The Golden Calf
Exodus 32:1-14
In today’s uncertain times, there is a rush among many to buy gold. As compared to paper money which inflates and is really backed by nothing but the good faith and credit of the issuer, gold has for thousands of years been seen as a stable store of value. I have even heard the saying: “In gold we trust.” Gold has many properties which make it valuable. In is a beautiful metal. It can be beaten quite thin, and a small amount of gold can cover a large area. It does not tarnish like silver and many other metals. Because of this, it is used in electronics to plate contacts to insure that the connection remains solid. It is used in jewelry. It is rare, which makes it valuable. It has a long history as being used for money. So, indeed, gold is a wonder metal.
There is another saying which says: “All that glitters is not gold.” A thin plating of gold can be put upon another cheap and heavy metal such as lead. The unwitting person can be duped into thinking they are buying solid gold. Countries have debased their coinage over the centuries by such a method. It catches the eye, but it is not what it seems to be. Whether it is solid gold or fool’s gold, it has incited the lust for wealth and ownership. This is not to say that gold is bad. We have already seen some of its useful properties.In Exodus 31:1-4 we read that Bezalel was gifted by the Spirit of God to make beautiful objects for the Tabernacle. This was a great use for gold as it was to make the Tabernacle where the presence of Yahweh resided beautiful. But as we will read this morning, gold can be used for nefarious purposes as well.
When we look at this passage about the golden calf, we might ask the question as to where the Israelites who were poor, miserable slaves in Egypt got the gold. Exodus 11:1-3 tells us that on the day before the last plague, the Israelites were to “borrow” jewels of silver and jewels of gold” from the Egyptians, and that the LORD would put them in favor of the Egyptians to do so. So the Egyptians who were rich in gold and silver were spoiled by the Israelites. they carried this gold with them into the wilderness. Much of this gold was used in the furnishing of the Tabernacle, but not all. It is the use of the rest of this gold which concerns us this morning.
The text says that Moses had gone up into the mountain to receive the tablets of the Law which had been written by the finger of Yahweh. Covenants in the Ancient Near East were engraved by use of a chisel (stylus) into stone (stele). Stone was more enduring than tablets of clay or papyrus and reflected that the covenant was meant to be enduring in nature. God, knowing in advance that Israel would someday ask for an earthly king told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 17:18:
Deuteronomy 17:18 NKJV
“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
The king, as Yahweh’s representative was to personally make a copy of the Law, a reflection of what we see here. By copying the Law, the king would be made aware of his divine responsibilities to Yahweh.
Moses spent a long time upon Mt. Sinai waiting for the Law to be engraved in stone. The people of Israel below became restless. Perhaps they thought that Yahweh had struck Moses dead. They already had developed a reputation that the only reason Yahweh had freed them from Egyptian slavery was to destroy them in the desert. They were always impugning the motives of the LORD. the technical term for this is “blasphemy.” The Children of Israel had seen the flashes of lightning and the peals of thunder and were terrified. Perhaps Moses had been struck down. what were they to do?
The people approached Aaron with their concerns. They asked Aaron to make gods for them. They had lost faith in a God whom they could not directly see. Yahweh was clothed in both light and darkness. None of them had ever seen Him, they had heard His voice and were so afraid that they asked Moses to speak to them and not Yahweh. Whatever the LORD told Moses, Moses could tell the people, and they would obey. They did not trust this invisible God who had taken them from Egypt. They lusted to return to Egypt and the “good life” of bondage and hard labor there they feasted on wild onions. So Aaron relented and asked them for their golden earrings from which he made a golden calf. This was a likeness to the Egyptian god, Hawthor.” This shows that they intended that Aaron would take them back to Egypt with the golden calf leading them.
After the golden calf was made, the people ate, drank, and rose up to play. The bible is circumspect in translating the word as “play” as it more properly is to be understood as the practice of ritualistic sex, which was part of the worship of the gods of the fertility cults such as Baal and Asherah. So this was as bad as a repudiation of the rule of Yahweh over Israel as it could get. First of all, where did they get the food and drink? Was it not Yahweh who had provided manna and quail in the desert for Israel. did not water come out from the rock Moses smote at the command of the LORD? Is it not the hand of God that had multiplied Israel, even in the midst of their bondage to Pharaoh? Now they were engaged in the worship of the golden calf, one of the many gods of Egypt. Is it any surprise that Yahweh took umbrage at what was going on in the camp. He tells Moses to go down quickly to the camp because the people had corrupted themselves. What they had committed was both treason and blasphemy, and the punishment for these crimes was death. What a way to corrupt what Aaron called was to be a feast to Yahweh. Really, Aaron! Was it a golden calf who had led them out of Egypt? While Moses was on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments, the Covenant of the Law, one of the commandments being not to make or bow down to and graven image, Aaron had fashioned a calf god out of the golden earrings the people had provided.
The LORD was so angry that He was set to destroy the Children of Israel and set up Moses and his descendants to take their place. The people had always claimed that this was the LORD’s intention all along. The people we certainly deserving such a fate. But now the pastoral heart of Moses comes out. He reminds the LORD of the promises He had made to Abraham that He would multiply his seed exceedingly. He also reminded the LORD of what the Egyptians would say, that the LORD had taken them out to the mountain to destroy them. The LORD relented unto the cry of Moses. He did not destroy Israel. But as we see in the following verses, severe punishment ensued. The people were made to eat the dust from the golden calf, and many died.
When we see Moses’ great intercession, and his mention of Abraham brings us to an interesting parallel. When the LORD and two angels came down to execute judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham interceded along the same lines: ”Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?” “Shall not the LORD of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:23-25) It is interesting to observe the parallels between Abraham in the Book of Genesis and the Children of Israel in Exodus. We see a similarity in this passage with Abraham’s sojourn in Egypt. A famine had brought Abraham there, and later Jacob. At first, both Abraham, and later Israel found favor with Pharaoh and increased in wealth. When Abraham’s lie to Pharaoh was found out, he was thrust out of Egypt with his gained wealth, along with Lot. Abraham and Lot returned to the life of wandering at the edge of the Promised Land. The land was unable to sustain them both, and a quarrel broke out among the servants, to the point that Abraham and Lot agreed to separate. The riches of Egypt had become a snare to them. Lot was at that time Abraham’s heir apparent. If he had the same faith in Yahweh’s promise to Abraham, he would have given away all the wealth he had acquired and served Abraham. Instead, he turned and chose Sodom because it was then a rich land, at least until the LORD overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Now here, we see the disaster of Sodom and Gomorrah nearly repeated. And it would have been so unless Moses had interceded. Abraham’s intercession at least saved Lot and his daughters, even though the lost everything they had. Lot was Abraham’s nephew. And the Children of Israel were a continuation of the promise God had made to Abraham.
So when we look at this passage today, we should realize that the LORD hates iniquity, especially in those who are called by His name. Christians are part of a new covenant, sealed by the precious blood of Jesus. As great as the Old Covenant was under Moses and administered by angels. it only serves as a type to a greater fulfillment in Jesus. However, God does not change. The same LORD who hated rebellion then hates it even more today. Israel had failed to trust the motives and provision of the LORD. they did not need gold and silver. After all, they are not edible or drinkable. The gold which had been used by Bezalel to make precious vessels for the LORD had also been used to make a golden calf. There is little difference between gods of gold and making gold a god. We are all too often lured by the promise of earthly security. Jesus reminds us that there are thieves, moths, and rust which corrupt such treasures. What wealth the LORD provides us in this life should instead be focused upon the glory of the LORD and to make provision for the ministry of the gospel. While we do not now see the LORD, we shall see Him when He returns. But we are not blind to the LORD. He speaks to us by His Word and by means of the Holy Spirit. We do not need a visible representation of God or even the Lord Jesus Christ. Who knows what He looked like while he was on earth anyway? “We walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
The other thing we can learn from this passage is the need to intercede for one another. We see what power it has with the Lord. It saves souls from death. (James 5:20) This is true within the visible church as well as without. Abraham did not directly intercede for Lot, even though Lot was probably on his mind. He interceded for all the people of Sodom who might be righteous. Of course, that excluded everyone, for “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. “(Romans 3:23) By witnessing, we intercede for people who are slated for destruction. We witness to the Egyptians of today as well as Israel. So it is important that we represent the Lord correctly to the world. If they see a church which lusts after worldly pleasures and gain, they will wonder what difference being a Christian makes. If we portray the LORD as one who released His people from sin to destroy them rather than to lead them into the Promised Land, why would anyone want to be a Christian. The world expects to see something different in us. We do acknowledge that the terrors of the Last Judgment awaits those who refuse to believe. But we also proclaim to the world that He is not willing that any should perish as well. (2 Peter 3:9) We don’t only intercede for them in our prayers to the Lord, we also intercede in our actions and attitudes. So let us forsake the golden calves in our lives and follow the leadership of the Spirit unto eternal life.
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