When we are chastened by our Father we should have the attitude of Daniel from Dan 9:14, “Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed Him.”

Daniel said that God was right to chastise Israel the way He did because they had sinned against Him. Too often when we suffer because of our sins we question God for allowing us to suffer when all along we should be glorifying His name because He alone is right, we have wronged Him, and let’s be thankful that He considers us His children which is evidenced by the fact we are being chastened.

That’s hard for us to accept but we must not lose heart.

I think it is important to note the great things Christians are doing today. Not everyone is a coward and not everyone is entangled in sin. However, as a class, I do think we Christians are not shining as we could and should. And yes, you’ve hit the nail on the head, if God is chastening His chosen, it is not America He is chastening, but spiritual Israel, the church.

Good post,

Jason

Great points about the third application…

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.

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