When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” —Exodus 32:1-5
As a child, I never quite made the connection between the golden calf (more accurately a young bull about three years old), Israel’s desire for a god, and Jehovah. I had always seen this story as a demonstration that Israel wanted to participate in pagan idolatry and leave Jehovah all together. The text from Exodus 32 actually tells us a different story. Notice the statements made by Aaron. In v. 4 he says, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” In v. 5 he says, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” It was Aaron’s intention (and subsequently that of the people of Israel as well) that the golden calf would re
present Jehovah God.
Where did this idea come from? Why a young bull?
The concept of needing a physical god to see comes from a lack of faith. Faith is the ability to believe in what you cannot see, touch, feel, etc. (Hebrews 11:1). Israel could not see Jehovah. They could not shake hands with Him, bow down to Him in person, hear His voice, etc. They lacked the faith needed to see Him. This happens again after the period of the judges when the people ask for an earthly king. God tells Samuel their petition for a king was a rejection of Him as King (1 Samuel 8:6–7). They wanted a king they could see. They didn’t have true faith that allowed them to fix their eyes on a Spiritual King.
Why a bull? An extremely light study into Egyptian pagan culture reveals that bulls played an interesting role in this choice. Earlier we looked at the Egyptian pagan gods in relation to the ten plagues sent by God to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites. The Egyptian gods were fashioned in the image of animals. More than one was in the image of cattle. Hathor, the goddess of love, was identified with the sky and is described as being “cow headed.” Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, was called the “second life of Ptah.” Ptah was the creator god in Egyptian culture. One recovered image from Egyptian culture shows The Celestial Cow which pictures all of the gods working in unison to uphold the Egyptian culture, illustrated as a cow. For years, the children of Israel had been bombarded with the cattle based imagery contained in the pagan Egyptian worship. Now that they are released from Egyptian bondage and are serving Jehovah, they seek to mold Him into the shape that is most familiar to them.
What’s the application for us today? If we are careful, we can make the same mistake. The lack of faith caused the people to have a desire to mold God in the image they wanted. They remade God. Often, people today remake God into a different image than who He is. Why do we ignore the justice and wrath of God and solely focus on His grace and love? Because our faith isn’t strong enough to accept God as He is. As a result, we mold Him and craft Him into the image that is more pleasing and accepting to us.
There is also a true danger in incorporating the culture around us into our religious practices. Israel took the religious culture from Egypt and integrated it service and worship to God. Obviously this was displeasing to God. We should learn that just because traditionally we have witnessed a certain style and practice of worship and service does not mean it is acceptable to God. Our own experiences are not justification for our behavior. We must search the scriptures and see what God’s will is and obey that alone.
While we would never melt down jewelry and mold a calf to worship today, we certainly can be guilty of the same transgressions. May we always serve God in total obedience and true trusting faith.
3 Comments
May 5, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Great applications from this passage.
But I think your original understanding of this passage is the correct one. I believe the Israelites wanted a pagan idol to worship just like they had worshiped in Egypt (Joshua 24:24). But Aaron couldn’t bring himself to do that, perhaps because of the miracles that had been performed through him, so he compromised with the people and formed an image to represent Jehovah.
Why do I think the people wanted an idol and not a representation of Jehovah? Stephen said in Acts 7:39 that when the people rejected God their “hearts turned back to Egypt” and they asked for an elohiym (a god(s) in the general sense, an idol). Aaron couldn’t bring himself to do that BUT since he wanted to please the people he made a golden calf to represent Jehovah God. We know his intention was for the golden calf to represent Jehovah God because when he had completed shaping it he proclaimed the next day should be a “feast day for Jehovah.” And this pleased the people.
In Exodus 32:1-5 everyone got what they wanted. The people got a god shaped in the image they desired and Aaron had a happy congregation.
A third application from this passage would be one of not compromising the truth just because the people demand it. The Israelites were an evil and rebellious people (Exd 32:22) and Aaron didn’t attempt to “restrain” them in their evil desires (Exd 32:25). All Aaron wanted to do was to go along to get along under the guise of follow Jehovah (hence a golden calf that represented Jehovah.) How many elders/preachers have not restrained the evil hearts of their congregations because they wanted peace in the group? How many souls have been lost because the faithful were faithless in the face of evil opposition? We cannot compromise with evil, even when it’s made of gold.
Clay
May 5, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Good comments Clay. I’m still not sure that the Israelites were actually asking for pagan idols. Before Aaron says the feast will be to Jehovah, he too presents their elohiym (gods). That Hebrew word alone doesn’t prove their intent. But I can see where your view is plausible. I also feel the view I present is as well, especially in light of the request for a king in 1 Samuel. The parallels between the two are interesting.
What’s really interesting is that these people had a very real reminder of God with them in the form of a cloud or a pillar of fire. They just failed to see that as “God” as compared to the pagan idols used in Egypt.
May 5, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Also,I believe whether it was a request for new gods or an image for Jehovah, the statement of returning to Egypt still applies. They wanted to return to the Egyptian culture.
Great points about the third application…