07/10/2008
Exodus 32:1 - 4 (HCSB) 1When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!”
2Then Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring [them] to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought [them] to Aaron. 4He took [the gold] from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
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Studies have shown that very young children have difficulty with abstract ideas. When a ball is held in front of them, they see it and want to play with it. When the ball is moved out of sight, behind the researcher, they perceive that it no longer exists. Older children will learn to look behind the researcher to find the ball.
Faith is a very difficult thing. The Israelites no longer saw Moses and so concluded he was gone. We can assume that the cloud of smoke that had been with them while leaving Egypt had gone as well. In this apparent absence, the Israelites demanded some tangible form to represent God.
Aaron who was to become the High Priest, yields to their demands and creates a golden calf. (Cows were common deity symbols in Egypt.) The people, like young babies, now celebrated that their “god” was with them.
Today, we don’t necessarily make golden calves for ourselves, but what other things do we establish as our “gods”? What about our money? Do we place our trust in our bank accounts, our 401K, our IRAs? What about our houses? Do we place our faith in the things that supposedly make us secure? Do we make “church” our god—that is, do we believe that our religious activity itself will save us? Do you worship a cross or crucifix rather than the risen savior?
Even though the Israelites set up the golden calf to represent the god that brought them out of Egypt, they were (and we are) forbidden from making any tangible representation of god—even if it is to represent the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God wants us to exercise faith, which means, that even when we don’t see Him, we know he is still there.
Just like the child that knows the ball is just around the corner and not completely gone, we must learn to trust that our God is ever-present, even when we cannot see tangible evidence of Him.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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