Only Forty Days

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites were miraculously freed from slavery in Egypt, they camped in the Sinai desert at the foot of Mount Sinai. While they were there, God called Moses to go up to the top of the mountain to talk with Him. After several trips up the mountain to talk with God, God finally gave Moses all the instructions and regulations for His people to live by. Moses carefully wrote everything down so there would be no mistakes in transferring the information to the people.

When Moses told the people what God had told him. All the people responded by saying that they would do everything the Lord had commanded them to do.

"Then Moses went down to the people

and repeated all the instructions and regulations

the Lord had given him.

All the people answered with one voice,

'We will do everything the Lord has commanded.'"

Exodus 24:3 (NLT)

Moses, pleased with the people's response, climbed back up Mount Sinai to tell God. This time, Moses stayed for forty days and forty nights, and God inscribed into two tablets of stone the Ten Commandments.

At the end of the forty days on Mount Sinai, God told Moses that the people were already sinning against Him. Moses came back down the mountain angry at seeing the people worshiping a false idol, but not quite as angry as God, because He wanted to wipe out the whole nation — until Moses pleaded on their behalf.

"When the people saw how long it was taking

 Moses to come back down the mountain,

they gathered around Aaron.

'Come on', they said,

'make us some gods who can lead us.

We don't know what happen to this fellow Moses,

who brought us here from the land of Egypt.'"

Exodus 32:1 (NLT)

The Israelites' excuse was idiotic when they said that they did not know what happened to Moses. The presence of God was clearly visible to the people in a form of dense cloud described like a consuming fire on top of Mount Sinai. God was obviously still among them. How could He forget them? And why would He get rid of their godly leader?

"To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain,

the glory of the Lord appeared

at the summit like a consuming fire."

Exodus 24:17 (NLT)

It is pathetic to think that it took the Israelites only forty days after declaring their allegiance to the almighty, all-knowing, and everywhere-present God to worship a deaf, dumb, and mute one. As a result of their disloyalty and disobedience, almost three thousand people died that day and the rest became sick with a plague.

A god can take the form of countless things, and sadly today there are many people who are no different from the Israelites during the time of Moses. Many go to church and worship God publicly on Sundays, declaring their love for and allegiance to Him, but then live for themselves or other gods during the rest of the week, abiding by their old ideas and thoughts. God did not tolerate hypocrisy back then and He will not tolerate it today.