Alright, the 32nd chapter, verse
1 through 8. And the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down out of the mount. And the people gathered
themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 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 know not what
is become of him. And Aaron said unto them," Are
you surprised by Aaron's answer? He didn't say, No, no, stop,
stop. Aaron said unto them, Break off
the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of
your son, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all
the people break off the golden earrings which were in their
ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their
hand and fashioned it with a gravening 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. When Aaron saw it, he built an
altar before it. Again, we would expect him to
have a different reaction. But when Aaron saw it, he built
an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow
is a feast to the Lord. They rose up early on the morrow,
and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And
the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go, get thee down. For thy people," notice that,
thy people, which thou brought out of the land of Egypt, have
corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten
cap. and have worshipped it, and have
sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel,
which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Now, that's
Exodus 32, verse 1 through 8, if you want to turn there, because
we will be dwelling in this chapter most of the morning. Let me begin
by saying this possibly is among, if not the worst, of all of the
transgressions that Israel committed, whether in the wilderness journey
or once settled in the land. This is a serious charge against
them, for their transgressions at other times were many and
they were great. They are called, that is Israel,
in Paul's letter to the Romans 10 and verse 21, a disobedient
and against saying people. Isaiah 65, verses 2 and 3, wrote
of that people, quote, a rebellious people which walk in a way not
good after their own thoughts, a people that provoke me to anger
continually to my face, that sacrifice in gardens and burn
incense upon altars of brick." And many such like things they
did continually, time after time, in each generation throughout
their history. Finally, we read in the book
of Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 8 of that provocation in the
wilderness when God sware unto them that they would not enter
in or see His rest. Now, one thing that is so amazing
about their action here in this tech is that having so soon after
a great blessing come from God or some great deliverance in
their behalf, or a manifestation of God's glory directly unto
them, then they fall into some sin or rebellion. And here they
are murmuring and we hear them complaining and we see open animosity
against the man that God has called, usually venting it against
Moses, their leader, accusing him of leading them to where
they were in danger of perishing from hunger or for thirst or
from the hand of their enemy. But what is so unnerving is how
very closely this resembles at times our very own case. Oh yes, we confess and we pray
and we promise unto our God We ask of God a special help or
mercy or deliverance. We soon forget and are not thankful
that God has been so gracious unto us. But here in Exodus chapter
32, the people grew impatient that Moses was so long gone up
on the mount, even saying in the end of verse 1, this Moses,
look at that, this Moses, the one that led us out of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him. And please note, they
do not say, This Moses that God raised up to deliver us and lead
us out of the land of Egypt. But there's a word I hear today,
they dissed Moses. That is, they disrespect Moses. This Moses, as if it had been
a scheme of Moses to lead them out and put them in harm's way. that a bad end might come unto
them. Now we have two questions that
we want to ask and seek to answer in the beginning. Number one,
why is Moses in the mount? Why is Moses up on the mount
in the presence of God? And the second question is, what
did they think or imagine might have happened unto Moses, their
leader? What were they thinking that
had become of him? Well, the first question, why
was Moses in the mount? This is answered very clearly
earlier in Exodus 24 and verse 12 through verse 18. God called
Moses to come up to the mount to receive the tablets of the
commandments that they were to teach unto the people. God had
called Moses into the mount. In verse 14, Moses deputized
Aaron and her to handle the matters, the affairs, and the problems
of the people while Moses was absent. Then Moses ascended the
mount in their sight, which was covered with the cloud of God,
or the glory of the Lord, and Moses entered up into that mount
