Reading: Exodus 32-34, Psalm 28

We’ve been up on a mountain for a while, so let’s look back a moment. For the last few days we have been looking in on a conversation between God and Moses, in which God tells how the people of Israel can have an intercessor with him. Right before this conversation began, we had a scene in which all the elders of Israel, along with Aaron and his four sons, got to do something very unusual: they had lunch with God. There was a great deal of purification and sacrifice involved, but there was, for a moment, a place on Earth where God and humans were occupying the same place- the last time this happened in our story was in the Garden, before the humans declared independence from God and everything started going down hill. It’s a pretty big deal.

Okay. Now we find out what those same guys have been up to since Moses went up to talk with God. One might assume they were continuing to practice purification, or getting ready to answer God’s next great call, or maybe organizing the mass of people who, if you remember, only left Egypt a few months ago and almost certainly could use some governance. But no. They decide to make an idol instead.

The people go to Aaron, the guy we just learned would be carrying the burden of all the people of Israel on his shoulders and heart, and ask him to make them a god. He says, “Sure!” Our high priest is starting off well. So he makes them a golden calf to worship. Now, it is worth noting here that this is not inventing a new god- they reference this calf as the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and Aaron declares their festival to be “to the Lord” using the name of God. It seems that Aaron and the people wanted an object towards which to aim their devotion. They liked their God, but they wanted an image of him to worship. In order to get it they ignored all the commands they had gotten from him so far and made an image of God.

A slight aside- there is, in fact, already an image of God running around on Earth, if you remember the creation of the humans in Genesis 1 and 2, and perhaps God forbade making images of him to remind us of this fact about ourselves.

We jump back to the conversation between God and Moses, and we hear God condemn the people for their rebellion, and Moses beg for their forgiveness, based not on their merits, but on the reputation of God- if he destroys the people after saving them from Egypt, what kind of God will he be? God says fine, go check it out, but you won’t be happy with what you find.

So Moses goes down the mountain, picking up his protege Joshua along the way. When he sees what the people are doing, he loses it. He breaks the tablets God personally wrote. He burns the golden calf, then goes one better and grinds it to powder, dumps the powder in the water supply and makes everyone drink their “god.” He calls his brother to account- and he gets excuses, exaggerations, and outright lies. From the high priest. Yeah. Seeing he is getting nowhere and that the people of Israel have descended into chaos to the point that they are going to be at the mercy of their enemies (the Amalekites were not the only wandering marauders around), Moses heads to the gate and sends out a message for anyone who is “on the Lord’s side” to come to him. He gets a bunch of the tribe of Levi, which was his own tribe, and he tells them to grab their swords and have at their Israelite brothers.

This is a pretty ugly and tragic scene, but those are nothing new to our story, are they? The human problem spirals down quickly. The people make an idol. Aaron lies. Before you know it, they are killing each other. The consequences of the human problem always ends in death. In any event, this appears to get the people get back in line so they will listen. He tells them they are in for it, but they he will see what he can do to get them back in a good spot with God. There is a long back and forth between Moses and God, culminating in Moses’ plea for God to remain in their midst. He says to God that his presence is what makes them who they are. Moses has been paying attention to the story. He knows the people of Israel are not who they think they are, and that in order to be whatever they are they need God. If God leaves them alone, they will lose their distinction and become just like the other nations. This has a dramatic effect. God not only agrees, he agrees to appear in glory to Moses though only from behind, so to speak.

This is different than when the elders of Israel saw God on the mountain. It is just Moses. Instead of numerous sacrifices, Moses makes a statement of total dependence on God for the very identity of Israel. It is the inverse of the human declaration of independence. God responds by allowing Moses to see him, though in a shrouded way. There hasn’t been all the work of purification and sacrifice, but it leads to restoration of the covenant with Israel. We get a shorthanded repeat of the covenant story from a week ago. Moses once again ascends to the mountain, though this time he is told to bring his own tablets. He receives again the rules of behavior and interaction with God that will govern the relationship between God and Israel.

Moses’ second descent from the mountain is different. He has seen God in a new way, and his face shines with the glory of God. The people listen as he tells them what God has told him. Tomorrow the people begin the work of building the tabernacle, making a place for the new creation to begin.