We are still in chapter eleven of Exodus with our word for today, which is actually a phrase. בָּחֳרִי־אָֽף hot anger, fierce anger, great rage. It is used 5 times in the Old Testament. Literally hot nose. We have already looked at the word אָֽף nose and saw that it has to do with the flaring of your nostrils when you are angry so nostril, nose can be understood and translated as anger. Let’s look at all of the uses of our phrase. 1 Samuel 20:34 Jonathan got up from the table in בָּחֳרִי־אָ֑ף fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David. Isaiah 7:4 Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the בָּחֳרִי־אַ֛ף fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Lamentations 2:3 In בָּֽחֳרִי־אַ֗ף fierce anger he has cut off every horn of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand at the approach of the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything around it. 2 Chronicles 25:10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a בָּחֳרִי־אָֽף great rage.
This is how our word is used in our chapter. Exodus 11:8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in בָּחֳרִי־אָֽף hot anger. This anger for God’s righteousness reminds me of Jesus. John 2:13-17 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” It would be easy for me to go into a whole justification for righteous anger which when I was younger I would have easily gone there. But at this point in my life I’m paying more attention to the truth that anger is something that God alone can handle. People like me and you need to quickly take this feeling to God and let him turn it into passion. Because it can get us into trouble really quick. The Holy Spirit reminds us through Paul Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Give your anger to God right away because you don’t want the devil to get a foothold in our life. In our chapter today we see Moses hot with anger which in and of itself is not wrong it is an emotion that we need to allow ourselves to feel it by trusting God with this emotion. We find later in Moses life he held on to anger too long and he sinned which cost him the opportunity to enter the promise land he was leading the people into. I’ll close with the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul at the end of the book of Romans. These are great words to remember when we are fighting evil and feeling anger towards injustice as Moses was facing in our chapter. Romans 16:19-20 I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