and glory. Reading in Exodus and Moses'
time in the mount, it comes clear that the incident with the golden
calf caused what Matthew Henry, a commentator, called a very
lamentable interruption. in Moses' holy time before God,
of that session of Moses yonder on the mount. And Moses came
down from the mount to deal with a problem that had arisen in
the camp. Exodus 32 and verse 7. But not before interceding, and
that very quickly, with God for them in the presence of the Lord. In Exodus 32. and verse 11 through
verse 14. Then looking down at verse 15
of the chapter, Moses came down, dealt with their idolatry. He threw down the tablets that
God had written and He broke them as He threw them down. Then
in Exodus 34 and verse 4, Moses ascends the mount again with
two new tablets of stone for the Lord to write upon and for
him to receive the final ordinance for the people and the pattern
for the tabernacle that was to be built. So that's what Moses
is doing in the mount. God has called him there that
he might give instruction unto the people, make revelation unto
them. Then the second question, what
did they think had become of Moses? It had been less than
40 days, we know that. Why was Moses absent so long
is the question in their mind. Now, let's notice two things
in verse 1 of our text again. Again, this disrespect for God's
man Moses is seen, whom they refer to as this Moses, and they
blame him for bringing them out into the howling wilderness and
exposing them to hunger and thirst and death. This Moses puts us
in mind, at least it did me, of the way some of the Jews referred
to the Lord's Christ, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when they said
of Him, We found this fellow, and fellow is italicized in our
version, we found this. And the translators have put
felah. It is a derogatory reference
unto our Lord. We found this felah and accusing
him of heresy against Judaism and insurrection against the
government of Caesar. But then the people say to Aaron
in Exodus 32, And verse 1, we don't know what has become of
him, that is, of this Moses. Now what did they think had happened
to Moses or might have become of this one? Did they imagine
that he perished in the fire and the glory upon the mount
and was therefore to be presumed to be dead? Did some think that
maybe the Lord caught him up into heaven like he did Enoch
and Elijah. Or, did they think, perhaps the
Spirit of God had cast him upon some mountain as they imagined
of Elijah in 2 Kings 2 and verse 16. When Elijah went up, then
the people said, let's go search. Search here. Search this valley.
Search this mountain. Perhaps the Lord The Spirit of
the Lord hath cast him over in a valley. Or did they think that
Moses had deserted them and his position and gone and made a
new way of life for himself? Or did they think that he'd gone
back and become again a shepherd and a keeper of the sheep? At
any rate, they presumed him gone and out of sight and not returning. And that leads them to their
absurd and sinful request unto Aaron. Now, they do not say,
Moses is gone, give us a new leader. Or, you become our leader. One who will bring hope and change. unto the nation and unto the
people and brighten our future and help us to realize the Israeli
dream. They do not ask for another to
become their leader. Instead, they require of Aaron. Up, up, they said. Be at it and
about it. Do it now. Make us gods that
shall go before us, as for this fellow, or this Moses, how impudent
of them and of the people. For even if Moses is dead, or
gone, or lost, yet not God, for His presence was ever there. Had they forgotten Exodus 13
and verse 21 when they left Egypt? And we read, quote, "...the Lord
went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and led them in the
way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to
go day and night." And the next verse said, He took not away
the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from
the people. They had seen this great manifestation
of the evidence of the presence of God. In addition, what else
had they seen? in leaving out of Egypt. While
they had seen the Red Sea part by the power of God, they went
over on dry ground. Exodus 14. They had seen the
bitter waters of Marah sweetened when God commanded Moses to toss
in a tree. And the waters were sweetened
in Exodus chapter 15. They had eaten quail and manna
that had come down from heaven. and were upon the ground in Exodus
chapter 16. They had seen the magnificent
giving of the law in Exodus chapter 19 and all of those manifestations. And now, so impudent as to cry
out, make us gods that shall go before us And they demanded
of Aaron, and note the plural gods in the plural. Make us gods. Is one not enough? And the one true God not enough? What about the part of Aaron?
in this matter. We blame the people heavily.
