Genesis 3 All Over Again
The narrative of Exodus slowed down in chapter 19 when Isreal arrived at Mount Sinai. There the Lord gave them the law, or the terms of his covenant with them (chs. 20-23), and then he ratified the covenant with blood (ch. 24). After this ratification ceremony, Moses was called back up the mountain to meet with the Lord and was given the instructions for the tabernacle and the priests (chs. 25-31).
At this point in the story, the mood is hopeful and optimistic. The Lord has rescued his people out of slavery, brought them to himself and given them his word and is in the process of giving them a way to meet with him regularly. The Lord created a nation to live with him and represent him in the world. Israel would be a new Eden, or place where God lived and where his blessing flowed out to the world.
But when we come to Exodus 32, it’s like Genesis 3 happens all over again. The Garden of Israel is infiltrated with evil and sin. Where there was harmony, now there’s a mess. Where there was rest, now there’s confusion. Where there was faith, now there’s idolatry.
What happened? Put simply, Israel’s fear leads them into idolatry, leads them to take control instead of trust the Lord. And when they take control, idolatry is the result. They wondered if their leader Moses would return and wanted assurance that they would be okay going forward. But their fear, instead of giving them the assurance they wanted, created a desire for control that resulted in idolatry and almost ended up in their destruction.
Their fear led to control which led to idolatry. This is a pattern at work in our hearts as well, and we’ll talk about it more at the end. But first, let’s look at Israel’s sin (vv. 1-10), Moses’ response (vv. 11-29), the Lord’s response (vv. 30-35), and then ask, “What about us?”
Israel’s Sin
First, in verses 1-10, we see Israel’s sin. Back in chapter 24, the Lord told Moses to come back up the mountain so he could give him the stone tablets with the law on them (v. 12). Moses told the elders that Aaron and Hur would be there to help resolve any problems that come up while he was away (v. 14). Then he went up into the glory cloud and was there for 40 days and nights.
During that time, the people grew impatient, but their impatience was the result of fear (32:1). The people were afraid Moses wasn’t coming back and they didn’t know what to do without him. They assume he’s the one who brought them out of Egypt, so with him gone, how are they going to make it? They’re afraid that they don’t have anyone to “go before” them.
Their leader is gone and they’re afraid that they’ll have no one to lead them home, and in their fear they take their future in their own hands. They want assurance that they’ll be okay, so instead of trusting the Lord who’s redeemed them, they take control of the situation. Fear leads them to take control, and when they take control, idolatry is the result.
The irony is that they forfeit the very thing they want. They want assurance that the Lord is with them, but their fear-driven impatience leads them to forsake the Lord who wants to be near them. Their idolatry isn’t just bad, it’s counterproductive.
In the impatience that fear often creates, they created something that they thought would relieve their fears and solve their problems. But by taking control instead of trusting the Lord, they broke the first two commandments. They’d just promised obedience (24:3, 7), but after a few weeks of waiting they left the God they said they loved.
The Lord has been talking to Moses on the mountain but he didn’t miss anything happening down below. Verses 7-10 are his response to Israel’s sin. The Lord is furious at what they’ve done. He is hot with anger and says he wants to “consume them” and start over with Moses (v. 10). At this point, Israel’s future is far scarier because of their sin than was their bondage in Egypt. It’s one thing if Pharaoh wants to destroy you. It’s an altogether worse thing if God wants to destroy you.
What will Moses do? Will he take God up on his offer? Will he take his future and run?
Moses’ Response
In verses 11-29, we see Moses’ response. It’s a two-fold response. First, he responds with mercy and intercession (vv. 11-14). But then, after he sees for himself what the people are doing, he responds with anger (vv. 15-29).
Moses’ intercession is in verses 11-14. He doesn’t accept God’s request – he doesn’t leave God alone (v. 10). He speaks up on behalf of the people, “imploring” the Lord to have mercy on them (v. 12b).
In his prayer, Moses appeals to God’s reasonableness – he’s just saved Israel, why would he kill them now (v. 11)? He appeals to God’s reputation, saying, “If you kill Israel, the Egyptians will think you’re evil” (v. 12). And he appeals to God’s promises (v. 13). The Lord personally swore to multiply Abraham’s descendants and give them a land.
