the golden calf.

[If you’ve recently read the golden calf story from Exodus 32, then you’ll be familiar with the plot lines of this little recap.]

Let’s set the scene: God has rescued His people (the Israelites) out of Egypt, and He is leading them into the Promised Land (where there’s milk and honey galore). On their way, they camp out around Mount Sinai so that God can speak with Moses (where Moses is given lots of instructions on how to live/what to do). Moses often comes down from the mountain and relays information with his people. 

In Exodus 24 (on one of his trips down), Moses “came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do’” (Exodus 24:3).

So the Israelites know the Ten Commandments, they’ve seen God work wonders, and they declare their allegiance to Him. (I think we know where this is going). 

But then, while Moses is back up on Mount Sinai, the people grow impatient and call on Aaron (their acting leader while the head honcho is unavailable) to make them more gods. You know, just in case. 

So Aaron, apparently suffering amnesia alongside the rest of them from just witnessing GOD PART THE RED SEA, agrees to the demands. He gathers up all of their golden jewelry and creates a golden calf (a symbol of power), which they immediately begin to worship. In one fell swoop, the Israelites break the first three commandments. 

One might say that things aren’t going so well down there. 

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Here’s the part that jumped off the page when I recently read this passage:

After the golden calf is built, the people exclaim, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4)  

Now, you probably noticed that Scripture only mentioned one golden calf. But they declared their allegiance to gods (multiple). Sure, I guess it’s possible they created multiple golden idols, but I think they were still worshiping the one true God alongside the fake, golden god. Because the very next verse, Aaron proclaims that “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord” (32:5). Jehovah. They follow through with this feast and even give offerings. 

In a vain attempt to also honor the one true God, the Israelites tried to merge religions together. They didn’t outright deny faith in God, but they added the worship of something else alongside their worship of Jehovah. 

But the Lord’s throne occupancy is not up for revision. He does not share worship with idols. God wants our full devotion, nothing less. We must love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds (Matthew 22:37).

It’s a tale as old as the Garden of Eden: they thought they knew better than God. They thought they could add something to their worship to make their lives better. They thought they could disobey the Lord and get away with it. I suppose the Israelites didn’t realize that one’s worship and love of God is directly related to obedience to God. Love for and obedience to the King of Kings cannot be separated (see John 14:15). Obedience is the fitting response to true salvation.

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Back to the story, where the Israelites went all wrong. After the feast, they “rose up to play” (indicating their incorporation of more immoral behavior). Disobedience to God often leads to further corruption, which sounds like the case here. 

God acknowledges the Israelites’ blatant twisting of His commands and says to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them” (32:7-8). 

In His perfect righteousness, God threatens destruction of the Israelites right then and there. But Moses intercedes on their behalf, and God relents “of the disaster He had spoken of bringing on His people” (32:14). (Do we see the foreshadowing of the Perfect Intercessor here?!)

So Moses comes back down the mountain (anyone else automatically adding yee-haw to this phrase? Asking for a friend). He sees the idol worship and the dancing of his people and oh man, he is MAD. He breaks the tablets he was carrying (a visual picture of what the Israelites had done by disobeying God’s commands), destroys the calf, and makes the people drink the powder from the recently-demolished idol (which seems a bit odd, to be honest). Moses then chastises Aaron for allowing this calf worship to happen, and Aaron immediately tries to shirk responsibility by blaming the evil people and claiming the calf just popped out of the fire like it had been in a magical Easy-Bake Oven (loose paraphrase). 

Hey buddy, I don’t think that’s gonna cut it. 

After this, the sons of Levi kill those who are not devoted to the Lord, Moses goes back up Sinai to plead with the Lord for his people once again, and the Lord instructs Moses to continue marching toward the Promised Land. I think it’s important to note here that the Israelites’ sins don’t go unpunished. In Exodus 32:35, we learn that “the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.” (Yeah, Aaron sounds pretty responsible here).

A note about God’s justice & punishment: Some of us may be scratching our heads at the killing of the ungodly and the plagues sent on the people. I think that’s completely understandable, because we don’t always comprehend the depth of sinfulness and the holiness of God. I wrote a few words about this on Instagram not too long ago if you want to hop over there and read more about God’s wrath & the atonement.

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Okay, we’ve covered a good bit of ground… but let’s bring this full circle. Even though we may not make golden statues on the reg, we often behave a lot like the calf-worshiping Israelites. 

We try to add things to our worship of God. We attempt to fit God’s commandments into our own agendas. We say, “Oh, I just want to love Jesus and others,” but then we go on acting like His blood shed on the cross is not enough to save and His Word is not sufficient in how to live. (Please know that I’m lamenting over my past guiltiness here). 

Some of the things we worship aren’t always bad, in and of themselves. There are a plethora of examples I could give, but here are a few prevalent ones: acceptance, authority, health, safety, equality, experiences, empathy, prosperity, and patriotism.

None of these things can replace God. They aren’t worthy of our total allegiance and devotion. They cannot be added to the Gospel to gain heaven. Jesus Christ is the only Defeater of death. He is the only One who offers a true and lasting redemption.

Be aware of the false ideologies and insufficient gospels that are sneaking into our lives and churches. Be willing to speak truth in love as we remind one another, “As your neighbor, I want what’s best for you. And what’s best for you (and me) is to obey JESUS. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

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We cannot keep unrepentantly putting ideologies, people, and platforms on the pedestal meant for God alone while still claiming the name of Christianity. I’ll say this again: the Lord’s throne occupancy is not up for revision. God alone is worthy, and He is a jealous God after His glory. Praise God for the following description of His overwhelming goodness (just a couple of chapters after the golden calf): 

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance” (Exodus 34:6-9).

There is wonderful news today, friends. The Lord sent His Own Son to pardon our sins! He was nailed to that tree and bore the punishment we deserve. By grace, through faith. We don’t have to earn our spot, accomplish an agenda, or come up with our own guilt offerings. We can live in eternity with Him because of His good and holy sacrifice. There is really only one acceptable response to this news, and it looks a lot like Moses’s response: let’s bow our heads and worship Him alone.

Let’s stop glorifying our gold; God alone deserves all the glory, honor, and praise!