Message 173
Scripture Reading: Exo. 31:18; 32:1-8, 15-20
I believe that we all are familiar with the story in Exodus concerning the breaking of the law. In this message we shall seek to find out the principles implied in this story. In the past we have pointed out that in studying the Bible, a basic need is to touch the spirit of the writer expressed in his writing. Now I would add that it is also important to discover the principles implied in any portion of the Word. In the account in Exodus regarding the making of the golden calf there are a number of basic principles. Our main concern in this message will be to see the principles related to worshipping the golden calf.
After the decree of the law and before the breaking of it, God called Moses to His mount to give him the tablets of the law (24:12). The Lord called Moses to Mount Sinai first in Exodus 19:20. That was the time the Lord gave Moses the law of the Ten Commandments with all the subordinate ordinances. Then, according to 24:12, the Lord called Moses to go to the mountain again. The Lord wanted to give him the tablets of the law. The law had been decreed, but the tablets of the Ten Commandments had not yet been given to Moses. The tablets of the law were given to Moses in 31:18: “And He gave to Moses, when He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”
Both 24:12 and 31:18 refer to the giving of the tablets of the law. But between these verses is a long insertion of seven chapters. This indicates that after the Lord called Moses to the mountain for the purpose of giving him the tablets of the law, He first spoke to him about other things. In chapters twenty-five through thirty-one the Lord revealed to Moses the design of the tabernacle and its furniture, and He spoke to him concerning matters related to the priesthood. We have seen that the tabernacle and the priesthood typify Christ. The tabernacle with its furniture typifies Christ, and the priesthood with the garments and the priestly food are also detailed types of Christ. If we would know Christ, we need to study chapters twenty-five through thirty-one of Exodus. God’s intention in calling Moses to the mountain was to give him the tablets of the law. But before giving Moses these tablets, God first gave him the design of the tabernacle and instructions concerning the priesthood. Only then did the Lord give Moses the tablets.
The fact that God showed Moses the tabernacle with its furniture and the priesthood before giving him the tablets of the law indicates that while God was giving the law, He knew that man could not keep it. This also indicates that God had prepared the way of grace for man to contact Him and enjoy Him. The way of grace is Christ typified by the tabernacle and the priesthood. God prepared Christ as the way of grace for man to contact God and enjoy Him. While God was giving the law, He knew that man would not be able to keep it; therefore, He prepared this way of grace. Christ is our tabernacle, the offerings, and all the aspects of the priesthood. The writings of John reveal that Christ is the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings.
After showing Moses the tabernacle and the priesthood, God gave him the two tablets of the law. God could do this in peace, even though He knew that the law would be broken. God was not troubled by this, because, before the law was broken, God had already prepared the way of grace so that man would be able to contact God and enjoy Him. It was not God’s intention, therefore, to trust in the law; His trust was in Christ as the prepared way of grace. Even though God was giving the law, He did not have any trust in the law. God’s trust was, and still is, absolutely in His Christ as the tabernacle and the priesthood.
I believe that Moses was happy to have the tablets of the law and that he put his trust in them. As he was coming down the mountain, he may have said to himself, “Oh, I have two stone tablets in my hands! On these tablets are words written by the finger of God.” No doubt, Moses treasured these tablets containing the law engraved in stone by God Himself.
Moses was on the mountain with God for a period of forty days. In the Bible forty is a number of testing and trial. For example, the Lord Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days. It is doubtful that the golden calf was made earlier than Moses’ thirty-sixth day on the mountain. It may have been made during the last two or three days, when the people could no longer bear to wait for Moses to come back. Some of them may have said, “The one whom we respected and who brought us out of Egypt and led us to this place has been gone for more than five weeks. He went up the mountain, and we do not know what has happened to him. We cannot wait any longer.” It may have been that at the very time God was giving the tablets to Moses, to the mediator, the people at the foot of the mountain were making the golden calf.
Now we come to the breaking of the law (32:1-20). Why is it that we human beings cannot keep the law, but break it instead? The answer to this question involves an important principle. The principle here is that we break the law because we have idols. Everyone has his own idol. There is no need for us deliberately to try to break the law of God. As long as we have an idol, the first three commandments of the law are already broken. The first three commandments are related to not having any other god, not making images, and not using the Lord’s name in vain. These commandments are all related to God. The fourth commandment concerns the Sabbath, and the last six commandments involve our relationships with others. The first three commandments are broken by everyone who has an idol.
