Worshipping The Golden Calf

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Exodus 32

The Gold Calf
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.
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”
18 But he said:
     “It is not the noise of the shout of victory,
      Nor the noise of the cry of defeat,
      But the sound of singing I hear.”
19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20 Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”
22 So Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
24 And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.”
25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies),
26 then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
27 And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ”
28 So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
29 Then Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every man has opposed his son and his brother.”
30 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
31 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold!
32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
33 And the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.”
35 So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.

Why did the people make this golden calf in the holy presence of God? It was because they had waited for Moses to come down from the holy mountain, and to advise them on what to do next. But a long time had passed, and Moses had not come down from the mountain.

They were tired of waiting in the wilderness, and wondering what their future might be. Whatever little patience they had simply dissolved into the thin air.

So they gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make for us gods who will lead us.”

Aaron said to the people, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, sons and daughters are wearing. Bring them to me.” So all the people took their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

Aaron took the gold from the people. Then he melted it and made a statue of a calf. He fashioned and finished it with a tool. Then the people said, “Israel! These are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

Aaron saw all this, and he built an altar before the calf. Then he made an announcement. He said, “Tomorrow there will be a special feast to honor the LORD.”

The people got up early the next morning. They offered whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. First the people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up, and had wild parties without any restraint. They went into a great disorder and mayhem. The people were misbehaving in disorganized, confused, chaotic and even violent ways, neither controlled nor lawful!

And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down from this mountain. Your people, the people you brought out of the land of Egypt, have done a terrible sin. They have quickly turned away from the things I commanded them to do. They have made for themselves a calf of melted gold. They have worshiped that calf and offered sacrifices to it. The people have said, ‘Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.’”

The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen these people. I know that they are very stubborn people. So now do not stop Me. I am so angry with them that I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants a great nation.”

But Moses begged the LORD his God. Moses said, “LORD, don’t let Your anger destroy Your people. You brought these people out of Egypt with Your great power and strength. Don’t let the people of Egypt say, ‘The LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But He planned to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the earth.’ So stop being angry. Don’t destroy Your people. Remember the men who served You—Abraham, Isaac and Israel. You promised with an oath to them. You said, ‘I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised them. It will be theirs forever.’”

So the LORD changed his mind. He did not destroy the people as He had said He might.

Then Moses went down the mountain. In his hands he had the two stone tablets with the covenant on them. The commandments were written on both sides of each stone, front and back. God Himself had made the stones. And God Himself had written the commandments on the stones.

Then Joshua heard the noises that the people were making and shouting. He said to Moses, “It sounds like war down in the camp.”

Moses answered: “It is not an army’s shout of victory. It is not an army’s cry of defeat. It is the sound of singing that I hear.”

When Moses came close to the camp, he saw the gold calf and the dancing. He became very angry. He threw down the stone tablets which he was carrying. He broke them at the bottom of the mountain.

Then he took the calf that the people had made. He melted it in the fire. And he ground the gold until it became powder. He threw the powder into the water. And he forced the Israelites to drink that water.

Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you? Why did you cause them to do such a terrible sin?”

Aaron answered, “Don’t be angry, master. You know that these people are always ready to do wrong. The people said to me, ‘Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us gods who will lead us.’

So I told the people, ‘Take off your gold jewelry.’ So they gave me the gold. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!” What a blatant lie! Aaron did it with full knowledge of what he was doing. The gold calf was made with some planning, design and intent. It did not come forth out of the fire by itself! Aaron fashioned, and carved the golden calf with an engraving tool.

Moses saw that the people were acting wildly. He saw that Aaron had let them get out of control. Yes, Aaron did not restrain them. He allowed them to do what they desired and lusted for! And what they did was so bad and shameful that their enemies would laugh at them.

So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp. He said, “Let anyone who wants to follow the LORD come to me.” And all the people from the family of Levi gathered around Moses.

Then Moses said to them, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Every man must put on his sword and go through the camp from one end to the other. Each man must kill his brother, his friend and his neighbor.’”

The people from the family of Levi obeyed Moses. That day about 3,000 of the people of Israel died.

Then Moses said, “Today you have been given for service to the LORD. You were willing to kill your own sons and brothers. And God has blessed you for this.”

The next day Moses told the people, “You have done a terrible sin. But now I will go up to the LORD. Maybe I can do something so your sins will be removed. Then you will belong to God again.”

So Moses went back to the LORD and said, “How terrible it is! These people have sinned horribly. They have made for themselves gods from gold. Now, forgive them of this sin. If You will not, then erase my name. Erase it from the book in which You have written the names of Your people.”

But the LORD told Moses, “I will erase from My book the names of the people who sin against Me. So now, go. Lead the people where I have told you. My angel will lead you. When the time comes to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

So the LORD caused terrible things to happen to the people. He did this because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

As history often repeats itself, sinful things that people had done in the past still remain prevalent and widespread today.

2 Timothy 3:1-7

Perilous Times and Perilous Men
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We must remember this that there will be many troubles in the last days. There will be perilous people living in perilous times.

Before Jesus returns again as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, many people of God will be tired of waiting for Him. They will turn away to choose and lust for the things of the world. They will worship the created things and not the Creator!

People will love only themselves and money. They will brag and be proud. They will say evil things against others. They will not obey their parents. People will not be thankful or be the kind of people God wants.

They will not have love for others. They will refuse to forgive others and will speak bad things. They will not control themselves. They will be cruel and will hate what is good.

In the last days, people will turn against their friends. They will do foolish things without thinking. They will be conceited and proud. They will love pleasure. They will become lawless. They will not love God.

They will continue to act as if they serve God, but they will not really serve God. Stay away from those people.

Some of them go into homes and get control of weak women who are full of sins. They are led to do many sinful acts by the many evil desires they have.

They will always try to learn new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth fully.

And many people of God will worship the golden calf, serving and worshipping money and not God!

Today, corruption, misappropriation of funds, adultery, fornication and other immoral and scandalous news involving some prominent pastors and church leaders have brought a lot of mistrust, shame, headaches and heartaches to many churches and Christians globally.

As true believers of God, we need to watch and pray, and be vigilant so that we will not fall into the same sins or be swayed away by the seductive waves of such perilous times.

Written on:
14 August 2024