Glory glory glory #5

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Glory glory glory #5



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They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They rejected the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt ( Psalm 106:19-21 ). 40
“Too many gods.” That’s what my Indian friend said as we traveled in his great homeland. And many gods there were. I’ve seen very few idols in this country, and when I have seen them, they were usually in the home of someone from a country where idols were worshiped. Idolatry may seem to be one sin that we are unlikely to find in America, and certainly not in the church in America.
If we define idolatry as the worship of other gods, or, as the Old Testament often referred to them, “ foreign gods ,” then we might suppose that idolatry hardly exists in this country. But if we were to define idolatry as the worship of the One True God as a lesser god, we might find idolatry in many evangelical churches today.
We are pursuing the theme of the glory of God, and for several lessons, we shall be looking at Exodus 32-34 . You will remember that this is the portion of Scripture where Moses asks God, “ Show me your glory ” ( Exodus 33:18 ), and his request is granted ( Exodus 34:5-7 ). But before we can consider these wonderful verses, we must first see how the sin of idolatry is an offense against the glory of God. That is our topic for this lesson.
The revelation of God’s glory to Moses comes out of the context of Israel’s great sin of creating and worshiping the golden calf ( Exodus 32 ). I wish to begin by reviewing the setting for this great sin, for it is only against this backdrop that we can appreciate the magnitude of Israel’s sin.
Three months 41 after their departure from Egypt, the Israelites arrive at the Desert of Sinai, at the base of Mount Sinai. The miracles of the exodus must therefore be fresh in their minds. Did they continue to sing the “Song of Moses,” which we find in Exodus 15 ? From the crossing of the Red Sea to their arrival at Sinai, God had: (1) sweetened the bitter waters at Marah ( Exodus 15:22-26 ); (2) provided manna ( Exodus 16:1 ff.) and quail ( Exodus 16:13 ); (3) provided water at Massa and Meribah ( Exodus 17:1-7 ); and (4) gave the Israelites victory over the Amalekites ( Exodus 17:8-16 ).
When the Israelites reached Sinai, God reminded them of all that He had done for them and promised to make them “ a kingdom of priests and a holy nation ” if they would keep His commandments. The people agreed ( Exodus 19:3-8 ). God spoke to Moses in such a way that the people would revere Moses and listen to him ( Exodus 19:9 ). After Moses sanctified the people and established boundaries at the foot of the mountain, God revealed Himself in a powerful way:
16 And on the third day in the morning there were thunders and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the lower end of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire; and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook greatly. 19 When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking and God was answering him with a voice ( Exodus 19:16-19 ).
It is hard to tell exactly how many times Moses ascends and descends the mountain; my estimate is that it must have occurred five times from Exodus 19:1 to 23:33. On what appears to be Moses’ fifth ascent, God gives these specific instructions:
22 The Lord said to Moses: “Thus you will say to the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven. 23 You must not make alongside me gods of silver, nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you. 25 And if you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of hewn stone, for if you use your tool on it you will have defiled it. 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed’” ( Exodus 20:22-26 ).
Here, God begins by calling attention to the fact that He has spoken from heaven but has not appeared in any form. They must not seek to fashion an image (an idol) to represent Him because He cannot be represented by any such form. When they offer their sacrifices, they must not do so on a stone altar that has been fashioned in any way with tools. (I take it that they would be tempted to embellish it with idol-like representations.) There must be no steps leading to the altar, lest one’s nakedness be exposed. Men’s devotion and worship should be focused on the unseen God.
When we come to Exodus 24 , we come to one of the most unusual accounts in the entire Pentateuch (the first five Books of the Law). The Lord summons Moses, Aaron, and his sons Nadab and Abihu, along with 70 of the elders of Israel ( Exodus 24:1 ). They will worship God from a distance; only Moses may draw near to the Lord ( Exodus 24:2 ). When Moses spoke to the people, he repeated all the instructions God had given. I assume this to be all of the instructions recorded in Exodus 20:22 through 23:33. The people responded, “ We are willing to do all the words that the Lord has said ” ( Exodus 24:3 b).