Do you see how Moses is praying here? He grounds his requests in the Lord’s integrity and worldwide purposes, not in Israel’s goodness. He grounds his plea for Israel in the Lord himself. One commentator put it this way, “Rather than defending the people before the Lord, Moses defends the Lord before the Lord.”[1]
Moses’s prayer makes it clear that what’s at stake in the Lord’s response to Israel’s sin is the Lord’s name. And the Lord loves prayers centered on the glory of his name. It’s on these grounds that the Lord decides to spare Israel (v. 14).
The Power of Prayer
Moses teaches us an important lesson here: God-centered prayers change things. I don’t have time to address how God’s sovereignty and prayer relate. But I will say that the Bible makes it crystal clear that the prayers of God’s people change things in the world.
There are some things that will not happen unless we pray. Paul believes he’ll be delivered “through” the prayers of the Philippian church (1:19). Prayer, as Alec Motyer says, “is one of the ‘laws of God’ by which he runs the world.”[2]
Motyer says that true prayer does not seek glory for itself, matches the known will of God, asks on the basis of what God has already done, is concerned for the Lord’s name, and rests on the basis of God’s promises.[3]
One of the great mysteries of our faith is that God accomplishes his purposes through our prayers. He chooses to include us in his work of saving the world. This is one reason why we devote so much time to prayer in our services, and why we should all be praying constantly.
Moses’ Anger
Moses’ first response to the news of Israel’s sin is mercy and intercession. But after he goes down the mountain and sees for himself what they’re doing, his next response is anger (vv. 15-29).
Moses came down the mountain with the two “tablets of the testimony,” symbolizing the completed covenant. The covenant documents have been prepared by the covenant giver. They’re “the work of God” and “the writing was the writing of God” (v. 16). The covenant is intact and won’t be broken on God’s side.
But verse 19 says that when Moses saw the people dancing around the calf, he was so furious that he threw the tablets down and broke them. This symbolizes the breaking of the covenant, but it was Israel who broke the covenant, not the Lord.
Verse 20 says that Moses burned the golden calf, ground it to powder, and made the people drink it. Why? To show them that their false God was as good as urine and excrement.
In verses 21-24, Moses calls Aaron to account. Moses left him in charge and so he’s responsible for what happens, even if it’s not all his fault.
Leaders are responsible for those they lead, whether in Old Testament Israel or in the New Testament church. As the writer of Hebrews says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (13:17). Or James, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1).
Aaron basically says, “The people made me do it and the calf created itself.” He minimizes his role and makes excuses instead of owning his actions.
When you wrong someone, do you apologize without excuses? It’s always best to simply say, “What I did was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
In verse 26, Moses issues a public call for commitment. This reminds us what Elijah said to Israel several hundred years later on Mount Carmel: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kgs. 18:21). There’s no coercion or threat. It’s an invitation to follow the Lord alone.
The silence is deafening when Moses calls out. Most people don’t move. The same thing happened to Elijah: “The people did not answer him a word” (v. 21).
The slaughter could have been avoided if the people would’ve responded to the call. But, except for the Levites, no one responded. This is an intensification of the apostacy, revealing deep levels of disloyalty to the Lord throughout the community.
The result is that 3,000 people are killed (vv. 27-28). This goes against our modern sensibilities, but the entire future of Israel was at stake. Their radical sin called for a radical response.
Moses responded to Israel’s sin with mercy and judgment. He interceded for them and yet burned with anger over their sin. Like the Lord, Moses was both Judge and Lover of his people.
The Lord’s Response
In verses 30-35, we see the Lord’s response. The Lord spared Israel, most of them anyways, from destruction, but Moses understands that the relationship still needs to be reconciled, that their sin still needs to be forgiven. The killing of 3,000 men wasn’t enough to make things right.
So Moses intercedes for the people again, offering to give his life for the sake of the people (v. 32). Like Paul, he’s willing to be cut off from the Lord so his people can live (Rom. 9:3). Unlike Aaron, Moses assumes ultimate responsibility as a leader. He asserts his solidarity with Israel, asks for their forgiveness and offers to take their fate so that they can be forgiven.
But verses 33-34 say that the Lord actually denied Moses’ request! The Lord says he’ll punish the guilty. Moses’ intercession for Israel was effective in verses 11-13, but not here. God does use prayer to change things, but prayer is no guarantee that he’ll do things the way we want.
Israel will get to live, but they won’t be forgiven for what they’ve done, at least not yet. Moses is the leader of the people, but he can’t make atonement for sin. Only the priest can do that, and only in the prescribed way. Moses wants his people to be forgiven, but he doesn’t have the ability to make atonement for their sins.