We cannot keep the law because we have idols. If we have God and allow no idols to replace Him, the very God whom we enjoy will become to us the ability to keep His commandments. As a result, we shall keep the law of God.
This principle is seen in John’s writings. Both in the Gospel of John and in the first Epistle of John we are charged to keep the commandments. We are able to fulfill this charge because, according to the New Testament, we have the Lord within us as our enjoyment. Not only is the indwelling Christ who becomes our enjoyment the strength to keep the law, but the enjoyment of Christ is itself the keeping of the law. This means that the indwelling Christ becoming our enjoyment is actually the keeping of the commandments. There is no need for us to try in ourselves to keep the commandments. Our enjoyment of the indwelling Christ spontaneously becomes the keeping of the commandments.
Why are human beings not able to keep the law? People cannot keep the law because they have idols that replace God. But as we have pointed out, if we have God and do not allow idols to replace Him, the God we have and enjoy will be the strength to keep the law. In fact, God Himself as our enjoyment is the real keeping of the law. If we have God in us as our enjoyment, we would never have another god, we would never make an image, and we would not take God’s name in vain. We would rest with God, and we would honor our parents. Furthermore, we would not murder, commit fornication, steal, lie, or bear false witness. And we would not be greedy, covetous. We would keep all the commandments of the law, and this keeping of the law would actually be the experience of the indwelling God becoming our enjoyment. This is the first principle we see in the account in Exodus 32 of the breaking of the law.
In the New Testament we see that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes were all law-breakers. They broke the law because they were filled with idols. But the disciples of the Lord Jesus could keep the commandments because the Lord had become their enjoyment. Eventually, the disciples, including Peter, John, and James, were filled with the Lord Jesus, and He became their enjoyment. As a result, spontaneously they became keepers of the commandments.
Before the children of Israel received the law, they had already broken it. They broke it through having an idol. They did not have the intention to break the law. They broke the law simply by the fact of having an idol. Therefore, the first principle here is that the law of God is broken whenever people have idols.
Another principle implied in this portion of Exodus concerns what an idol is, or what is the principle of an idol. We see this principle in 32:1-3: “And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves unto Aaron, and they said to him: Rise, make for us a god who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt — we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. And all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he took the gold from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a golden calf.”
Here we see the kind of material that was used to make the idol. An idol, of course, must be made with something material. The material used in making the golden calf in Exodus 32 was the gold of the earrings belonging to the wives, sons, and daughters of the children of Israel. It may be that the only ones without golden earrings were the elderly men. The old men were an exception because they do not care for beautification. I can testify that, as an elderly man, I have no interest in beautifying myself. However, it is common for young men and women and also for older women to beautify themselves. Therefore, in Exodus 32 the gold rings were taken from the ears of the wives, the sons, and the daughters and used to make the idol, the golden calf.
People put on earrings in order to beautify themselves. Today’s culture promotes self-beautification. Men and women spend a great deal of money on items used to beautify themselves.
Self-beautification leads to idolatry. This is the reason the Lord in 33:5 and 6 gave the children of Israel a commandment related to ornaments: “Now Jehovah had said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, You stiff-necked people! If I should go up in the midst of you for one moment, I would consume you! And now, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do to you. And the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.” The Lord issued this commandment concerning ornaments because, as the record of chapter thirty-two makes clear, self-beautification leads to idolatry.
Before the children of Israel made the idol of the golden calf, idols were already present among them in a different form, in the form of self-beautification. The wives, the sons, and the daughters of the children of Israel wore gold rings in their ears for the purpose of self-beautification. Here we see the principle that self-beautification is the preliminary form of an idol. Before the gold became the calf, it already existed in the idolatrous form of self-beautification. In the sight of God, self-beautification is an idol. This was the reason the Lord commanded the people in 33:5-6 not to have any ornaments. Those ornaments were preliminary idols. Before the people had the idol of the golden calf, they already had the preliminary idols hanging from their ears.
Now we should be able to see the principle of an idol. The principle of an idol is self-beautification. An idol, therefore, is the consummate expression of a person’s self-beautification.
