Exodus 32
The Sin of the Golden Calf
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!”
This is a hard message for Americans to grasp because of their political pride. During the Mosaic Law, God did not establish a democracy or a republic. He established a theocracy. This theocracy was to eventually be followed by a monarchy. A theocracy is the best government, if the true God of the universe is actually running the theocracy. This was the case in Mosaic Israel. It was also the case in ancient Egypt.
When God gave the Mosaic Law to Moses, He made rules in advance for future governments of Israel. He eventually planned to establish a monarchy. David was to be His first king. However, Israel demanded a king before God’s timing, so God gave them Saul. Saul was tall, dark, and handsome. He possessed the outward appearance of a king, but he did not possess enough internal divine view point to become an effective king for God.
When Moses did not come down immediately from Mount Sinai, the people joined together democratically and voted to replace Jehovah with an Egyptian calf-god. Aaron was in charge of this wilderness theocracy until Moses returned. He should have used his authority to answer “no.”
2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
Like most politicians, Aaron did not possess the courage to stand up for God. Instead, he used his human viewpoint to please the people. The majority is not always right, especially when the majority is filled with unbelievers or immature believers who are not grounded in the Word of God. This is why God runs churches through mature elders. Three mature elders with strong Bible doctrine can make better divine viewpoint decisions than a majority of unbelievers and immature believers who are not grounded in the Word of God. This is why elders need to make all decisions of the church, including the choosing of the pastor-teacher. It is unbiblical for congregations to elect their pastor-teacher. If given the opportunity, the congregation will elect a Saul rather than a David. They will vote in the celebrity pastor rather than the man who teaches the Word of God. They will vote in the one who makes them feel good, rather than the man who tells them that they need more Bible doctrine to control their sin nature. They will elect the one who tickles their ears, rather than the one who teaches Bible doctrine at the deepest level.
3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.
Israel plundered Egypt so that these articles could be used to glorify God. Instead, they were using the plunder to glorify Satan through the worship of the Egyptian calf-idol.
4 He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Notice that Aaron was an active leader in pagan worship against God. Pagan worship is a form of Satan worship.
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.”
The altar and feast were built to the calf-god. Notice that the calf god was given the divine name of "Lord." This was satanic worship of Satan through this idol.
6 So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.
The Hebrew for “they rose up to play” is צָחַק (zachach), meaning they laughed in mockery or in unbelief at God. This is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 26:8 when Isaac was “caressing” his wife. It is also the same root word of “Isaac,” meaning that Sarah laughed in mockery and unbelief at God’s divine revelation to Abraham. The people engaged in sexual worship that mocked Jehovah.
7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly.
Moses was ordered to go back down to the people.
8 They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them – they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”
The people heard the Law of God and declared that they would keep all of it. They broke all of it within one month.
9 Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have seen this people. Look what a stiff-necked people they are!
God made the Abrahamic Covenant with stubborn and stiff-necked people. God was attempting to lead Israel, but like a stiff-necked donkey, she refused to follow the Lord. God pulled her reigns to lead her into safety, but the people stiffened their necks like an uncooperative and stubborn donkey.
10 So now, leave me alone so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”
God made a tempting offer to Moses. God would destroy the entire nation and make a new nation out of Moses. Moses would become the next Noah. He would be given an eternal dynasty, which was what most earthly kings throughout history greatly desired. This is why King Henry VIII married his six wives.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
Moses interceded for Israel. This intercession of Moses was part of God's sovereign plan to bring in the Messiah through the line of David and not Moses.
12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘For evil he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent of this evil against your people.
If God killed the Israelites in the wilderness, then Egypt would mock the name and character of God. Egypt would claim that Jehovah only freed Israel so that He could destroy them in the desert.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about I will give to your descendants, and they will inherit it forever.’”
Moses reminded Jehovah of His Abrahamic Covenant that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The literal name of Jehovah means that He is a Covenant Keeper.
14Then the Lord relented over the evil that he had said he would do to his people.
The Hebrew word for “relented” means to change one’s mind. The Bible also claims that God does not change His mind. Is this a Bible discrepancy?
From divine viewpoint, God does not change His mind. It was part of God’s divine plan to make this offer to Moses and for Moses to reject it. From human viewpoint, it appears to humans that God is changing His mind.
15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.
