Golden Calf: Ancient vs. Modern Day Idolatry

For Scriptural context: read Exodus 32

As Moses was atop Mt. Sinai with the God, the ancient Israelites made the collective decision to reject God and worship the Golden Calf. In so doing, the Israelites demonstrated that they were not just impatient with God (and Moses), but they were also religiously influenced by the pagan and idol-worshiping Egyptians. The impatience which the Israelites displayed with God and Moses can be seen in modern Christians who do not obey God, who feel impatient with the same God of the Israelites when things do not go their way and are influenced to reject the promises of God by a God-rejecting society and do as they please rather than what God wants and commands. Through rebellion, the Golden Calf was a creation of the Israelites own hands in place of obedience and worship of the one true God and today many Christians worship God according to a standard which they contrive of in their own mind rather obeying Gods commandments found in the Bible. 

Before we explore the connection of the Golden Calf to the larger story of the Bible, I believe that it is important to review the history of the Israelite people up to the point in time when they worshiped the Golden Calf in the wilderness. The Israelite people came to Egypt in search of food because they were suffering widespread famine. Initially the Israelites were not seen as a threat to the Egyptians and God used Jacob’s son, Joseph, to build a good relationship with the Pharaoh. Some years passed and both the Pharaoh and Joseph died and a new Pharaoh came into power. This new Pharaoh did not view the Israelites as a harmless people and soon the Israelites became enslaved by the Egyptians. The Egyptians required the Israelites to work as their laborers and their lives as slaves in Egypt were not full of ease and comfort. In Egypt, the Israelite slaves lived a life full of hardness, pain and difficulty. In desperation they turned to God for redemption and freedom. Their cries did not go unheard and God divinely appointed a unique Israelite man who had grown up in the Pharaoh’s place, by the name of Moses to the Israelites leader and guide to freedom from slavery. Redemption eventually came for the Israelites, they were finally given their freedom. At long last, they could leave the land of Egypt and set off on a journey to the land that God was giving them to dwell in and to call their own, as He had spoken of to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, namely, the Promised Land. 

We can look at historically verifications to see that it was common practice for the Egyptians to worship an abundance of idols which were usually in the form of some kind of animal. We know from historical evidence that some representations of Egyptian gods were reptiles, birds, and cattle.  The Israelites would have been witness to idol worship during their years of slavery in Egypt, the Egyptian gods and their pagan ritualistic practices would have become familiar to the Israelites over time.  In relation to the Golden Calf, let us focus our ancient Egyptian idol worship to god Apis. Apis was depicted as a bull and was seen as a powerful god of fertility and life who would have been worshiped by the Egyptians in an effort to bring prosperity in their own lives. According to authors T. D. Alexander and D.W. Baker, the Egyptians understood that the manmade gods were not necessarily an untouchable higher power, rather the Egyptians viewed the idols as a part of creation. In turn, the god would “commune” with them and provide them with the things that they either wanted or needed. While we know what Apis represented to the Egyptians, there are several varying theories about what the Golden Calf represented to the Israelites. Some believe it represented God, rather than a god. Others think that it represented a symbol of God. Still others say that the Israelites were worshiping the Golden Calf as a representation of another god, as they had done so in Egypt. Later in scripture, Joshua would give evidence that the ancient Israelites participated in idol worship when they were in Egyptian slavery when he said in Joshua 24:14, “Put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt”.

I believe if we look in Exodus 32 we see the Israelites act as if this bull made from gold, crafted by Aarons own hands was the mighty, all-powerful, and holy God who delivered them from Egyptian slavery. Whatever the reason for the creation of the Golden Calf, the Israelites knew that they were not supposed to worship other gods, nor were they supposed to make idols to worship. It should be noted that God had just given the Israelites the commandment which would be rules for them to follow which would guide and shape their life in a way which would glorify and honor Him. God had already shown them so much mercy and love despite all their complaints, and yet they chose to turn away from Him. When the people were left alone while Moses was with God on Mount Sinai, their impatience grew and in an act of disobedience to God, they blatantly rebelled and turned away from Him. The love of God did not stop the Israelites rebellious nature and in their sin they begged Aaron to construct an idol for them to worship. These thankless people had been so completely dependent on God, even years before their journey out of Egypt, to provide their every need. This Golden Calf did not save them from the hand of Pharaoh, redeem them, give them safety from their enemies, fresh clothing, shoes, manna, quail or provide protection from the blistering desert sun and light at night in the form of fire and cloud. To the Israelites, the Golden Calf was an act of them doing what they conceived to be right and proper in their own eyes. While the symbol of the bull may have represented power and life to the Egyptians, to God, the Golden Calf of the Israelites represented a lack of faith, weakness, doubt and death.