Verse 34 ends with an ominous tone. The prospect of God’s judgment will hang over the people like a dark shadow. The fallout from their sin will extend into the future, not to mention more consequences in the present (v. 35). Idolatry has consequences.
What will happen to them going forward? If Moses can’t save them, who will? If he can’t secure forgiveness for them, can they be forgiven?
As we’ll see in chapter 34, the Lord isn’t done with Israel. They’ve broken his covenant, but he’ll restore it. They don’t deserve his goodness, but because he’s faithful to his word, he’ll be good to them anyways.
What About Us?
Fourth, and finally, let’s ask what all this means for us. The Israelites were afraid that Moses was gone and they had no one to lead them into the Promised Land. This fear led them to take their future in their own hands, which resulted in idolatry.
They were afraid and wanted assurance that they’d be okay. They needed someone or something to dance around, to center their lives on, to put their hope for the future. When things were scary, they decided to “dance around” a golden calf rather than their covenant God.
Like Israel, it’s easy for us to feel afraid when we don’t understand what’s happening. Fear is an understandable response to scary things. What we do with our fear is what’s important. We can either name it in ways that lead to faith and wisdom, or let it lead us into anxiety and control.
Left unchecked, control and anxiety often lead to idolatry, or putting our hope and trust in anything but the Lord. We were made to “dance around” the Lord, to center our lives and bank our future on him. But fear will often move us to put our hope on things less than God.
For example, we long for meaning in the world but instead of finding it in the Lord, we build images. We want to appear successful, wealthy, or smart so we talk in ways that impress others and flaunt the things we have. We want to appear godly and dignified, so we manage our image by never confessing sins or admitting weaknesses.
We long for an identity in the world, for a name and reputation, but instead of finding it in the Lord, we craft images of ourselves and our lives that we hope will quiet the ache of loneliness in our hearts by causing other people to notice us. We want our career or kids or portfolio or skills to make us stand out and make a name for ourselves.
What Are Your Idols?
We “dance around” many things besides the Lord, desperately wanting them to lead us to the Promised Land, to give us the assurance that we’re okay and that we’ll be okay. What are you “dancing around”, or banking your future on? It could be any number of good things, things like finding a spouse, having kids, being a homemaker, building a career, retiring early, serving in the church, political parties or politicians.
Our problem, as one writer says, is that “we never learn that false gods never fail to fail.”[4] Everything we look to for ultimate hope and meaning that’s not the Lord will fail to give us what we’re looking for and will leave us frustrated and empty. Our idols aren’t just bad, they’re counterproductive.
Identifying our idols is hard work. They’re not usually obvious like the golden calf. Jonathan Leeman, in his book on faith and politics How the Nations Rage, helps us here. He says, “If you keep asking a person ‘why,’ eventually you will reach a backstop – something with nothing behind it and that doesn’t move. Here you find that person’s gods. Our gods are the backstop or foundation for all our thinking, longing, and acting. Our gods are whatever we cannot imagine living without, whatever we most love, whatever we most trust, rely on, and believe in, and whatever is our final refuge.”[5]
What are your idols? What golden calves are you dancing around, hoping that they’ll lead you into the Promised Land of life and rest and joy and security?
Idols Downstream from Fear
This passage shows us that behind our idols is our effort to control our lives and secure our future because we’re afraid. Idols are downstream from fear. So one way to find your idols is to think about what you’re afraid of.
This means that the way we crush our idols into powder is by addressing our fears – by naming them and taking them to the Lord and trusting him with them. This is what the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.” Our fears are only overcome by a greater fear.
This is why “the fear of the Lord” is so central in the Bible. It’s the beginning of wisdom (Pro. 9:10) because when we understand that the Lord is above and over everything and that he’s good, we learn to trust him. When we live in the fear of the Lord we don’t have to fear anything else.
Listen to how David prays in Psalm 34: “I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears…The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!” (vv. 4, 7-9)
When we live in the fear of the Lord, we’ll have nothing else to fear. Fear and control and idolatry are replaced by faith and surrender to the One who died for all our idolatry.
[1]W. Ross Blackburn, The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus, New Studies in Biblical Theology, ed. D. A. Carson (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 172-3, emphasis his.
[2]J. A. Motyer, The Message of Exodus, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2005), 303.
[3]Ibid., 303-4.
[4]Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 169.
[5]Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2018), 24.