God always requires two witnesses. Most likely, the Ten Commandments were written on both tablets. Five commandments were written on the front and five on the back,
16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
God wrote the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets with His own finger.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “It is the sound of war in the camp!”
Joshua was camped and waiting at the bottom of the mountain for Moses. Joshua heard noise, but he thought that the Israelites were being attacked.
18 Moses said, “It is not the sound of those who shout for victory, nor is it the sound of those who cry because they are overcome, but the sound of singing I hear.”
The noise was the songs of pagan worship. Music was a large part of pagan worship. Music was used to place the worshipper in an emotional high so that they would more easily react to mob suggestions. Charismatics use this same ploy today when they desire their congregation to accept satanic miracles which are falsely done in the name of God.
19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain.
The Israelites were dancing in the nude. Moses threw down the tablets and broke them into pieces, meaning that the Mosaic Covenant had already been broken.
20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
Moses burned the calf idol, showing that idols had no power. He ground their calf-god into powder, showing there was no power in idolatry. He mixed the powder with water and forced the Israelites to drink it, showing that there was no power in idolatry.
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought on them so great a sin?”
Moses wanted to know what the people did to Aaron which enticed him to participate in this sin.
22 Aaron said, “Do not let your anger burn hot, my lord; you know these people, that they tend to evil.
Aaron told Moses that the Israelites were evil.
23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
The people asked Aaron to make them idols.
24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and this calf came out.”
Aaron gave a terrible excuse. He claimed that he threw the gold into the fire and the calf jumped out of the fire. Moses did not even answer this flimsy excuse.
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild, for Aaron had let them get completely out of control, causing derision from their enemies.
The people were running around naked and disoriented.
26 So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” All the Levites gathered around him,
Moses called for support of Jehovah. Only the Levites joined him. All of the other tribes ignored him.
27 and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Each man fasten his sword on his side, and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and each one kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”
Jehovah ordered capital offense to be executed upon those who participated in the calf worship.
28 The Levites did what Moses ordered, and that day about three thousand men of the people died.
The Levites killed 3000 men who participated in this idolatry. This seems brutal to liberals who do not possess divine view point. God does not allow His own children to compromise. If God would have compromised with these liberals, then their teachings would have destroyed the entire nation before they even entered the Promised Land. According to the Bible, liberalism cannot be compromised. It must be eliminated, or it will eliminate biblical conservatism. Once liberalism seeped into the biblical seminaries, then it produced modern seminaries who no longer teach the Word of God. Approximately 95% of biblical seminaries are teaching doctrinal error.
29 Moses said, “You have been consecrated today for the Lord, for each of you was against his son or against his brother, so he has given a blessing to you today.”
The Levites chose Jehovah, while all of the other tribes remained silent. Therefore, Jehovah set them apart to carry the tabernacle across the wilderness.
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very serious sin, but now I will go up to the Lord – perhaps I can make atonement on behalf of your sin.”
Moses told the people that they had committed a terrible sin. Not only had they participated in idolatry, but they refused to repent and join Moses when they were called to do so. Moses knew that divine punishment would come upon these people. Therefore, Moses would intercede before Jehovah for the people. While Moses was praying, the people would have time to think about their sin. Would they be angry at Moses? Would they repent? Would they refuse to repent?
31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has committed a very serious sin, and they have made for themselves gods of gold.
Moses prays a national confession of sin for Israel. America could learn a lesson from this prayer.
32 But now, if you will forgive their sin…, but if not, wipe me out from your book that you have written.”
Moses asked God to forgive the nation of Israel for their national sin. However, if God decided not to forgive their national sin, then Moses asked God to blot him out of the Book of Life. Everyone who is born in history has his name written in the Book of Life. If one dies unsaved, then his name is blotted out of this book.
Another book is the Lamb’s Book of Life. Everyone who believes in God has his name written in this book. No one’s name can be blotted out of this book. Since Moses was a believer, it was impossible for his name to be blotted out of either book.
33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me – that person I will wipe out of my book.
Only those who reject Christ will have their names blotted out of the first book. Unbelievers’ names will never be written in the second book.
34 So now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken to you about. See, my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish, I will indeed punish them for their sin.”
The angel of the Lord is Jesus. Jesus will lead the Israelites across the wilderness in His Shekinah Glory appearance Those who were guilty of false worship will be punished for their sin.
35 And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf – the one Aaron made.
God sent a fatal disease which killed many of the Israelites.