A Stiff-necked People
As I read through the Exodus account this morning, I was once again struck by the depths of human depravity. In Exodus 32, at the very time that Moses was up on the mountain receiving the law from God to give to His people (a law, by the way, that was given by God’s grace), His chosen people were fashioning the god of their imagination. They were impatient and insubordinate and sought to find satisfaction in the moment and in themselves rather than in God.
However, what stood out to me this morning is how precise God was in giving the law along with the plans for the tabernacle and the priestly garbs. God pays attention to detail! However, notice how flippant and imprecise the people were, “So I (Aaron) 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” (v. 24). Out came this calf! Are you kidding me? We know Aaron lied because we are told that he fashioned it with a graving tool. This shows how Aaron and the people of God chose to compete with God rather than obey Him. Consider this alongside God’s opening words to Moses on the mount:
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. [Exodus 25:1-9]
What was the first item Moses was to request for contribution: gold. And what were they doing with their gold as their hearts were moved at that very moment?
3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! [Exodus 32:3-4]
Of course, you might recall God’s assessment of their sinfulness:
7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 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!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [Exodus 32:7-9, emphasis mine]
As you examine your own heart today, how does it “move” you? Are you moved to honor and glorify God as He has described in great detail in His Word? Do you worship Him as He has prescribed, or do you offer “unauthorized incense” at the altar? May we remember Jeremiah’s words,
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.” [Jeremiah 17:9-10]
Are you stiff-necked today? Are you satisfied with the things of this earth or are you living for that which is above? May we live our lives as if Christ is sufficient today!
