Israel Worships A Golden Calf (MP 49)

Having promised God His laws to obey,
Within a month the Hebrews broke the vow;
They made an idol, with Moses away,
A calf of gold, before which they did bow!
Is there none on earth fit to live with God?
Are these not they from bondage He just freed?
Through the sea on dry ground, did they not trod?
Have they not sworn to obey God’s decrees?
An angry God said He would kill them all,
And build anew with Moses as the head;
Then Moses begged God to forgive their fall,
For what would Egypt say with Israel dead?
God pre-knew they’d be stubborn and stiff-necked,
And that His Messiah they would reject!


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Scripture Quoted: Exodus 32:6-10 (NIV) [Brackets added]
“Then the Lord said to Moses [on top of Mt. Sinai], ‘Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. 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.’ “

Commentary on: The Golden Calf
The casual reader of the Bible account of Israel’s making and worshiping a golden calf so soon after hearing God give His Ten Commandments in person might think that He was shocked and surprised. No, He was not surprised, for He had known before creation everything they would do. This incident is just a sample of what is to become typical of this obstinate nation, not only during their formative stage but throughout their 3500-year history. Yes, even to this day Israel refuses to accept God as He has clearly taught that they must—through believing that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah sent from God. In fact, they rejected and crucified Him, denying then and now that He came forth from the grave and is Lord of the world today and will be forever.

After God’s extraordinary appearance on Mt. Sinai in smoke and fire, from which He spoke the Ten Commandments, the Israelites vowed they would obey them. The Second Commandment is: You shall not make any graven image nor worship idols. God called Moses to the top of the mountain and kept him there forty days, giving him various laws of how they were to conduct themselves in life, as well as the ways they were to worship Him. After Moses had been gone for some time, the people began grumbling and saying he would never return. They went to Aaron, Moses’ brother, who was in charge, and asked for an idol like those they were accustomed to back in Egypt. Incredibly, Aaron, the chief priest, agreed; he asked for gold jewelry and made a golden calf; they raised it and began worshiping it.

Moses succeeded in persuading God not to destroy the people (which God knew in advance He would not do) and came into the camp which was singing and dancing before the golden calf. In his anger he smashed the two stone tablets on which God had personally carved the Ten Commandments. He went to the gate of the camp and called for those who were to worship God to come to him. His own tribe, the Levites supported him. Next he threw the calf into the fire, ground it into particles of dust, put them in water, and made the people drink it. The next day he had his supporters put on their swords and ordered them to go through the camp killing their “brother, son, neighbor” (I am not sure which people were killed); three thousand were put to death that day.

There is no doubt that Aaron was greatly at fault for the incident. When Moses asked him how he could have done such a thing, his excuse was extremely lame. He said it was the people’s fault, for they were prone to do evil, and that when he put the jewelry into the fire, “out came the calf”, as if it were some kind of miracle. Whether he received any punishment at all is doubtful.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him sill not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)