Scripture: Exodus 32:1-10

Background Scripture: Exodus 32

Key Verse

"They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’" (Exodus 32:8 CEB)

Focus

The commitments of our time and energy demonstrate where our devotion lies. What is worthy of our complete devotion and loyalty? The story of the golden calf illustrates that God, and God alone, deserves our complete devotion and loyalty.

Goals

1. to explore the story of the golden calf as an illustration of Israel’s inability to show complete devotion and loyalty to God.
2. to connect God’s anger because of Israel’s idol worship with consequences for their personal and corporate idolatry.
3. to confess our idolatry and reaffirm devotion and loyalty to God.

Pronunciation Guide

Jeroboam (jer uh boh’ uhm)
Levite (lee’ vite)

Understanding the Scripture

Introduction

Exodus 32 tells the story of the Israelites making a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments. The issue in the story is not Israel’s worship of foreign gods. Rather, the concern is that Israel crafted an image that represents Israel’s God. Thus, Exodus 32 illustrates the issue the second commandment attempts to regulate: “You shall not make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:4). The problem essentially is that making gods the people may see and touch constitutes a lack of faith. They were not able to believe God was with them simply because of the promise that God would be present and the evidence of God’s deeds in history. This story is very similar to the story of Jeroboam setting up calves to represent Yahweh in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:25-33; see the criticism of Jeroboam’s image in Hosea 8:5). The Jeroboam account reminds us that Israel was always tempted to make and worship idols, and so are we. For Israel, and for us, the temptation to control our own destiny (or to attempt to do so) by shaping and defining God in tangible ways is perhaps the greatest temptation. It is very similar to the temptation of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, who believed they could become “like God” themselves (Genesis 3:5).

Exodus 32:1-6

Verses 1-6 present two substitutions. First, the people replace Moses with Aaron. Moses is absent and the people declare, “we do not know what has become of him” (32:1). So they turn to Aaron. Then Aaron replaces the mysterious and invisible God with a golden calf. There is also another substitution that seems to be at work. Namely, the people identify Moses as “the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt” (32:1). Other texts identify God as the one who brought the Israelites out of bondage (Exodus 20:2). Hence, the request in verse 1 seems to put Moses in the place of God.

The gold Aaron receives to make the image is probably the gold the Israelites took from Egypt (Exodus 3:22). It is a sign of their liberation from bondage. Therefore, when the people give it over for the making of an idol they further show they have forgotten how their liberation from Egypt occurred.

Aaron’s statement in verse 4 is rather confusing. He made one image (“cast an image of a calf”), but he says, “These are your gods.” The plural reference may be explained, however, by recognizing that Aaron’s statement is nearly identical to that of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:28 (Jeroboam made two calves). When Exodus reached its final form the sin of Jeroboam was of great concern and Exodus 32 helped the Israelites identify the roots of their current theological crisis.

Exodus 32:7-14

God tells Moses what the Israelites are doing with a statement that seems to be sarcastic. He identifies the Israelites as “your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt” (32:7). In other words, God speaks about Moses’ leadership just as the Israelites did in verse 1. But God’s condemnation of the golden calf in verse 8 makes clear that God will have no part of this thinking. Because of their refusal to acknowledge God as their savior God calls them “stiff-necked” (32:9). They are like draft animals that refuse to be led by the farmer. Therefore, God is prepared to destroy them all and start over with Moses (32:10). God seems to identify the Israelites as Moses’ people in order to deny them as God’s people any longer.

Moses then intercedes for the Israelites and attempts to avert God’s anger. He does so in part by identifying the Israelites with traditional language: “your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt” (32:11). Hence, Moses tries to restore the Israelites to fellowship with God with subtle, almost manipulative language. But in verse 12 Moses makes a direct plea: “Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people.” The word “turn” could also be translated “repent!” What a bold petition Moses makes (Amos is the only other person in the Bible to ask God to change his plan in this way; see Amos 7:2, 5). He makes the request based on two arguments as to why God should not destroy the Israelites. In verse 12 Moses essentially asks God, “What will the neighbors think?” Will the Egyptians not say that God took the Israelites out of bondage just to kill them? Then in verse 13 Moses asks, “What about your promises?” Will God be faithful to promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Verse 14 seems to say that Moses’ arguments worked. God indeed changed course and did not destroy the Israelites.

