Exodus 32
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as 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, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” Exodus 32:1-10 NKJV
The Israelites became impatient while waiting for Moses, and built a false idol to worship. They had already been told what the ten commandments were, and were breaking the first and most important commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exodus 20:3-5). We need to remember that God is first in our lives, and should be our highest priority. Without Him, Jesus could do nothing, and neither can we. Jesus said “the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). In everything we do, we need to constantly remind ourselves that God and His will are more important than what we want. Is there an area in your life that is making it hard or impossible for you to spend time with God? If so, make the necessary changes to give God His rightful place in your day.
Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. Exodus 32:11-14 NKJV
When Moses prayed to God and He relented and spared the Israelites, Moses was foreshadowing what Christ did for us. We are told in the New Testament that Christ “is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34) and “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:25). No matter what we have done, if we repent and rely on what Christ has accomplished for us, He will intercede for us with the Father and we will be forgiven!
So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.” Exodus 32:19-20 NKJV
When Moses saw what the Israelites were doing, he became very angry. In general, anger is a sin, however this was considered righteous anger. There are many examples of righteous anger throughout the Bible: “God is angered by the mistreatment of those who are helpless, the strangers, the widows, and the orphans” (Exodus 22:21-24) and “Jesus looked around at the Pharisees in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts,” (Mark 3:5). In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he wrote “Be angry, and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). This command is for us today as well. We are expected to get angry at the things that also anger God, but we need to be sure that we do not mistreat others or sin in the process. How can we tell if our anger is righteous or not? Here are a few characteristics of righteous anger, so that we can tell it apart from the “anger of man” which we are not supposed to exhibit: 1) Righteous anger is anger which is consistent with the holy and righteous character of God. 2) Godly anger is not explosive, but is only slowly provoked (“The Lord is slow to anger,” Nahum 1:3). 3) Godly anger does not lose its temper. Ungodly anger is excessive and abusive; godly anger never is. 4) Godly anger is always under the control of the one expressing it, rather than anger taking control of him/her. The next time you get angry, ask God to reveal to you whether or not this is an appropriate, righteous anger.
Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), Exodus 32:25 NKJV
This verse says that the people of Israel became a “laughingstock” to their enemies because of their disobedience and out-of-control behavior. In the same way, people who oppose God in today’s culture keep a close eye on proclaimed Christians to be able to spot hypocrisy and use that to mock them as well as Jesus. We need to be careful that we “let our light shine before men so that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
“Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.” Exodus 32:32-33 NKJV
Moses and the Lord are talking about a book that God has written, with specific names written in it. The Lord says “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book” (verse 33). This “Book of Life” is referred to in other parts of the Bible as well. It is a book in heaven, and everyone who will spend eternity with God has their names written in this book. “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Reading this should lead us to have a sense of urgency to spread the Good News of the gospel to unbelievers.