Israel makes a golden calf idol to replace God

Exodus 32

After God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments, Moses was away from the people up on Mt. Sinai with the Lord for several days. During that time, God was speaking to Moses, but the people didn’t hear Him. It caused them to grow impatient. They decided they didn’t want a god that they couldn’t see.

They had heard His voice give the commandments. They had seen Him do wonders for them. But they weren’t willing to wait to hear from Him. Unfortunately, sometimes Christians do that. Some of them even depart for churches that claim God is doing more miracles and speaking more prophecies than they are hearing at their own church. So they leave, wanting God to entertain them and thrill them. When they do that, they often end up listening to false teachings that didn’t come from God or His word at all. They become false worshipers then.

That’s what happened to Israel while Moses was on the mountain receiving all of the law of God. The people went to Aaron the priest. They said, “We don’t know what has become of this Moses. Maybe he is never coming back. You, Aaron, get up and work to make us a god in an image like the other nations worship. Make a god for us to follow who will go before us.”

I’ve got terrible news for you: Aaron didn’t tell the people “NO” like he should have. He told them to bring the gold jewelry that God had made the Egyptians give them to pay for their years of slavery. He molded all that gold into the shape of a calf. Then he told the people a lie. He said, “Here are the gods that brought you out of Egypt,” pointing to the calf he had made. Aaron said, “Tomorrow we’ll have a feast to God, celebrating the calf.” The people got up early in the morning to celebrate the calf. They ate and drank and got drunk. And they had a wild party, with sinful activities, all to celebrate the calf, pretending it was God.

Now remember what they had heard God’s voice say from the mountain in the 10 Commandments. “You will have no other gods.” They now had taken another god. “Do not make any images or idols for worship.” They now were worshiping an idol shaped like a cow. “Do not lie” and they were lying about who God was. “Do not covet what someone else has.” And they were coveting the false gods of the Egyptians. God had told them such things were sinful, and because they didn’t want to wait for God to lead them, they followed Aaron and the false god he made with his own hands.

God told Moses to go down the mountain because the people were rebelling and worshiping an idol. God even offered to wipe them out and make a new nation from Moses’ descendants. Moses passed the test before him, though. He pleaded with God to forgive them and keep His promises to the nation of Israel. Moses didn’t want God to honor Moses. He wanted God to honor His own name so that all might believe. This is exactly what God did.

When Moses got down the mountain, all of the sinfulness he saw made him angry like God was angry. He destroyed the idol and burned it. He demanded an explanation from Aaron. And Aaron lied. He claimed the idol formed itself in the fire. (People who worship idols like to lie about the idols and claim they can do miracles. But only God can actually do those miracles.)

Then Moses and the tribe of Levi who were God’s real priests, punished with death the worst offenders of the nation, who had done the most vile things in worship of the idols. And a plague of sickness from God came on the people, and many suffered.

This is what sin and rebellion against God can bring. It is very important to learn that after God has saved us and made us His children by faith in Christ, that we must obey Him. We must try not to sin. And when we do fail and commit sin, we must confess it to God and receive His forgiveness. God is worthy of our obedience. And we learn that today from what the Bible just told us about the nation of Israel and their golden calf idol to replace God.