As God delivered the Law to Moses the people of Israel turned away from God to the gold He had provided them. They, including Aaron, fashioned some of the gold of the Egyptians into a golden calf for worship. This sounds so odd to us today, but these Israelites had lived under Egyptian slavery for 400 years and really knew very little of God and knew a lot about the Egyptian gods and culture. They had yet to develop into a “Jewish people and culture.”
In Exodus 32 we see the terrible outcome of this tragic decision to worship a false god.
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.
On the very day God delivered the Law to Israel about three thousand of the people died.
About 1500 years later, on the day of Pentecost, the 120 who followed Jesus were waiting in Jerusalem just as Jesus had told them to do. Acts 2. God delivered the Holy Spirit, as He had promised them, and they began preaching and teaching in a mysterious way because everyone present, even though from a multitude of nations, heard them teaching in his or her own language. Here’s the kicker – about three thousand were saved on that day. Acts 2:41.
Another kicker? It is possible one (the giving of the Law) occurred 50 days after leaving Egypt; the other (the giving of the Spirit) occurred 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead.
So, on the day God delivered the Law about three thousand died; on the day God delivered the Holy Spirit about three thousand people were baptized (died with Christ – i.e., were immersed into Christ’s death by baptism) and lived eternally with Christ.
