Moses' Prayer to be blotted out of God's Book.
Exodus xxxii. 31, 32.
"And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, 'Oh! this people have made
them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if
not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.'"
This is one of the most difficult passages in the holy scriptures.
Many haven attempted to explain it, and in our apprehension, failed in
the attempt. Some will entertain like opinion of the following.
Perhaps justly. We are no less fallible than others.
In matters which have engaged the attention of the learned, and in
which they have differed, assurance is not perhaps to be expected. But
as we are forbidden to call any man master, we have ventured to judge
for ourselves respecting the meaning of the text, and now lay before
the reader the result of our attention to it; not wishing to obtrude
our opinion upon him; but leaving him to form his own as he may find
occasion.
Some suppose that a person must be willing to be damned for the glory
of God, or he cannot be saved; and this scripture hath been alleged in
proof. After a few observations, _to shew that the supposition is
erroneous and absurd; we shall exhibit the various constructions which
have been put on the text, by several expositors; then give our own
sense of it; and close with a few reflections_.
The supposition that man must be willing to be damned, in order to be
saved, is in our apprehension, erroneous and absurd. It supposes a
desire of God's favor to be an unpardonable offence; and a contempt of
it a recommendation to his regard! It supposes that God will banish
those from his presence who long for it; and bring those to dwell in
it who do not desire it! A supposition, which, in our view, carries
its own confutation in it. For the all important inquiry is,
confessedly, how to obtain salvation? The solution which the
supposition exhibits, is this, _by being willing not to obtain it_!
God cannot issue an order, making it the duty of man to be willing
to be damned. To be willing to be damned, implies a willingness
to disobey God, refuse his grace, and continue in unbelief and
impenitence! Should we suppose it possible for God to issue the
order, obedience would be impossible, and equally to those of every
character. The hardened sinner, cannot be thought capable of love to
God, which will dispose him to suffer eternally for God's glory. He
may do that which will occasion eternal sufferings, but not out of
obedience to God--not with design to glorify him.
Neither can the awakened sinner be considered as the subject of such
love of God. They see indeed the evil. Awakened Sinners are not lovers
of God. They see indeed the evil of sin, and are sensible of its
demerit? that they deserve destruction. But this doth not reconcile
them to destruction, and make them willing to receive it. They tremble
at the thoughts of it, strive against sin, and cry after deliverance.
Were they willing to be damned, they would not be afraid of being
damned, or seek in anyway to avoid it.
It is equally impossible for the saint to be reconciled to damnation
as will appear, by considering what it implies. It implies the total
loss of the divine image, and banishment from the divine presence and
favor! It implies being given up to the power of apostate spirits, and
consigned to the same dreary dungeon of despair and horror, which is
prepared for them! It implies being doomed to welter in woe
unutterable, blaspheming God, and execrating the creatures of God,
"world without end!"
When people pretend that they are willing to be damned for the glory
of God, they "know--not what they say nor whereof they affirm." They
leave out the principal ingredients of that dreadful state. Bid they
take them into the account, they would perceive the impossibility of
the thing. To suppose it required is to blaspheme God--to pretend that
man can submit to it, is to belie human nature--to conceive that a
child of God can reconcile himself to it, is to subvert every just
idea of true religion. To require it, God must deny himself! To
consent to it, man must consent to become an infernal! The statement
of the case is a refutation of the scheme.
But if God's glory requires it, will not this reconcile the good and
gain their consent?
God's glory doth not--cannot require it. "The spirit of the Lord is
not straightened." Human guilt and misery are not necessary to God's
honor.
It is necessary that divine justice should be exercised on those who
refuse divine grace; but not necessary that men should refuse divine
grace. "As I live, saith the Lord God. I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live."
Such is the language of revelation; and the measures which God hath
adopted relative to our guilty race speak the same language. He hath
provided a city of refuge, and urges the guilty to "turn to the strong
hold."--He weeps over obstinate sinners who refuse his grace? "How
shall I give thee up? How shall I deliver thee?" But rejoiceth over
the penitent, as the father rejoiced over the returning prodigal.
