The Israelites and the Golden Calf — A National Brain Freeze

This article is taken from Ray Comfort’s upcoming book, Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible. Please subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to be the first to receive its release date!

And [Aaron] received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”
Exodus 32:4

What They Did

While Moses was up the mountain with God, they melted their gold and worshiped a cow.

Why It Was Idiotic

They had just seen God part the Red Sea, defeat Egypt, and feed them from heaven. And yet, they bowed to a cow statue and called it “God.”

Here’s the Scoop

While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Law from God, the Israelites grew impatient waiting for him to return. They came to Aaron and demanded that he make them gods to lead them, since they didn’t know what had happened to Moses. Aaron told them to bring him their gold earrings. He melted the gold and fashioned it into a molded calf idol. The people proclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” They built an altar before it and held a feast, offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, then sat down to eat, drink, and indulge in revelry.

Meanwhile, on the mountain, God told Moses what the people had done and that they had corrupted themselves so quickly after being delivered from Egypt. God declared His anger and said He would consume them and make a great nation from Moses instead. But Moses interceded, pleading with God to turn away His wrath and remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The Lord relented from destroying them.

“There is a sin that is prevalent in the Bible, but few people understand it—and most are guilty of violating it. It’s the sin of idolatry. God saw fit to address it in the first two of the Ten Commandments.”

Share on twitter Share on facebook

Moses went down the mountain carrying the two stone tablets inscribed by God. When he saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned hot. He threw down the tablets, shattering them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf, burned it, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. Moses confronted Aaron, who blamed the people’s demands and claimed the calf simply popped out of the fire. While the whole nation was in chaos, Moses then called for those who were on the Lord’s side, and the sons of Levi rallied to him. At Moses’ command, they went through the camp and killed about 3,000 men who had persisted in idolatry. The next day, Moses returned to God to plead for forgiveness for their sin. God sent a plague on the people for what they had done.

***

There is a sin that is prevalent in the Bible, but few people understand it—and most are guilty of violating it. It’s the sin of idolatry. God saw fit to address it in the first two of the Ten Commandments.

To help us understand why idolatry is so common, let’s take a moment to expand the nature of this sin. It’s not merely creating a physical golden calf, or a Buddha, or a statue of a saint. While crafting graven images, bowing down to them, and giving them homage is obviously idolatry, there is a more subtle and perhaps more prevalent form.

Whatever the case, idolatry arose while Moses was up on the mountain. At the time Israel made their golden calf, Moses had disappeared. They didn’t know what had become of him. And that’s why they took their gold and formed it into a golden calf. That, of course, is a really dumb thing to do. They were claiming the calf they had just made was worthy of worship. They even said the calf had miraculously delivered them from Egypt and would guide them in the future.

Further on in the passage that described what happened, we see what was really behind their actions:

Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies) (Exodus 32:25)

The word unrestrained (also translated in other versions as naked, out of control, or running wild) implies they had cast off not only moral restraint but possibly their clothing as well. The Hebrew word used is para, which can mean to let loose, to expose, or to let go, and it often carries the connotation of indecent or chaotic behavior.

In short:

The people weren’t just celebrating—they were engaging in wild, pagan-style revelry. This likely included dancing, sensuality, and some degree of nudity, similar to how the surrounding nations worshiped idols.

And this is what has happened to the United States of America. Having lost sight of the Law of Moses, it has increasingly embraced idolatry. It creates a false image of God that is dumb and silent—like a statue—when it comes to sexual sin. America’s god has nothing to say about fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, abortion, and every other sin that lurks in the human heart.

Listen to the Psalmist expose how idiotic it is to create a false image of God:

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
(Psalm 115:4–8)

As Israel danced around its golden calf, it was being as dumb as the idol itself. They didn’t yet have God’s physical Law to bring the knowledge of sin. However, they did have the work of the Law written upon their hearts—leaving them without excuse.

America has forsaken the Law of Moses and is just as guilty because of that same work of the Law (see Romans 2:15). Conscience echoes the truth of the first two of the Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
(Exodus 20:3–6)

The rotten fruit of idolatry is evident. Generations of children suffer for the sins of godless fathers—drug abuse, anger, greed, and drunkenness take a terrible toll, until the new birth of John 3 opens the door to mercy.

The Second Commandment isn’t negotiable. It prohibits idolatry in any form—whether carved images of worship or elevating anything above God. His jealousy here speaks of His deep love and refusal to share His people with false gods. While Ezekiel 18 says that God holds each person accountable for his or her own sin, there is a generational impact from sinful lifestyles:

…whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

The sinful patterns of one generation often become the norm for the next—until God intervenes. Jesus said:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

This is where the cycle is broken. The generational curse ends at the cross. Mercy triumphs through regeneration—the new birth. We must be born again!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This article is taken from Ray Comfort’s upcoming book, Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible. Please subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter to be the first to receive its release date!