What Were You Thinking?

Exodus 32: "When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, 'Come, make us gods who will go before us.' . . . . Aaron answered them, 'Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing' . . . He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up our of Egypt.' When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.' So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry . . . . When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, 'What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?' 'Do not be angry, my lord,' Aaron answered, 'You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us' . . . . Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!' Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control . . . . So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, 'Whoever is for the LORD, come to me. . . . This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor' ' . . . . The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.' "

If there has ever been a chapter that has demonstrated the spiritual depravity of mankind (a people who aspire to assert their own quest for lordship over the One True Lord), it would have to be Exodus 32. In this chapter, we find the Israelites, who had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt by the supernatural intervention of God Almighty. These Israelites had seen repeatedly the demonstration of the power of the Sovereign Lord, who performed truly miraculous acts in bringing deliverance to His chosen people: the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the turning of the bitter water to drinkable water at Marah, the provision of manna and quail for food, and many others.


Three months after the Israelites had been rescued from Egypt, God summoned Moses to the mountaintop and told him to convey to the Israelites that God had called them out of all nations to be His holy nation . . . His treasured possession . . . provided that they were willing to submit to His sovereign (and exclusive) reign as Lord. God then demonstrated His mighty power through thunder and lightning, trumpet blasts, earthquakes, and clouds of billowing smoke on the mountain. The sight was so impressive that the people, who were encamped some distance from the mountain, trembled at the demonstration of power by the Lord. Moses encouraged the people not to be afraid, as God's demonstration of His sovereign power was to instill reverential fear in the people to keep them from sinning.


The Lord then told Moses to get Aaron and bring him up to the top of the mountain in order that He might communicate His laws for His people. The Lord knew that it was important for Aaron, who would act as the priest (intercessor) for the people, to see the magnificence of God's presence and be motivated to obedience. One specific thing that God communicated to Moses (with Aaron nearby) was to "not make any other gods (to be worshipped) alongside the Lord" (Exod. 20:23). God was to be feared and worshipped exclusively as the One True Lord of Hosts. God would not tolerate any syncretism in their worship; He was to be worshipped exclusively, for He in fact was (and is) the only true God!


Still, God was not finished with teaching the leaders of the Israelites the importance of their faithful commitment to Him as Lord; thus, He again summoned Moses to the mountaintop and he told Moses to bring Aaron and the 70 elders with him. The further stipulation this time was that only Moses was to approach the Lord; Aaron and the rest of the leaders would have to "worship at a distance" (Exod. 24:1b). Moses spoke with the Lord and wrote down everything that the Lord communicated to Him; he then returned to share this information with the people. It was a ceremonious occasion, as Moses read to the people the Word of the Lord (from the Book of the Covenant) and the people offered burnt offerings to the Lord. During this worshipful experience, the people repeatedly exclaimed, "everything the LORD has said we will do."


Moses, Aaron, Aaron's sons, and the 70 elders returned again to the mountain, and they saw an incredible theophany of the Lord. Although they did not see the Lord in His glorious splendor (for no one can see God and live [Exodus 33:18-20], these leaders were able to see under the Lord's feet a magnificent display of beautiful sapphire. God was communicating to His chosen elders that He is exclusively majestic in His holiness (see Exod. 15:11)! All of the leaders were impacted by the sight and celebrated the covenant meal in the presence of the Lord.


Some time later, God again summoned Moses to the mountain in order that He might give His commandments to His people. This time, Moses left Aaron and the elders behind to settle any disputes that may arise in Moses' absence, and Moses departed with Joshua as his aide. Tragically, as Moses was gone for 40 days on the mountain to commune with the Lord, the people determined to forsake their submission to the Lord, and they crafted for themselves false gods that they could worship instead of the Lord. In reality, because these golden objects of worship were inanimate and thus non-responsive, the people could manipulate these objects to proclaim what they in their hearts really desired. In other words, these rebellious people asserted their own lordship over their own lives, and they simply crafted false objects of worship to legitimize their despicable behavior against the One True Lord.



Probably the biggest shock was from Aaron and the leaders. They previously had seen the magnificent display under the feet of God, and one would think that they would have rebuked the people when they approached them to craft false gods to worship. Instead, Aaron and these leaders joined in the evil revelry, and they not only crafted a golden calf to worship but built an altar for the people to worship it. Then as an act of cosmic treason against the Lord and His goodness to the Israelites, Aaron attributed to the golden calf the credit of delivering the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. These wicked Israelites determined to forsake any remembrance of the goodness of the Lord in their lives, and they instead attributed all previous blessings of the Lord to objects other than God Himself.

The people truly were committed to their new pagan deity, for they rose early in the morning to offer sacrifices to it; of course they still incorporated some ceremonial rituals that they previously observed when they served the Lord. They probably did this to attempt to legitimize their new abhorrent ways, for as soon as the religious ceremony was over, they went out and indulged in their grossly licentious behavior. Now they felt as if they could do whatever their depraved hearts desired, for they had "divine sanction" to do whatever they wanted to do. Scriptures record that the people were "running wild . . . getting out of control." Their behavior was so repulsive that even their enemies thought them to be a laughingstock (32:25).



God told Moses on the mountain to go down and address the people, for they had "become corrupt, quickly turning away from the Lord's commands" (32:7-8). God's anger burned to the point of desiring to annihilate completely these lawless people, but the petitions of Moses subsided the wrath of the Lord.



When Moses saw the people in their wickedness, his anger burned within him. He threw the tablets of the law down the mountain in a symbolic display that the law of the Lord had been broken even before the tablets arrived in the camp. Moses then took the golden calf and burned it to powder; Moses mixed it in the water supply and forced the people to drink the bitter mixture so that they might taste the bitterness of their sinful behavior.



Moses then went to his brother, Aaron, and in effect asked, "What were you thinking . . . that you would let these people lead you into such great sin?" Aaron started pointing fingers at everyone and everything else other than himself. He said, "Moses, you know how these people are so prone to sin . . . they gave me their jewelry and I threw it into the fire and amazingly out popped this golden calf." Aaron had gotten caught participating in this idolatry, but he was not willing to take ownership for his part in it.



God relented from His total annihilation of the people, but He would bring judgment against those who perpetrated such rebellion against Him as Lord. The time would come when the Lord would bring a devastating plague upon His people, and many of the people who were instrumental in organizing the recalcitrance against God would meet their demise.



There is a tremendous word for us in this most powerful passage of Scripture. Whereas the people of Israel knew that God was the ONLY TRUE GOD, Who alone was to be worshipped and obeyed, they determined within their hearts to go their own way and assert their own wills over the Lord's will. They wanted to be their own gods; and they wanted to do whatever their depraved hearts desired. God would not be mocked at such rebellion, and His Holiness would be vindicated in His judgment against such wickedness.



We must learn from this story that we must never seek to assert our own lordship over the One True God. We must surrender ourselves to His lordship in our lives, and joyfully seek to obey Him as our Great God and Savior. The blessing for us is that our surrender to Him is not burdensome (see I John 5:3), for God grants us His favor and blessing to us when we seek Him first above all other persons and things (including ourselves).