Moses then wrote down all the words God had spoken thus far and built an altar as God had instructed ( Exodus 24:4 ; compare 20:24-26). Moses sent some young men to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar ( Exodus 24:5 ). Moses took half of the blood of these sacrifices and splashed it on the altar. He then read the “Book of the Covenant” (that is, the book in which he had written all the words of the Lord, Exodus 24:4 a), and when they heard the words Moses read, the people agreed to do and obey all that the Lord had spoken ( Exodus 24:7 ). The people thereby entered into a covenant with God:
3 And Moses came and told the people all the Lord’s words and all the decisions. All the people answered together, “We are willing to do all the words that the Lord has said.” 4 Then Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve standing stones—according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings to the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. 7 And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “We are willing to do and obey all that the Lord has spoken.” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it over the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” ( Exodus 24:3-8 ).
It is what happened next that is most amazing:
9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet something like a pavement made of sapphire, and clear like the heaven itself. 11 But he did not lay a hand on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God, and they ate and they drank ( Exodus 24:9-11 ).
I believe this is a covenant meal, whereby the people formally enter into covenant with God through their representatives, the 70 elders. The Book of the Covenant has been written, Moses has read it, the blood of the covenant has been sprinkled, and the covenant meal has been eaten. The covenant is sealed by these actions. The “ink is hardly dry” in the Book of the Covenant before the covenant will be broken.
Moses is now summoned to the top of Mount Sinai, where he will receive the remainder of the law, and the commandments written on stone:
12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me to the mountain and be there, and I will give to you stone tablets, namely the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them. 13 So Moses set out with Joshua his minister; and Moses ascended the Mount of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Remain in this place for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has any matters of dispute can go to them.” 15 Then Moses went up into the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 And the glory of the Lord resided on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view of the people. 18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud when he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights ( Exodus 24:12-18 ).
If I am reading this right, the 70 elders remain on the mountain, at the place where they ate the covenant meal in the presence of God. Aaron and Hur go down to the people, at the base of the mountain. There, these two will deal with any disputes until Moses returns. Moses goes up the mountain, accompanied by Joshua. Joshua stops short of the top of the mountain, and Moses alone ascends into the cloud of God’s glory. Moses then remains there for 40 days and nights. Chapters 25-31 record the things God spoke to Moses during these 40 days and nights.
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered together around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods 42 that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears, and they brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received them from their hand, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.” 6 So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings, and they brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play ( Exodus 32:1-6 ).
What is described here is all the more amazing in the light of the earlier chapters of Exodus. In something short of 40 days, the Israelites are no longer willing to wait for Moses to return. They persuade Aaron to make them a god. Aaron is not presented in a favorable light in these verses; indeed, he is presented as the counterpart of Moses. He is almost a Jeroboam (see 1 Kings 12:25-32 ). He calls for the Israelites to give him their gold jewelry, he melts it down and then fashions it into a golden calf. Sacrifices are offered, and a day of feasting and celebration is declared. In fact, this “celebration” was a drunken orgy ( Exodus 32:2-6 ).
I have studied and taught this text before, but somehow I never considered Israel’s rebellion in Exodus chapter 32 in the light of the earlier events in Exodus, particularly Israel’s ratification of the covenant with God in chapter 24. Allow me to make some observations and then to note the contrasts between what we have read earlier in Exodus and what we now read in chapter 32.
(1) According to Moses’ instructions, Aaron and Hur 43 were to lead Israel until his return; instead, Aaron followed the lead of the people. Consider these words in Exodus 24 :
12 And the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me to the mountain and be there, and I will give to you stone tablets, namely the law and the commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them. 13 So Moses set out with Joshua his minister; and Moses ascended the Mount of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Remain in this place for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has any matters of dispute can go to them” ( Exodus 24:12-14 ).
The 70 elders were on the mountain, where they had eaten in God’s presence – and lived! ( Exodus 24:9-11 ). When God called Moses to meet Him at the top of Mount Sinai, he took Joshua with him part way. Moses instructed the 70 elders to remain where they were until he returned. I take it then that these elders were not a part of the idolatry that took place back in the camp of the Israelites. Moses sent Aaron and Hur back to the people, to lead them in his absence, until he returned.
