Transformation is difficult. Internal change is hard to produce. Altering habits, behaviors, routines, involvements, and procedures is a challenge. However, it is difficult to alter external qualities without first inwardly changing the person. Changing habits, behaviors, routines, involvements, or procedures is a challenge. Changing the person who produces those habits, behaviors, routines, involvements, or procedures is much more difficult. A common human motto seems to be, "You can alter what I do, but do not try to change who I am."
Too many decide God's primary objective is to control human behavior rather than changing people. God's purposes always have the objective of conversion. Concluding God's primary concern is control of external behavior reduces obedience to God's commands to control of physical actions. Never did God intend obedience to be confined to external controls. God always wants the hearts of people, and Israel was no exception. Read Deuteronomy and note the frequent emphasis on loving God and the heart [Deuteronomy 6:4-6; 10:16-19; 30:6 are examples.] Conversion is the process of transforming the person, not merely controlling his or her physical behavior.
For generations Israelites existed as slaves in Egypt. To specifically apply an old saying, "God took the Israelite slaves out of Egypt, but God could not remove the Egyptian slave influence from the Israelites." Because Israel physically was freed from Egyptian slavery by crossing the Red Sea did not mean their minds and hearts were removed from the influences of Egyptian idolatry. Their first response to "difficult circumstances" was this: revert to familiar, comfortable, idolatrous influences learned in Egypt.
Physical deliverance from Egyptian slavery did not destroy the mental conditioning produced by the environment of Egyptian idolatry. Physical deliverance neither produces nor guarantees mental transformation. God delivered Israelite slaves who had not known Him in order for them to become a nation of people who loved Him.
Two facts are called to your attention. Fact one: after Israel heard God speak to them at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 20;1-19; Deuteronomy 4:10-13), they begged Moses to prevail upon God not to speak directly to them again (Exodus 20:19). They promised to listen to Moses if he would serve as the mediator between them and God.
Israel believed [as did many others] that to be in the immediate presence of God was dangerous. To them, those circumstances created the likelihood of physical harm or death. If Moses would listen to God and relay God's message to them, they would be delivered from a dangerous situation.
Fact two: God gave Israel specific reason to know (1) He was real and (2) He could take care of them. Moses' powers (Exodus 4; 7:1-13); God's determination to establish His identity (Exodus 6:2-8); God's miraculous workings (Exodus 7:14-12:51); and Israel's crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:13-31) were God's determined efforts to cause Israel to see Him as the living God who could and did provide for them.
Prior to Moses' interaction with Israel, the Israelite people knew little about God. They likely knew that God made a covenant with their ancestors in previous generations. They likely understood physical circumcision affirmed that covenant. However, there is no record of revelations from God to Israel in the generations that Israelites were slaves. Their concepts of God were primarily influenced [if not determined] by the idolatrous practices of Egypt. When they thought of God, they likely thought in the concepts produced by idolatry.
God's actions prior to and in the first Passover had two basic objectives of parallel and equal importance. The first was to declare to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians that the living God who was in covenant with Israel was the supreme power. The second was to declare to Israelites, "This is who I am. I am both different and superior to any form or expression of Egyptian religion you know."
God's provision for the Israelites did not end with the crossing of the Red Sea. He gave them water at Marah (Exodus 15:22-26); manna in the wilderness of Sin [that continued for forty years]; quail (Exodus 16:8-12); water from a rock at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-7); and gave these former Israelite slaves victory over Amalek's warriors (Exodus 17:8-13). The living God, their Redeemer who rescued them from Egypt, protected them from vicious enemies and provided their physical necessities.
God wanted them to understand clearly that Israel's relationship with Him impacted their physical existence on a real life, every day basis. They served God, but God provided for them. God in no way exploited them to gratify His "selfish desires." Their Redeemer provided for them. Following and serving God was in their best interests. Nothing could care for them as could God. Total dependence on God was strength, not weakness.
After all these experiences, after hearing God's voice at Sinai, after promising to listen to Moses, Moses went upon a mountain to listen to God. Moses was gone a little over a month. Israel grew impatient in their dessert environment. They assembled around Aaron urging him to make them a god to lead them. They needed leadership! That leadership needed to come from their familiar past! It needed to be a god, a god made by human hands! They did not know what had happened to Moses, and they could not wait for his "possible" return. Moses was "this man" who brought them out of Egypt. They needed a god to lead them. [Ironically a man could make their god and somehow the god would be greater than the man who made it.]
Their request for an idol came after God revealed Himself and His nature to them through multiple physical experiences. After God demonstrated His superior leadership, they quickly turned to a leadership form that was much more familiar to them. The familiarity of the past was preferred and selected. The reality of the immediate was rejected.
Aaron cooperated with them. He took their gold ear rings, melted them, and used a "graving tool" to produce a molten calf (Exodus 32:2-4). In a striking, insulting rejection of God's sovereignty, Aaron presented the golden calf to Israel with these words: "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4).
Remember while Moses was in the wilderness removed from Egypt (Exodus 2:15-25), his brother Aaron remained in Egypt as an Israelite slave. Aaron's response to the insistence and pressure of these former slaves is disappointing. Even though he was Moses' brother, he did not share his brother's view of God, relationship with God, or dependence on God.
