The Golden Calf

Remember the story of the golden calf? Yeah, sure you do. God spoke to Israel as "face to face" as it gets, where the nation gathered around Mount Sinai (Exo 19) and God declared to them His law (Exo 20-23). Then God called Moses and a few extras to go up and get more info (Exo 24-31) where He told Moses about His design for the tabernacle. While they were up there, the people got a bit restless. They went to Aaron and demanded, "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" (Exo 32:1). Aaron fought them off, but lost, so they gave him their gold and he threw it into a pot and -- poof! -- out came this golden calf (Exo 32:21-24). Okay, so maybe Aaron didn't quite represent that event properly, but that was his story and he was sticking to it. The outcome, of course, was not pleasant for the children of Israel ... or even the adults. Moses's verdict resulted in the execution of 3,000 people (Exo 32:26-28) and God followed that up with a plague. Not good at all.

There are, I believe, a few fine points missed in this story that might be helpful and even instructive. I mean, for instance, it appears that Aaron made the golden calf for the people and clearly the people pay a high price for their idolatry, so why is it that Aaron, as payment for his complicity, gets made high priest? How did that work out? And how is it that Aaron, as Moses's cohort, took part in the first place? So let's look at some of the details to see if we can make some sense out of it.

In the story, when Aaron is tasked with making them gods, he asks them to "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters ..." (Exo 32:2). Isn't that interesting? They had a load of loot from the Egyptians when they left Egypt (Exo 12:35-36), so why not some of that? It would appear that Aaron was stalling, knowing that taking the gold off the women and children would be much more difficult than taking a little from their stashes back in the tents. This would also coincide with Moses's apparent assumption that Aaron acted under duress (Exo 32:21). Next, Aaron tried the delaying tactic of "tomorrow". I mean, if the idol is there and ready, why wait? Note, also, that when the idol was finished, Aaron declared "a feast to the LORD." That "LORD" is the word "YHWH", the word for the One True God, not just any gods. The people had asked for elohiym -- generic "gods" -- and Aaron gave them YHWH, Jehovah, their One God. At least in name. Note, in fact, that Aaron specifically countered what was being said. "And they said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (Exo 32:4). Who is "they"? Very possibly the Egyptians that had accompanied them. But Aaron denied that it was their elohiym and claimed that it was YHWH.

It should also be noted that there is an interesting theory about this calf. Some have suggested that Aaron was playing a "trick" on the people. The calf was a standard component of Egyptian pagan worship. They would often put the image of their god on the back of a cow, where the cow formed the seat of the god. But Aaron produced a calf without a rider. The idea is that Aaron took what the Egyptians that were with them and the Israelites that had grown up in Egypt were used to and used it as an object lesson. He was saying, in essence, "Your God is knowable like the gods of Egypt, but not visible -- not earthly -- like they are." Maybe.








^{Storm-God Hadad on the back of a cow}


Here's what we do know. We know that the people weren't willing to wait. Moses took too long. God wasn't acting quickly enough. The actual, visible, even dangerous (Exo 19:12-13) presence of God on the Mount was not good enough. They demanded satisfaction, and it was to be a "here and now" satisfaction. It was to be represented by something known and was to act as a suitable substitute for the Almight God. Aaron offered, perhaps reluctantly and slowly, that substitute.

We live in an idolatrous world. We live in a world hostile to God (Rom 8:7-8). We live in a world beset by substitutes for God because "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom 1:25). Idolatry is the standard operating mode here. We all suffer from it. We worship the creature rather than the Creator. Sometimes it's because we are unregenerate and, therefore, by nature hostile to God. But in the story of the golden calf, it wasn't those outside who were clamoring for a replacement; it was Israel. It was those who had seen God's salvation, been through the Red Sea. It was those who just said, "All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Exo 24:3). That there are those in the world who have "exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images" (Rom 1:23) is no surprise. But we, those of the faith, ought to know better.

Idolatry is simply the substitution of something not-God for God. We think of it as a wooden image or a metal form of a false deity. We've gotten much more creative. It could be the flat-screen god in the family room or the political action committee of your favorite party or the social justice movement that is going to straighten out the world. It could be your car, your house, your spouse, your children, your job, your bank account, your own body. It is whatever you love more than Christ and whatever takes your attention from God. It is whatever you think will save you that is not God Himself. It cloaks itself in rationality and comfort. And it is a lie (Rom 1:25). Learn from the Israelites. Substituting for God does not end well.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).