When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what’s happened to him?” So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.” They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool.
   The people responded with enthusiasm: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!”
 Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.
   Aaron then announced, “Tomorrow is a feast day to God!”
 Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!
 God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
 God said to Moses, “I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I’ll make a great nation out of you.”
 Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, “Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, ‘He had it in for them—he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.’ Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them ‘I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I’ll give this land to your children as their land forever.’”
 And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.
 Moses turned around and came down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of The Testimony. The tablets were written on both sides, front and back. God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets— engraved them.
 When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, “That’s the sound of war in the camp!”
 But Moses said,
      Those aren’t songs of victory,
      And those aren’t songs of defeat,
      I hear songs of people throwing a party.
 And that’s what it was. When Moses came near to the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing, his anger flared. He threw down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, melted it down with fire, pulverized it to powder, then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
 Moses said to Aaron, “What on Earth did these people ever do to you that you involved them in this huge sin?”
 Aaron said, “Master, don’t be angry. You know this people and how set on evil they are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. This Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.’
 “So I said, ‘Who has gold?’ And they took off their jewelry and gave it to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf.”
 Moses saw that the people were simply running wild—Aaron had let them run wild, disgracing themselves before their enemies. He took up a position at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is on God’s side, join me!” All the Levites stepped up.
 He then told them, “God’s orders, the God of Israel: ‘Strap on your swords and go to work. Crisscross the camp from one end to the other: Kill brother, friend, neighbor.’”
 The Levites carried out Moses’ orders. Three thousand of the people were killed that day.
 Moses said, “You confirmed your ordination today—and at great cost, even killing your sons and brothers! And God has blessed you.”
 The next day Moses addressed the people: “You have sinned an enormous sin! But I am going to go up to God; maybe I’ll be able to clear you of your sin.”
 Moses went back to God and said, “This is terrible. This people has sinned—it’s an enormous sin! They made gods of gold for themselves. And now, if you will only forgive their sin. …But if not, erase me out of the book you’ve written.”
 God said to Moses, “I’ll only erase from my book those who sin against me. For right now, you go and lead the people to where I told you. Look, my Angel is going ahead of you. On the day, though, when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement.”
 God sent a plague on the people because of the calf they and Aaron had made.
what a happy tale! but bought me up quite sharp about when I am impatient for things to happen and its much easier to go party (and get out my golden calves eg. eating chocolate, having a drink, watching rubbish tv) than to spend time with God who calls us to trust in him and sit with him.
What a tough passage, with God killing some of his own!
For me this passage speaks of the need for repentance and seeking forgiveness. Although God was angry at the people for the making of a idol what caused their destruction was their unwillingness, except for the Levites, to turn away from their sin and be on “God’s side”. But even those that chose to continue the journey would have to suffer the consequences….”when I settle accounts, their sins will certainly be part of the settlement”.
One thing that puzzled me in the passage was that God changed his mind.
I thought that God was was constant. I was so puzzled that I looked up the passage in a study bible and it explained it the following way:
“God did not change his mind in the same way that a parent decides not to discipline a child. Instead God changed his behaviour to remain consistent with his nature. When God first wanted to destroy the people, he was acting consistently with his justice. When Moses interceded for the people God relented in order to act consistently with his mercy.”
Thank goodness for wiser people than me!!(There are a lot!)
It is so easy when it appears that God is not doing anything to go off and do our own thing. Often the challenge for us is to sit and wait and listen… oh how diffficult we find that in the busy lives that we lead. We often feel like we have to be on the go all the time, whcih means those times of waiting on God become less and less. Our challenge is to find the time and the patience to wait on God and develop our patience. It\’s about us also not becoming distracted, but remembering that God is always with us and we don\’t need to put a substitute in His place!
Just wanted to say thanks for all the supportive messages from my last post. It’s still hard not to worry, but I’m trusting God with it more and more.
I\’m fascinated by this passage. Particularly:
“And GOD did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.”
I’ve thought about it before, and I just can’t make sense of the “evil comes from the devil or man” type answer I always feel like Christians want to give. (I get a little frustrated by “answers”.) If God is all powerful, and I believe He is, surely he must have created evil too – otherwise it’s somehow bigger than Him!?
As I said, in the past I’ve put a fair amount of thought and study into it. I’ll not bore you with my own theology now, it would take far too long – plus it’s been a LONG time since then and I’ve forgotten most of it. I’m interested by what others think.
Moses tried to calm his God down” … Who would have guessed it…Moses the Scouser! “Calm down God, calm down!”
It’s a fascinating image of Moses admirably trying to reason with God, trying to calm him down. I confess that I find the strength of God’s feelings a little hard to reconcile, though I guess it is tied up with his righteous anger. You also can’t blame Him really for getting a tad fed up of their antics, (not to mention ours!) although the punishment does feel a tad harsh. But maybe that what it takes sometimes for us to learn our lesson. Even God’s patience may be in danger of being exhausted on occasions.
Also a fabulous leadership contrast here between Moses and his brother. Maybe it was only here that Moses regretted asking God to provide a right hand man to help him due to his lack of eloquence. Moses doesn’t appear to be lacking in eloquence here on his return from the mountain!
I like the difference between Aaron’s overly situational leadership, a somewhat tame “give then what they want” and letting the people “run wild”, as opposed to Moses’ more courageous stance “and now, if you will only forgive their sin. …But if not, erase me out of the book you’ve written.” Where he is willing to intercede on their behalf, and almost identify with the sin that he had had no part of. Shades of Jesus here maybe!?
Aaron stands out to me in this story – his complete abandonment of his leadership role and responsibility for his actions strikes me as being very similar to Adam in the garden. Aaron is down in the camp with the people and Moses is up the mountain with God! So when we only spend time with people we become like the people and are weakened by the culture. So we must spend time with God – face to face so we can become more like God – overcoming the culture!! Now I am challenged by my own words!!
Trish – sorry, I won’t agree.
Perhaps in a theological way you might be right and that might apply for a small number of selected hermits. But I am weak and full of flaws: Culture and society is what I deeply need to survive. “People” are the personal relationships which feed my souls and nurture my heart, and “Culture” is the framework which helps me to survive and to thrive within the challenges of emotional and intellectual overflow. Without people, I would live in severe individuation, feeling nothing but myself – and without culture I would be totally deprived from stimuli and support system (immaterial and material) and would just stop maturing.
I think it’s “both and”
Someone clever and spiritual (I think Bonhoeffer) said in more eloquent words that those of us who hate to be alone aren’t good for community unless we learn retreat on our own with God too, and those of us who crave solitude aren’t safe in solitude unless we connect in community too.
that one, Richard?
http://homepage.mac.com/rmansfield/thislamp/files/880fc4442adeafc212aa0617a8757a33-212.html
yes thanks for finding it! I’m going to paste it below coz it’s excellent – just forgive him the gender specific language which was normal then
Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had to answer the call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ’s call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called. “The challenge of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Everyone must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone … I will not be with you then, nor you with me” (Luther).
But the reverse is also true: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear the cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you. “If I die, then I am not alone in death; if I suffer they [the fellowship] suffer with me” (Luther).
It is the time (ca 1940 resp ca 1520) and the language (German) which makes it gender specifically marked, yes, I agree, Richard – but just do the double-check ;-)
(encouraging smile!)
http://genderanalyzer.com/