08/06/2025
Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai
And in those 40 days, the Isrealites had moulded another 'god', sacrificed to it and proclaimed: " These be thy gods, O Isreal , which brought thee out of the land of Egypt"
Only 40 days!
These people saw how God wrought his strange works and strange acts in Egypt...
They witnessed how God's mercies encamped the land of Goshen, and exempted them from the plagues...the diseases of the Egyptians
The Passover was a miracle unto them that even the Egyptians dashed them "...jewels of gold and jewels of silver and raiment (clothes)" as they made their Exodus on the night of the LORD's Passover
Such was the mighty hand of God on Pharaoh and all Egyptians that they (the Egyptians) literally thrust the Isrealites out of the land.
Did God abandon them? Never!
He sent his Angel to lead them through the wilderness as they sojourned to the Promised Land - being a literal GPS by the day and the brightest fluorescent by night
When Pharaoh pursued and they murmured : "Because there were no graves in Egypt, has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?wherefore hast thou dealt this with us, to carry us forth from the land of Egypt"
What did Jehovah (Exodus 6:3) do ? He parted the red sea and they walked through as though on dry land. None of them drowned. None of them got wet.
This is the miracle of all generations - but barely had it been 6 months when they moulded a golden calf , confessing it to be their god? Why ? What happened?
Muscle memory
Habits
Routines
Lived Experiences
And all they've learnt for centuries - 430 years to be precise
The Egyptians worshipped many gods. According to Egypt Exploration Society (1882),
"The ancient Egyptians worshipped over 1,400 DIFFERENT gods and goddesses in their shrines, temples, and homes. These deities were the centre of a religion lasting over three thousand years! Each deity was responsible for a certain part of DAILY LIFE or the world around the Egyptians. For example, the ibis-headed Thoth was the god of writing and knowledge, while the falcon-headed Horus was god of kingship. . .keeping all of these gods and goddesses happy was hard work and required DAILY RITUALS to be performed in temples across Egypt. Food, water, incense, and precious materials would be offered to the deities in their temples EVERYDAY by groups of priests acting on behalf of the Pharaoh. Sometimes, even the Pharaoh would be worshipped as a god in their own right... the Egyptians did worship COWS, primarily through the goddess Hathor and the sacred Apis bull. Hathor was associated with motherhood, fertility, and love, and was often depicted with cow horns or as a cow. The Apis bull, a sacred manifestation of the god Ptah, was also revered."
The Isrealites were servants . Builders. There was no way they would have built structures in Egypt without being involved in designing altars and high places. They would have also witnessed how their masters ,the Egyptians, offered DAILY SACRIFICES on these altars. Seeing that routine was a normal way of life. And yes, they would also have been made to carve these gods...they were slaves.
And remember that there were people who followed the Isrealites out of Egypt. The scriptures called them '...the mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38). These were the people who saw how Jehovah dealt with Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt, and made up their mind to follow the stronger of the gods - the God of The People Of Isreal
So when Moses and Joshua spent 40 days on Mount Sinai, with Moses enveloped in cloud and fire for that period , the people began to get restless...
Whether they were convinced by the mixed multitude or of their own volition, these people couldn't imagine not seeing a god or its representative. They wanted who and what their eyes could see. In fact , from where they camped at the foot of the mountain anytime they looked up they saw devouring fire...thus they must have assumed that Moses and his minister , Joshua, had been licked up as sacrifice.
However they convened and agreed ,they all decided upon melting their precious gold to carve their own gods . A god they could see. A god of beauty. A god they could thank and praise and worship and offer manna and meat to!!
Let's take a step back and recall that Moses spent 40 days on the Mount
The size of the calf? The Bible did not mention. But according to a 25th July 1990 article published on The New York Times, 'archeologists discovered a bronze figurine in Ashkelon, Israel, which is believed to be a possible ancient example of the golden calf. This figurine measures 4½ inches long, 4¼ inches tall, and weighs just under one pound. '
Gold melts at 3,000°C and we do not know how many days it took them to build a mini-furnace or gather sufficient firewood, or they may have knowledge of a faster method to get it done in fewer days...
As in , they looked up the mount and saw the burning fire but still continued moulding ,engraving , burnishing and polishing their golden calf...
Then Aaron, who was the right hand man of his younger brother Moses, participated. In fact , he did the ribbon cutting and commissioning.
Aaron, who got front row seat to all the Miracles from Egypt to Mount Sinai, on whose behalf God was establishing a covenant of everlasting priesthood. As in , God was on the Mount pronouncing Exodus 28, while Aaron was besides a golden calf pronouncing Exodus 32:4 simultaneously!
Let's stop here for a while and ask ourselves:
Do I know God?
Have I experienced him personally?
Having acknowledged a number of his miracles and mercies and faithfulness, do I still carve golden calves that I can see instead of implicitly trusting in God's Love and divine everlasting arrangement?
Who are the mixed multitudes whispering doubt in my walk with God?
When the call comes to do the right thing , do I join the multitude to do evil or do I stand firm in my conviction that He that has started this good work will see it to the end?
Do I stand in faith , knowing that my hope in God shall be ultimately rewarded - or do I prefer to anchor my trust in golden calves that my eyes can see?
Think about these...