In this country there are not many idol temples containing images or idols. However, with the people in this country there are idols of another kind — the idols of self-beautification. Self-beautification is popular, prevailing, and strong among the people in the United States. This means that for many Americans self-beautification is a form of idolatry. People in undeveloped countries do not have as much self-beautification, although they may have in their temples idols of wood or stone. Those who live in modern, scientific cultures, on the contrary, do not have that kind of idols. But they have the idols of self-beautification. The idols of self-beautification can be found almost everywhere — in homes, in offices, and in schools.
Do you know what many Americans are worshipping today? They are worshipping the idols of self-beautification. For example, before a young woman goes to work, she may spend a great deal of time beautifying herself. She may even spend more money on items for self-beautification than she does for food. My concern here is to point out the fact that self-beautification leads to idolatry. First the children of Israel wore golden earrings for self-beautification. Then these golden earrings were fashioned by Aaron into the idol of the golden calf.
Another principle related to idolatry is that idolatry is Satan’s usurping of what God has given us in order to make it a waste. In Exodus 32 the children of Israel wasted much of the gold that had been given to them by God. Before the children of Israel left Egypt, God caused the Egyptians to give the children of Israel gold and other precious things. This gold was to be used for building up the tabernacle. The tabernacle required a large quantity of gold to overlay the standing boards. God defeated the Egyptians, and they gave gold to the people of Israel. But before this gold was used for the building up of God’s dwelling place, Satan came in to usurp the gold and use it to make an idol. Actually, before the calf was made, Satan had already usurped the gold so that it might be used to make earrings. If the children of Israel had loved the Lord to the uttermost, they would never have wasted the gold by using it for earrings. Instead, they would have kept it for the Lord’s use.
In chapter thirty-five the people were commanded to offer gold and other materials for the building up of God’s tabernacle. The first item of the offering for God’s dwelling place was gold. But in chapter thirty-two a large quantity of gold was used to make a calf. No doubt the golden calf was not something small. It may have been quite large. A lot of gold was wasted in making that golden calf.
God has given us many things not for self-beautification, but for us to worship God and glorify Him. But before we use these things to worship and glorify God, the enemy tries to come in to usurp what God has given us and to waste it. This is the second principle of idolatry, and it is an offense to God.
Another principle is implied by the fact that the people did not make an image of Moses, or one of a horse or other work animal. Instead, they made a golden calf. A calf is not for labor but for enjoyment, in particular, for eating. Both in the Old Testament and in the New, a calf was used to feed guests. In Genesis 18 Abraham had a fatted calf prepared for his guests, and in the parable in Luke 15 the father had the fatted calf killed when the prodigal son came home. A calf, therefore, signifies enjoyment. The ones who beautified themselves in Exodus 32 liked enjoyment. Enjoyment was their idol. Likewise, many people today worship a calf; that is, they worship their enjoyment.
This interpretation of the significance of the calf is confirmed by 32:6: “And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play.” After the golden calf was made, the people ate, drank, and played. C. A. Coates says that they sported. On the weekends many people in this country care only for eating, drinking, and sporting.
According to verse 18, Moses heard the sound of singing, and according to verse 19, he “saw the calf and the dancing.” Along with the eating, drinking, and sporting, the people were singing and dancing. All this took place in front of the golden calf. The picture here indicates that the calf signifies enjoyment and that the children of Israel were worshipping what they enjoyed.
Yet another principle is that idolatry is pretension. Every idolater pretends to be worshipping the true God. Verse 4 says, “And they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” Verse 5 says that when Aaron saw this, “he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, A feast to Jehovah — tomorrow!” The next morning they rose up early and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings (v. 6). The offerings and the way of worship were proper, but the object of worship was wrong. The children of Israel had changed the object of their worship from the true God Himself to an idol. “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory to the likeness of an ox that eateth grass” (Psa. 106:19-20). Jehovah God was their glory, but they changed their glory to an ox that eats grass. This is very similar to what is described in Romans 1:23: “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” Nevertheless, every idol worshipper claims that the idol he worships is the true God.
Another principle related to idols is that here there is mixture in worship. This principle can be applied to today’s Christians. Many Christians worship a calf, but they think that they are worshipping the Lord Jesus or the true God. Actually what they are worshipping is their enjoyment. Much of today’s Christian worship is a matter of sitting down to eat and drink and rising up to sport, sing, and dance around a certain kind of enjoyment, around a golden calf. Some of the Brethren teachers pointed this out in a very thorough way. They said that the worship of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai was a mixture, for a calf was worshipped as if it were God with the proper offerings and in the proper way. The offerings were right and the way was right, but the object of worship was wrong. This is what we mean by mixture.
