Read Exodus 32:1-35.

Introduction⤒🔗

Karen was pregnant. But she was also unmarried. Now she was confused and afraid; emotional warfare was raging within her heart. She struggled with the question, “What should I do?” She felt betrayed and alone.

A few weeks later she found herself sitting across the desk from a counselor whose kindness was able to soothe Karen in her distraught emotional condition. The counselor sympathized with Karen and pointed her to a “solution” to her problem: something she presented as an acceptable, beneficial, even necessary, alternative to Karen’s present dilemma. At her prompting, Karen signed her name, paid the required fee, changed into a scratchy disposable gown, and prepared to have her child aborted. When the doctor had finished the murderous procedure, a nurse leaned over Karen and in a quiet voice informed her, “It’s all over now.”

“She was wrong.” Karen writes. “I was young and healthy, so I regained my physical strength quickly enough, but my mind continued to fester.” Her days became filled with regret. She told herself that it shouldn’t matter; it was just a blob of tissue. But she found no rest.

“Unable to deal with the hurt, I determined to ‘think about it tomorrow.’ And I dressed the gaping emotional wound with layers of denial.”

But she found no rest; until the LORD removed the putrid bandages, made Karen deal honestly with her sin, and seek forgiveness from Him.¹

What Karen had regarded as an acceptable, beneficial, even necessary alternative, the LORD regarded as a serious offense. The children of Israel found themselves in the same situation with regard to the incident described in Exodus 32. The lesson we must learn is this: Because the violation of God’s commandments is a grievous offense, we must take sin seriously.

Take Sin Seriously; Do Not Minimize It←⤒🔗

The people of Israel, no doubt in the person of their tribal representatives, express to Aaron the dilemma that they now faced: "this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him” (vs. 1b). Moses, their leader, had been up on top of Mt. Sinai for forty days. They do not know what has become of him, and they assume the worse: he must be dead. This is the reason they give for the request that they have brought to Aaron: "make for us a god who will go before us” (vs. 1a).

In their view, they faced a serious dilemma and they were taking necessary action to remedy the situation. According to the O.T. commentators Keil & Delitzsch, “the protecting and helping presence of God had vanished with Moses,” whom the people assume to have perished on the mountain in the fire that was burning there.² As these commentators insightfully point out, the people come to Aaron, not asking for a leader, but for “a god who will go before us.” Their relationship with God was intimately bound up with their leader: they attribute their deliverance from Egypt, not to the LORD, but to Moses, he is “the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt.”

They are apparently viewing Moses as the representative of God; they view him as the man by whom they have a relationship with God. But now that the man is gone, they are fearful that their relationship with the LORD God will be gone as well. So it is that they appeal to a man, Aaron, to provide them with a god, they urge him: “Come, make for us a god who will go before us.” What they are requesting is a replacement for what they assume they have lost: Aaron will take the place of Moses, and the LORD will now be visibly present in the form of the golden calf (vs. 4-5), whereas formerly He was present in the pillar of cloud and fire.

Aaron all too willingly acquiesced to their demand. He instructed the people to bring to him their golden jewelry. He then had the gold melted down and fashioned into a golden calf, (or, a young bullock). When the people see the golden calf, they exclaim, “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (vs. 4) The next day, the people presented their offerings before the golden calf and then got up to indulge in revelry, (i.e. a pagan religious orgy).

Aaron all too willingly acquiesced to their demand. He instructed the people to bring to him their golden jewelry. He then had the gold melted down and fashioned into a golden calf, (or, a young bullock). When the people see the golden calf, they exclaim, “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (vs. 4) The next day the people presented their offerings before the golden calf and then got up to indulge in revelry, (or, religious celebration).

Note: The people did not view themselves as forsaking the LORD in order to worship another god; they viewed this as an alternative way of worshiping the LORD, another means by which they would have His visible presence in their midst. This becomes evident from the people’s declaration: “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (vs. 4), and by Aaron’s proclamation: “Tomorrow there shall be a feast for the LORD” (vs. 5).

