Exodus 30:12 – 32:1 The Golden Calf Bible Teaching

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Hey, this afternoon starting at around 1:30

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1:30

Okay, jump out to chapter 30 of Exodus.
Chapter 30.12-32.1
March 3rd 2024
The Golden Calf

From verses 1-110 YAHAVAH gives more detailed instruction on building the tabernacle and offering up animals.

At verse 12 YAHAVAH has Moses take a ransom from every man a shekel who is twenty and over one with half a shekel to be used for the sanctuary the other half as an offering to YAHAVAH.

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

The logic – even the very reason stated for them to pay this money is stated here and its sort of fascinating. Did you catch it?

“that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.”

It sounds to me that under the law the Nation was able to sort of buy insurance against being plagued by giving of this shekel.

Then dropping to verse 16 we read relative to the shekel again,

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before YAHAVAH, to make an atonement for your souls.

The idea was by their giving this money they would be reminded of His goodness toward them.

And right here the practice of gathering up a temple tax was established and under the Law it was a standard offering to make atonement for their souls.

It is from this event that we are reading about right now that we are able to better understand the following event from Matthew 17.

Listen to what Matthew writes beginning at verse 24 of that chapter:

24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the tax?”
25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came home, Yeshua spoke to Peter first, and said, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?”
26 And when he said, “From others,” Yeshua said to him, “Then the sons are free.
27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

What imagery and insight. There is so much here. Peter was confronted by the collectors of the temple tax and Yeshua took the time to teach Peter some important principles about what it means to walk with Him in the face of such.

Under the Law a shekel was to be taken – for sure. But by the time Yeshua was on earth and establishing the things of His Kingdom, other principles came into play.

Here Yeshua plainly associated the giving of the shekel to the former age and its earthly reign over the Nation.

So, He asks Peter the most amazing question,

“From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?”

Peter replies rightly by saying that the kings of the earth never tax their own son’s but that they take from their subjects.

And saying this, Yeshua brings the point home and adds,

“Then the sons are free.”

Here is the principle for true believers – sons and daughters of the Living God – are free so in terms of giving there cannot be any law. Why?

Sons and daughters of Our King are governed by the Spirit. We are dead to the Law. We then, being free in Him, are loosed from the demands of the Law.

We are NOT governed by the kings of this world and their empires but are ENTIRELY at liberty to pay what they ask or not.

This makes everyone responsible for how they walked in the spirit and what they choose to do, say and be.

That said, however, Yeshua adds,

27 However, so as not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Here we have an amazing set of overlapping principles Yeshua teaches Peter.

Now, I want to emphasize that this was to Peter who was a chosen apostle who had the weight of taking the Good News out to the rest of the lost Sheep from the House of Israel so Yeshua is teaching Peter specifically some really important things and we have to reiterate that in our lives today these exact principles may or may not apply to every person.

What I am talking about is

Being Sons and Daughters we are free to give or not when asked, but,
We should also, as sons and daughters of God, strive to not bring offense to others in cases like these,
but then the final lesson is more radical than the liberty Christ describes in that as a means to not bring offense Yeshua has Peter go to the sea, cast a line, and the first fish he would catch would miraculously have a shekel in its mouth for Peter to pay the tax for himself and the Lord.

To me the meaning and purpose of this event was to show Peter that all of his needs would be cared for as a Son and apostle and in this particular case it would occur in the most miraculous way.

I remain unsure about a direct application of this story to believers today, but I do see all the principles present.

Certainly, we should see ourselves as free children of God but at the same time we also are directed to try to not cause offense but to look to God to provide or make a way for us to see His aims through.

Obviously, though, this story was for them/then as I doubt very much that in our day believers can expect to go fishing to have their temple taxes paid through a fish.

The principles, however, continue to have a place in our modern walk. And the primary principle is that as a Son or Daughter of The Real King is under no obligation to pay anything. We are free to give as led but with that freedom we are also called to not be offensive, but instead seek for ways to appease and get along with others rather than to offend them.

Finally, there is also the principle of doing what God directs us to do and to wait on Him to bring forth the results.

I am committed to this myself completely.

