Exodus 32:1–6
Making Your Own Deity (Part 1)
32 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.” 2 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.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 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!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
1. Make Us a Deity (32:1a)
32 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.”
Moses had been gone for a while. In total, he would be gone 40 days…
Exodus 24:18 (ESV)
18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
The people down at the bottom of Mt. Sinai become restless. They went to Aaron and demanded that he make a deity for them. He did it.
The Israelites had come from Egypt where there were many false gods that were worshipped. Some of these gods had bull traits. One had the head of a cow, one had horns of a bull, another was a bull covered with gold.
So, when they demanded a god it seems fitting that they would produce something that looked like a cow, calf, or bull. In other words, it was a god they knew. We see that it was one thing to get the Israelites out of Egypt but quite another thing to get Egypt out of the Israelites.
It seems, the first sign of trouble the Israelites wanted Egypt.
This event is really for us a picture of how sin works in our lives too. We think we would be above such reckless things. However, the reality is we are more like the Israelites than we care to admit. We would never tell Aaron to make us gods to worship and yet, there is not a believer here who doesn’t struggle with some sin and some idol. So, we must learn from this section and seek to dissect the event and learn how sin works.
1 Corinthians 10:1–13 (ESV)
10 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
What took place here at the foot of the mountain and what does God want us to learn from this event? How will this terrible event keep us from repeating it in our lives?
This was a sinful act on everyone involved. What made it sinful? What is sin?
Here is a basic definition…Sin is disobedience to God’s revealed will.
Remember, the Israelites had already been given the Ten Commandments back in Exodus 20.
The first section is very important for us to consider…
Exodus 20:1–6 (ESV)
20 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
So, Exodus is not only an account of what happened but also an account of what happens. We see, if we care to look, many similarities between them and us.
Israel knew God’s Law and they agreed to be obedient to it.
Exodus 24:3 (ESV)
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
Why did Israel worship this calf? Basically, they had not forsaken the gods of Egypt. With their mouths they agreed to follow God and His commands but with their hearts, they were still connected to their idolatries which they missed. Their gods were still in Egypt.
I don’t think it was that they missed their former lives so much but they missed their gods. Their gods were fixed in Egypt. That is how idols work.
Psalm 135:15–18 (ESV)
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths, but do not speak;
they have eyes, but do not see;
17 they have ears, but do not hear,
nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them become like them,
so do all who trust in them.
Their gods were still standing in Egypt. Even though they experienced the true God as they were miraculously rescued, their hearts still were fixed on their gods.
One ancient Church Father commented…The absence of Moses simply gave the Israelites the opportunity to worship openly what they were already worshipping in their hearts.
One thing we must see is that our outward sin is a direct reflection of our inner idolatries.
We must replace our idols with true affections for God. Because we too are so strongly attached to our idols, this can only take place if God would graciously work and free us from our idols. Jesus Christ is the only answer to idol worship.
Sin is disobedience to what we know to be God’s will.
2. We Don’t Know What Has Happened (32:1b)
Just like the Israelites, we too can justify our sin in our minds.
32 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.”
We can make excuses and give ourselves a free pass. Yes, we agreed to these laws but that was before Moses disappeared. Does do not worship any other gods and do not make an idol have anything to do with human situations? Is there any time when God would remove His law and affirm our sin?
Sin is not trusting God. We don’t know what has happened so we are going back to what we do know and we are very good at worshipping those deities we grew up with…sinning.
The very dynamic of idolatry shows us that the worshipper is in charge of the deity they have made. They can move it around, set it up, make a shrine, put it away when company is over. The idolater is in essence the god and the idol is his slave. When life goes sideways according to our assessment then back to Egypt we go.
Life was going sideways for the Israelites. They wanted to do it their way not God’s way.
We must remind ourselves of this fact…
Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We too can be tempted to sin when we fail to trust God. Often when his ways don’t align with our agenda we may be tempted to sin.
Here, they did not know exactly what was going on. They say, we don’t know what has happened to this Moses guy so make us a deity we can keep our eyes on and watch closely.
God did not tell them when He was going to lead them out of the wilderness. He did not tell them when Moses would get back.
God does not tell us what will happen next. In following God do you leave room for His sovereignty? When things go differently than you think they should, can you step back and say, well, God is sovereign and He knows best.
Do you see some of yourself in these examples?
Do you believe God as you read the Bible?
Do you trust God even when things don’t line up with your timing?
I pray our knowledge of God extends from our head to our hearts and that the idols we may be stuck to will begin to fall away as we learn God rightly. Our affections will be drawn to Him.
We can then truly say…I believe You and I trust You.
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