1. To gain a glimpse of how God may have felt, we will role play the thoughts and feelings of God, Moses, and the people of Israel. With
the teacher as the Narrator, we will need 2 student characters: God and Moses. The rest of the class will be the people of Israel.
Narrator (Ex 19:1-2): 3 months after leaving the land of Egypt, the nation of Israel camps at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
God (Ex19:4-6, NIV): You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought
you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole
earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
Narrator (Ex 19:7): So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord
had commanded him.
People (Ex 19:8, NIV): We will do everything the Lord has said.
God (Ex 19:9, NIV): I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you
and will always put their trust in you.
Narrator (Ex 19:20): The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to
the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
God (Ex 20: 1-3, NIV): I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall
have no other gods before me.
Narrator (Ex 24:3): Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules.
People (Ex 24:3, NIV): Everything the Lord has said we will do.
Narrator (Ex 24:5-7): With burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord, Moses took half of
the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he read the Book of the Covenant to the people.
People (Ex 24:7, NIV): We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.
Narrator (Ex 24: 8): Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and ratified the covenant.
Moses (Ex 24:8, NIV): This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these
words.
God (Ex 24:12, NIV): Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the
law and commandments I have written for their instruction.
Narrator (Ex 24:18; 31:18; 32:1): Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. After speaking with Moses
on Mount Sinai, God gave him two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. While Moses was delayed, the people gathered themselves
together to Moses' brother Aaron.
People (Ex 32:1, NIV): Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of
Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.
Narrator (Ex 32:3-4): So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.
People (Ex 32:4, NIV): These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
God (Ex 32:7-8, NIV): Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have
been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and
sacrificed to it and have said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
Narrator (Ex 32:19): As soon as Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned hot, and
he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Moses (Ex 32:26, NIV): Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!
God (Ex 32:33, NIV): Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.
Narrator (Ex 32:35): Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
A short time later, Moses revisits Mt. Sinai.
God (Ex 34:1, 6-7, NIV): Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that
were on the first tablets, which you broke. The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he
punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.
3. Because God introduces His character with the pairing of "compassion" and "gracious" together, biblical writers thought it important to
use them together when describing God, which is seen in 11 of 13 uses of each adjective (Ex 34:6; 2 Chron 30:9; Neh 9:17, 31; Ps 86:15; 103:8;
111:4; 112:4; 145:8; Joel 2:13; John 4:2).
To gain some sense of God's compassion and graciousness, these two definitions can help introduce the immeasurable depth of
God's compassion and grace.
Mercy = God the Judge forgives or withholds a punishment that you deserve.
Grace = God the King grants something that you don't deserve like an unmerited favor, blessing, or healing.
When Moses brings the two tablets for God to rewrite the covenant law (Ex 34:29), God passed in front of Moses, proclaiming:
"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining
love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their
children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." (Ex 34:6-7, NIV)
Discuss how abounding love is involved with our compassionate and gracious God.