It appears the Lord occasionally proposes that a wicked people be destroyed from off the earth or cut off from the blessings of the covenant to test the mettle and concern of his servants, the prophets. In such a case the noble spiritual leader then stands, like Jesus his exemplar, as a mediator for the people over whom he has charge. For example, when, in Moses’ absence, the children of Israel had defiled themselves in worshipping a golden calf, Jehovah “said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people; now therefore let me alone, that my warath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?”
The Lord said to Moses: “If they will repent of the evil which they have done, I will spare them, and turn away my fierce wrath; but, behold, thou shalt execute judgment upon all that will not repent of this evil this day. Therefore, see thou do this thing that I have commanded thee, or I will execute all that which I had thought to do unto my people.”
The next day Moses said to the people: “Ye have sinned a great sin; and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now,” he pleaded in a mediatorial role, “if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” (JST, Exodus 32:9-11, 14, 30-33.)