The Golden Calf
Commentary
32:1 “when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain…” The people of Israel are impatient. They have not learned from their forefather Abraham the lesson of waiting upon the Lord. They are inclined towards impatience. Perhaps three months in the wilderness has worn their tolerance thin or perhaps like many of the habits they took from Egypt they still wrestled with instant gratification. According to the scripture it was a common practice for them to grumble the moment they were uncomfortable as we say when they are hungry or when they are thirsty, like infants they had little tolerance for discomfort, and now they must wait for Moses to return from meeting with God and they panic. They do not wait well and they suffer grave consequences for it. Demanding that Aaron do something, make a god they can see and that will pacify them. God on the other hand is patient. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8–10a and again Nehemiah 9:30 “Yet for many years You had patience with them, And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets.” God seems to value this trait so much so that throughout all history as he interacts with men, the one thing that remains in the same in almost every story, is he causes them to wait and even instructs it. Psalm 27 Wait for Jehovah: Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; Yea, wait thou for Jehovah. What is the value in waiting, the waiting process is what produces the value in a thing. waiting turns us from one thing into another thing, like a caterpillar into a butterfly, like a coal into diamonds, like a seed into a vineyard, like grapes into wine, we must wait for a child in the womb and even now God calls us now to wait for his return. We have to assume if we believe God and his word, he is doing something in us and through us during the waiting process. The people of Israel in their haste and refusal to wait sinned. In Sarah’s refusal and impatience to bear a child, she sinned and Ishmael came forth. In Saul’s inability to wait for Samuel he sinned before the Lord, David could not wait to ask the Lord for Bathsheba and it was a great sin of adultery. There is a definite pattern, if not waiting takes us outside of God’s will than waiting and patience must produce in us both faith and obedience.
32:1b “The people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “come make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt…” The children of Israel are giving credit not to Yahweh but the MAN, Moses. In verse 11 when Moses intercedes, we can see the difference between his perspective and the children of Israel. He has received something that Israel has not yet received, faith and faithfulness towards God. Time and again from the moment God appears to Moses he is telling the children of Israel; I am the Lord YOUR God who brought you out of Egypt. This must have greatly grieved and angered the Lord to hear them sidestep his mighty and gracious deliverance. He was so angry he was ready to destroy them. They had just agreed to do everything God asked in the ten commandments, the first and foremost do not make idols for yourselves. And here they are breaking the first commandment the moment they think they have no leader. They were so accustomed to having a king, Pharoah, that they could not do for even a moment without one. It is the same reason and root in their hearts that wanted and asks for a king later when God gives them Saul.
32:1c “we do not know what has become of him.” As if they need to know everything. Waiting builds trust if nothing else, but Israel’s inability to wait and have faith in a God they could not see, actually crippled their vision and blinded them to what was good and right. When we are unable to relinquish control over a situation, it leads us to build idols that we can control.
32:2 “tear of the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters.” These are likely the gold and silver that Israel plundered from the Egyptians. The things used to make them beautiful and valuable turns into idols. This happens even today. We create these idols and gods to worship and look to rather than to God. Israel were slaves working in mud pits and the hot sun, I cannot imagine they wore gold earrings in Egypt. When they left Egypt and became free, they immediately imitated the Egyptians behavior and practices, which gave them opportunity to then unite and make this golden calf and sin with it. This is not unlike the tower of Babel when the men of Shinar were of one mind and said, “come let us build a tower.” Also, Paul says, “do not use your freedom as an excuse to sin.” How often are we guilty of this very thing? We look to our wealth, our beauty or our victories and we begin to bow down as if these things brought us to the places we are and gave us freedom from the unpleasantries in life. True freedom comes from the hand of the Lord, not our own hands.
32:4 “and Aaron fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a golden calf; and they said, this is your God oh Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” They may as well have driven the nails into Jesus hands right then and there, rejecting God, refusing to Acknowledge him as their savior and breaking his heart. Aaron uses the very gift that God had bestowed on the people and the first thing he does is sin against God. Why a calf? “The Egyptian bull god was elevated and became worshiped as one of the most sacred gods in Egypt, its name was Apis. Apis was eventually linked to both Ptah, the architect who created the world, and Osiris, the underworld god of resurrection and death. Over time, however, Apis became identified as the worldly incarnation of Ptah himself.” https://study.com/academy/lesson/apis-egyptian-god-facts-symbolism.html
It is likely that the Israelites were reverting back to what they knew and saw in Egyptian culture. They attributed all Yahweh had done for them to this calf/bull made of gold by their own hands. They reverted back to what was familiar the moment they couldn’t see Moses. They revealed their true heart, they wanted a god they could see and control and use to imitate Egyptian life. They had not truly left Egypt behind but brought it with them.