Although the people view what Aaron has done for them, (at their command), as a viable and necessary solution to their present dilemma, the LORD Himself found it to be a great offense. It was a blatant violation of the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any replica of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below the earth” (Ex. 20:4). It was confusing the LORD with the pagan idols of the world: the golden calf, (intended to represent the LORD), was copied from the Egyptian cult of Apis, (in which a bull represented the life-producing power attributed to nature).³

Are there times when we forsake Christ in everything but name, and identify our sinful choices as an “alternative” Christian lifestyle or conduct, even though such conduct violates the commandments of God, or substitutes the LORD’s requirements of discipleship with the pagan practices and concepts of the world? The most common form of such rationalization maintains that God is dedicated to my personal happiness and He condones whatever will best achieve that objective. But such a view is opposed to the truth of Scripture: the LORD demands that we be dedicated to His glory and that we accept and pursue whatever contributes to that objective. Our Lord Jesus has taught us to pray:

^9bOur Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. ¹⁰Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:9b-10

When Aaron is confronted by Moses concerning this incident, take careful consideration of his response: “Do not let my lord’s anger burn hot. You know these people, that they are prone to evil” (vs.22). Aaron seeks to pacify Moses and convince him that this is no big deal; it is not something about which to become angry and upset. He urges Moses, “Do not let my lord’s anger burn hot” (vs. 22a). Aaron is rather surprised that Moses does not know that these people “are prone to evil” (vs. 22b). Aaron’s argument is, “What else can you expect from these people? They are sinners, they act like sinners, and they always will.” Aaron’s implied counsel amounts to the contention that sinners should just be accepted for what they are; expect them to sin and don’t get too upset over it. But such a view is contrary to the word of God; the Lord Jesus declares,

⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than to have two hands but go to hell with its unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two feet but be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes but be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. Mk. 9:43, 45, 47-48

We must be very careful that we are not complacent with regard to sin. We must perform “radical spiritual surgery” (vs. 43a,45,47a). In these verses, the Lord is not instructing us to literally and physically maim ourselves—if you cut off one hand you could still sin with the other, and would not be able to cut that one off! On the contrary, in emphatic terms He is instructing us to severe our connection with sinful practices: don’t take hold of sin, don’t walk into sin, don’t look at sin. Consider the testimony of the Psalmist:

³⁵Direct me in the path of your commandments, for there I find delight. ³⁶Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. ³⁷Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Psl. 119:35-37

Such “surgery” must be motivated by the recognition of the seriousness and destructiveness of sin: (vs. 43,45,47-48). We must take to heart the warning presented in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,

⁹Do you not realize that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Aaron furthermore seeks to excuse his sinful conduct by pointing to the coercive demands of the people: “They said to me, ‘Make for us a god who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him’” (vs. 23). He then proceeds to present his sinful action as something that just happened, something that was beyond his control, something for which he was not responsible and could not really be held accountable: “So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold earrings, let him break them off.’ So they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (vs. 24)

But, in contrast to Aaron’s view of sin, note Moses’ testimony recorded in Deuteronomy 9:20, “The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron.”

We must take sin seriously; do not minimize it, like Aaron and the people of Israel sought to do. Referring to our Lord’s crucifixion upon the cross of Calvary, the hymn writer, Thomas Kelly, informs us, “You who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate.”

Take Sin Seriously, by Viewing It from God’s Perspective←⤒🔗

Note that the LORD knows exactly what the people have done:

⁷The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have been quick to depart from the way I commanded them. They have made for themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have worshiped it and offered sacrifices to it and have said, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ Ex. 32:7-8

We may not see His face, but He most assuredly sees our life and knows our heart: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13).

The LORD defines their conduct as sin: “they have corrupted themselves. 'They have been quick to depart from the way I commanded them.” Furthermore, He distances Himself from them, identifying sinful Israel to Moses as “your people” rather than my people.

