUPT.JUST AS WE OURSELVES DO THINGS THAT HURTS AND DIS-PLEASES GOD, DOES NOT MEAN GOD DOES NOT LOVE US.THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL DID WRONG BY MAKING THAT IDOL AND BREAKING THEIR PROMISE TO GOD,SO GOD WAS ANGRY WITH THEM.
GOD WOULD STILL BE FULLFILLING HIS PROMISE EVEN IF HE HAD DESTROYED THE NATION OF ISRAEL,AND RECONSTRUCTED THE NATION FROM MOSES OFFSPRING,BECAUSE MOSES IS A DIRECT DESCENDENT OF ABRAHAM,ISAAC,AND JACOB. MOSES NEW WHAT GOD HAD DONE IN THE PAST IN DESTROYING MAN,SO MOSES NEW GOD COULD VERY WELL DO IT AGAIN.