32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down
from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to
him, "Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this
Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not
know what has become of him."
32:2 Aaron said to them, "Take off the gold rings that are
on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring
them to me."
32:3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their
ears, and brought them to Aaron.
32:4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and
cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
32:5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and
Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a festival to
the LORD."
32:6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt
offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat
down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
32:7 The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people,
whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely;
32:8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I
commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf,
and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are
your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"
32:9 The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how
stiff-necked they are.
32:10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot
against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great
nation."
32:11 But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, "O
LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you
brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty
hand?
32:12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent
that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to
consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce
wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people.
32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants,
how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, 'I will
multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this
land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they
shall inherit it forever.'"
32:14 And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that
he planned to bring on his people.
Can God change His mind? Hmmm theological question...GOD is
omnipotent-all knowing so God knew moses was going to make that plea
in verse 13 right... So, did God really change His mind...OR did he
just want Moses to plea? Pastor Mary in OHIo
That's one of the things that interests me about this text which I
am using Sunday. Pastor Mary, I share your perspective. It interest
me, also, that Moses' first approach to God is from a public
relations issue, "Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil
intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains....'"
And when they saw that Jesus was a long time coming down from
heaven, they gathered around the TV and said, "Give us something we
can see to worship." And the televangelist said,"Take all your gold
and send it to me as a seed-faith offering and you'll be rich by the
week-end." And he took the gold they sent and formed a corporation
and built a theme park. And they got up early in the morning to go
to the park and give their offerings and eat and drink and revel,
and said,"Every day is a feast day with the Lord!" And God told his
messenger, "Your people are acting perversely and turning aside from
my way. That roller coaster has made their necks stiff. Stand back,
I'm going to burn them all." And Moses said, "Amen."
Sorry. One of my cynical days. tom in TN(USA)
I don't know how this story fits in with Matthew, but it's a great
story. The people got anxious because their leader didn't come down
from the mountain right away (instant gratification). Instead of
waiting through their anxiety, or investigating, they decided to
take another action. They made a "little" god out of jewelry that
they could carry around with them, a god who wouldn't come and go
mysteriously, or call their leader away from them. They traded Moses
for Aaron, and God Almighty for something more tangible and
predictable.
And don't we still do this when we are anxious? It's hard to deal
with the unknown. Much easier to grab onto something that will
comfort us in the short run; money, clothes, drugs, alcohol,
military might. But none of these things lead to life, and some of
them lead to death. The only way to have life is to go through our
anxiety to the source of life, God.
But whether this has anything to do with Matthew is another
question.
DGinNYC
Tom,
You forgot to tell us to "put our hands on the TV"... and feel the
"POWER". I remember a book once called, "The Cool Flame"... I
remember the title... the cover too... it showed a family gathered
around the "hearth" of a fireplace... instead of a fire in the
chimney there was a TV. Don't remember anything about the book other
than we now gather in front of the TV... but if you're family is as
mine. We've got cable in every room in the house. We rarely sit down
to watch a movie as a family. Not like Sunday night "Colorful World
of Disney" from my childhood.
The God we worship today is the TV... or the Lottery... or a losing
NFL team (I'm a Viking fan) ;?( ... our "rings" come in many shapes
and sizes.
Thanks for letting me... play with the text with you all...
blessings,
pulpitt in ND
As I was making my way through this passage and taking notes - I had
to pause and write down the question - How small is your god?
Because the god they made in this story sure is small. As you all
have been saying we've got some pretty small gods too, television,
money, sports teams (but hey didn't the Packers look good last
night!), etc.
It reminds me of the limbo song - how low can you go....
Not sure how it fits in with Matthew yet either. The folks in that
story have different problems. Their God isn't too small they just
don't have time for God.
Mark in WI
I never cease to be amazed by the teflon character of Aaron. This
man must have been given seroius consideration as a model for the
great colossus at Rhodes because he could straddle potent issues and
come through storms like nobody before or since.
I am weighing the Apis selection connotations as well as the
connections to the Jeroboam episode, but this obviously goes deeper
and in more directions. It will be quite interesting to figure out
just what Aaron personally envisioned re: vs. 5. IJB (N.O., LA)
My sermon title for this week is "Losing His Cool - Flirting with
Disaster." Here we have the "chosen people of God," doing an unholy
thing. When you look at the previous chapter, you'll see God's
instructions about the making of the tabernacle...using their
precious jewelry. So what do they use it for, when Moses climbs the
mountain for a chat with God? Ahhh, an idol. God is furious
....loses his cool and it took Moses' best diplomatic skills to save
these chosen people. What do we do with our precious resources? Do
they worship God or feed our "idols"? How much do we (USA) spend on
defense and on offensive weapons and how little do we spend on "the
least of these"? What do we do that pushes God to the edge? Someone
asks if God (all-knowing) can have a change of heart? I think "yes,"
as God can do what God wants to do. I doubt very much that God
programs himself into and unchangeable course. That's why I'm
thankful that we have a God of Grace, because that's about all we
got. Peace, Frank of Musk.
In our text study yesterday... we talked about the image of the
teacher being "out of the room" in comparison to Moses being gone in
this passage. "What goes on when the teacher leaves the room may be
quite different then when they ARE in the room.
Regarding the changing of God's mind... we have another passage
where Jesus changes HIS mind when visiting with the woman who he
tries to cast off... and she says "Yes but even the dogs get the
scrapts from the masters table."
Still working out the details...
pupitt in nd
A friend of mine in Little Rock reminded me of the concept of
"Object Permanence," which babies have to learn. As far as a little
baby is concerned, when a toy is out of sight it's gone forever.
Babies have no concept yet of object permanence. Out of sight . . .
of out the universe. That's why a baby cries when the mother walks
out of the room. The Israelites are like little children, aren't
they? It takes a mature faith to believe in a God we can't see, or
sometimes even feel. Martin in NY
Has anyone besides me and IJB (N.O., LA) noticed Aaron in all of
this? IJB mentions the teflon coating of Aaron. I see something more
insidious (sp?) and dangerous. It's all too real in post-modernity.
I was struck by vs 21-24. Moses askes Aaron what the people did to
make him do this thing. Aaron says, "they told me to make an idol.
So I threw their gold in the fire and "Out came this calf!" (NIV).
Or, in the immortal words of the pop singer "Shaggy", "Wasn't Me!"
As in the song, by Shaggy, Aaron is caught read handed. But when
faced with the truth, he ducks his responsibility.
I compare Aaron's attitude with that of all those who would rather
file a lawsuit against an entity instead of taking personal
responsibility. IE. the people suing the fast-food industry because
the food makes them fat, or the person who won millions b/c he
spilled hot coffee on himself.
Everyone seems so content to pass responsibility on to someone else.
How sad!
I just wish I could have seen that calf come out of that fire! What
a sight that must have been!
Steve in NC
I wrote of the Israelites being little children in their spiritual
development. It had also occurred to me that Aaron's excuse, "I
threw in their gold, and out came this calf," as though he had
nothing to do with it, is just what my five-year-old might say if
caught leading a nation into idolatry--something I hope she waits on
until she's six or seven.
Martin, NY
Maybe the connection with Matthew is not so much on the "small god"
track as the "stiff-necked" track. The people were rigid, not
willing to go with God's time, and wait for Moses to come back. The
people who refused the invitation in Matthew were also rigidly tied
in to their responsibilities on the farm or at the business, and
didn't want to take the time for something "outside the box," even a
party.
DGinNYC
