Moses went up on the mountain to spend time with Jehovah, our Creator. He left the people for a period of time in the charge of Aaron, his brother, who had been at Moses’ side through all the miracles and power demonstrated by God before Pharaoh to lead the people out of Egypt. Of course, the people themselves witnessed these miracles of great power from God as well while they were delivered from slavery.
One would think that the people could behave at least for awhile, but, in fact, they did not last long at all once Moses. left. They claimed to celebrate in the name of God, but they built an idol and worshipped the way the pagans worshipped their false gods. Jehovah was angry, but Moses intervened and Jehovah agreed not to destroy the people.
Knowing they had sinned, when Moses came upon the camp and saw the revelry and pagan style worship he was angry. So angry he actually shattered the tablets he had brought down from God.
How should he confront this situation as leader of these people?
Moses’ Anger
19It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” 22Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. 23“For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24“I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
25Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies— 26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. 27He said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” 28So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. 29Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”
30On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the LORD, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. 32“But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” 33The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34“But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35Then the LORD smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
Moses reaction was quite strong by our standards today, but keep in mind that he changed God’s mind so that all the people would not be destroyed. He was now dealing with those who would not even repent and come to the Lord’s side even after he returned.
First, Moses destroyed the idol. He removed a key focal point associated with the rebellion against God. He did not have a council meeting to discuss all points of view. He knew it was wrong. He was the leader of the camp and the people. He destroyed it in a lasting way, scattering the gold in a way that it would not soon be gathered back together.
He confronted the leadership that was supposed to be watching over the people and instead facilitated and endorsed their rebellion, Aaron. Aaron’s response is completely unsatisfying. There is no direct admission of guilt and repentance. He blames the people for “making him do it” and blames Moses for being gone a long time and then says the golden calf just “leapt” out of the fire as if it sculpted itself. The truth is that Aaron gave in to pressure to rebel against God’s ways and tried to make excuses that they were still worshipping the Lord.
In verse 26, now Moses addresses the people and calls for repentance… for them to come to the Lord’s side. Those that still refuse, after all the earlier events since Moses’ return are dealt with very harshly. Their sin was serious. It was not to be ignored.
We can have a very meaningful discussion about when and in what situations we would be called to exact such harsh punishment today. Jesus died for our sins and calls for us to rebuke and then remove sinners from our midst, but not to execute them. However, we can not say that Moses was wrong to do so… remember that Jehovah Himself was going to destroy all the people except Moses.
While the punishment and reconciliation is now different with the death and resurrection of Christ, the behaviors that please God and those that anger Him have not changed. When we find sin in the camp in our lives, we are to confront it and not ignore it. Our “camp” may be our family or our workplace or our church. We are to remove idols and other things which are clearly wrong from our midst. We are to confront and rebuke the leadership of the wrong behavior and then follow up to confront and rebuke the people who refuse to repent and separate ourselves from them.
If we are involved in such a rebellion, rather than make excuses like Aaron did, admit we have done wrong, ask forgiveness, and repent. Help others involved to know they should repent and then don’t repeat our error.
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