22. The Golden Calf (Exodus 32:1-34:35).

by Amy Mehrle

There are three points about today's passage that really stand out to me. The first is the role of Aaron. He is the brother of Moses and second in command when Moses is gone, and yet, he doesn't turn down the idea of the golden calf. He is, in fact, the one who gets the gold together to build the calf. It always makes me wonder why he didn't stand up to the people or for God. Beyond the miracles that he had seen with the people of Israel, he had also been in the palace seeing and helping to perform the miracles before Pharaoh. He should know better, but he acts like he doesn't. He builds the calf for the Israelites to worship their false god. This always makes me think that Aaron should be removed from the role as second in command, but he isn't. If we look to Exodus 34:30, we see that Aaron is still a leader. He has been forgiven for this HUGE mistake and is still allowed to lead. This leads me to my next point about God's forgiveness...

When God saw what was going on at the bottom of the mountain, he was ANGRY. Angry is a mild word for His emotion, actually. He was ready to wipe out the whole Israelite community. But Moses talks God out of destroying His people. He delays the wrath of the Lord. I am amazed that Moses, with all of his human imperfection was able to reason with God. He talks him out of delaying the promise to Abraham and saves the Israelites. The boldness of Moses, who had earlier been afraid to speak to Pharaoh leaves me challenged to pray for the people that I love, and even those I don't because after reading this passage there's no denying that talking to God makes a difference.

Finally, beginning with Exodus 34:29, this passage talks about the radiance of the face of Moses. On the mountain, Moses was in the presence of the Lord, and it has made his face radiant from speaking to Him. It was so radiant, in fact, that the Israelites were afraid to speak to Moses, who now had to wear a veil over his face. Moses had fully been in the presence of God, and it was so evident that even his appearance had changed. As Christ followers, we have the chance to go into the presence of the Lord with prayer and our various acts of worship. I wonder if others can tell because of the changes they see in us?