God had come down onto the top of Mount Sinai. He had shown himself to the 70 elders, and had called Moses up into the mount to give him a copy of the law.
Do you think the children of Israel walked around in awe of what was going on? Maybe they did at first, but then something happened.
Exodus 32:1- And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
It has only been 40 days! Just over a month and the Hebrew children had gotten use to the thundercloud on the Mount. They decided they needed a different god, and they asked Aaron to make them one.
Exodus 32:2-4- And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Aaron took the gold and built a golden calf. And he told the people to fall down and worship the statue of the baby cow!
Exodus 32:5-6- And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Aaron made an altar and told the people to have a feast to the Lord. So, they people started sacrificing on the altar to the false god. Then they ate and drank. And then they rose up to play. Do you know what that means?
They started to have a large party!
Exodus 32:7-8- And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest 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 them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
God was up on the Mount with Moses, but that didn't mean that God couldn't see what the Hebrew children were doing. He knew what was going on and it made Him angry!
Exodus 32:9-10- And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
God told Moses that He was just going to kill them all and start over. He told Moses that his family would become the chosen people. What do you think Moses would do?
Exodus 32:11-14- And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Moses reminded God of his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He asked God to spare the people so the Egyptians wouldn't say terrible things about God. Moses pleaded with God for the people that didn't deserve it.
And God listened to him.
Exodus 32:15-17- And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
Joshua had been on the boundary line of Sinai. He was waiting for Moses for 40 days! When Moses came down, Joshua told him that he thought there was a war going on.
Exodus 32:18- And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Moses had been raised in the palace of Pharaoh. Moses had heard these sounds before. It wasn't a war, it was a rock concert!
Exodus 32:19-20- And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Moses got so mad that he broke the tables of stone that the Lord had written the 10 commandments on. Then he took the golden statue and started beating it until it was a pile of gold dust. Then, he threw the dust into the water and made the people drink it. Wow!
But, Moses wasn't done yet!
Exodus 32:21-22- And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
Moses asked Aaron why he did it. And Aaron committed the same sin that Adam and Eve committed. He blamed someone else for his sin. He said that it was the people's fault.
Exodus 32:26-28- Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Moses told the people who wanted to serve the Lord to come to him. Then he told them to go through and kill the people that did the sinning. Three thousand men died that day.
Exodus 32:30- And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
Moses told the people how he had to go back up onto the Mount and ask God to forgive their sins. Somehow, he had to find a way to get God to forgive their sins.
