The Mosaical Age : The Wilderness

The period in Bible history that we call the Mosaic age began when God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. This law lasted until Jesus Christ died on the cross.

During the first part of this period, God ruled the people through judges. Later when the Israelites wanted kings like the people of other nations around them, God gave them kings. God spoke to the Israelites during the time of the judges and kings through His prophets (men who can tell what will happen in the future).

While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, God called Moses to go up Mount Sinai where the law will be given to him. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the law, the people asked Aaron (Moses' brother) to make them gods for they said they did not know what had happened to Moses. Aaron did as the people asked and he made a golden calf for them to worship (Exodus 32:1-6).

God was very angry with the people for making the idol and worshipping it. God told Moses that He was going to destroy the people (Exodus 32:7-10). Moses begged the Lord not to destroy them and the Bible tells us in Exodus 32:14 that "The Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people”.

Moses then came down from the mountain and he saw the calf and the people dancing. He was very angry himself and he cast down the 2 tablets of stones on which the law was written and broke them. Then he took the golden calf and burned it, ground it into powder, threw it on the water and made the people drink it. We read of many things that happened in the wilderness in the books of Exodus and Numbers.

In Numbers chapter 20, we read where the Israelites had been in the wilderness for some time. They had no water to drink and began to complain to Moses and Aaron. God told Moses and Aaron to take the rod, gather all the people together and then speak to the rock and water would come out of the rock.

Moses did almost as God had told him to. He took his rod and gathered all the people together. Then he hit the rock instead of speaking to it. The Lord did allow water to come out of the rock but because Moses did not do exactly as God had told him to, he was not allowed to enter into the promised land years later. This is a lesson for us today - to do exactly what God commands us in His New Testament. However, God took Moses up a mountain and he saw the beautiful land that was promised to the children of Israel. Moses died there in the land of Moab and the Lord buried him (Deuteronomy 34:6).

In the book of Leviticus we read more about the law that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. This part of the law tells about the Levites (priests who came from the tribe of Levi) and the priesthood, the holy days and animal sacrifices that the people had to offer to God.

The book of Numbers, the fourth book in the Bible, covers a long period of time. In this book, we read about the last days at Mount Sinai to the end of the wanderings in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy, the fifth book in the Bible, reviews the law and some of the wanderings in the wilderness. In the last chapter of this book, we read of the last days and death of Moses, the great leader of God's people.

In our next lesson we will study about how God ruled His people through the judges, kings and prophets

Section I
Fill in the blanks

Question 1
The law of Moses lasted until ________ _______.

Question 2
Aaron made a ______ ______ for the people to worship

Question 3
The Lord _______ of the evil which He thought to do unto His ______ (Exodus 32:14).

Question 4
The priests came from the tribe of ________.

Question 5
Moses died in the land of ______ and the ______ buried him (Deuteronomy 34:6).

Section II
Please select true or false at the end of the sentence.

Question 1
The Mosaic Age began with Adam.
TrueFalse

Question 2
God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai during the wanderings in the wilderness
TrueFalse

Question 3
Moses broke the two tablets of stone on which the law was written when he saw the people worshipping an idol, a golden calf
TrueFalse

Question 4
Moses did exactly as God had said and struck the rock to get water.
TrueFalse

Question 5
Moses entered the promised land and lived there
TrueFalse

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