Israel was barely three months out of Egypt when they committed the most egregious act of betrayal against the Lord who delivered them out of slavery. As Moses was fasting for forty days on mount Sinai and waiting on God’s instructions, His people were busy creating a golden cow to worship and sacrifice to! At the unveiling of the statute, they said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” (Ex 32:4 ~kjv)
Pause for just a moment and ponder those words.
Up to that moment, unprecedented acts of divine majesty had been displayed before the eyes of all Israelites, old and young, acts that stated in no uncertain terms that the LORD alone is God! For anyone to create a statue from smelted golden earrings and call it a god was the height of defiant barbarity. How could the product of golden earrings be credited for the great deliverance? How could a statue they’d just created have saved the people before it even existed? How could ornaments borrowed from Egyptians have produced deliverance from Egypt, much less lead Israel to the promised land?
Satanic Workings
In 2 Cor 2:11, Paul makes a very informative statement on why Christians should learn to forgive each other… Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices (~kjv). The Voice translation has the following rendering: It’s my duty to make sure that Satan does not win even a small victory over us, for we don’t want to be naïve and then fall prey to his schemes.
Christian leaders who act heedlessly give satan a chance to outsmart believers. The first false step of making an idol led to consequent backsliding—worshiping, sacrificing to a false god, which culminated in a widespread public sexual orgy! Such behavior portrayed Israel very negatively. They exposed themselves to ridicule before their enemies.
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies …(Vrs 25). Let’s review that verse as rendered in the Easy English Bible. Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get out of control. They were being wild, and all their enemies could see them acting like fools.
Where There’s No Vision…
Now how did that slippery slope come about? It says, “The people realized that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time. So they went in a group to Aaron. They said to him, ‘Do something! Make some gods for us who will lead us. This man, Moses, brought us here out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.’” (Ex 32:1 ~EASY)
Do something! Create something! Invent something! The fellow who led us thus far is not here now. Let’s try something different! Let’s create a new path for ourselves! Let’s formulate a new strategy! Meanwhile, Moses was up the mountain receiving guidance on how the people that God had redeemed for Himself were to relate to Him! In the absence of Moses, the people found opportunity to chart their own course, to create their own gods, and to dictate to Aaron what they desired from a person who would be their priest. By the end of the fiasco, three thousand newly delivered Israelite people lay dead at God’s own command!
The Lord was so grieved with Israel He thought to destroy the whole multitude! “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (Ex 32:10 ~ NIV)
Shouts and Cries…
As Moses came down from the mountain carrying tablets of the Ten Commandments, his heart was heavier than lead. While his face shone with the glory of God, having spent forty days in His Presence, grief over the people’s stubbornness overwhelmed his responsibility to lead them forward. Moses was loaded with knowledge on what God required for Israel, but where were the people to whom he could download divine oracles? In only a few days, their own hands had made a god of gold!
Descending the mountain, Moses’ servant heard noise in the camp. Joshua’s fighting spirit was activated; for a moment, he thought Israel was under attack. But here, we see two different individuals—the Moses of God and the Joshua of God! One was eager to defend his people from external enemies, while the other had a much more complicated mission—to rescue obstinate cynics from their inherent sinful proclivities, and from the burning fury of God’s anger! In his grief, and having been warned of God, the older man replied to his apprentice, “…It is not the noise of an army shouting for victory. And it is not the noise of an army crying from defeat. The noise I hear is the sound of music.” (Vrs 18 ~ERV)
There is no greater sadness for a spiritual guide than when believers shout for joy as things are falling apart spiritually! I am afraid that’s the condition of a large section of Christendom today. There is a lot of shouting. One day you hear joyous shouting about the victory of a preferred political figure. The next day there is shouting about the failures of the same person. There is shouting about this or that gospel singer, preacher, prophet… The next shout you hear is the thunderous fall of those who were exalted to elevated pedestals only yesterday. What you won’t hear is a groaning for sin or pleading for mercy!
Having smashed the tables of law that were written with the finger of God, Moses returned to the mountain to fast again and plead with the Almighty. So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Please listen! These people committed a terrible sin and made a god from gold. Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not forgive them, then erase my name from your book.” (Vs 31,32 ~ERV).
Have you ever cared for others to the extent of wishing you’d receive deserved punishment on their behalf? What kind of heart do you see in Moses? How could a man be so passionate about the welfare of those who sin that he is willing to forgo his eternal reward for their sake? Paul prayed such a prayer. “I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom 9:3).
Where do such men of God come from? How are they created? What goes on in their hearts and minds? What do they know that everybody else is ignorant about? Whatever it is, one thing you can be sure of is that these are not self-seekers out to make a name for themselves. These aren’t folks whose objective in ministry is to be well-spoken-of, or to display something that makes them admirable in the eyes of men. Such are folks who’ve looked into the wrath of God and understood the destiny of sinners. Such have no sweet little funny stories with which to sweeten the gospel or make it palatable to backsliding believers. They have read the Words of the Awesome God who does not change like shifting shadows. They appreciate the unchanging nature of His decrees.
“Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book!” (Vrs 33 ~NKJV)