What Was The Golden Calf In The Bible?

What was the golden calf all about in the Book of Exodus? Why was this such a grievous sin?

Idolatry

Idolatry can be described as the worship of a physical object or image-worship or divine honor paid to any created object by someone or others. Idolatry has been described as occurring when you look down at the fruit of your own labor and see the statue that you carved yourself, and then you worship it. It could be a blind or excessive devotion to something like money, job, family, video games, pornographic images, or some created image in a physical form or created by our own imagination. An idol is anything that takes the place of and precedence over the One, True God.

The Golden Calf

Moses went up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments but “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Ex 32:1). Here is where Aaron should have stepped up and said “You must be patient, Moses is with God. He is coming” back but instead, Aaron caves into peer pressure and said “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron” (Ex 32:-2-4a) “And then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play” (Ex 32:4b-6). The term “rose up to play” and “to eat and drink” was not just a party but more like a sexual orgy apparently but the party was about to be over.

Moses the Mediator

God told Moses “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex 32:7-8). Amazingly, after seeing the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea, they quickly abandoned God and fell back into idolatry; the idolatry of worshiping a created image, the golden calf, which was likely a god that was worshiped in Egypt. God was ready to start all over again with Moses and his descendants (Ex 32:10) but Moses, a prototype of Jesus, stood as an intermediary and interceded on behalf of the nation and God spared them (Ex 32:14).  Moses does something similar to what Jesus did; he acted as a mediator between God and the people, turning the wrath of God away from them, even though they surely deserved it.

Aaron’s Excuse

When Moses went down to talk to Aaron about all this, he asked him “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Ex 32:21-23). Acting as if Aaron were helpless in this matter he said “So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf” (Ex 32:24). Amazing how that works! They gave Aaron gold, he threw it into the fire, and just like magic, “out came this calf.” That of course was not true. This calf had to be formed from the melted gold, shaped and formed into an image of a golden calf, and then it was worshiped and even worse, the sacrificed to it and remember, Aaron had built an altar for it! Remember that Aaron had to receive “the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf” (Ex 32:4) “for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies” (Ex 32:25).

Moses Pleads for Atonement

Once again, in the symbolic nature of Christ, Moses tells the people “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written” (Ex 32:30-32). Here Moses seeks to make an atonement for the sin of the people, something that Jesus would do thousands of years later, and then seeks to have his own life taken (blotted out) so that the people would be spared. This too is just as Jesus would do much later by giving His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Conclusion

We can see a lot of similarities between the experience of the golden calf and our own hearts as we make idols in our lives. At least I know I do. Moses is a mediator, an intercessor between God and the people, and He offers his life for theirs so Moses’ work looks ahead to the sufficiency of the cross of Christ where He dies for our sins, He takes God’s wrath for us, He intercedes for us to the Father, and He gives His life as a ransom for many.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.