God gave the Israelites certain rules to follow and in turn for their obedience of those rules, He promised to take care of them. God differentiated the Israelites from other people by prohibiting them from worshiping other gods as well as creating idols to worship. Aaron broke the first commandment when he constructed the Golden Calf and the Israelites broke the second commandment when they prepared a feast and danced around the Golden Calf in worship. Similarly, if we look back on Creation, we see that God commanded Adam and Eve to worship Him and obey His ordinances, specifically not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve did not follow God’s rules and their disobedience resulted in the Fall of Man, separation from God and their physical removal from the Garden of Eden. Years later God demanded the same worship and obedience from the Israelites. When the Israelites chose the Golden Calf over God they disobeyed, and their disobedience cost them greatly. God was justifiably furious with the Israelites that day. God could have killed all of them instantaneously, but He was gracious and extended mercy to some. Even though Moses was also angry with the Israelites, he was instrumental in persuading God to withhold all His wrath on the Israelites. God’s wrath may have been spared on some who worshiped the Golden Calf, but judgment did come for many Israelites that day. Three-thousand Israelites lost their lives because one act of rebellion against God. 

Throughout history mankind has been just as sinful, rebellious and disobedient as the Israelites who erected a Golden Calf to worship. Mankind needed a redeemer and many years after the Israelites rebellion against God, God divinely sent a redeemer, not just for the Israelites, but for all mankind in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. God demands of mankind have not changed over time. He still commands that we worship and obey Him in a way that He has ordained. God’s commandments include worshiping and obeying Him. In contemporary Christianity, the Golden Calf of the Israelites has not disappeared over time, but has become manifested in Christians very much in the same way the Golden Calf was seen in the heart of the ancient Israelites. Modern day individuals may not erect up a physical Golden Calf, but they are certainly influenced by the ideas of the what the Golden Calf signified to the Israelites. The Israelites disobedience did not cause them to no longer be God’s children, but their sin separated themselves from God, as did Adam and Eve’s rebellion. The Israelites were not committed to adhering to all the commandments of God and selectively chose what commandments they would follow when they selected idol worship over God. Modern-day Christians also choose which commandments they wish to follow and “modern-day Golden Calf idolatry” with Christians has resulted in the craving for certainty and control in the things related to the future and rather than trusting God Himself. 

Michael R. Langer writes, that we as a culture are “obsessed by the need for certainty…”. The obsession that we have with certainty is not a new concept. When the Israelites had Aaron construct the Golden Calf they were themselves exhibiting their need for certainty. While I agree that it is natural to want to feel safe, rather than securing our own safety in tangible objects, ideas or what we perceive to be right, proper and just in our own eyes we should look to the One who can provide our true safety. Yes, it is easy to feel safe in something you can grab hold of, but then that is not faith as it is describe in the Bible. In Hebrews 11:11, faith is described as, “…the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Additionally, in 2 Corinthians 5:7 it says that “we (Children of God/Christians) walk by faith not by sight,”. We are to be different and a part of that difference is living a life of trusting in someone Who you cannot see or touch. That is the essence of faith; that is how the ancient Israelites should have lived, specifically in the wilderness, and that is how we as Christians should live daily. Granted, being a Child of God was not easy in the time of the ancient Israelites and neither is it easy in modern-day Christianity. Still, faith in God was the key of the ancient Israelites relationship with Him and faith is the key which unlocks mankind’s relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. As Christians obtain redemption through salvation, loosened from the shackles of slavery to Satan through sanctification and journey on in this life to the Promised Land of Heaven, for however long each of us has here on earth, it is imperative that we walk by faith and not allow ourselves to distrust and grow impatient with God. Whatever it might be, a higher education, career, wealth, or things that are truly empty should not be our priority. We should purpose to stand strong and not erect our own manifestations of a modern day “Golden Calf” in our lives that we can reach out for, look to and grasp onto rather than walking in faith and trust with our Heavenly Father who can successfully lead us and is the only one worthy of our worship. 

2 Corinthians 4.18: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5.7: For we walk by faith, not by sight: