Exodus 32
McGeeCHAPTER 32THEME: The golden calf; condemnation of Israel’s apostasy; judgment; the intercession of Moses
Exodus 32:1
THE GOLDEN CALFThis chapter presents tragedy as far as the children of Israel are concerned, and yet it is here we see one of the greatest teachings and revelations concerning our God. Also, this is one of the greatest lessons on prayer found in the Bible. The word wot simply means we “know” not. The people thought Moses was gone, probably had been killed. Since he was gone, they wanted to make idols (gods) to lead them on the wilderness march. Right away they lapsed into idolatry. You would think Aaron, who was the high priest, would try to stop them, but he did not. Aaron went along with the liberalism of the people wanting to return to idolatry.
Exodus 32:2
During that time earrings were a sign of idolatry (see Gen_35:4). It was a sign that these people were serving the gods of Egypt. Now they were to bring these earrings to Aaron.
Exodus 32:3
Can you imagine these people lapsing into idolatry this quickly? It would be inconceivable to me if it were not for the fact that I have watched the church lapse into apostasy that I never dreamed I would live to see.
Exodus 32:6
Gross immorality was involved here. They have already departed from God after they had told Him that they would keep all of His commandments. As you can see, they are not keeping any of them. All this time Moses is on the mountain receiving the Law, the instructions, and the blueprint for the tabernacle.
Exodus 32:7
CONDEMNATION OF ISRAEL’S APOSTASYGod did not redeem Israel because they were superior, greater, or better than any other nation. They were none of these things. God said, “I knew you were a stiffnecked people.”
Exodus 32:9
This was a real temptation to Moses. God is saying, “Moses, I will use you like I used Abraham, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will still be able to make good my covenant with Abraham.” Now notice what Moses does. He is an example of one of the greatest prayers in all of Scripture.
Exodus 32:11
God asks Moses to “remember.” God says, “Moses, get thee down, for thy people that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.” Now Moses really talks back to God. (There is none of this pious piffle that you hear today in so many prayers. We have so much hypocrisy in some of our prayers that it is no wonder prayer meetings are dead. If we would talk honestly and frankly to God, prayer meeting would be the most exciting meeting in the church.) Listen to what Moses said, “Lord, I think You made a mistake. I do not recall bringing any people out of Egypt. And they are not my people; they are Your people. You brought them out of Egypt and You did it with a mighty hand.
I could not bring them out. You have made a mistake, Lord.” Can you imagine talking to God like that? Moses did!
Exodus 32:12
Then Moses tells the Lord, “You brought Your people out of the land of Egypt, but suppose that You do not take them into the land. The Egyptians would say that You were able to lead them out of Egypt but not able to take them into the land. They are Your people, Lord. You promised to bring them into the land.” Next, Moses gives God a third reason for turning aside from His wrath against the Israelites.
Exodus 32:13
Moses continues, “Lord, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; You made a promise to them. You promised to multiply their seed and give them a land.”
Exodus 32:14
When Moses prayed like that, it moved the arm of God. If we were more honest in praying, we would see more answersthat is, more visible answers to our prayers. We always receive an answer to our prayers, but I think the Lord tells most of us no because we do not really pray honestly to Him.
Exodus 32:15
JUDGMENTThe children of Israel were having a high old time, friends. They were worshiping their golden calf and living in sin.
Exodus 32:19
Now listen to Aaron try to crawfish out of it all. This would really be humorous, if it were not so serious a matter.
Exodus 32:22
In other words, Moses is getting the blame for what happened. The children of Israel thought that Moses had deserted them, and so they turned to the golden calf. Aaron continues:
Exodus 32:24
You cannot help but laugh at Aaron’s statement. I think Moses must have laughed with incredulity. “You mean, Aaron, that you poured gold into the fire and the calf walked out?” A few verses back we were told, you remember, that Aaron fashioned the calf with tools. What Aaron did was lie.
Exodus 32:25
This matter of nudism, sex, and dope is not new. I think you can look at the Israelites in this instance and see the whole bit. Moses will see this thing through. He is really angry. At the same time, however, notice what an intercessor he is for these people. He lays hold of the heart of God and moves the hand of God. It is time for Moses to move in with extreme surgery. When you have cancer, and I know this from personal experience, you want to try to get rid of it. If it means cutting away half of your body, you want to get rid of it. Sin is an awful cancer, and God uses extreme surgery in this case by slaying those who were guilty.
Exodus 32:26
This judgment is serious and extreme. It had to be that because there had been terrible sin. Liberalism has crept into our churches, and we have allowed it to stay there unchecked. I can remember when I came before a church court to be examined for the ministry. A young fellow from a liberal seminary was also there to be examined. I have never seen anyone who knew as little theology and Bible as this boy, and what he did know he had all mixed up.
It was clear that he had little knowledge and no faith. He could never even explain the great doctrines of the faith. In fact, one man very patiently said to him, “Well, if you don’t believe it, at least you ought to know what you don’t believe!” But he didn’t. Then one old man who knew this boy’s father, said, “This boy’s father was a great preacher in the past. He was sound in the faith and I know that one day this boy will come around and will get straightened out.” It was not unanimous but the council accepted him. It made me sick at heart to be brought in at the same time with a fellow who did not believe anything at all. The way this council handled the situation is not the way Moses would have handled it! He would not have drawn a sword and slain the fellow, but he would not have accepted him as a preacher. He would have given that boy a Bible and told him to go to Bible school, learn a little Bible, and then come back and he could be examined again and see if he was fit for the ministry. Because of similar actions by other councils, liberalism has come into the organized church and has taken over. You cannot compromise with sin. Someone has said, “Compromise is immoral,” and it is especially immoral in the church. Moses did not do a very good job of compromising. He used extreme surgery.
Exodus 32:28
Those that were guilty were slain, and that cleaned up the camp pretty well. Many people are apt to say that this was brutal. Look at it this way. Was it better to cut out the cancer now and save the nation or let the cancer grow and destroy the nation? Think of the men, women, and children in the camp who were not guilty. If the men who had led Israel into idolatry had been allowed to live, the nation would never have entered the Promised Land. That, of course, is what is happening in the church in many places. I see church after church lose its importance and its influence and become useless because it allowed liberalism to creep in. We are soft and sentimental and silly. Sometimes we are even stupid in the way we handle evil.
Exodus 32:30
THE INTERCESSION OF MOSESAn atonement covered up sin. That is the way sin was handled before Jesus Christ came to earth and died on the Cross. After the Cross, sin is removed. Now Moses gives his fourth reason for taking the children of Israel into the Promised Land.
Exodus 32:31
What is this? Confession. If you want to get along with God, you will have to agree with Him about sin. Sin is sin and it must be confessed. It does not matter who you are, either. These are God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, and Moses says, “We have sinned!” Israel had sinned a great sin and made gods of gold. Moses spelled out the sin before God. And, friends, when we confess our sin to God, we should spell it out. Tell God exactly what it is.
Exodus 32:32
Moses said, “I take my place with the people. I identify myself with them, and if You intend to blot them out, blot me out also.” Remember that God had told Moses that He could still make good His covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by simply making a nation from Moses. But Moses said, “No, I identify myself with the people. If You do not intend to bring them into the land, then blot me out with them.” Notice that what moves the heart of God moves the hand of God.
Exodus 32:33
God deals individually and personally with sin.
Exodus 32:34
God will deal with sin personally. He will, however, take the people into the land. Those that had not sinned in the idolatry of the calf would be led by the Angel of God. Now the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament is the visible presence of Christthe pre-incarnate Christ. Because of Moses’ intercession, God has not given up on His people. This should impress upon us the extreme importance of prayer.