Exodus 32: 15 – 18 “Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.” But Moses replied: “It is neither the cry of victory nor the cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing!”
One of the things we generally forget about this story is the fact that Joshua accompanied Moses part – way up Mount Sinai and then remained there all the time Moses met with God. (Exodus 24:13) Aaron and his sons and seventy elders met with God on the mountain and then went back down; unfortunately, the memory of this glorious meeting didn’t even last a few weeks.
God has already warned Moses of what is happening at the camp, but Moses is probably hoping that God was exaggerating somehow. As Moses is going down the mountain, he is probably thinking, “Surely things can’t be as bad as God said!” Actually, things are worse.
V. 19 – 20 “As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain. Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.”
It is significant that the same Hebrew words were used to describe both God’s reaction to the Golden Calf and Moses’s reaction. Moses reacted exactly as God did. (Prager) Despite God’s warning, now that Moses is actually seeing the orgies and the perversions, he is both astounded and furious! Filled with righteous indignation, Moses hurls the stone tablets written by God on the ground, smashing them to pieces. Presumably, this action might have created enough noise to penetrate the singing and shouting of the orgy. (Did God add a little thunder and lightning for effect? Who knows!)
Some commentators feel that it was Moses’ righteous anger that helped deflect God’s wrath. Moses may also have broken the tablets to demonstrate to the people how severely they had sinned. The Ten Commandments were given before the elders and the priests met God on the mountain, so these leaders should have been aware of those Commandments. Obviously, these leaders enjoyed their mountaintop experience but failed to communicate God’s ordinances.
Moses reduces the calf to ashes and then forces the people to drink water containing those ashes as a punishment for their sins and also as an indication that their so – called god is worthless! What good is a god that can be reduced to ashes and then ingested?
APPLICATION: Where were the seventy elders, the priests, and the other leaders of Israel while all this was going on? Remember that Moses has already organized the Israelites into groups with leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, who can solve problems so that only the very most pressing issues come to Moses. This system of leadership had been working well for weeks; what happened?
It has been said that if you want to be popular, sell ice cream! Anybody who has assumed a leadership position knows that there are always problems. One of the saddest parts of this story of the Golden Calf is the obvious failure of the leaders of Israel. At the very time when these leaders should have been encouraging their people to remain calm and to wait for Moses, they failed in their duties. Who knows? Perhaps these leaders were jealous of Moses. Perhaps weeks of sorting out problems had given these men an inflated idea of their own importance so that when Moses remained on the mountain alone with God, they became offended and began to grumble. Perhaps some of these men were bitter because they weren’t included in the group of seventy elders who joined Moses and Aaron and the priests on the mountain. Was there a problem because these leaders did not receive a thorough enough grounding in their duties? All we know is that when leadership was required, these men failed.
Sometimes those of us called to leadership positions fervently wish that God had called somebody else! There is nothing easy about being a leader, even when you know that God has called you to such a work. As soon as you exert authority, someone will be there to challenge you or even to undermine you. But a group without a leader is only a mob and not an organization. May God help all who are called to leadership to realize that if God calls you, He will also empower you and inspire you.
PRAYER: Father God, today we lift up all who are in leadership positions of any kind. Help these men and women to realize that you are with them and that you will give them the strength and the grace to carry out their roles as you want them to. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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