Scripture: Exodus 32:1–14
32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with 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 consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
Questions
- Did the Israelites forget everything that God had done for them when they made the calf?
- What does it mean that “God changed his mind” and how do we understand that in relation to Moses’ intercession?
Background
Related Scriptures: Philippians 4:1-9
Ambrosiaster: Our God is truly “the God of peace.” We are constantly called to peace by God who himself is peace. His calling is not in timidity or weakness or in some show of strength. God is at peace with himself to such a degree that he even allows sins to be committed against him when he could certainly, by the terror of his manifested power and ineffable greatness, force even the unwilling into subjection. But peace of this kind is that of the world, not that of God, whose very nature is peace.[1]
Reflection
Exodus 32 is a difficult passage for many because in it we are told “God repented”. And for others it is difficult because we see God desiring to destroy Israel if it were not for Moses’ intercession. Both of these issues have also bothered me in the past and though I am not sure I completely understand everything at play in the story I do think I have a better grasp on it now. I think the problem for me (and probably others) was that if this story is read in isolation God looks capricious and petty like so many of the Greek pantheon. What is worse is that many Christians seem to defend this as “God is in charge and just so God has the right to act this way.” But do we have to say this, is it truly as simple as God has a sovereign right to decide justice and whatever God says goes? While I can understand while this idea might appeal to those who want power I do not think this idea is correct. Frankly, this God sounds more like a sinful king than the God of the Bible. The element that truly helped me to appreciate this text was when I was forced to think about God’s desire to partner with humanity.[2] This may sound like a trite statement but it really has significant meaning. When I consider that God desires to partner with humanity and that Israel was at Mt. Sinai making a covenant to follow God my perception of God’s reaction changes. This does not mean that I simply allow that God can do what God wants, but I see more depth in how God handles the situation.
When Israel decides to make the golden calf they are saying they will keep God, But do not want God to speak or lead them. The calf was not a god, it was a throne for God. They wanted to leave Sinai on their own terms and guided by their own desires and so the calf was their attempt at paying lip service to God while following their own directions. God’s response is not arbitrary anger, God recognizes the path they chose leads to death and destruction. God is telling Moses that their path ends in destruction and like in the flood narrative God will advance that end rather than allow it to drag out. This is why God can be so easily won over by Moses’ arguments. God wants to see peace but knows that Israel is choosing destruction, God because God is vengeful and vindictive, but because that is where the path leads. But when Moses commits to the people and points out that other people will not understand why Israel was destroyed God relents and allows Moses to continue with the people. God both understands the seriousness of Israel’s choice and the enormity of Moses’ decision. When Israel made a collective choice that leads to death and destruction God was prepared to honor that choice, and when Moses made a choice to try to bring healing and restoration God was also prepared to work with him.
This passage tells me that God responds to our decisions. And passages like Matthew 18:18 seem to confirm this. It is why Paul’s advice is so important for us, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). We need to meditate on these things because they help us to make the kinds of choices that Moses made, a decision to care for the people who were not even caring for themselves. A decision to place his lot with theirs in a hope that being near him might help the people find God. Moses did not leave Israel to the consequences of their poor decision, instead he committed to help the people and lead them to God, a decision that was difficult for him at times but ultimately allowed him to help the people. God honored that decision and worked with Moses and because Moses committed to doing the right thing Millions of people benefited. This is the kind of decision God wants, not that we remake God in our image, as the people did with the calf, but to honor God and work with God to help the people we can.
[1] M. J. Edwards, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, ACCS 284–85.
[2] I wrestled with this idea reading L. Daniel Hawk “The Violence of the Biblical God”.
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