The Golden Calf
Notes
Transcript
events leading up to this; exodus from Egypt, battles, Moses receiving the law from God
while Moses was receiving the law, the people were breaking the law
That is what we are going to be looking at tonight.
What is the difference between value, respect, and honor and worship?
God is the only one who is worthy of worship. I love and value and respect and honor my wife, but I should never worship her. I love and value and respect and honor the church, but I do not worship the church. Right worship is reserved for God and God alone.
When the people of Israel were fleeing Egypt, it wasn’t by their own strength and by their own intelligence that they were able to escape. It was because God is the one who delivered them out of Egypt. But how quickly we forget things.
In the context of our passage, Moses was up on Mount Sinai getting the law. Even while he is up there, they are breaking the law.
Can anyone remember the 10 commandments?
No other gods, no idol worship, not take the Lord’s name in vain, remember the Sabbath, honor your father and mother, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, don’t covet.
Well, as we look at these chapters, we see the people of Israel break the 1st 2 of the commandments.
We need to understand this relationship. The people of Israel were dependent upon Moses. Moses acted as a mediator between them and God. God used Moses to speak to them. Moses was now on the mountain and it had been some time now and they felt like they were no longer important or loved by God.
Have you ever felt like you didn’t mean much to someone?
This is how the people of Israel felt about God. They felt like they had been forgotten. So they turn to other means. We as humans are going to worship something. We must be careful of what we worship though. We are going to see what happens with the people of Israel.
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. 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.”
They were getting worried. They maybe even thought that Moses had abandoned them. Remember that he is the mediator between them and God at this point. So they go to the second in command, Aaron, and want him to to make gods(little g), to protect them.
If you know the book of Exodus, then this is a little humorous. These people hated Moses, yet didn’t know what to do without him. They blamed him for all of their problems. They told him that they wanted to go back into slavery. They questioned every thing that Moses did. Can’t live with him, can’t live without him. They don’t know what to do and think that he has ghosted them. So they decide to get Aaron to make new things for them to worship.
Why do you think that they wanted new gods?
We worship the things that we find comfort in. Because Moses was gone, and their God was clearly not with them now because he left(yes that is sarcasm), they want something new to give them comfort.
2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
So they take their gold jewelry and turned it into a golden calf. They have created an idol. I think that we could simply define an idol as something to replace God with. They believed that they needed something to worship in place of God, so they fashioned this really nice and shiny object that they could focus on. They replaced God with gods. Not only that, in verse 4 it says that they are gonna give the new gods credit for bringing them out of Egypt. There is some intended symbolism here with the golden calf. The calf, in Egyptian and Canaanite traditions, was a symbol of fertility and strength. The Israelites are saying that it was not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who had the strength and birthed them out of the pangs of slavery, but this golden calf.
I know that we don’t take jewelry and melt it down and make idols out of them today. But what are things that can be treated like an idol?
We must be very careful. What will happen at times is the same thing that happens here. Aaron tries to not make this a big deal. He still tries to point to God. But you cannot get to God by using any means other than what he has defined. That means is right worship. Today, we look back to the work of Jesus on the cross. For them, they looked forward to the work of the promised Messiah. But you cannot do like Aaron.
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
I don’t see that there is any question that they have shifted their worship to false idols. Now, Aaron tries to play it off. The person who did what they wanted him to, now wants to take the false idols and use them as worship to God. He wants to throw a festival in honor of God while they just created false idols and gave them credit for the work that God had done.
This does not please God. While Moses is on the mountain, God tells him what the people did. God then told him that he was going to kill them all and start over with Moses(kind of like Noah). Moses though, he reminded God of the mighty works that he has done for them and of the covenant that he made with Abraham. God didn’t forget this, but Moses recognized the mighty works of God and how he should spare the people.
14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
God spares them. Now, the people down below at the base of the mountain do not know that this is happening. They are down there having a grand time feasting and worshiping this false idol. So, when Moses comes down and finds this, he is not pleased at all.
19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
He makes sure that this idol is gone. The symbolism we have here with the grinding up and putting in the water and making them drink it serves as giving the idol what it deserves. Our imaginations will tell us what happens to things after we ingest them and our body does not digest them. Yea, that is what the idol deserves.
Aaron then does what we all like to do when we are confronted with our sins. He shifts blame. He tells Moses, “you know these people. They are set on doing evil.” I could see him reminding Moses that these are the same people who hate you, don’t you remember.
But Moses still loved the people. He tells the people that they have sinned greatly against God. He tells them that he is going to go to God on their behalf. He goes to God and tells him that they have sinned greatly against him. He then offers himself to God on their behalf. Sound familiar? Who does that sound like? Well, unlike with Jesus, God does not let Moses do that.
After this, we get to chapter 33. God tells them to make their way to the promised land. Something begins to shift somewhat. During the time before all of this, one of the things that the people of Israel had wondered was if God was actually with them. Now, when we get to chapter 33, that question gets answered.
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’
2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
4 When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ”
The now knew that God’s presence was not with them. He was clearing the way for them, but he was not in their midst. They were grieved by this. So much so that they tore their jewelry off.
How often do we sin, and in the aftermath wish we had never done it?
But this was not the end of it. Prior to the incident with the golden calf, while Moses was on the mountain, God gave him instructions for building what was called the tabernacle. The tabernacle would be the dwelling place of the spirit of God on earth. God had not deserted them, he was waiting for the temple to be built. Moses even went to him and begged him to not let them make it to where they were going if his presence did not go with them there.
This is the time when Moses asks God to see his glory. God knows that Moses would not be able to actually do this. So God puts him in a sort of hole in the rock so that he can pass by and it not kill Moses. What a wonderful thing for a human to get to experience while still alive.
Then God gets Moses to cut out new tablets because he broke the old ones. And God does something that you and I would not do. Even with all of the frustration and let downs, he still loves the Israelites and he renews his covenant with them.
Have you ever had a relationship with someone that fell through but then were able to reconcile?
10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
Then he begins this list of things. Some of which include to tear down the pagan altars, not to make any idols to worship, keep the feast of unleavened bread, and to bring the first fruits of the ground to God. There are several others you can go and look at.
But the renewing of the covenant included the people following through with the instructions.
One of the main marks of a Christian life is obedience.
What are some things that we see in relation to the people of Israel and their lack of obedience that we can apply to our lives?
