Exodus 32: Holy Cow!

Anyone who believes that people are not quick to become faithless and turn to sin needs to take a good look at Exodus 32.  Here were the Israelites fresh from their deliverance out of Egypt, saved from slavery via ten miraculous plagues, saved from death by the parting of the Red Sea, saved from hunger by the gifts of quail and manna, saved from thirst by water from a rock, and saved from their enemies by the uplifted hands of Moses.  But when Moses takes too long up on the mountain of God, the people become impatient and demand of Aaron that he make them gods like everyone else has.  Out of the fire comes a graven image, a golden calf which the Israelites worship, a direct violation of the first and second commandments.  And so God has to save them once again - this time from the corruption of their own great sin.

What I find particularly interesting in this chapter is the character of Moses.  It is revealed that he has become an advocate for the people before God, even while acting as a judge on God's behalf toward the people.  When God first notifies Moses that the people have committed sin, He threatens to wipe them out completely and start over again with Moses and his family (vs. 10).

Think about that for a moment.  The people have sinned away God's grace, and He is ready to go to Plan B. (Or, at least, He says He is.)  History might be quite different if Moses had said, "Okay!"  When given the chance to become a new Abraham, however, Moses demurs.  Not yet seeing the people's sin with his own eyes, Moses is still on their side.  He is shocked at God's willingness to cast away this nation He had just done so much for.  And Moses argues before God that to destroy the people now would give the Egyptians the victory after all.

God relents (vs. 14) and Moses goes down the mountain to see for himself what is going on.  Sure enough, things are bad.  The people are running wild, unrestrained, and have become a mockery before their enemies.  After executing some tough justice through the tribe of Levi (vs. 27-29), Moses restores order and retakes his authority.  (As a result, the Levites become a tribe "set apart.")

Moses returns to intercession for the people before God.  Consider the boldness of his request: "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed!  They have made themselves gods of gold.  But now, please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."  Moses is so invested in the people and their covenant relationship with God that he begs the Lord to forgive them, even staking his own spiritual destiny with them.  He offers to be blotted out of God's book (presumably of salvation) if the people aren't to be forgiven.

God doesn't exactly forgive the people right then - He promises to blot out of His book any who have sinned and does send a plague as a punishment.  But He does renew Moses' call to leadership (vs. 34) and will return to the enterprise of bringing the people into the Promised Land.

And so, once again, God delivers the people.  This time, from their own sin.

P.S. You may be wondering why the "Holy Cow" constitutes such a great sin.  Is God so insecure and jealous that He can't stand the idea of the people worshiping something beside Himself?  Can't He be just a little more tolerant and open and understanding?  What's the harm?  What's the big deal?  Who's really being hurt here?

These kinds of questions miss the point.  The spiritual damage that results from worshiping something other than God is deadly to us.  God will be just fine either way.  But to allow false gods to reign over us is to be led seriously astray and will destroy the covenant relationship we have with the Lord to our own detriment.

Consider an analogy to marriage.  If one spouse desires to commit adultery, should the other spouse just be a "little more tolerant and open and understanding?"  If not, is that spouse just "insecure and jealous?"  No, because we believe that the marriage relationship ought to come first, and that to pursue other lovers breaks the covenant and is far less than God's ideal plan.  If marriage is only going to work when we are faithful to our spouses and put them first, so, too, will our relationship with God only going to work when we are faithful to Him and put Him first.