Today's Reading:Exodus 32:1-35
"The Golden Calf"
Focus Verses: Ex. 32:7-9, 31-32
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. - - - 31 So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."
Insight:
The Golden Calf was not some new invention of the Israelites. During the time of the Exodus, the image of "The Bull" was an object of worship in Egypt. It was also widely worshiped among their neighboring nations in the Ancient Near East.
Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights. That was long enough for the people of Israel to jump to the conclusion that something had happened to him. In his absence, they reverted to pagan idolatry and turned back to a god-image they had learned in Egypt. Not only did they make a calf, they celebrated the deity it represented with pagan practices of ritualistic gluttony and sexual immorality.
This whole event is a stark and shocking reminder of just how far the people of Israel were from understanding or knowing the true God who had delivered them from slavery. Moses was angry with the people, but he begged God to forgive them.
Response and Action:
The people of Israel were so close to God, and yet so far away from him. Moses was in the very presence of God on Mt. Sinai, receiving God's promises and commands, but the people of Israel were distant, disobedient, and confused in the dark valley of their ignorance. They needed the commands and guidance God was giving them through Moses. They needed the truth God was revealing and to turn from their false ideas about God.
I need to draw near to God. The truth revealed to me in the Bible will help me to leave the darkness of my ignorance and help me to recognize the One True God and not confuse him with my own ideas or the false concepts of God so prevalent in the world around me.
O God, thank you for your Holy Word. I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Save me from my own ignorance and the false ideas of the world that surround me. Thank you for Jesus who has made you known to me. Help me to follow in his way and to build my life upon the solid ground of his words. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov.15:14
"The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly."
New Testament for Today: Colossians 1:13-14
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
In Context: Colossians 1:1-23
Resources:
Breaking the Idols of Your Heart
by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman
