Exodus 32:1-14 - False Gods and True Promises

Exodus 32:1-14

The Gold Calf (Deuteronomy 9:6–29)

1 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

2 And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

5 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” 6 Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

11 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: “LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

When Moses spent too long on the mountain speaking with the LORD, the people grew restless due to their lack of patient faith and began to complain about the conditions since leavening the bondage of lush Egypt that was no paradise.  They compelled Aaron to be a priest to new gods to lead them instead.  Aaron went along and gathered their golden earrings and used and engraving tool resembling a chisel to craft an idol of a golden calf for them to aim their misplaced worship and trust at.  The people proclaimed the lifeless object of precious metal as their god whom they claimed brought them out of Egypt as they rejected the LORD on high who led them in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night through the parted sea to their present place where they should have been patiently waiting to hear God’s words from the hands of Moses.  Aaron went further astray and built the rebellious an altar to offer false and lifeless worship to their lifeless idol, not comprehending that all which glitters is not gold of eternal value.  We then hear that “the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” as 1 Corinthians 10:6-7 reminds us of their sin and our awareness of it to learn from their mistakes and not ourselves indulge in.  The LORD sees all (Genesis 16:13) and his extreme anger of divine jealousy burned against the people He had delivered and who turned so quickly away to worship empty things instead of Him who rescued them.  How some today still turn from the saving grace of Christ to worship of idols made by the hands of man and forget the Lord who rescued them from a certain judgment of eternal death and suffering!  We are called to read and heed the examples like this of failure and not repeat them foolishly, but stay the course of thankful worship and devotion to the One who saved us.  God told Moses that these stiff-necked people deserved to be obliterated so He could start anew with His faithful servant Moses who remained loyal.  Moses wisely pleaded for mercy and forgiveness so the name of the LORD would not be forgotten in how He had delivered this people from bondage as a shadow of the eternal security of our salvation in the Messiah Jesus to come which we now see and understand more clearly.  He reminded God of His promises to Abraham of our and their faith (Romans 4:13, 16, Galatians 3:7-8, 9, 13-14) and his descendants Isaac and Jacob who was Israel as the progenitors of this people facing certain judgment to multiply them to fill the world with His children in the promised land foreshadowing the Celestial City to come after the final judgment.  The LORD answered as He had already known that He would in testing the faith of Moses and showing grace in mercy to forgive His people and glorify His name among the onlookers of the nations.  We likewise have this grace of salvation by faith which trusts and obeys God’s word now written on our hearts instead of dead cold stone tablets (2 Corinthians 3:3-4) and remember this lesson to not allow ourselves to turn from our God (Hebrews 12:25-26, 28) who has delivered us from bondage of sin’s darkness (Acts 26:18) in forgiveness of unmerited grace.  We are to press towards the goal of Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:12-13, 14) in following after Him faithfully until that final day when He descends from the mountain of heaven where He dwells and comes to live among us at last in that promised kingdom come to earth as we shun the world’s false gods and trust His promises!