The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
Exodus 32:30-35
Any interpretation of the previous verses as showing harshness in Moses' dealings with the people must surely be contradicted by the evidence in this passage of the tenderness and compassion with which he made intercession for them before the Lord. This is one of the most moving passages in the Old Testament, with Moses prepared to be blotted out of God's book of life for the sake of Israel. We should remember that Moses had been hearing a great deal about atonement during his forty days and nights in the mount with God, but it is significant that here (30) he does not speak of the sacrifice of an animal to make atonement for their sin. He said, 'Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin', the implication being that he himself was prepared to be the victim, and lay himself on the altar on behalf of Israel. In this he surely breathed the spirit of Christ, as Paul did centuries later (Romans 9:1-5). And, it would seem from 33 and 34, God took the will for the deed, for the people's life was spared. Not that any man could ever make atonement for sin - God alone, in Christ, can do so - but the self-sacrifice with which Moses offered himself points us away to Him Who came in the fullness of the time to accomplish this unique work. It is to be observed, however, that a distinction is made between the forgiveness of sins and the suffering of their consequences. The Lord plagued the people because of the calf they had made (25). Furthermore, forgiveness notwithstanding, the presence of the Angel is meant, as 33:3 makes clear, to convey that it was not going to be quite the same as before, in their relationship with God. God would still be with them, but it was to be a 'withdrawn' presence, to remind them that He means His people to take His grace seriously, on pain of punishment. (See John 14:21, 23 for an understanding of the kind of presence and sweetness of fellowship we may forfeit by our carelessness and sin).