God promised Abraham multiple descendants and a
homeland to bless the world (Gen.12:1-3). Abraham’s family grew but became
enslaved in Egypt. They cried out and the Lord God called Moses to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt and the Pharaoh let the Israelites go. But Pharaoh
changed his mind and his troops trapped the Israelites by the Red Sea. However,
the Lord divided the sea so Israel could walk through on dry ground. Then Pharaoh’s army followed Israel into the see only to be drowned. Life was tough
in the desert but the Lord miraculously provided the Israelites with ‘manna and
quail’ and ‘water from a rock’. Then the Lord gave Israel ‘His Law’ and confirmed ‘His
Covenant’ with Moses and Israel (Exodus 19-20, 24). This brings us to the story
of the ‘golden calf’ which we find in Exodus 32. You can watch the video
and read the comments below.
The
Israelites grew impatient with Moses being up on the mountain with God. They
didn’t know what had happened to Moses so they went to Aaron to have him make
them gods to go before them. They asked Aaron to make them gods to lead them so
Aaron collected their gold jewelry and formed it into an idol in the shape of a
calf. They were unwilling to wait for Moses to return from God and they resorted
to an idolatrous expression of worship. Aaron was an eyewitness to the ‘exodus’
and the Lord’s mighty acts in the plagues. Surely he knew to wait for Moses yet
Aaron made an idol and built an altar. He also announced that the next day they
would hold a festival to the Lord.
It turns out that the people were willing to worship other gods and they even
gave them credit for bringing them out of Egypt. The festival Aaron called for was
to the Lord but the idol Aaron fashioned corrupted their worship. Their worship
became idolatrous and their behavior became immoral (Romans 1).
The Lord knew
what was happening below so He told Moses to go down to Moses’ people who Moses
had brought out of Egypt. The Lord couldn’t identify the Israelites as His own
people because they had corrupted themselves by turning from the Lord’s
commands. The Lord wanted to destroy the Israelites and turn Moses into a ‘great
nation’. God had promised to make Abraham into a ‘great nation’ but now He was willing
to abandon Abraham’s family with the exception for Moses. However, Moses sought
the Lord’s favor to preserve Israel
even though they had grumbled against Moses several times. Moses interceded for
Israel by first referring to the Israelites as the Lord’s people that the Lord
had rescued out of Egypt. Then Moses argued that if the Lord destroyed the
Israelites then the Egyptians would say the Lord brought the Israelites out of
Egypt only wipe them off the earth. Finally, Moses reminds the Lord of His promise
to give Abraham, Isaac and Jacob descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky and a land as their inheritance forever. After Moses’ appeal we are told
that the Lord chose not to
bring about the disaster He had threatened.
After
successfully interceding for Israel, Moses went down the mountain with the two
tablets of stone engraved with the commandments of God. When Moses saw the calf
and the people dancing and partying he threw the tablets of stone and they
shattered at the foot of the mountain. Moses took the calf, burned it in the
fire, ground it into a powder, scattered it on the water and he made the Israelites
drink it. Moses was shocked that Aaron had led the people into such a grievous
sin. But Aaron tried to avoid responsibility by mentioning how prone to evil
the Israelites were. Aaron also claimed that when he threw the Israelite’s gold
into the fire somehow a calf idol formed itself. Then Moses called whoever was
for the Lord to stand with him and
all the Levites stood with Moses. Moses said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man
should go back and forth with a sword through the camp killing his brother and
friend and neighbor.’ ” Three thousand people died and the next day Moses went up
the mountain to see if he could atone for Israel’s sin. So Moses pleaded that
the Lord forgive Israel’s sin and if not then Moses requested that he be blotted
out of the Lord’s book. But the LORD said
that whoever had sinned against Him would be blotted out. Then the Lord exhorted
Moses to go lead the Israelites and the Lord promised that His angel would go
before them. The Lord said that in
time He would strike Israel with a plague because of what they did with the
calf Aaron had made.
We may never fashion an idol and seek to worship it or seek
to worship the Lord through it. However, all too often we turn to things other
than God. We can also very easily drift into ways of worshiping God that are contrary
to His will as revealed in his word. Moreover what we need is someone to make
God present to us, to intercede for us and to make atonement for us when we
violate or neglect His commands. Surely this greater mediator than Moses that
we all need is our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus,
unlike Moses, can fully atone for all our sins by offering to God his perfect
life and his own death on the cross on our behalf. In addition, Jesus alone can lead us into all
the realization of all the promises of God.
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