But what about the part of Aaron in this matter? Would we not
expect him to withstand their mutiny against Moses and against
God? Surely Moses, or rather Aaron,
will strongly rebuke them for their desire of idol. Call them
away from this devious plot that they have hatched out in their
mind. I remember Lot, who rebuked his
fellow citizen, said, Do not sow wickedly in Genesis chapter
19 and verse 7. But as Matthew Henry wrote on
this passage here in Exodus chapter 32, quote, We do not find that
he said, one word to discountenance their proposal, not that he reproved
their insolence, nor reasoned with them of the sin and the
folly of it, and showed himself ready to humor them in it." Did
not resist, we don't read a word, but humored them in their endeavor. We might mention that some are
willing to cut Aaron a bit of slack. that in asking the people
to give up their jewels, he thought perhaps their covetousness would
trump their desire for an idol that might be seen and that might
go before them. But the Scripture gives us no
hint of that at all. Aaron was not planning on making
them a cheap deity or a cardboard deity. He called for their golden
earrings. We find in verse 3, the people
are quite willing and ready to comply as was Aaron. And they took off their golden
earrings and their ornaments of gold and they brought them
unto Aaron. which shows, as John Gill said,
quote, idolaters spare neither pain nor cost to support their
worship, unquote. They imagine or reason, perhaps,
that a gold god is better than a stone god, a golden altar better
than one made simply out of brick. Now, looking at verse 4 of our
text, and it is hard to believe our eyes, hard to believe our
ears. Here we see Aaron called of God
to be the first high priest of Israel, the one who and his sons
after him offered sacrifices upon the altar to the Most Holy
and High God, seeing Aaron now prostituting himself to an idol. We read, it was Aaron, in verse
2, that asked the people to bring their ornaments, their golden
pieces, and such like. It was Aaron who, in verse 4,
received them from the hands of the people. It was Aaron,
in verse 4, who melted them down and fashion decay. It was Aaron,
in verse 5, who built an altar and appointed a feast unto that
day. He lent his hand and his service
to this sordid affair that is going on here. The account in
verse 4 is very brief. Details are not given about how
long it took, who assisted him, exactly the construction of the
cave, what it was made of at their hand, with a gravening
tool, a mold and cave. Most expositors think that Aaron
made or had made a form or a mold in the shape of a keg. Then having melted the gold,
poured it into that mold, that it might cool and take the shape
of the mold." And as Matthew Henry added, giving it finishing
touches with a graving tool, as we read there. Or as Gilroy,
with his tool, He wrought it into a more agreeable form, took
off the roughness and polished it." Bishop Joseph Hall, in his
large devotional book called Contemplation, I think pretty
well sums up the sin of Aaron. That is, that he, quote, calls
for their earrings, makes a graven calf out of it, erects an altar,
consecrates a day unto it, and calls it their god, and weeps
not to see them dance around before it. and around it." And
according to Exodus 32 and verse 25, dancing naked, having taken
off their ornaments and become subject unto the judgment of
God, which would be heard by their enemies round about. and their ancestor, the children
of them that did such a thing. To paraphrase, you are the children
of them that built the golden cave, the prophets would then
say unto them, who had sought to transfer the glory of God
to an ox or unto a calf. We read in Psalm 106, verse 19 and verse 20, quote,
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox
that eats grass, unquote. Now, look at the words of Stephen
concerning this in Acts 7, 39-41. Moulton when speaking before
the Sanhedrin Council. Now we might ask ourselves another
question. Why a cave? Why was it a cave
that was fashion? Why so quick and so unanimously
seemingly to settle upon this particular figure of all of the
likenesses that they might copy? Why, of all that crawls and all
that flies and all that swims and all that creeps and all that
walks was a calf. or an ox the pattern for the
gods that should go before them. In that passage from Stephen
in Acts 7, 39, the last part, and verse 40, the first part,
quote, In their hearts turned back again unto Egypt, saying
unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us. Unquote. Fact. Their hearts were never completely
purged of Egypt. Their hearts, until they got
to Canaan, were never completely purged of Egypt, just as our
hearts are never completely purged of the sin of this present evil
world. Now concerning the cave, some
expositor or of the opinion that the making of the cave was influenced
by what Joseph Hall described as, and I'm quoting, the black
cave with the white spots which they saw worshipped in Egypt
which had stolen their hearts, unquote. Some call it Osiris,
whom the Egyptians worshiped under the image of a golden ox. And perhaps they had seen that
in their sojourn in Egypt. Now, let's sharpen our focus
and our concentration. First, let's hear again their
desire or request, maybe even we could call it a demand. Verse 1, Make us God's that shall
go before us. This they desired as a replacement
for Moses, saying, This Moses which brought us up out of the
land of Egypt is gone, and we know not what is become of him. Then look again at verse 4. When they saw the calf, they
approved of it, and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel,
which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. I have
read some Jewish expositor did think that by some magical act,
the molten calf actually took the very breath of life and came
out of the mold as a living calf. But this is an absurd view for
any to hold. But as Gil said, the people cannot
be stupid enough to ascribe their deliverance to that cat as it
did not then have existence when they left out of the land of
