Reflections on Exodus 32

 

Exodus 32 (Contemporary English Version)

1. After the people saw that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time, they went to Aaron and said, "Make us an image of a god who will lead and protect us. Moses brought us out of Egypt, but nobody knows what has happened to him."
2. Aaron told them, "Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and sons and daughters are wearing."
3. Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron,
4. then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull. All the people said to one another, "This is the god who brought us out of Egypt!"
5. When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the idol and said, "Tomorrow we will celebrate in honor of the LORD."
6. The people got up early the next morning and killed some animals to be used for sacrifices and others to be eaten. Then everyone ate and drank so much that they began to carry on like wild people.
7. The LORD said to Moses: Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools.
8. They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt.
9. Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are,
10. and I'm angry enough to destroy them, so don't try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.
11. Moses tried to get the LORD God to change his mind: Our LORD, you used your mighty power to bring these people out of Egypt. Now don't become angry and destroy them.
12. If you do, the Egyptians will say that you brought your people out here into the mountains just to get rid of them. Please don't be angry with your people. Don't destroy them!
13. Remember the solemn promise you made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised that someday they would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and that you would give them land.
14. So even though the LORD had threatened to destroy the people, he changed his mind and let them live.
15. Moses went back down the mountain with the two flat stones on which God had written all of his laws with his own hand, and he had used both sides of the stones.
16. (SEE 32:15)
17. When Joshua heard the noisy shouts of the people, he said to Moses, "A battle must be going on down in the camp."
18. But Moses replied, "It doesn't sound like they are shouting because they have won or lost a battle. They are singing wildly!"
19. As Moses got closer to the camp, he saw the idol, and he also saw the people dancing around. This made him so angry that he threw down the stones and broke them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
20. He melted the idol the people had made, and he ground it into powder. He scattered it in their water and made them drink it.
21. Moses asked Aaron, "What did these people do to harm you? Why did you make them sin in this terrible way?"
22. Aaron answered: Don't be angry with me. You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil.
23. They even told me, "That man Moses led us out of Egypt, but now we don't know what has happened to him. Make us a god to lead us."
24. Then I asked them to bring me their gold earrings. They took them off and gave them to me. I threw the gold into a fire, and out came this bull.
25. Moses knew that the people were out of control and that it was Aaron's fault. And now they had made fools of themselves in front of their enemies.
26. So Moses stood at the gate of the camp and shouted, "Everyone who is on the LORD's side come over here!" Then the men of the Levi tribe gathered around Moses,
27. and he said to them, "The LORD God of Israel commands you to strap on your swords and go through the camp, killing your relatives, your friends, and your neighbors."
28. The men of the Levi tribe followed his orders, and that day they killed about three thousand men.
29. Moses said to them, "You obeyed the LORD and did what was right, and so you will serve as his priests for the people of Israel. It was hard for you to kill your own sons and brothers, but the LORD has blessed you and made you his priests today."
30. The next day Moses told the people, "This is a terrible thing you have done. But I will go back to the LORD to see if I can do something to keep this sin from being held against you."
31. Moses returned to the LORD and said, "The people have committed a terrible sin. They have made a gold idol to be their god.
32. But I beg you to forgive them. If you don't, please wipe my name out of your book."
33. The LORD replied, "I will wipe out of my book the name of everyone who has sinned against me.
34. Now take my people to the place I told you about, and my angel will lead you. But when the time comes, I will punish them for this sin."
35. So the LORD punished the people of Israel with a terrible disease for talking Aaron into making the gold idol.
    

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    After they had experienced God's amazing works performed on their behalf, the Israelites entered a covenant with God agreeing that they would have no other gods besides God and would not make an idol nor bow down to them or worship them. Hardly a month had passed since entering that covenant and they had already made an idol and bowed down to it. It might be argued that they were not worshipping another god, but had only made a representation of the true God. Whether true or not, it does not make their action any less reprehensible. Gauging by God's response to their actions, it is clear He did not consider it any small thing.
    
    Moses had been on the mountain with God 40 days. The people grew impatient for his return and claimed a concern that something had happened to him and he would not return. They said to Aaron, "Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt--we don't know what has happened to him!" (32:1) Their voiced concern and the request they made do not necessarily line up. Were their concern merely for lack of a leader, they still had Aaron who had stood beside Moses through all that had transpired and who had been Moses' spokesperson through much of it. They could have simply asked him to lead them or asked him for advise. Instead, they came with a specific request indicating their conspiracy. Supposedly, this idol they requested was to become their god and was to go before them and lead them through the wilderness as God had done thus far on their journey. Aaron, who was to serve as high priest in this new covenant with God, failed in this role and as a leader by failing to make any attempt to turn the people from their intent. Instead of offering assurance concerning God and of Moses, he implemented their request for an idol.
    
    God was angry enough with them to destroy them and start over with Moses, making a nation of people through his descendants instead of Abraham's descendants. As tempting as that may have been, would it have turned out any differently? Was not Israel's on and off relationship with God symbolic of mankind in general? Do we not all have the same tendencies? Would not most of us have acted very similarly in the same situation? And, was not this whole affair between God and Abraham's descendants intended to depict the total inability of outward observances to make us right before God pointing mankind to the Messiah who could make us right with Him?
    
    Moses interceded on behalf of the people and turned God from His desire to destroy them, but they were not home free. On Moses' return to the Israelite camp he gathered the followers of God around him and sent them through the camp with swords to kill those who persisted in worship of the idol. 3,000 people were killed. Then Moses returned to the mountain and to God and further interceded for the people, asking God to forgive their sin. God told him to go back and lead the people to the place He had for them, "But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin." (32:34) God would go forward with His plan, but each would be held accountable for his sin. We are then told in verse 35 that "the LORD inflicted a plague on the people for what they did with the calf Aaron had made."