Exodus 31-32: Golden calf and its aftermath

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The golden calf is synonymous with syncretism and rebellion against God. This incident profoundly shaped how Israel developed as a nation and how it devolved into two nations later. It also shows us how a small, powerful minority can change the character of a nation and indelibly mark it for good or bad. 

Exodus 31 starts on or near the 40th day that Moshe was up on Mt. Sinai with the Lord. God is not only instructing Moses on how the His tabernacle is supposed to be built. Moshe is supposed to build all the parts of the tabernacle or the utensils by himself. God had already appointed the two men primarily responsible for making the tabernacle. 

These two men — Bezalel, the ason of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan — didn’t know they had been assigned to this great task until Moses told them later. 

God is going to protect Moshe and those men that no harm will come to them at all. We know this because God specifically called them by name for this task. The first man, Bezalel, is the grandson of Hur, who was one of the men who held up Moshe’s arms he was praying over the soldiers of Israel when they were battling the Amalekites. Hur’s family received a great blessing because of his obedience. 

Exodus 31:12-17 reiterates the command of the Shabbat. This is God telling the children that they are not to work, even for Him, on the Shabbat. Even a task as important as the Tabernacle or the future Temple isn’t as important to His people as keeping His Shabbat. God made the Shabbat for mankind and wanted them to enjoy it and that even the building of His tabernacle was not as important as resting on the Shabbat. 

Exodus 32 is a little more complicated. Ex. 32:1 says in English, “Now when the people saw that Moshe delayed to come down from the mountain….”  The word delayed is translated from the Hebrew word בּוּשׁ boosh (Strong’s lexicon No. H954). This word literally means acted shamefully, became anxious or disappointed.

The children Israel were disappointed or ashamed of the fact that Moshe is still on the mountain. They felt abandoned by him. They may have been irritated with Moshe taking so long and they have lost their patience with him and are asking Aaron to be their leader.

Have you ever been so scared you can’t even talk? You can’t even think anymore. In some ways God is the greatest “terrorist” there is. He can scare us, terrorize us or do harm to us but He does it to turn us to Him. 

A group of people ask Aaron to make a god for them to worship so Aaron collected the earrings and he fashioned a golden calf. It wasn’t 100% of the people who clamored for this “god” but it was specifically some of the leaders of the tribes. It was these leaders or instigators who said in Ex. 32:4, “…This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” It shows us that it doesn’t take a majority of people to make a big mistake that can cause suffering to an entire nation. 

They were making an Elohim, a representation of God. Aaron was the one who built the altar before this “elohim.” Why was it a golden calf or a bull? Because the bull represents El, which is the first part of the name Elohim. The two Hebrew letters of El describe powerful leadership — א alef originally a depiction of an ox’s head, symbolizing power, and ל lamed a shepherd’s rod, signifying leadership. 

When God uses the number 40, what does it represent? This was a test on the children of Israel. This was their trial, and they did not pass the test (cp. Jer. 31:31-34). 

Moshe came down from the mountain on the 40th day, and on that day he destroyed that calf. After that, he had to go back up the mountain for another 40 days to make a copy of the tablets God wrote on.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'” (Ex. 32:7–8)

The children of Israel were turning away from the path of life to the path of decay and death.

Moses asks Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” Moses destroyed the idol by grinding down the calf and make them drink that bitter water. 

“Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control — for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies….” (Ex. 32:25)

The “enemies” that Moshe railed against weren’t those outside of the Israelite camp but those in the camp who did not go along with this idolatry. Moshe was calling them out for creating division in the camp and making fools of themselves. 

Those who were opposed to the golden calf could not go against God’s anointed Aaron. There were those in the camp who were righteous. They had no interest in participating in this idolatry, yet they were caught in a dilemma because their anointed leader Aaron was on the wrong side. They didn’t want to cooperate with sin, but what did they do? They had to keep silent for a while and wait for God and Moshe to come to the rescue.

 “On the next day Moses said to the people, ‘You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.'” (Ex. 32:30)

Moshe speaks plainly to the Lord and confesses the sin of the people to the Lord. Moshe is even willing to pay the price himself. Moshe made a profound offer of atonement, but God rejects the offer.  All is not lost because God knows of one who will come far into Israel’s future and to make the atonement Moshe wanted to make for Israel. 

Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.