However, we should not mainly consider the way others worship. We need to inquire about our own worship. Is our worship pure, or is it a mixture? Mixture in worship is related to enjoyment that comes out of self-beautification.
As we have seen, idolatry involves five principles: self-beautification, Satan’s usurping God’s gifts and making them a waste, the worship of the things we enjoy, pretending to worship the true God, and mixture in worship.
Aaron was not a Balaam; he was a true high priest, a yokefellow with Moses. He was one who took the lead among God’s people. But even such a person could make an idol. We should not think that Aaron was able to do such a thing, but that we are not. Any leader in the church is capable of doing this. For this reason, I am always in fear and trembling lest I make some kind of idol. We all need to be careful concerning this matter, especially those who are capable, gifted, and talented.
Exodus 32:4 says that Aaron took the gold and “fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf.” It was not easy to take a pile of gold and fashion it into a calf. Aaron used a graving tool to accomplish this. We have seen that the basic principle of an idol is self-beautification. If an idol is not beautified, who would worship it? The point here is that it takes skill to fashion gold into a calf. Some may have the gold, but not have the skill to fashion it into a calf. But every maker of idols, like Aaron, is skillful, capable, gifted, and talented. Who knows how many skillful idol-makers there are among Christians today? These craftsmen are knowledgeable, cultured, capable, and skillful. Whereas others are not able to make idols because they do not have the skill, these ones have the ability to fashion gold into idols. They know how to make beautiful idols. Sometimes I ask myself, “What are you doing here? Are you making an idol? Are you beautifying your own work for others to worship?” I am fearful lest I make some kind of idol.
It is important for us to see that the golden calf was made by Aaron, God’s high priest. Furthermore, he made this calf in the name of Jehovah, and he took the lead to worship the idol in the way of presenting offerings to God and worshipping God. When Moses came down and asked Aaron what he had done, Aaron told a lie. Aaron said that he took the gold and threw it into the fire, and a calf came out. Aaron seemed to be telling Moses, “Don’t condemn me, Moses. I simply cast the gold into the fire, and a calf came out.” The idol, of course, was made by Aaron. He was the typical idol-maker.
I hope that our eyes will be opened to see the idolatrous situation among many of today’s Christians. Do you think that none of the famous leaders among Christians are makers of idols? I wish that no one of today’s Christian leaders was an idol-maker. If this were the situation, I would truly thank God and worship Him for it. I would be able to praise the Lord that no Christian worker is a maker of idols. However, the Lord knows that today there are many Aarons, many skillful Christian leaders who are making idols. These Aarons are not false prophets nor even genuine Gentile prophets like Balaam. They are genuine priests appointed by God. Nevertheless, they make idols in the name of the very God whom they serve, and they teach others to worship these idols with offerings that should be offered to God and in the way of worshipping God. This is mixture, and it is very subtle.
If you were to argue with one of today’s Aarons concerning this matter, he would probably say, “We are not worshipping an idol. We are worshipping the Lord. We are feasting with Him, and we are offering His burnt offerings and peace offerings. How can you say that we are worshipping an idol?” Yes, everything may be the same as if it were actually God who is being worshipped. But God is not really the object of worship. Instead, there is a golden calf as the replacement of the true God. Originally it was the gold of self-beautification. But now the gold has changed in form and has been fashioned into a calf.
Because there was an idol among the children of Israel, they broke the law unconsciously and unintentionally. Aaron might have said that they did not have any intention of breaking the law. Although none of them had this intention, the law was broken nonetheless. When Moses saw the idolatrous situation among the people, his anger burned within him. Unable to control himself, “he flung the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain” (v. 19). Moses was the mediator used by God in the giving of the law. When he flung the tablets from his hands and broke them, the entire law was demolished, destroyed. In a message to come we shall see how Moses dealt with the idolaters.
One important matter in this message is that God did not give the law to the children of Israel with the expectation that they would be able to keep it. God’s intention in giving the law was that His people would realize that they were not able to keep the law. They could do nothing except break the law. By worshipping the golden calf, they broke the law of God.
