Daily Devotions
Exodus
"They have ears but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell." Psalm 115:6
Text: Exodus 32 : 2-4
SAD AND STRANGE ADVICE
As the people converged on Aaron making strong request that he make gods for them, he acquiesced with hardly any resistance! How could human beings make gods? How could any thing human hands create become gods worthy of worship? Did Aaron not know better?
“And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings
which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and
your daughters, and bring them to me.’
EXODUS 32:2
What was Aaron trying to do? Why did he not resist the people strenuously? He who had ministered alongside Moses all this while, crumbled under the pressure put upon him by the people!
Did he think that the people would not be willing to part with their gold? How wrong he was, if he assumed that! The people brought all the gold that Aaron requested for!
“So all the people broke off the gold earrings which were
in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received
the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an
engraving tool, and made a molded calf.”
EXODUS 32:3-4A
How could Aaron have even attempted what he did! He was one of the privileged people who were invited to dine at a special feast at Mount Sinai (Cf. Exodus 24:9-11). He actually molded a calf out of the gold brought to him!
A WILD PROCLAMATION
The people were delighted when they saw the golden calf that Aaron had made. If their priest could make them a golden calf, then surely it must be all right to venerate it! With a great shout, the people made a wild proclamation!
“Then they said, ‘This is your God, O Israel,
that brought you out of the land of Egypt.'”
EXODUS 32:4B
1. “Then they said”
The people took over where Aaron left off! These people had also tried every means to pressure Moses. They had complained. They had contended. They had rebelled. But they could never make any headway with him. But with Aaron they could coerce him to do their bidding, couldn’t they? Surely they could also choose “their god”. The golden calf would be their god!
2. “This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt”
What fit of madness caused the nation to rebel so openly? Even by the wildest stretch of imagination, it was hard to conceive that a man-made idol, notwithstanding the fact that it was made of gold, could become “the god of Israel”!