My point is that Aaron, along with Hur, was appointed by Moses to lead in his place, until he returned. We do not hear anything about Hur in the description of Israel’s idolatry. What we do find is that Aaron is the prominent figure – not as a leader, but as a follower:
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered together around Aaron and said to him , “ Get up, make us gods that will go before us . As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me .” 3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears, and they brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received them from their hand, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said , “ These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt .” 5 When Aaron saw this , he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord .” 6 So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings, and they brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play ( Exodus 32:1-6 , emphasis mine).
When I read this passage, I see Aaron, not as an agent of God, nor as an agent of Moses, but as the agent of the people. The people spoke, and Aaron acted. They initiated, and Aaron followed. As Moses put it,
And Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get out of control , to the derision from their enemies ( Exodus 32:25 , emphasis mine).
Leaders do need to be responsive to those whom they are called to lead, but first and foremost they must obey God’s commands, as declared in His Word. Let God’s leaders beware of catering to the wishes (and even the demands) of those who find God’s Word and God’s presence insufficient.
(2) Earlier, the Israelites were repeatedly commanded to “keep their distance” from God, but in Exodus 32 , they want Aaron to fashion a “god” they can handle. Notice how often and how emphatically God instructs the Israelites to maintain a healthy distance from Him:
12 And you will set boundaries for the people all around, saying, “Take heed to yourselves not to go up on the mountain nor touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death! 13 No hand will touch him—but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; he must not live. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may go up on the mountain” ( Exodus 19:12-13 ).
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. 22 And let the priests also, who draw near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through against them” ( Exodus 19:21-22 ).
23 And Moses said to the Lord, “The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai, because you solemnly warned us, ‘Set boundaries for the mountain and set it apart.’” 24 And the Lord said to him, “Go, get down. And you will come up, and Aaron with you; but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them” ( Exodus 19:23-24 ).
18 And all the people were seeing the thunderings and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. 19 And they said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 21 The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was ( Exodus 20:18-21 ).
God instructed the Israelites to keep their distance, and they gladly did so. They were terrified by the presence of God in their midst and did not wish to draw near. Now, somehow, in Exodus 32 , the people are troubled by the absence of Moses, and they want to have a “god” who can be near them, a “god” who will go before them. They want a “god” they can handle:
When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered together around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” ( Exodus 32:1 ).
(3) The golden calf was no work of art, but a crude counterfeit of Israel’s glorious God. Three observations led me to this rather unexpected conclusion that the golden calf was a very crude piece of work. First, there is no evidence that Aaron has any metal working skills, or that he has any great artistic ability. While Aaron is at work at the foot of Mount Sinai fashioning an idol for the Israelites, God is informing Moses that He has gifted Bezalel and Oholiab as master craftsmen, and He designates them to do the skillful, artistic work on the tabernacle furnishings ( Exodus 31:1-11 ). We must conclude that Aaron was not the most suitable person for making anything of gold. Second, we have to take the time factor into account. Do you think that Michelangelo could have painted the Sistine Chapel in a week? Do we think that Leonardo da Vinci could have painted The Last Supper in a couple of days? The Israelites convinced Aaron that Moses had been gone so long that there was little chance he would return ( Exodus 32:1 ). We know that Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and nights ( Exodus 24:18 ). Surely we must conclude that it was late in this 40-day period that Aaron set out to make the idol. That would mean he had but a few days to complete this project. One doesn’t do great work quickly. Third, we have the words of Aaron himself:
22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they tend to evil. 23 And they said to me, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out ” ( Exodus 32:22-24 , emphasis mine).
I have always laughed at this ridiculous explanation, but there must be a measure of truth in it. While Aaron has sinfully minimized his role in the making of this idol, he has called attention to the fact that it was not a masterpiece, but rather something very hastily fashioned. All three lines of evidence point to this same conclusion.
God gave Moses very specific instructions as to how the tabernacle and its furnishings should be fashioned, and it was done just that way ( Exodus 25:9; 26:30; 31:1-11; 39:32 ).
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