32:5 “now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it and made a proclamation, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” Aaron sees that the people are pleased and quickly accommodates them further, perhaps using his newly found skill and blueprint to make an altar, something that eventually he would be tied to for the remainder of his life and all his descendants. He goes a step further and actually calls the false idol by the name of “the Lord”. Aaron was a leader in Israel, he fell fast and hard. The people we look up to today, will be the people we look down on tomorrow. No one is above reproach. We are all made of flesh and blood and have sin in our nature. It is a reminder to us to be careful who we follow and even so the most holy and godly people need accountability and truth to keep them in line with God’s truth. Aaron would eventually be making sacrifices daily on the altar God instructed them to make to atone for the people of Israel, but here he is kindling the fires of sin in the people and emphasizing before all the desperate need they have for sacrifice and atonement.
32:7 “go down at once for your people who you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them.” Nothing Israel does is beyond the scope and sight of God. He is omnipresent. They cannot escape God’s vision and neither can we. God seems to disown the people in emphasizing to Moses, “Your people.” Idolatry is spiritual adultery. God just made a covenant with the people that he brought out of Egypt, he desired to dwell in the midst of them and they said, “YES! WE DO, WE WILL.” And now while betrothed and waiting for the ceremony they find another “LOVER” and are unfaithful to the one true God and savior. Ezekiel 16 describes how God probably felt at this time. Angry broken hearted and betrayed. This would be an ongoing problem for Israel for the remainder of their existence. It is in fact the very reality that calls for the necessity of a messiah, a righteous branch, God in the flesh to come down from heaven and keep both ends of the covenant because they, as well as we, simply cannot remain faithful, we cannot succeed in loving God in being obedient. Our nature is too corrupt and we continue to corrupt ourselves. As the scriptures say not one is righteous. We need the lamb of God. Never is this more evident than in this moment in history up to this point.
32:9-10 ‘I have seen this people, now let me alone that my anger may burn against them and I may destroy them.” God has feelings and emotions. He created mankind in his image. Because we have them, we know he has them. Here God is revealing his anger like a lover who has been betrayed. He has walked in on his own bride in the arms of her lover. Throughout the Old Testament scripture this is a common theme and image that God uses to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness towards him. She “opens her legs” and “reveals her nakedness” and “pays her lovers” IN the book of Hosea, God instructs the prophet to take a prostitute as a wife as symbolic of Gods love towards Israel and her repeated infidelity towards him her provider and husband. Yet time and time again we also see God’s compassion and love kindled towards his people, his beloved not because she is good or perfect, but because she is his. This is the beauty of God’s love for his chosen, in spite of our sin and failure too obey, in spite of our incessant unfaithfulness and regardless of our ability to be good, he loves us. While we were sinners, while we were failures and betrayers and idolators he died for us in our ugliest messiest sin. He gave his spotless self for our corrupt flesh.
32:11 “Moses entreated the Lord his God” The people had not yet learned who God was and they were unable to tell their head from their tail. Moses knew without a doubt, Moses entreated the LORD His God. Perhaps Israel had not yet fully accepted God as their Lord. Moses reminds God that Israel is His people and he did pull them from the grave of Egypt with his own mighty hand and great power. Moses interceded for the people of Israel; no doubt one reason God chose Moses from the beginning. Moses was a compassionate and good shepherd who cared deeply for the people of Israel, so much that he was willing to kill for them, as he did defend his brother against the Egyptian. Moses was also willing to forego his place in the book of life for them. At this point we see Moses a Christ like figure in that he was willing to take the place of those sinners. Moses also reminded God of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob proving the value and unshakable promise of God’s word and not only the value of it but God’s fierce devotion to his own promises. “God changed his mind”
32:15-16 “and the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets.” Moses is going to break these tablets when he reaches the bottom of the mountain although he intercedes for the people before God doesn’t eliminate his own burning anger against their wrong.
32:19 and as he came near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing and Moses anger burned and he threw the tablets from this hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.” Here Moses’ physical act of breaking the tablets with God’s words and commandments is a symbolic and revelatory of Israel breaking the commandments and words of God. In their sight he was showing them what they were doing, this made the greatest impact on the Levites, who would eventually come to be commissioned both to teach and be the keepers of the laws of God. Malachi 24 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.
