“OPPRESSION” OR ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISCIPLINE ~ EXPOSING HYPOCRISY ~ PART 17

Having just delivered the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt, the one true God revealed Himself to this people whom He had chosen to be a witness, taking the message of who He is to the rest of the world. The Creator had established Himself as the authority over them to bless and keep them in their obedience to Him. And they agreed to be His obedient children. Soon thereafter, they made a grave mistake that cost them dearly. Just like children who get into trouble in that “one minute” that mother turns her back, once Moses was out of sight, the children of Israel rose up to play a deadly game of idolatry. In a miraculous event talked about down through the ages, getting the children out of Egypt proved easier than getting Egypt out of the children.

 

Ancient Egyptians recognized their gods through natural events. There was a god behind every sunrise and every moon. Every pregnancy was an opportunity to worship Bes or Tawaret. There was a god who protected the home and a god who was worshipped according to almost every need of the people. The many gods of Egypt were worshipped daily and nightly through various rituals. Participating in the rituals was believed to be participating in the work of the gods.

 

Gathering together in worship during the many festivals throughout the year allowed the people to experience the god intimately, to give thanks for the gifts given, and to make requests for divine favors. The festivals revolved around a god the people could see. Egyptologist Margaret Bunson wrote this:

 

“The purpose of most of the festivals was to allow the people to behold the gods with their own eyes. Particular images of the gods, sometimes carried in portable shrines, were taken out of the temple sanctuaries and carried through the streets or sailed on the Nile. Stations of the gods were erected throughout the various cities in order to provide stages for the processions. Oracles were conducted on these festivals as the images of the deities moved in certain directions to indicate negative or positive responses to the questions posed by the faithful.”

Festivals in Ancient Egypt article

 

Feasting and drinking were part of most festival celebrations lasting for days. Written from a secular perspective, the article linked above is a fascinating read to see where some elements of worshipping these many gods in ancient Egypt have made their way to major religions in our world even today.

 

It is quite possible that the golden calf was chosen by the people because of the Egyptian worship associated with the bull, specifically in its supposed ability to deliver oracles. The Apis bull was regarded as one of the most important oracular sources in Egypt. On feast days, festivals, and other occasions, the bull was turned loose in a chamber with different gates leading from it. People would ask questions regarding the future while the bull was led into the room. Whichever gate the bull chose to go through would provide an answer to the people’s questions. They believed that the spirit which inhabited the bull was eternal which is why the Apis bull was so significant at religious festivals and other public gatherings. Killing the bull was also part of their worship. They reasoned it was to join with Osiris and ritually re-enact the cycle of life, death, and resurrection. The bull had represented the living creator Ptah while it lived, became Osiris when it died, and was then referred to as the god Osirapis.

 

(Notice the staff and the pointed hat on Osiris.) Osiris was considered the first king of Egypt, and the first to die and return to life among all sentient beings, and therefore the ritual act of killing the animal which was so closely associated with kingship and the divine merged the monarchy with resurrection. The death of the Apis bull symbolized the eternal nature of life. Instead of waiting for the bull to die of old age or disease, it was sent to Osiris while still fit, and after it was entombed, a bull looking very much like the last took its place. This new bull would, in fact, house the same eternal spirit as the last since it was believed that the soul of the old bull was reborn in the one that would be chosen to replace it. The reason the worship of the Apis bull never significantly altered in over 3,000 years is because it embodied the deepest Egyptian values concerning life, time, and eternity. The Egyptian afterlife was a continuation of life on earth, only on a different plane. The Apis bull assured people of this by its constancy; no matter the era in which one lived, there had been this divine manifestation before, there was one in the present, and there would be one in the future, and all would be the same entity eternally. (Taken from ancient.eu/Apis/)

 

(Image of Osiris and Isis) Osiris was the god of fertility, the embodiment of the dead and the resurrected king. The king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris.

Osiris - Egyptian god

 

We look at the children of Israel and wonder what they could possibly have been thinking when they committed this idolatrous act of false worship full of syncretism. What were they thinking? Hopefully, it is clear that they brought their pagan ideas with them out of Egypt (as do many who make a profession to believe in Christ but who also want to hold on to their heretical thinking adding it to the tenets of orthodox Christianity). It is sin. It must be dealt with as such. Those who repent prove their profession testifying to the work God has done in their hearts. Those who refuse to repent of holding stubbornly to their false views, will be judged accordingly.

 

The people had demanded that Aaron make for them a god who would go before them. The word for make is the same word that is used of God’s work in creation in the beginning of Genesis. It means ‘to fashion’. Interestingly, Exodus 32:4 uses a word for Aaron fashioning the idol which is normally used in a negative sense often associated with war seen in words like adversary, attack, bind, besiege, tied up, etc.

