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Exodus 32:1-5 (Daily Verse and Comment)

August 11, 2022 Lucretia Leave a comment

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Exodus 32:1-5

(1) And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. (2) And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. (3) And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. (4) And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (5) And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
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As this episode began, the people were not really asking for a change of gods but rather a new human leader. Moses had borne much of the brunt of Israel’s discontent, and now he had disappeared! In their impatience, they wanted to entrust their leadership to one who could make a god. But this highly offended the true God and Moses! To them the golden calf was an attempt to redefine God’s nature and control Him according to their desires.

In like manner, the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches say the ornaments, icons, crucifixes, Madonna statues, and Christmas trees are only to keep God in mind. But this is the same principle involved in Exodus 32! It is not long before people associate the image with God.

In the Golden Calf episode, the first and second commandments were directly broken. Aaron proclaimed it “a feast to the LORD.” The churches say, “These things are dedicated to worshipping God.” The true God says in verses 7-8 that they had “corrupted themselves . . . and worshipped it.” This sounds like today’s Christmas observance. The people corrupted themselves by redefining God’s nature and His way of worship according to their desires and ends.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
The Second Commandment (1997)