It can be easy for people to forget how weird Bible stories are. And these are two stories are weird. The first sounds like fraternity pledge week gone religious, and the second is oddly violent. Both of these stories deal with how people act after they’ve been labeled “chosen”… a bit shocking to those of us in the Reformed tradition where the word “chosen” gets thrown around a lot. Maybe we’d like to think that being chosen by God gives someone a free pass. Maybe we’d prefer to think of ourselves in the second round of guests in the parable or as a new Moses standing high above the noise and seeing everything clearly. And if being chosen means acting like this, I don’t think I want to be chosen.
So let’s focus in on the Golden Calf incident. I’m not sure I can blame the Israelites for wanting to party. But don’t call in Kevin Bacon, we’re not going to outlaw dancing. Because it’s not the party that’s the problem; but the calf made of gold that according to Aaron represents the God who brought them out of Egypt. Instead of waiting for Moses and the real God who led them out of Egypt the Israelites turn quickly to a false-god, a thing that they worship as a god but that is light-years away from the God who led them out of slavery. They might have known God’s name, but their lives claimed they didn’t know God at all. (PAUSE)
It’s hard for me to get past the anger God expresses at the Israelites. But God has every right to be angry. Right? The Israelites saw the power of God in the plagues sent to Egypt. They have seen God as a pillar of fire. They heard God’s voice delivering the 10 Commandments and were so terrified they begged Moses to talk to God for them. They’ve been told directly that graven images are a really bad idea! They have been filled in on all sorts of things as Moses and Joshua and Aaron have traveled back and forth, up and down the mountain. Check the entire story out in Exodus. It’s well worth a read.
So it’s not like the Israelites didn’t know it’s a bad idea to worship the Golden Calf. It’s a little bit tricky to figure out if they’re worshiping the Calf as a separate god or as a physical representation of the LORD. Aaron uses the direct name of God when he says after building the golden calf “Tomorrow will be a festival for the LORD.” That “LORD” is the stand-in for the name of God that we learned earlier in the Exodus story as Yahweh, but because they don’t want to say God’s name directly the writers used shorthand. That shorthand was translated into the English as “LORD” in all capitals. So my best guess is that this Calf wasn’t supposed to be a different god but was supposed to be the real God. So the idolatry is not worshiping another so-called god but in forming the one true God into a shape they could build and touch and manipulate. They were trying to build God as their image of what God “should” be.
It was very normal at this time in history to shape gods as animals and humans. The Egyptians had a very popular deity named Apis who was a bull known as the “renewer of life.” The bull is a religious symbol the Israelites understood. The calf or bull is not confusing. There’s no waiting when you’ve got a statue you can easily sacrifice or pray to. You can do what you need to do, you know, god-wise, and then get on with your life. Isn’t it easier to point to a tangible item and have faith in it than to act like your chosen-ness is actually transforming you? The Israelites already waited 400 years to be liberated from slavery. They spent so long crying and praying in Egypt before God chose Moses and liberated them…They want to go to the Promised Land. Their biggest mistake isn’t building the Golden Calf. Their biggest mistake is who they thought the Golden Calf represented. They’re not worshiping the God who brought them out of Egypt. They’re worshiping a god literally crafted in their image of what God “should be”! It was not for the Israelites to choose a god for themselves. It is God who does the choosing. They knew God’s name, but their actions claimed they didn’t know God at all. How could anyone who experienced what the Israelites experienced think that the Lord God could be conceptualized as a bull? How could the Israelites physically craft a representation like this?
Last week I attended a chapel service at the seminary that was led by my classmate Jacob who is fluent in American Sign Language, his deaf brother Noah, and several others who knew sign language. The Scripture was the story of God’s working through Moses to liberate the Israelites. As Jacob told the story of how the Israelites were freed from slavery, his brother Noah signed the story. The congregation joined in as the Israelites with a refrain. But instead of singing together, we signed it together. We signed to “praise the Lord.” I was captivated by the story in a new way because of how Noah told the story. Noah fully embodied the story of the Exodus—each character and each event. His face got flushed. His excitement drew us in. But what astounded me most was that each and every movement had a specific meaning. Even if Jacob had not been vocally narrating the story, I would have understood quite a lot just by watching Noah. For the rest of the day I realized how much I talk with my hands. Not sign language but body language. How when someone shared good news I smiled and hugged them. How I waved “hello” to people. How when a person I don’t feel comfortable with sat at my table at lunch and I clasped my hands together and sat back in my chair. Each movement had a specific meaning. And I wonder what a neutral party would think about my religion or spirituality if they had just watched what I did. I might have learned how to sign “Lord” and “God,” but were my actions saying I knew God at all?
It’s easy to get caught up in saying one thing and doing another, especially in a culture where people often say they know God or what God wants but their actions leave room for questions. I like being able to touch things. Personally, I like being able to control things from the TV remote to my car to running a meeting. But as C.S. Lewis said, “God is not a tame lion.” We don’t control God. It’s not easy to admit to ourselves that we’ve somewhat crafted God into an image or idea that we want God to be. It’s not easy to admit that some actions may not match our words and faith. The Israelites learned the hard way. And as we read in the Old Testament they kept learning over and over again. We learn the hard way and keep learning over and over. There were repercussions for the Israelite’s actions, just as there are for our actions. We have to live with the bad decisions we make. But the beautiful thing about this story is that it is not just a cautionary tale of what not to do. God does get angry and plans some huge disaster to bring upon the people, and after being reminded about how choosing the Israelites was indeed God’s choice God overturned the first decision. That day and every day mercy outweighed anger. Thanks be to God.
Hymns: "God You Spin the Whirling Planets" (Presbyterian Hymnal 285); "Called as Partners in Christ's Service" (PH 343); "Today We are All Called to Be" (PH 434)
Hymns: "God You Spin the Whirling Planets" (Presbyterian Hymnal 285); "Called as Partners in Christ's Service" (PH 343); "Today We are All Called to Be" (PH 434)