 

Exodus 32:15-18—Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of victory, nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; but I hear the sound of singing.”

 

Moses and Joshua went down from the mountain to encounter a sickening, shocking display of heathen revelry. Moses was outrageously overwhelmed. God had told him what was going on, but he was not prepared for what he witnessed. In a parallel display that should have sent shockwaves of arrows through the hearts of the people, Moses threw down the tablets of stone symbolizing the face that they had broken their covenant with God.

While the living God was engraving the tablets, writing upon them His Law that would govern His people in life, leading them to eternal life in Him, Aaron was using an engraving tool to make a dumb statue they believed would lead them to the Promised Land. It is outrageous and absurd!

 

Exodus 32:19-20—And it came about, as soon as Moses approached the camp, that he saw the calf and the people dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made and completely burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

 

Often Christians want to justify their anger by saying they reacted to a situation in righteous anger. We must take note: This is righteous anger which is based upon any attempt at robbing God of His glory. Moses took the false idol, burned it completely, ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water…and made the sons of Israel drink it! This god was worthless!

 

This always reminds me of a story my mother told me growing up. One of her friends had caught her daughter, who was my age, smoking cigarettes. One would think a time of grounding would suffice, right? Instead, this mother (who smoked), took a pack of cigarettes, ground them up and made the daughter eat them!

Moses, then turns to reprove his brother.

 

Exodus 32:21-24—Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ Then they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

 

Aaron follows suit with what we see in human beings from the beginning when sin is confronted and exposed. Aaron plays the blame shifting game in his attempt at offering a ‘not guilty’ plea. He blames the people, at the same time appealing to Moses not to let his anger burn. This is the reverse of what Moses did in his appeal to the Lord. The desire of this humble leader was for God’s glory alone. Aaron, wanting to spare himself, throws the people under the bus. He says that they are prone to evil, not even recognizing that his heart is just as depraved, and he is even more culpable as their leader. Notice, Moses says that it is Aaron who brought great sin upon the people. Rationalization for sin always includes lies. The only sin he wants Moses to believe he committed was throwing the gold into the fire, which is a lie. Apparently, forgetting that Moses was meeting with Almighty God who sees all, Aaron wants Moses to believe that the calf just miraculously jumped out of the fire. The sin of Aaron was heinous because he had been blessed and honored as leader of the people. God had testified of Aaron back in Exodus 4 that he could speak well. An eloquent speaker does not a great leader make! Having beheld the very glory of God, he failed to check the idolaters in their false thinking and false worship. This is a picture of all human nature in their depraved flesh. Leaders, however, will incur stricter judgment for their unfaithfulness. But in Aaron’s story is also seen the lavish grace and mercy of God when he is once restored to His favor.

 

Exodus 32:25-29—Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to the point of being an object of ridicule among their enemies—Moses then stood at the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. And he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Every man of you put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’” So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the LORD—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.”

 

Undoubtedly, the allegiance and empathies of post-modern, progressive “Christianity” would lie with Aaron rather than Moses. However, there are no more grievous sins in God’s sights than those who encourage others to do evil. Those who lead God’s people will be judged for their faithfulness to lead righteously. Once again, we see Moses concerned for God’s glory that was supposed to be reflected through the lives of His people. Out of control, they would be an object of ridicule among their enemies. They were ‘out of control’, naked, loosed of restraints, unbridled, or not being able to be led.

 

This out-of-control wickedness on display had to be quickly crushed. Leaven is mentioned throughout the Bible. Jesus compared the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees to leaven. A small amount of the leaven of falsehood can permeate a person’s heart and mind. Paul warned the church at Corinth against tolerating sin in their midst in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. The church was tolerating an atrocious sin of a man in their own congregation (perhaps they thought it was the “loving” thing to do). The Apostle told them to remove the man from their fellowship before his influence permeated the whole church. He asks: “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?” Just as Moses held the people accountable for their sin, Paul followed suit in the early church.

 

Neutrality is not an option when it comes to God’s honor and His glory. The Israelites were once again asked to make a clear profession of their allegiance and faith in God and put to the test immediately. Before judgment, they were given an opportunity to repent. Only the sons of Levi sided with the Lord and Moses, His chosen leader. Wielding the sword of God’s judgment, in obedience to the Lord’s command, the Levites went throughout the camp killing those who stood in their rebellion refusing to repent. About 3,000 men of the people fell that day.

 

Tomorrow, I will finish with the last five verses of Exodus 32 before moving on because there is much I want to look at there.