Deuteronomy 9:7 – 14 “Remember this and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the LORD.
At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you. When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, and the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten image.”
The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they.”
It’s one of the saddest stories in the Bible. While Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites become impatient. Tired of waiting for Moses, the Israelites pressure Aaron into creating an idol of a golden calf, possibly a copy of an idol of Hathor, Egyptian goddess of music and dance. One festival dedicated to Hathor was described as a “festival of drunkenness,” possibly accompanied by sexual orgies.
The Israelites had only left Egypt a few weeks earlier. Even though somehow the memories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been kept alive, the Israelites were probably very confused as to how this God of their fathers was to be worshiped. And four hundred years in Egypt had taught the Israelites a lot about the Egyptian gods. Perhaps the Israelites were bored; certainly, they were impatient. The Israelites had large quantities of gold given them by anxious Egyptians as they left Egypt. Why not make an idol?
Poor Moses is up there on Mount Sinai when God orders him to go down immediately. The saddest part of the order is the way God refers to the Israelites: ‘YOUR people, whom YOU brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” God is so furious that He is distancing Himself from the Israelites, even though He is the One who brought them out of Egypt.
One interesting part of this passage is God’s statement to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they.” Horrified, Moses refuses to agree to this idea and rushes down the mountain. This refusal of Moses to agree to God wiping out the Israelites is one of the most heroic acts recorded in the Old Testament.
APPLICATION: The Israelites nearly got themselves wiped off the face of the earth because they refused to listen to God and became impatient. Prior to Moses ascending Mount Sinai, the Israelites had already witnessed the power of God descending on the mountain with fire, smoke, earthquakes, and the sound of a trumpet. But the memory of all that power failed to keep the Israelites from making an idol for themselves.
Many times, we beg God for blessings; yet, we fail to wait on His timing. Sometimes we are asking for something that is too much for us unless we develop more character. Other times, we fail to realize what our request would mean for those around us. While God is carefully putting things in place, we flounce off on our own, determined to have that blessing RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!
Today, let us wait for God’s timing, confident that the same God who controls the universe and gives us the seasons in their order can bring good things to pass for us. Wait on God.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Help us to be patient and to wait for Your timing. Help us also to keep from making our own idols while we are waiting. Thank You for Your perfect answers. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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