Exodus 32
MOSES stayed in the mount forty days and forty nights. How did the Israelites behave when he was gone?
At first they behaved well, but at last they grew tired of waiting—they grew impatient. They wanted to go on to Canaan quickly, but the crud stopped at the top of the mountain, and they were not allowed to go on unless it moved, and unless Moses told them to move; and now Moses was on the top of the mountain, they began to think he would never come back; so they went to Aaron, and said to him, " Make us some gods to go before us, for we do not know what is become of Moses.”
How wicked a thing to ask! But you know how they lived in Egypt, where they had seen people worship idols, and they had learned to do the same.
Aaron was afraid that they would kill him, if he did not make an image to please them. So he said, "Bring me your gold earrings." And the people brought him their golden earrings.
How did they get so many golden things?
The women of Egypt had given them gold before they set out on their journey.
Aaron melted all the earrings in the fire; then, when the gold was soft, he took a knife and cut it into an image. He made it in the shape of a calf. The people in Egypt worshipped calves.
As soon as the Israelites saw it, they began to praise it, and say, This is he who brought us out of Egypt." Then Aaron put it on a high place, and built an altar before it, and said that they would have a great feast the next day.
The next day they rose up early. They spent the day in worshipping the calf. They took their lambs and goats; and offered them on the altar of sacrifices to the calf, and then rose up to sing and dance, all the while praising the calf.
You remember that they had promised a little while ago always to obey God, but they did not keep their promise. One of the Ten Commandments was, Thou shalt not make an image, and bow down to it." How soon they broke that commandment!
Moses was at the top of the mount talking with God. He did not know what they were doing, but God knew; and He said to Moses, “Go down; the people you brought out of Egypt have made a golden calf, and are worshipping it. I am very angry with them, and I will kill them all; but I will save you, Moses, and your children.”
Moses was grieved to hear that the Lord was angry, and he entreated God to forgive the people. "Remember," he said, "how Thou hast brought them out of Egypt, and how Thou didst promise Abraham that Thou wouldst bless his children." And the Lord heard Moses' prayer, and determined that He would not kill them all. How kind Moses was to pray for the people How kind God was to say that He would not kill all the people Then Moses went quickly down the mount, with the book of stone in his hand. When he had almost come to the bottom of the mount, he heard the noise of singing, and he knew that it was the Israelites praising their calf. At last he came to the tents, and he saw the calf, and the people dancing round it, like mad or drunken people. It was a dreadful sight for Moses to see. He grew more angry still, and he threw down the stone book upon the ground, and brake it into pieces. The Israelites had broken God's laws, and Moses broke the book in his anger and his grief. Moses would not give that stone book to these wicked people.
Do you not think the people must have been afraid when they saw Moses again?
They had thought they should never have seen him again: but he had caught them in their wickedness.
He took the calf—and no one tried to hinder him; he threw it again in the fire: then afterward he ground it into powder, and threw it into some water, and he made the Israelites drink that bitter water.
Moses was very angry with Aaron for having made the calf. Moses said to him, "Why did you let the people be so wicked?”
Aaron said, " Do not be angry with me: the people chose to be wicked, and they asked me to make a calf; I did it to please them.”
This was a bad excuse. It was very wicked of Aaron to make the calf. We should not do wicked things, even when people ask us.
Moses told some of the men to take swords, and to kill a great many people; and they killed three thousand men with swords. And God made a great many other people fall very ill.
These were the punishments that God sent to the wicked Israelites. They "deserved to be killed for worshipping the golden calf; but God listened to Moses' prayer, and did not kill them all.
You have heard how the stone book was broken. God did not make a new one Himself, but He told Moses to make a book of stone, and then God wrote the ten commandments in it, as He had done in the other book.
God called Moses up into the mountain again, and God then wrote the Ten Commandments in the stone book. God told Moses to stay alone with Him on the mountain forty days and forty nights. God talked to Moses as friends talk to one another. He did not speak in that loud voice which had frightened the Israelites, nor did He make it thunder, and lighten, and smoke when He talked to Moses. Moses liked being with God upon the mountain. Why was not Moses afraid of God? Because God's Spirit was in him.
Dear children, you will love God like a father, if God's Holy Spirit is in you. God let Moses see some of His glorious brightness; but God would not let him see His face, because Moses would have died had he seen God's face. The angels and the people in heaven see God's face, but men upon earth could not bear such brightness.
I will tell you soon what God said to Moses, when he was alone with Him on the mountain.
Moses ate no bread, and drank no water, while he was alone with God.
At last Moses came down again to the people, with the stone book in his hand. This time the Israelites were not worshipping an image; they came up to Moses to speak to him; but when they looked at his face, they were afraid to come near him; even Aaron, Moses' brother, was afraid. What could the reason be?
The reason was, Moses' face shone like the sun, and they could not bear such brightness. And what had made his face shine?
He had been talking with God and looking upon His glory, and this had made his face so bright. For God is brighter than the sun, and the angels who look upon God are bright like Him.
When Moses knew why the people could not come near him, he took a thick veil, and covered his face, and then he called them, for he wanted to tell them what God had said to him.
Then Aaron and the people came to him, and now they could look at him. Moses kept the veil on his face all the time he talked to them.
I hope, dear children, that your faces will one day shine bright in heaven. If you love God now, I am sure one day you will see Him in heaven, and then you will be like the angels.
Hymn 25
Is that the conqueror's cry,
Or voice of those that fly?
It is the merry sound
Of those that dance around
Some frightful idol god.
The feast was lately spread;
Their cheeks with wine are red;
They fling 'their robes away;
And sing, and dance, and play,
And praise their idol god.
Can this the people be,
From Egypt just Set free
Have they so soon forgot
The wonders for them wrought
By their own fathers' God!
O conduct mean and base!
Foolish, ungrateful race!
How can they thus 'reward,
The goodness of the Lord,
And serve an idol god?
While I thus Israel blame,
Let me not do the same;
Oh, ne'er would I be found
Amidst the giddy round
Of those who serve not God,
Whilst I remain on earth,
In dance, and song, and mirth.
My days I would not spend,
For fear I should offend
My own All-gracious God.