Egypt. It was recently made, made right
in their presence and right before their eyes. They acknowledge
Moses brought us up out of the land of Egypt and consider this
cat, it was only an inanimate thing, though it was made or
fashioned of gold. It had no life. It had no breath. It could not move of itself. It was actually no better than
Dagon who sat yonder in the pagan temple. And it could be destroyed,
which it was, by Moses. And Aaron says to them in verse
5, tomorrow is a feast unto the Lord. So as one wrote, the image
of the holy day was both to one deity. The image and the holy
day was both to one deity. As strange as this seemed, as
shameful and as sinful as it was, yet it was not intended
to be a complete and full apostasy from the Lord God. Not that they
totally renounced Jehovah and looked only to this dumb, ignorant,
inanimate cave. to provide care for them, but
the main part of their sin consisting in them desiring a visible image
to symbolize God and His presence with them. Let's go over that
again. The main part of their sin consisted
in their desire to have some visible image or representation
to symbolize God and His presence with them, what one called a
token of the divine presence among them? Are they that stupid? Yes, hear them. These be thy
gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. So they desire to make a visible
representation of God who delivered them out of the land of Egypt."
Now, this view is held by some sound expositors of the Word
of God, and I read from several of them. I feel more comfortable
saying that since others have said it before. Matthew Henry
wrote very wisely. They did not terminate their
belief or their confession of God, for Aaron calls it a feast
unto the Lord our Jehovah, and make the calf then as a visible
representation of the true God whom they imagined that they
might worship then by the aid of this image." Or as Henry put
it, they intended to worship God in and through this image. which nonetheless became an act
of superstition, of sacrilege, and of idolatry. Even if they, like the papists
in our day claim, we do not worship the image, we worship God by
or with the aid of the image. Romanists say images and statues
are only aids to us in our worship of God and therefore are legitimate
to be used in our worship. Now, excuse a short digression
if you would, but I got out my old tattered torn and worn copy
of a Catechism for Adults by William J. Cogan, given to me
in the sixties. And on page 15, the question,
this is a Catholic catechism, why do Catholics have statues
and pictures of the saints? That's the question. The answer
is twofold. Number one, they say, to honor
the Blessed Virgin Mary. and the saints. To honor our
heroes is what it said. Like we, they said the same thing
as having civil statutes of Lincoln and Grant and Sam Houston and
such like. But then secondly, they're answering
the catechism because it is easier to pray when looking at a statue
or a picture. It is much easier to tell Jesus
how sorry I am for my sin while looking at a crucifix or a picture
of Him hanging on the cross." That is their catechism and as
taught. But this all, even if that were
so, misses the point. God has expressly forbidden the
making of any graven images whatsoever. If you would care to turn with
me back to Exodus chapter 20, and let's read verse 4 and 5,
in the giving of the law. First thou shalt have no other
gods before me, verse 3, but verse 4 and 5, Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that
is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and the fourth generation of them that hate
me. Now look what we read there,
I am a jealous God. And God's jealousy is not only
aroused by the worship of a rival God, but also by the use of images,
of statues, of pictures and such like when they are made a part
of the worship of Him. Flores asks in Isaiah 40 and
verse 18, to whom will you liken God? Or what likeness will you
compare unto Him? If one set out to make something
to represent God, What exactly will it be? What ought it to
be? In Deuteronomy chapter 4, I'm
going to read verse 15 through verse 19. Take ye therefore good
heed unto yourselves. for you saw no manner of similitude
on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the
midst of the fire. Lest you corrupt yourself, make
you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of
male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth,
the likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness
of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any
fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. Unless thou lift up
thine eyes unto heaven, when thou seest the sun, the moon,
and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven should be driven to
worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided
unto all nations under the whole heaven." Here, you saw no similitude
on the day that God forcefully and gloriously spake from the
man. So the question is this, since
you saw no manner, you saw no similitude, and no man has seen
God at any time." John 1 and verse 18. What then image, what
likeness will you compare the Lord with? What will you represent? The God of heaven. An old Puritan
named Thomas Watson once wrote, while the first commandment forbids
worshipping every false god. The second forbids worshipping
the true God by use of images and statues and likeness. For
as Watson wrote, to set up an image to represent God is debasing
Him, as Jesus Christ taught the Samaritan woman. In John chapter
4, God is spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. God is not corporal. He is not
body. He is not material. He has spiritual
essence. And being so is invisible and
must be worshipped, therefore, in spirit and in truth. John 4 and verse 24, and not
with or by visible age, pictures, statute, and such like. But we must notice now the judgment
of God upon the people because of the golden cage. God's anger
waxed hot and he sends Moses down. God vowing to consume them
and make of Moses a people. Moses intercedes for the people.
He bids God remember the covenant that he had made with them and
in this Moses is a type of our great Mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in verse 14 we read that
the Lord repented of the evil that He thought to do unto His
people that He had threatened to do. And in verse 19 and verse
20, when Moses came into the camp and saw, verse 19, His anger
waxed hot and he cast down the tablet written on both sides
by the hand or the finger of God. And in verse 20 we read
that he ground the cap to powder, tore it to pieces, beat it, crushed
it, ground it to powder, strew it then upon the water and made
the people drink of that bitter concoction." Then verse 7, Moses
withstands Aaron unto his face. for whom he had interceded in
Deuteronomy 9 and verse 20, this very Aaron. What did this people
unto you, he asked? How did they manipulate you? By what means did they cause
you or bring you to commit this great sin against our God? Aaron, please. Look at verse
22. You know this people, he says
unto Moses, that they are set on mischief. You know that they
are rebellious. You know, even one time we read
that they were ready to stone Moses to death in Exodus 17 and
verse 4. Moses said to God, Do something.
They be ready to stone me to death. But better it had been
for Aaron to have died as a martyr than to build them an idol after
the desire of their heart. Yet here is another act of divine
sovereignty. Look at God's divine sovereignty. Aaron who listened to the people,
Aaron who should have known better, Aaron who actually made, fashioned,
and designed the golden calf is spared. He is spared. He is not slaughtered like 3,000
others. While they that called for it
were slaughtered. Verse 26-29, Moses commands there
be a sword. Go and slay the idolaters. And 3,000 men were killed. upon that day. Blood ran, bodies
fell. It was a time of vengeance. Many
took up the sword against their friend, their neighbor, and their
brother at Moses' urging and command. Verse 35, the Lord plagued
the people because of the cag they made which Aaron fashioned. Now, this was not the only time
that many in Israel died for their sin. For making the golden
calf, 3,000 died. Numbers 21, many died being bitten
by fiery serpent. Numbers 16, the earth opened
up and swallowed up Korah and his followers in their rebellion
against Moses. These things to rekindle the
fear of God in the heart of the survivors. Yes, what an awful
day in the history of Israel was this. And they paid a tremendous
price. In closing, let's make some application. Application number one ought
to be, from an example of Aaron, let the leaders Let the preachers,
let the pastors stay as close to the Word of God as they possibly
can. Let us move only in accordance
with the Word of God. Resist the urging of the people
to be like the world. or to be like other huge goat
barns that are around. Be in that desire of some people
to catch up with the progressives and the modernists and the liberals
that have taken religion to a new low in our day. And on the other
hand, not only let the preacher stick with the Word of God, but
let not the people be demanding their golden calves. Do not pressure
their leaders to be tolerant of other gods and of other religions,
for there is one and only one true and living God. And then I would close with this. Let all of us who name the name
of Christ resist being charmed by the beauty and the expensive
decorated buildings so common today, and the multi-million
dollar organ, and the imported stained glass window, and the
playing and the singing that feeds the flesh rather than the
spirit. Let us not be charmed by that,
but stay by the Word of our God and say only Thus saith the Word
of our God.