By Shirley Rosemarie Evans
19 When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it.
21 Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”
22 “Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!”
Exodus 32:19-24 (NLT)
Wow! You can almost picture the scene. Moses enters the camp to see this monstrosity of a golden calf and the delirious frenzied dancing of the people of God in worship to the god they had made for themselves. Sparks began to fly! To say Moses is not impressed would be putting it mildly. In fact, the passage says he burned with anger. He was so angry he threw the tablet of stone to the ground. It seems like these commands are just in time. The command “To have no other gods” is definitely needed. The golden calf was associated with the Canaanite god El and was a symbol of virility and strength.
Some might say that Moses’ response was somewhat over the top. He was not just satisfied with burning the calf no he ground it into powder and made the Israelites drink it. Harsh, perhaps but the truth is that the children of Israel had to be taught a lesson that God will not accept worship of any other God, and He will not share his glory. This is the first command “thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” Unfortunately, this is a command that they will continually go on to break throughout the biblical account of their history.
The sad truth is that Israel’s failings are still our failings today. All too often the pleasures of life or material goods will divert our attention away from God. Or the drive to achieve earthly goals or success will consume all our time and energies. Or simply our trivial conversations or social media habits can hold our attention for hours on end, but we have no time for the Word of God.
Finally, Moses turns to Aaron for an explanation and Aaron responds in a way that is typical of the human condition since Adam blamed God and Eve for the disobedience in the garden. Aaron blamed the people, “they made me do it.” And don’t you just love the line – “I simply threw it into the fire and out came this calf.” How often do we look to shift blame and fail to take responsibility for our actions? But true repentance comes when we own that we have done wrong and confess our mistakes and seek forgiveness. “You will not reject a broken and repentant heart O God.” Psalm 51:17.
Ask – What was the condition of the children of Israel’s heart in wanting to make a god for themselves?
Seek – Are there areas of your life where you have become impatient with God and have erected your own idols?
Knock – Ask God to turn His searchlight on your heart and to show you any places that he is not Lord and then repent.
(Upper Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash)
