Exodus 32
When the people saw that a long time had passed and Moses had not come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him that they do not know what happened to Moses. They told Aaron that he has to make them an idol who can guide them.
He told the men that they should bring all the golden earrings of their wives, sons and daughters to him. So the men collected all the gold earrings and brought it to him. He took the gold and shaped the gold into a statue of a calf.
They soon forgot what God told them. God said:
I am your God the Lord. I brought you out of Egypt, from where you were a slave. You may not worship other gods. I am the only God. You may not make an image for yourself and bow before him and serve him, not an image that looks like something above heaven or as something beneath the earth or like something in the water below the earth. I am your God, Lord, just serve me. I punish the children if the father did sin. I also punish his grandchildren and great-grandchildren if he hates Me and disobeyed Me. But if anyone loves Me and if he obeys Me, I will be good to him and to his children, 1,000 generations.
They bowed before the calf and brought him sacrifices, saying that he is their god who brought them out of Egypt.
While God was talking to Moses on the mountain, He told Moses that Moses that He is so angry that He has decided to kill all the people and Moses should not try and stop Him. They are now worshipping a golden calf and saying that the calf led them out of Egypt. Moses begged God to change His mind and not to kill them. Moses then remind God of His promise that He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. He said these men served you, and you used Your Name to make a promise to them. You said;
I will make your people as many as the stars in the sky. I will give your people all this land as I promised. So God felt sorry for the people and did not do what he said he might do.
Moses went down the mountain with the two stone tablets that God himself made and wrote the commandments on.
When Moses saw that the people were dancing and worshipping the golden calf he became so angry that he threw the stone tablets on the ground so that it broke into several pieces.
Then Moses destroyed the calf by melting it in the fire and then grounding the gold until it became dust and threw it into the water. He then forced the Israelites to drink that water.
Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said to them that anyone who wants to follow God should come to him. Everyone from the tribe of Levi ran to Moses. Then Moses said to them that God said that they must kill those who are against the Lord, even if they are their brothers, friends, or neighbours. The people from the tribe of Levi obeyed Moses and killed about 3000 people.
Moses told the people, that they have committed a terrible sin! But he will go to God and maybe he can do something so that God will forgive them for their sins. So Moses went back to God and said, Please listen! These people committed a terrible sin and made a god from gold. Now, forgive them of this sin. If you will not forgive them, then erase my name from your book.
But the Lord said to Moses that the only people He will erase from His book are those who sinned against Him. So God told Moses that His angel will go before him and lead him. When the time comes to punish those who sinned, they will be punished. So God caused a terrible sickness to come onto the people. He did this because they told Aaron to make the golden calf.
Remember the Bible is not just a made-up story. It is the word of God and it is a true story. Everything happened exactly as the Bible tells us.
Thank you for reading.
Sources: ERV Easy to read Bible, ICB International Children's Bible, The Message Bible, The New King James Bible.
Images: freebibleimages.org