Exodus 32:15-29

When Moses descends the mountain with the “two tablets of the covenant” (32:15) and he sees for himself what the Israelites are doing, “Moses’ anger burned hot” (32:19), just as God’s anger burned earlier. He addresses Aaron first since he is the leader in Moses’ stead. But Aaron proves as weak before Moses as he was before the people. In verse 24 he humorously denies his direct responsibility. Then Moses calls for the people to take a stand for the Lord. The Levites alone respond (32:26). The slaughter that comes next is hard for most modern Western readers to fathom, or to square with their Christian ideals. It is a case, however, of extreme circumstances in which the survival of the community hangs in the balance (see Acts 5:1-11 for a story with similar consequences). The slaughter could have been averted if the people had responded positively to Moses’ call. Exodus 32:30-35. The story concludes with Moses’ continued leadership. This time, however, he offers to sacrifice himself for the sake of the people (32:32, “blot me out of the book that you have written”). God again listens to Moses and does not destroy the Israelites, but he does punish them for their sins (32:34-35).

Interpreting the Scripture

“Leave Me Alone”

As previously noted, the central problem in Exodus 32 is that the Israelites broke the second commandment (Exodus 20:4). The real issue, however, is not the breaking of a command, but what the command signifies. The prohibition against making images of Yahweh is probably intended to preserve the character of Israel’s God as one who enters relationship with Israel and the world. Yahweh communicates, feels sorrow and joy, and is capable of being moved, angered, or pleased by God’s people and the world God created. Exodus 32 illustrates quite well all of these aspects of God’s relationship to Israel. When the Israelites make the golden calf to represent God they try to fix God in time and space and to deny that God is active and relational. Psalm 115:3-8 expresses the differences very well. It declares, “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (115:3). In other words, God is boundless and cannot be captured in an image; God also has freedom and acts as he chooses. This means that God sometimes surprises us by offering grace when we have been disobedient or by averting punishment we know we deserve (Exodus 32:14, for example). Idols, by contrast, are static and predictable.

The relational character of God is apparent in Exodus 32 especially in God’s interaction with Moses. Exodus 32:10 is an important verse. When God explains to Moses what has happened, how the Israelites have created and are now worshiping the golden calf, God then says, “Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” “Let me alone” is a remarkable statement for God to make to Moses. It seems to imply that God can only go through with the impulse to destroy the Israelites if Moses does not intervene. God is clearly affected by Moses’ prayer. So, as the story goes, Moses does not leave God alone. Instead, Moses pleads for God to preserve the Israelites. This interchange illustrates just how essential relationships are to God. The creation of a stale, static image is the ultimate denial of this divine characteristic.

The prohibition against making images of Yahweh ensures that we understand God as relational. It also urges us to act in particular ways. If we think of God as inherently relational, for example, we will be more likely to pray, to intercede on behalf of others. In other words, we are encouraged to act like Moses, not to “leave God alone.”

Exodus 32 and Genesis 3

The story of Israel making a golden calf is very similar to the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden in the nature of the sin it describes. God provided for Adam and Eve all they needed. God also gave Godself as a companion. But the first couple in the garden caved in to the temptation to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). They exchanged what God gave them for what their own knowledge could provide. The result was a diminished relationship with the Creator and increased hardships in life and in relationship with each other. The golden calf story is very much the same story.

The rebellion of Adam and Eve is often referred to as “original sin.” That language is appropriate in that their desire to be like God was for them the first and basic act against God. Exodus 32 may be fairly labeled the story of Israel’s original sin. Israel with its golden calf did essentially what Adam and Eve did in the garden. They exchanged the good gifts of God (bringing them out of Egypt) and the promises of God for the future for what they could conjure up themselves—a lifeless and nonrelational god. The temptation to do this to God remained their main temptation, and it remains ours as well. All other temptations are really expressions of this one temptation to reduce God or push God out of the way in order to gain control of our own destiny.

Carlisle Marney was a Baptist preacher in the middle of the twentieth century in Charlotte, North Carolina. Someone once asked him, “Where is the Garden of Eden?” Marney supposedly replied, “The Garden of Eden is at 227 Maple Street.” According to the story, when Marney was a young boy growing up at 227 Maple Street, he stole some cookies from the cookie jar and ate them in secret. He was so ashamed that he hid in the closet, where his mother found him and asked why he was hiding and what he’d done. At that moment, Marney said, he knew he was just like Adam and Eve. He was also just like the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai.