The LORD exhorts Moses, “leave me alone so that my anger may burn hot against them and that I may consume them, because they are an obstinate people” (vs. 9-10). The LORD expresses the desire to start all over again, (“leave me alone so that I may consume them”), and make His faithful servant, Moses, the father of a new nation.

At the LORD’s command (vs. 27), Moses instructs the Levites to carry out God’s judgment against the people who have broken the covenant. But before the judgment is carried out, Moses, in the name of the LORD, first issues a call for repentance, “Whoever is on the LORD’s side, let him come to me!” Then Moses instructs the Levites to carry out God’s judgment against the unrepentant, without mercy or favoritism: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let each man strap on his sword. Go back and forth throughout the camp from one end to the other. Let each man kill his brother, let each man kill his friend, let each man kill his neighbor! (vs. 27) The Levites did, in fact, execute the command issued to them: “the sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people were killed” (vs. 28). God’s warning of judgment was no idle threat, it was in fact executed. The act of judgment carried out that day was a form of the Final Judgment, at which time the LORD will make a definitive separation between those who serve God and those who do not serve Him (cf. Mal. 3:18b).

We must take sin seriously, by viewing it from God’s perspective.

• Let us rightfully see it as an offense to His holiness: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Hab. 1:13a).
   
• Let us rightfully see it as an affront to His divine lordship and sovereign authority: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?” (Lk. 6:46).
   
• Let us rightfully see it as meriting the judgment of God: “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve” (Lk. 23:41); that was the testimony of the penitent thief on the cross, whose awareness of his guilt led him to place his faith in Jesus the Savior.

Observe that when Moses saw for himself what the LORD saw, Moses had the same reaction as the LORD:

⁹The LORD said to Moses, 'I have observed these people, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰Now, therefore, leave me alone so that my anger may burn hot against them and that I may consume them.' Ex. 32:9-10

As soon as he approached the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger burned hot and he flung the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. Ex. 32:19

Take Sin Seriously, and Look to Christ for Grace←⤒🔗

The only thing that stood between the outbreak of the LORD’s holy wrath and the people of Israel was the intercession of their divinely appointed mediator.

Moses emphasizes that Israel is the LORD’s people whom He brought forth out of Egypt, and did so by nothing less than the exertion of His “mighty hand:” “Moses earnestly implored the LORD his God, saying, ‘LORD, why does your anger burn hot against your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?’” (vs. 11)

In concern for the honor of the LORD’s name, Moses pleads with the LORD to not bring disaster upon His people, but to remember His covenant:

¹²Why should the Egyptians [be permitted to] say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, so that he might kill them in the mountains and consume them from off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger and do not bring disaster upon your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. Ex. 32:12-13

The LORD is moved by Moses’ intercession. He turned from the calamity He said He would bring upon His people, namely, the annihilation of the entire nation: “So the LORD relented and did not bring upon his people the disaster he had threatened” (vs. 14).

Compare Moses’ ministry of mediation with the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ: “If anyone sins, we have an advocate who speaks to the Father in our defense: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:1b-2a). The passage literally reads, “he is the propitiation for our sins,” (i.e. the sacrifice that satisfies the divine justice and appeases the divine wrath of God).

As their mediator, Moses confronts the people with their sin and offers to make atonement on their behalf. Moses declares to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD, perhaps I will be able to make atonement for your sin” (vs. 30). Moses pleads with the LORD to grant the people forgiveness, offering to take their place: “please forgive their sin, but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (vs. 32).

Compare Moses’ willingness to bear the judgment of God on behalf of Israel with our Lord Jesus who actually did take that righteous judgment upon Himself: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13).

As their mediator, Moses calls upon the people to repent as the only way to avoid the judgment he is commissioned by the LORD to execute (vs. 26-29). Let us take to heart both the warning as well as the promise of Scripture, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

Let us take sin seriously, and look to Christ for grace. Look to Christ for both the grace of forgiveness as well as the grace of the repentance that issues forth into new behavior and a new lifestyle; the Lord Jesus declares, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

Conclusion←⤒🔗

The lesson we must learn from the incident involving the golden calf is this: The violation of God’s commandments is a grievous offense.

