Exodus 32:31-35 - I will visit their sin upon them

32:31,32

Moses returns to the Lord and reports that the people “have sinned a great sin”. Moses then asks God to forgive them, and if not to blot Moses’s name out along with all the Israelites. There are a couple of important parallels here with Jesus’ role as mediator. The first is that Jesus is fully aware of our sin and sinfulness, just as Moses was aware of the sin of the people. Secondly, Jesus identifies with us. Jesus went to the cross representing us.

32:33-35

God does not accept Moses’ offer, but says that those who sinned will be blotted out of “my book”. This is possibly a hint of the “book of life”. Moses is to continue to lead the people to the Promised Land, and the Lord sent a plague upon the people because of their sin. So sin is going to be punished, but the people as a whole are not going to be rejected. People will pay for their own sin. The plague did not wipe out the whole nation. However, we do know that very few of the people eventually entered the Promised Land. The sinfulness of the people caught up with them eventually.