Past history knows few [if any] times when a people chosen by God succeeded in making God angrier than He was on this occasion. The day following Aaron's presentation of the golden calf to Israel, Israel had a feast and celebration to honor their god (Exodus 32:6). Their insult outraged God! (See Exodus 32:7-10) Why was God insulted and outraged? Israel through unique experiences had opportunity to see and experience God's love, care, and protection. They were free for only one reason: God's "mighty hand and outstretched arm" delivered them from Egyptian control. Yet, they dared call an idol made from the gold they wore the god who delivered them from Egypt! What an insult to the living God, the true Redeemer!
Emphasize Israel's insult to God in rejecting His sovereignty. To attribute the works of God to an idol Aaron made was an insulting rejection of God's sovereignty.
If anyone ever saw God's sovereignty at work, Israel saw it. God was more powerful than all the gods of Egypt. God was more powerful than all of Egypt's wise advisors. God was more powerful than the king of Egypt. No opponent could withstand God. Nothing could keep God from achieving His purposes. Yet, Israel was so arrogant, so self-reliant that they dared declare an idol made from their gold jewelry to be the god who rescued them from Egypt! Their concept of deity was awful! Their request and actions defied the first commandments God gave them (Exodus 20:3-6). What an astounding rejection of God's sovereignty!
Israel witnessed God's sovereignty in astounding, incredible acts. Few have ever witnessed God express His sovereignty in such specific physical ways. Israel had reason to know God's sovereignty. They had seen His sovereignty demonstrated through their own experiences. Ignorance was not the foundation of their rejection. Their interactions with God did not translate their experiences into understandings about God's nature and identity. Their request to Aaron to make them a god to lead them totally rejected God's early commands in the ten commandments (Exodus 20:3-6).
God was so angry with Israel that He asked Moses not to intercede for them. These people quickly had turned away from Him! They were an uncontrollable people! They rejected the leadership and guidance that He provided for their best interest! God was so angry that He wanted Moses to do nothing to calm that anger. "Moses, let my anger burn against this obstinate people! Leave me alone! I will begin again with you!"
God's anger is not stirred easily or quickly (Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 103:8; Jonah 4:2). However, when God's anger is kindled, it is intense. Human anger commonly is self-centered and unjust. God's anger is justified and just.
Why did God refer to Israel as Moses' people, not His people (Exodus 32:7)? Perhaps for this reason: these people were more likely to respond to Moses than they were to respond to God. When God spoke to them, they were terrified. They did not want to hear God speak. They considered God's immediate presence a dangerous circumstance. Yet, when Moses spoke to them, they listened. They preferred Moses' voice to God's voice. When they asked for a god, they referred to Moses' leadership, but not to God's leadership (Exodus 32:1). Perhaps in these former slaves' minds God was not yet a living force. In their minds God certainly was not sovereign!
With all God had done for these Israelites, they felt neither appreciation for God nor obligation toward God. Moses could come down the mountain, condemn those Israelites, and impose consequences on their actions, and those Israelites listened to Moses. However, they did not listen to God [as evidenced by their rejecting God's prohibition against making or worshipping idols.] All God did for them did not result in their establishing a relationship with God. God wanted a relationship; they did not want a relationship (see Exodus 19:4-6).
Discuss these statements:
All peoples in all ages are likely to "make" God "fit" their concepts about Him rather than allowing God to form their concepts about Him. It is much easier to say "God could not..."; "God will not...; "God does not..." than it is to examine every situation in which God interacts with people to learn God's self-revelations.
As an example, consider the word "covetousness." Paul declared when he wrote to the Colossians (3:5) that covetousness is idolatry. Most of us likely prefer the word "covetous" to the word "greed." However, "greed" is the word for "covetousness" in today's vocabulary. We Americans live in a capitalistic free enterprise system. Advertising is based on making people want a product with such intense desire that they acquire it. We value ambition. We reward initiative. We commend progress and dedication. We honor [even worship] success. We dream about the physical, self-indulgent rewards of being successful. The challenge to the Christian is to distinguish [on a continuing basis] between greed and free enterprise, between greed and effective advertising, between greed and ambition, between greed and initiative, between greed and progress or dedication, and between greed and success. We are much more comfortable with a God who has the same values we have in free enterprise, advertising, ambition, initiative, progress, dedication, and success than we are with a God who recognizes greed when it occurs in these concerns. It is easy to remake God so that He values what we value in these matters. With that process, we "purify" greed and remove it from God's concerns in these "acceptable" expressions. God values what we value. That is how idolatry functions--the god we make has our concerns, desires, and values.
The God Who reveals Himself may through His self-revelation be in conflict with our desires and value systems. A god we make will be in basic agreement with our desires and value systems. We sacrifice for that with which we agree. We repulsively question that which we do not understand.
An "idol" may be a physical object fashioned by human hands, an emotional object fashioned by human desire, a mental object [standard] fashioned by human logic [reasoning], or an object of pleasure fashioned by human indulgence. Remember, greed is idolatry.
When we allow anything to hold a position within our minds, emotions, attitudes, or behaviors that should be occupied only by God, it becomes our "idol." We form an allegiance to our "idol" that should be given only to God. The "idol" exercises a control over us that only should be given to God. Thus we take God's rightful role of Sovereign in our lives and give to something else.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 4