Exodus 32:4–5

Aaron did not have the energy of faith his brother Moses had, to boldly stand against them. He weakly gave in to their foolish demands. He told them to break off the golden earrings, which were clearly common among them, taken from the Egyptians. There is a serious lesson here. Our idols, whatever they are, take their character from what decorates or pampers the flesh — the golden earrings. Ears are given for hearing, but Israel was not hearing the first commandment God had given them, "You shall have no other gods before me."

The calf was cast as a molten image first, and then fashioned with a graving tool. It was probably meant as a representation of God. That would place the sin under the second commandment, not the first. Aaron said, "This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (as it should read); and "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."

Let us not suppose that either Aaron or Israel intended to abandon Jehovah. It is no unworthy stretch of imagination to picture their indignation at such a charge. In Israel's mind the calf stood for the God no one can see, and Aaron said in plain words that it stood for Jehovah. As people say of all images, it was "a help to devotion," "a symbol of the unseen" — and in this sense, the God who had brought them out of Egypt! But none the less had they really returned in spirit to paganism.

The people are plainly taught that in making any image and bowing down to it, they in reality lowered and corrupted themselves. So when they made the golden calf, the Lord said to Moses: "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." It could not be otherwise. The worshipper must be lower than the object of his worship. So in worshipping a calf, they put themselves below the level of the beasts that perish.

How subtle is sin! When Moses challenged him, Aaron excused himself: he was only humouring the people. Think what evil a good man may cause by acting unfaithfully in an emergency. Aaron was left in charge of the people, to meet any difficulty that might arise. But the leader goes along with what the people want, and leads them into idolatry without meaning to. In vain was Aaron's proclamation, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." The calf, and not Jehovah, had the homage of their hearts.

At the very outset we are taught a solemn and searching truth — that God does not measure things by the intention of human agents, but by His own glory. Before God there is no such thing as innocence of intention, when a man takes it on himself to decide how God should be honoured, or how God's work should be carried forward. In such cases the means used are quite as important as the end intended.

But it was all over with the covenant of the law. The people had broken the first and basic link — that of having no other gods. The tables of the covenant never even came into the camp on the simple ground of law. The people had made a complete separation between themselves and God.

Besides this, Aaron built an altar before the idol, then announced that the next day they would have a feast "to the Lord"! (v. 5). Can we dare to think we can sanctify an idol by attaching the Lord's name to it? This is gross wickedness.

When Israel made the golden calf, the devil did not take away the name of Jehovah. They still said, "Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah." So the name of God is not thrown out. Instead, something comes in that hides the truth. All Satan's aim is to blot out the Mediator. As long as Satan can block that, he will allow the name, and call it Christianity. But his aim is to keep our souls at a distance from God.

Aaron's proclamation shows the strange blindness that follows disobedience to the plain letter of God's Word. He said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah." And to make their sin holy — the golden calf! (Deut. 9:21) — he built an altar to God's glory in front of it. This mixture is still popular: plain disobedience to God's Word, then a human effort to make it holy. Call the sin holy, and people will hold the abomination in religious awe. They dedicated the image to God, who had commanded them to make no image and to bow down to no image.

Calling the festival by Jehovah's name did not touch its real nature. A demon may be dressed in clothes of light, but its true nature still shows. They kept the feast in true pagan style. The camp rang with loud songs sung back and forth, and was wild with sensual dancing. In this way Israel grafted idolatry onto the worship of Jehovah, and so brought the wrath of God down on their camp.

How subtle is sin! When Moses challenged him, Aaron excused himself: he was only humouring the people. What a lot of evil a good man may cause by acting unfaithfully in an emergency! Moses had left Aaron in charge of the people, to meet any difficulty that might arise. But the leader gives in to what the people want, and leads them into idolatry without meaning to. He had no idolatrous aim in what he did, and neither did the people. Aaron's proclamation, "Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah," was useless. The calf, and not Jehovah, had the homage of their hearts (see Acts 7:41). On this rests the solemn warning to us: "Do not be idolaters as some of them were" (1 Cor. 10:7).

The human spirit always tends to materialize what is spiritual. It must have a visible form, an object that can be at least revered, if not worshiped. This was Aaron's problem. In their thoughts, Aaron and the people lowered the Lord to the level of the gods of Egypt, saying, "Here is your God."

The root of all idolatry is self-will; it is making a god of our own. It starts with self and makes a god — not always out of silver, and not always with our hands. There is a tool more cunning and skilful than the hands, and that is the intellect of man. Wherever self takes the place of God's will, you will find the human mind busy making a god to please itself. And it does this in the name of the Lord, in the name of the true God.