The Golden Calf

 Exodus 32 and 33

            A quick program note: this blog post covers both Friday’s and Saturday’s reading this week.

            There are so many delicious details in the story of the golden calf. First, the people ask that Aaron make them elohim (el-O-heem), gods. Elohim is the Hebrew word for the God of Israel, but, grammatically, it is also a plural noun which can just as easily be translated “gods.” Couple this with Aaron declaring a festival to the Lord in verse 5, and we have to ask the question, “Did Israel outright reject the God who had saved them?” The answer seems to be, “No.” Their idolatry seems to have taken the form not of apostasy but of syncretism. Apostasy is the abandonment or rejection of a religious belief. Syncretism is the merging of various beliefs into one system. Israel seems to be retaining Yahweh, but they are trying to fit Him into the common religious systems of the day which are polytheistic.

            On the one hand, syncretism doesn’t seem quite as bad as apostasy. At least they’re keeping their own god. On the other hand, here’s what the Lord has to say about it: “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not share my glory with another or my praise with idols1” Syncretism diminishes the Lord, and He will have none of it. He is not just one god among many; He is the only God.

            Why dwell on this? Because syncretism is the danger that we modern Christians face. Consider, for example, just the word “God.” All sorts of people say they believe in “God” (81% of Americans according to a 2022 Gallup poll). But what do they mean by that? For many of them, it’s just a poorly understood Deism, in which “God” is just some force that gives general shape to the universe, the keeper of karma, but it’s certainly not the personal God who reveals Himself and His care and involvement in the Scriptures, not the Triune God whose Son takes on human flesh and dies for our sins. In other cases, it’s an outright denial of that God. (Just because Judaism and Islam are monotheistic does not mean their God is the same as the God of the Bible. The rejection of the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God settles that.) To reduce the God of the Scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Holy Trinity, to fit all categories and to say that they’re all the same, well, that’s syncretism and we modern Christians should think carefully about it.

            Another juicy tidbit: I love how the Israelites minimize Moses: “this Moses,” or, as the NIV puts it, “this fellow Moses.” As if he hasn’t been the Lord’s man, the agent through which He brought them out of slavery. St. Paul describes the New Testament ministry as being in “clay pots” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Clay pots were so common in the ancient world that you can still buy a 2000 year-old one for about $150. It’s pretty easy to dismiss clergy. Hollywood does it all the time: clergy on TV and in the movies are either wicked men or bumbling idiots. Somehow, it’s easy to forget that they are the Lord’s agents to deliver His forgiveness and consolation to His people.

            The Lord Himself provides another point to ponder: He tells Moses to go down “because your people, whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt!” Really, Moses’ people? Whom Moses brought out? Here’s a Star Wars meme for your enjoyment:

 

 

The Lord means it as some kind of test, and Moses rises to the occasion. He throws the Lord’s promises back at Him. He reminds the Lord that destroying the people will be a black mark on the Lord’s reputation and that it will mean failing His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He reminds Him, in short, that they are not Moses’ people, but the Lord’s.

            Aaron provides a fourth detail that makes me laugh out loud. When confronted with the golden calf, Aaron says that it just popped out of the fire. Never mind that the language of 32:4 indicates that Aaron took a lot of care to make this idol.

            Fifth, the story goes out of its way to remind us that Moses has the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. And he smashes them to pieces. It’s not just that Moses is angry (he’s that, too!). It’s a visual enactment that Israel has broken the covenant already. The punishment is terrible. Only the Levites remain faithful and they kill 3,000 people before order is restored in the camp. On top of that the Lord struck them with a plague and refused to go with them to the Promised Land. Notice He agrees to do what He said, He’ll give them the land; but He won’t be with them anymore.

            The climax of the story is in chapter 33, when Moses intercedes for the people, pleading that the Lord would go with them. That is a moment that looks forward to Jesus, the ultimate intercessor. On a different mountain (really just a hill), Calvary, God’s people rebel against Him again, nailing His beloved Son to a cross, and in that moment Jesus intercedes for them, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is described as our mediator, the one who pleads to the Father on our behalf. John says we have an advocate with the Father (1 Joh 2:1). Paul says that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us (Romans 8:34). And, just as the Lord heard Moses’ prayer and forgave the people, so the Father hears Jesus’ prayers for us, forgiving and blessing us for His sake.