Drash
Exodus 32:5-6

Blaine Robison, M.A.

Delivered 2 March 2024

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Sin of the Golden Calf

5 When Aaron saw it he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to ADONAI." 6 And they rose early on the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And, the people sat down to eat and to drink; then got up to play. (Ex 32:5-6 BR)

Chapter 32 of Exodus narrates a tragic story in the history of Israel. Moses was called to the mountain top to spend 40 days with God receiving instructions for the covenant people. He informed them that Aaron and Hur (Heb. Chur) would be in charge while he was gone [Ex 24:14]. If you recall Hur had helped hold up the arms of Moses during the battle with the Amalekites in Chapter Seventeen [Ex 17:12]. According to Targum Jonathan Hur was assassinated making Aaron fearful for his life. In spite of the fact that there were 70 elders Aaron could have asked for help, he handled a crisis of rebellion alone.

Before Moses left he had given the people the Ten Commandments which specifically prohibits idolatry, the worship of false gods. In verse 1 the rebellious Israelites issued a demand to Aaron: "Make us gods who shall go before us." They justified the demand by saying that Moses had not returned and may have been killed. The rebellion showed that the spiritual experience of Moses was not shared by his people. In response Aaron ordered the collection of gold earrings, which may have been from the plunder of Egypt. Then he built a framework for smelting the gold, put them in it and then fashioned the idol from the molten gold. Later Aaron will tell Moses he put the gold into the fire and out came the bull-calf (verse 24), which might be true if you accept the Targum interpretation that Satan caused the rebellion.

Verse 5 indicates that Aaron then attempted to minimize the sin by treating the bull-calf as a symbol of ADONAI. So idolatry can also include the false worship of the true God. Aaron invokes the sacred name, YHVH, in order to consecrate the festival devoted to celebrating and sacrificing to this shiny golden bull-calf. What was God's verdict? Despite the questionable intentions of Aaron, the people abandoned faithfulness to God. An anonymous psalmist will later write "They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. 21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt" (Ps 106:20-21 TLV). The mention of "their glory" refers to the Shekinah that had protected them in Egypt and led them to Sinai.

Impatient to begin the new worship, the people rose at dawn, and offered sacrifices. Then they sat down to enjoy a feast. But feasting wasn't enough. The text says they "rose up to play." They transgressed the bounds of moderation, and turned the religious observance into a drunken orgy. The "play" included dancing of an indecent kind (verse 19 and 25), and would probably have terminated, as heathen celebrations too often did, in the grossest sinful behavior, had not Moses appeared on the scene and put a stop to the party.

Unfortunately the incident ends with tragedy. The poor leadership decision of Aaron allowing the idolatry resulted in 3,000 people being killed with the sword at the order of Moses. Then Moses went back to God to intercede for his people and asked for God to either forgive the Israelites or blot his name from the book of life. However, God insisted, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book." Then God struck the deliberate sinners with a plague. There are some lessons we may draw from this narrative.

First, God does not tolerate diminishing Torah standards by sanctifying detestable behavior. In a modern example, the Catholic Church and some Protestant churches have given legitimacy to same sex unions. It is not accidental that the first time the word "sin" as a behavior is used in the Bible it is in reference to the perversion of Sodom [Gen 18:20]. And we know what God did to that wicked city. The Ten Commandments are absolute. God expects His people to be distinguished from the world by holy conduct [Ex 19:6].

Second, deliberately sinning after entering the covenantal relationship with God requires the judgment of death [Num 15:30; Deut 17:12f; 18:20]. That includes the New Covenant. May I remind you of Ananias and Sapphira [Acts 5:5-10], and those in the Corinth congregation that died after desecrating the Lord's Seder [1Cor 11:30]. In Yeshua's message to the seven congregations of Revelation he warned of judgment on five of the seven for tolerating sinful behavior, including idolatry.

Third, while Yeshua invited his talmidim, his disciples, to rejoice that their names were recorded in Heaven [Luke 10:20], those citizenship rights can be rescinded by offending the holiness of the One who is a consuming fire [Ex 32:33; Heb 12:29; cf. Rev 3:5]. Yeshua gave this solemn warning before his death, "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned" (John 15:6).

ADONAI will judge His people [Deut 32:36; Heb 10:30; 1Pet 4:17] and we shall all stand before the judgment of the Messiah [2Cor 5:1] when he separates the sheep from the goats [Matt 25:32]. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that judgment. Let us live according to God's will so that we might hear those blessed words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Barukh Hashem.

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