32:20 “he took the calf and burned it with fire and ground it into powder and made the son of Israel drink it.” What better way to show the people the futility of their idols. They are not powerful, they are not alive, they can do nothing in fact they are so worthless that they can be ground up into powder and ingested. When God tells the people to “go back and forth and kill” I can’t help but wonder if those who refused to drink were the ones which they killed.
32:21-24 “what have the people done to you.” Moses assumes that Aaron was somehow bewitched or forced to act in this manner and therefore brought this great sin upon them. HE is recognizing that it surely was Aaron’s fault but he is also thinking the best of Aaron in that the people must have done something to him. This is more evidence that Moses is innocent in his thinking and heart. Aaron takes advantage of this and lies to Moses saying the people are prone to evil, (not him) but the people and the calf just jumped out of the fire. This is such an offence, for he is still giving the calf some sort of power and attributing life to it.
32:25 -28 “When Moses saw the people were out of control…for Aaron had let them get out of control and they had become a mockery to their enemies he stood at the gate of the camp and said whoever is for the LORD come to me! And all the sons of Levi gathered to him.” It is here many commentators and interpreters speculate that God took the Levites instead of the firstborn to be priests that would serve him in the tabernacle, teach the law and atone for the sins of the people. With so many peoples how many actually heard Moses’ command? We do know that Levi, had a special ability to slaughter the sons of Shechem and here we see them taking up the sword again and killing brothers, neighbors and friends for God’s honor. They were displaying the Lord’s righteous indignation. Were they not involved in the worship we don’t know this either or perhaps they were just quick t repent. How did they know who was guilty, and who to kill. Were there people prostrating or bowing in surrender and others fighting and being rebellious ? Either way the rabble and the faithless were certainly weeded out that day from among the sons of Israel. This would not be the first time or the last time that they grieved God’s heart with unbelief and rebellion. But it was a major moment in their history. God has a way of redeeming the time and redeeming the people. IN the book of Acts. There is a story which seems to be an undoing or a replacing of these 3000 souls that were killed because of sin and unbelief this day. Acts 2 37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38 And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him. 40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. 41 They then [p]that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and [q]fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
32:29 “every man has been against his son and against his brother.” Jesus said, if you do not love me more than your family members you are not worthy of me. Although this is a hard concept to accept. The Lord must be first and foremost in our lives and hearts. We cannot put anyone before him, as Aaron had put the people first and did what they demanded rather than what God commanded. I think this is particularly hard when it comes to spouses and children or anyone in our lives who has set themselves up as a central figure in our lives and we have loved them more than God. But the Lord is clear we are to be devoted to him, dedicating ourselves to the Lord and loving less family friends’ sons’ and brothers. This is the cost of discipleship.
32:30 “you yourselves have committed a great sin.” Those spared were still held responsible and God promised to blot them out and punish them for this great sin. In Jewish thought and tradition, it is said that every punishment that Israel incurs from that point on is in part a result of this sin. Moses informs God of what God already knew and informed HIM of, but we see in this interaction a relationship between God and Moses that is so intimate a type of friendship. God and Moses looking to eachother for both comfort and communication, reiterating the events like two parents discussing the children bad report from school. Moses makes atonement and yet the people are still held accountable for this sin. Moses pleads with God to blot him out of his book if he will not forgive the people. Which book is this? There is a book and this is not the only mention of it. Is this the lamb’s book of life? And it begs the question are names added when we come to Christ or are they deleted when we reject him?
32:33 lead the people where I told you my angel shall go before you.” There are several mentions of this angel and it begs the question about the angel of the Lord being the preincarnate Christ. It makes one wonder if in this moment when the people sin Christ is there present mediating, leading and reminding God the Father of his future offering and sacrifices for the sins of the people.
32:35 “so God smote the people for what they did with the calf.” Those who refused to repent were killed immediately by the Levites, 3000 it seems, but those who were willing to repent and confess were spared, yet still smote. Our sins demand a retribution often we must be held accountable and suffer a consequence here on earth. God does not remove our citizenship from heaven for sin, but he permits us to suffer the consequences. For if a man kills another man, repent as he may and be forgiven as he is in Christ, may still have to spend the rest of his life behind bars. If a Christian commits an adultery, they may still lose their family and marriage, if a disciple who loves God falls into sin and addiction, he may lose his ministry or even his life. We live on earth and must suffer the consequences of our choices and actions even so we need not fear that anything can pluck us from the hand of God.
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