We must take sin seriously, because the LORD our God takes sin seriously. As the Apostle Paul proclaimed to the Athenians, “God commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has set a day when he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30-31).

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What caused the Israelites to bring their request to Aaron? See Ex. 32:1 How did the people view Moses? How do you view your pastor and other Christian leaders? Are you like the Corinthians in becoming a disciple of some prominent Christian preacher, rather than a disciple of Christ? Note 1 Cor. 1:12.

¹When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us a god who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'Ex. 32:1

¹²Now this is what I mean, each one of you is saying, I belong to Paul; or, I belong to Apollos; or, I belong to Cephas; or, I belong to Christ. 1 Cor. 1:12

2. How should you view your pastor and other Christian leaders, and how should they view themselves? See 1 Cor. 3:5-7.

⁵After all, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? [We are] ministers through whom you came to believe; each [doing what] the Lord gave him [to do]. ⁶I planted [the seed], Apollos watered it; but God made it grow. ⁷So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is of any significance; but the one who causes [the seed] to grow, [namely], God. 1 Cor. 3:5-7

3. What does Aaron make for the people to worship? See Ex. 32:2, 4a What proclamation does Aaron then make? See Ex. 32:5 What commandment were Aaron and the people violating? See Ex. 20:4 Why are we prohibited from worshiping the LORD God by means of images? See Isa. 40:18; Jn. 4:24.

²Aaron said to them, 'Break off the earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.' ³So all the people broke off the gold earrings they were wearing and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took what they handed over to him, and fashioning the gold with a carving tool, he made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf. Then they said, 'This [represents] your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!' ⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf, and made a proclamation, saying, 'Tomorrow there shall be a feast for the LORD.' Ex. 32:2-5

⁴You shall not make for yourself a carved image, nor any replica of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God... Ex. 20:4-5

¹⁸To whom, then, will you compare God? Or what image will you compare to him? Isa. 40:18

Jesus declares:

²³the true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for, indeed, the Father requires such [people] to be his worshipers. ²⁴God is Spirit; they who [would] worship him must worship in Spirit and truth. Jn. 4:24

4. How does the LORD react to what the people have done? See Ex. 32:7-8a, 9-10a How does Moses react when he sees what the people have done? See Ex. 32:19 How does Aaron try to excuse his sinful conduct? See Ex. 32:22-24 How do you view sin? Do you seek to excuse your sins?

⁷The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have been quick to depart from the way I commanded them... ⁹The LORD said to Moses, 'I have observed these people, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰Now, therefore, leave me alone so that my anger may burn hot against them and that I may consume them...' Ex. 32:7-10

¹⁹As soon as he approached the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger burned hot and he flung the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.Ex. 32:19

²²Aaron replied, 'Do not let my lord’s anger burn hot. You know these people, that they are prone to evil. ²³They said to me, ‘Make us a god who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.' ²⁴So I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold earrings, let him break them off.’ So they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!' Ex. 32:22-24

5. What prevented the LORD from carrying out His righteous judgment against the covenant-breaking people? See Ex. 32:30-32 Who alone is able to make a true and ultimate atonement for our sins? See Gal. 3:13; Acts 4:12 Are you trusting in Christ’s work of atonement for the forgiveness of your sins, and are you looking to Christ for deliverance from your sins? Note Jn. 15:5.

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD, perhaps I will be able to make atonement for your sin.' ³¹So Moses returned to the LORD and said, 'Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made for themselves a god of gold. ³²But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.' Ex. 32:30-32

¹²...in none other is there salvation; for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved. Acts 4:12

The “name” of which the Apostle Peter is speaking is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' Gal. 3:13

The Lord Jesus declares,

⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me and I in him, he is the one who bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. Jn. 15:5