God would not have provided a Savior, and made indiscriminate offers
of pardon and peace had he chosen the destruction of sinners, and had
their ruin been necessary to his honor. But God hath done these
things, and manifested his merciful disposition toward mankind.
We have no need to "do evil that good may come. Our unrighteousness is
not necessary to commend the righteousness of God."
How then, are we to understand the prayer of Moses, placed at the head
of this discourse--_blot me, I pray that, out of thy book which than
hast written_?
As this is one of the principal passages of scripture which are
adduced to support the sentiment we have exploded, a few things may be
premised, before we attempt to explain it.
I. Should it be admitted that Moses here imprecated utter destruction
on himself, it could not be alleged as a precept given to direct
others, but only as a solitary incident, in the history of a saint,
who was then compassed with infirmity. And where is the human
character without a shade? This same Moses neglected to circumcise his
children--broke the tables of God's law--spake unadvisedly with his
lips--yea, committed such offences against God, that he was doomed to
die short of Canaan, in common with rebellious Israel.
II. The time--in which it hath been particularly insisted that a
person must be willing to be damned for God's glory, is at his
entrance on a slate of grace; but Moses had been consecrated to the
service of God long before he made this prayer. Nothing, therefore
respecting the temper of those under the preparatory influences of the
spirit can be argued from it.
III. Should we grant that Moses here imprecated on himself the
greatest evil, a sense of other people's sins, and not a sense of his
own sins, was the occasion. But,
IV. No sufferings of his could have been advantageous to others, had
be submitted to them for their sake. Had he consented to have been a
castaway--to have become an infernal, as we have seen implied in
damnation, this would not have brought salvation to Israel. Moses'
hatred of God, and his sufferings and blasphemies, would not have
atoned for the sins of his people, or tended in any degree to turn
away the wrath of God from them.
It seems surprizing that the whole train of expositors should consider
this good man as imprecating evil on himself for the good of others,
when it is obvious that others could not have been benefited by it.
For though expositors differ respecting the magnitude of the evil,
they seem to agree that he did wish evil to himself, and pray that he
might suffer for his people! We have seen no expositor who is an
exception.
But let us attend to the prayer. _Oh! this people have sinned a great
sin; yet now, if thou will, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I
prey thee, out of thy book_.
We know the occasion. Israel had fallen into idolatry while Moses was
on the mount--had made an idol, and bowed in adoration before it. God
told Moses what they had done--threatened to destroy them--excused
Moses from praying for them, which had before been his duty, and
promised to reward his faithfulness among so perverse a people, if he
would now "hold his peace, and let God alone to destroy them."
But Moses preferred the good of Israel to the aggrandisement of his
own family, earnestly commended them to the divine mercy, and obtained
the forgiveness of their sin--"The Lord repented of the evil which
he thought to do unto them." But he gave at that time no intimation of
his merciful purpose toward them.
When Moses came down and found the congregation holding a feast to
their idol, he was filled with grief and indignation; and took
measures immediately to punish their sin and bring them to repentance.
He first destroyed their idol and then about three thousands of the
idolaters, by the sword of Levi, who at his call, ranged themselves on
the Lord's side. The next day, fearing that God would exterminate the
nation, agreeably to his threatening, Moses gathered the tribes, set
their sin before them, and told them that he would return to the
divine presence and plead for them, though he knew not that God would
hear him. "Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up unto the
Lord; _peradventure_ I shall make an atonement for your sin. _And
Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Oh! this people have sinned a
great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet, now, if thou wilt,
forgive their sin; and if not blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written_."
Moses meaning, while praying for Israel, is obvious; but the petition
offered up for himself is not equally so--_blot me, I pray thee, out
of thy book_.
Four different constructions have been put on the is prayer--Some
consider Moses as imprecating damnation on himself, for the good of
his people--Some as praying for annihilation, that they might find
mercy--Some as asking God that he might die with them, if they should
die in the wilderness--Others, that his name might be blotted out of
the page of history, and his memory perish, should Israel be destroyed
and not reach the promised land.