Idolizing the Messenger

In addition to the Israelites breaking the second commandment in Exodus 32, they also engage in idolatry of a more subtle form. In verse 1 the people come to Aaron with the request to make an idol and the comment, “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.” The sequence of the Israelites’ comments is fascinating. Clearly, the people are asking for an idol to represent God. God seems absent. But they also seem to imply that Moses would serve the purpose if he were present! They identify Moses as the one who brought them up from Egypt. Hence, it seems their idolatry is deeper than often recognized. They had been seeing Moses as their deliverer, or at least as the tangible sign of their deliverance all along.

It should be noted that Old Testament faith is incarnational (and thus anticipates the Incarnation, Jesus Christ). It always includes concrete expressions of God’s presence. Hence, Israel’s king is called God’s son (Psalm 2:7) and is sometimes presented as God’s representative on earth (Psalm 89:25-29). But in Exodus 32 the Israelites cross the line: They move from seeing Moses as a representative of God to seeing him as the power that actually delivered them. They fail to recognize that their leader is simply one of them. He represents them before God and he leads them into God’s presence. He is not, however, God’s presence in their midst. With such confused thinking, the people idolize Moses.

The temptation to create an idol in this way is always with us as well. Whether the temptation is to set up a leader as our idol or to worship some object or ideal, the effect is the same. It reduces God to something we can manage. For the Israelites it was easier to look to Moses or a cast image than to the mysterious God on the mountain. The former they could see, touch, and manipulate. The latter was beyond them. A healthy faith always experiences God’s nearness indeed, but not at the expense of knowing God is ultimately beyond us. The God on the mountain is One who calls us to be more than we are.

Sharing the Scripture

Preparing Our Hearts

Explore this week’s devotional reading, found in John 5:39-47. In this passage, Jesus refers to Moses as the people’s accuser. We will see a different view of Moses as the people’s advocate in the background Scripture for today’s session. An advocate is needed when we fail to honor our commitments to God. Where have you fallen short recently? Pray about this situation and ask for help in remaining loyal to the commitments you have made to God.

Pray that you and the group will center your lives on the God who led the Israelites out of the wilderness and was called “Father” by Jesus.

Preparing Our Minds

Study the background Scripture from Exodus 32 and the lesson Scripture from Exodus 32:1-10. Consider this question as you read: What is worthy of our complete devotion and loyalty?

Leading the Group

• Pray that those who have come today will recognize that good intentions do not always lead to the complete commitment that God requires of us.
• Go around the group and ask each person to complete this sentence: I’ve been meaning to . . . Students may note craft projects, home remodeling projects, personal plans, plans for study or spiritual disciplines, or anything else they have been meaning to do but haven’t gotten around to completing.
• Ask: What does our list of unfinished business say about our level of commitment to things that we apparently thought were important?
• Read aloud today’s focus statement: The commitments of our time and energy demonstrate where our devotion lies. What is worthy of our complete devotion and loyalty? The story of the golden calf illustrates that God, and God alone, deserves our complete devotion and loyalty.
• Introduce today’s study by reading “Introduction” from Understanding the Scripture.
• Ask these questions, using information from Understanding the Scripture to augment the discussion:

1. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate Aaron as a leader of God’s people? Why would you give him such a rating?
2. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the loyalty of the Israelites to God? What facets of their behavior prompt you to assign this number?
3. What, if anything, surprises you about God’s response to the golden calf?

• Read or retell “Leave Me Alone” from Interpreting the Scripture to help the adults understand the implications of broken commandments.
• Note that the Bible records instances of God’s anger, due to the sin and disobedience of the Israelites, their worship of idols, intermarriage, ignoring the sabbath, and other reasons. Share some of these references to God’s anger in relation to idol worship. ■ Numbers 25:3-5 ■ Deuteronomy 7:3-5 ■ Deuteronomy 29:16-28 ■ Judges 2:11-15 ■ 2 Kings 22:13-20 ■ 2 Chronicles 24:18-22
• Ask: What are some of the “idols” that we may put in the place of God? (Answers may include: personal status, wealth, owning a certain brand of vehicle, living in an affluent neighborhood, wearing designer clothing, holding powerful positions in the workplace or community or church, earning a degree from a prestigious university, being a citizen of a particular country, belonging to a particular congregation or denomination, having powerful friends.)
• Reiterate the importance of devotion to God by reading these words from 2 Chronicles 16:9: The LORD’s eyes scan the whole world to strengthen those who are committed to him with all their hearts. (CEB)
• Pray that today’s participants will set aside any idols in their lives and affirm their loyalty to God.
• Conclude today’s session by leading the group in this commission: We go forth to worship and serve the Lord our God. Thanks be to our merciful and gracious God.

Adapted from The New International Lesson Annual © 2010 Abingdon Press