Exodus 32:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Exodus 32:1-14. Let’s go!
Exodus 32:1-4 (NIV)
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”
3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
On verses 1-4: The Israelites were probably eager to get going and were tired of waiting for Moses to come down from his 40 day meeting with God on Mount Sinai. So the Israelites ask Aaron to make them new gods. Aaron responds by collecting gold earrings from the Israelites and fashions them into a calf-shaped idol, saying that these are the gods who brought them out of Egypt.
Instead of encouraging the people to be patient and to wait for Moses and the LORD to be done their meeting, Aaron gave into the sinful and rebellious demands of the people. As leaders we want to hear out the people that we lead, but we need to be wise and discerning in how we respond to the requests they make. For just because a person or a group is loud doesn’t mean they’re right. Good leaders aren’t slaves to the opinions of the people they serve. Good leaders are careful to give the people what is best for them, even if what is best is different from what they are demanding.
Also, just because God doesn’t do things according to your timing doesn’t mean that God is not there, or that God does not care, or that it’s time to find another god. It simply confirms that you’re not God. Have the patience to wait on God and His timing.
Exodus 32:5-6 (NIV)
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”
6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
On verses 5-6: So as to make the Israelites’ idolatry look and feel not so much like idolatry, Aaron packages the Israelites’ idolatry with words like “this is a festival to the LORD”, “burnt offerings” and “fellowship offerings”, and builds an altar. Yet it didn’t change the fact that the Israelites had turned from worshiping the living LORD to worshiping a lifeless golden calf.
Exodus 32:7-14 (NIV)
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.
10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.
13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'”
14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
On verses 7-14: The LORD was rightly angry at the Israelites for so quickly turning away from Him even after all that the LORD had done for them and going ahead to worship something else. Being sovereign and fully entitled to do whatever He wants to do, the LORD had every right to destroy the Israelites for their sin. Yet Moses stands in the gap and pleads for the LORD to relent. On the basis of Moses’ intercession, the LORD relents and has mercy on the Israelites.
What can we learn from this?
First, we see the power of intercession. When we step into our calling as priests in God’s kingdom and we pray for those around us, we can move the heart of God who hears our prayers. Your prayers matter so keep on praying for people.
Second, like the Israelites, we deserved to perish because of all the ways we had turned from the LORD. But just as Moses did here for the Israelites, Jesus stood in the gap for us, interceded for us, spoke on our behalf, and diverted the wrath of God that was against us when He died on the cross. Even today, Jesus continues to stand at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).
Father, please forgive us for times when we so quickly turn away from You. May we have the patience to wait on Your timing. Jesus, thank You for always living to intercede for us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