"Blot me" (saith Mr. Cruden) "out of thy book of life--out of the
catalogue, or number of those that shall be saved--wherein Moses does
not express what he thought might be done, but rather wisheth, if it
were possible, that God would accept of him as a sacrifice in their
stead, and by his destruction and annihilation, prevent so great a
mischief to them." *
* Vid. Concordance, under BLOT.
Docr. S. Clark expresseth his sense of the passage to nearly the same
effect.
Did Moses then ask to be made an expiatory sacrifice for the sin of
Israel! Or did he solemnly ask of God what he knew to be so
unreasonable that it could not be granted!
There is no hint in the account given of this affair, that Moses
entertained a thought of being accepted in Israel's stead. He did not
ask to suffer _that they might escape_--he prayed _to be blotted out
of God's book_, if his people could not be forgiven--_If thou wilt,
forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written_.
Mr. Pool considers Moses as praying to be annihilated that Israel
might be pardoned! "Blot me out of the book of life--out of the
catalogue, or number of those that shall be saved. I suppose Moses
doth not wish his eternal damnation, because that state would imply
both wickedness in himself and dishonor to God; but his
annihilation, or utter lose of this life, and that to come, and all
the happiness of both of them. Nor doth Moses simply desire this, but
only comparatively expresseth his singular zeal for God's glory, and
charity to his people; suggesting that the very thoughts of the
destruction of God's people, and the reproach and blasphemy which
would be cast upon God by means thereof, were so intolerable to him,
that he rather wished, if it were possible, that God would accept him
as a sacrifice in their stead, and by his utter destruction prevent so
great a mischief." *
* Vid. Pool in locum.
Could the learned and judicious Mr. Pool seriously believe that
inspired Moses prayed for annihilation! Or consider him as
entertaining a suspicion that a soul could cease to exist! Or could he
conceive him as deliberately asking of God to make him an expiatory
sacrifice! Or harboring a thought that the sin of his people might be
atoned by his being blotted out from among God's works!--Strange!
Mr. Henry considers Moses as praying to die with Israel, if they must
die in the wilderness.--"If they must be cut off, let me be cut off
with them--let not the land of promise be mine by survivorship. God
had told Moses, that if he would not interpose, he would make him a
great nation--No said Moses, I am so far from desiring to see my name
and family, built on the ruins of Israel, that I choose rather to die
with them." *
* Vid. Henry in loc.
If such is the spirit of this prayer, Moses does not appear resigned
to the divine order, but rather peevish and fretful at the
disappointment of his hope, which he had till then entertained. He had
expected to lead Israel to the land of promise; if not indulged, seems
not to have cared what became of himself or his family; and is thought
here to address his maker, offering distinguishing favors to him, as
Daniel did Belthazzar--"thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards
to another--I desire none of them for myself or mine--If Israel die in
the wilderness, let me die with them"--From angry Jonah such a reply
to the kind offers of a gracious God might not surprize us; but it was
not to have been expected from the meekest of mankind. DOCT. HUNTER,
in his biographical lectures, explodes this idea of Moses' asking to
be damned for the salvation of Israel, and shews the absurdity of that
construction of the text, but understands him as praying to die
himself, before sentence should be executed on his people, if they
were not pardoned. And in the declaration, _whosoever hath sinned
against me, him will I blot out of my book_, he discovers an
intimation, that that offending people should die short of the
promised land! A discovery without a clew. This sin of Israel was
pardoned. Sentence of death in the wilderness was occasioned by a
subsequent act of rebellion, as will be shewn in the sequel.*
* Vid. Hunter's Lect. Vol. iv. Lect. iv
Mr. Fismin considers Moses as here praying to be blotted out of
the page of history, if Israel were not pardoned; so that no record of
his name, or the part which he had acted in the station assigned him,
should he handed down to posterity. An exposition differing from the
plain language of sacred history--_Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy
book, which thou hast written_. The page of history is written by man.
Such are the constructions which have been put on this scripture. The
considerations which have been suggested, oblige us to reject them
all, as founded in mistake. Our sense of the passage, and the reasons,
which in our apprehension, support it, will be the subject of another
discourse.
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