Okay, at verse 18 YAHAVAH begins to explain more about ablutions for purification and here is where we are introduced to what is called the Brazen Sea or Brass laver.

Listen to verse 18 as YAHAVAH says,

Exodus 30:18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

We learn from Exodus 38:8 that the laver that was originally used in the tabernacle was of made of brass (rather copper) that came from the metal mirrors the women brought out of Egypt.

Once formed and according to chapter 40:32, it contained water that the priests washed their hands and feet with when they entered the tabernacle, and it sat in the court between the altar and the door of the tabernacle.

Over time, if I understand this right, when the Tabernacle became Solomon’s temple there were then ten lavers used for the sacrifices and what was created for the priests to wash with was then called, the molten sea.

Listen to how what God told Moses here in Exodus changes when we read from 2nd Chronicles 4:1 and the description of Solomon’s work:

1 He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
2 Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
3 Under it were figures of gourds, for thirty cubits, compassing the sea round about; the gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.
4 It stood upon twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.
5 Its thickness was a handbreadth; and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held over three thousand baths.
6 He also made ten lavers in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in.

Then for times sake to verse 9 where we read:

9 He made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze;
10 and he set the sea at the southeast corner of the house.

By the time we get to the second temple, lavers are not mentioned at all and they will not return until Herod decides to rebuild the temple prior to Yeshua’s birth.

Nevertheless, we can say that in the tabernacle one of these vessels that stood on the right side of the sanctuary between the altar and the porch was an immense bronze basin described in 1st Kings 7:23 (and as we have seen, in 2nd Chronicles 4:2) as “the sea.” It served to aid in the ritual washings of the priests.

1 Kings 7:26 says “It held two thousand baths”, while 2 Chronicles 4:5 says “It received and held three thousand baths.”

Yes, a direct contradiction but answerable in terms of how much the thing was filled up to which may have varied between the two books.

A Hebrew bath has been estimated at being somewhere between 5 gallons and 9 (that is quite a variance btw) so the most water the sea could hold was 27,000 gallons.

A 20-foot-long backyard pool that is 10 feet wide and 8 feet at the deep end and 3 at the shallow holds about 9000 gallons so you can see that the volume of water in this brazen sea was three times as much. Significant.

Some scholars believe that the shape of the sea (round) represents the earth, with the twelve oxen upon which it rested first representing the twelve tribes and then there is a more literal and final application pointing to the twelve apostles as the oxen holding the waters of early Christian baptism on their backs and pointing out to the four corners of the world.

I am uncertain of the reality of this second iteration, but I am convinced that the twelve oxen certainly represented the twelve tribes of Israel.

In any case, this brazen sea, was pointing and picturing the former age of the Twelve Tribes under the Law and the importance of cleansing and ablutions before entering into the House of the Lord.

Now listen carefully.

Through the Prophet Isaiah YAHAVAH proclaimed something significant relative to all of this stuff when he said, speaking to the future age (or Kingdom age),

Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

From this we know that all of these former things, these shakable things (as the writer of Hebrews calls them), would have to “come down” before the Promised Age to Come that Isaiah spoke of could be realized.

And remember, the writer of Hebrews wrote these prophetic words about what had to happen before the age Isaiah spoke of could enter in, writing,

Hebrews 9:8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet opened as long as the outer tabernacle is still standing, (which is symbolic for the present age).

When we get to the symbolic and undeniably Hebrew-based book of Revelation, all the way out to the end of chapter 21, John describes this promised age in the following way, saying;

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Zealous literalists read this as a description of the physical world after Yeshua returns and use it as a literal description of what this earth will materially resemble once the New heaven and earth are established.

But they obviously ignore context in so doing and miss the fact that the line, “and there was no more sea” is merely speaking of this Brazen Sea described all the way back here in the Tanakh.

Got all of that?

Okay, Chapter 31 presents us with more of YAHAVAH calling forth artisans who were filled with His wisdom to craft the specifically designed tabernacle and all that it entailed.

And then at chapter 32 we come to a BIG event folks -reeeally big – so BIG, in fact that most of the world knows of the story to some extent or another.

Moses is still on the Mount and it has been some days and chapter 32 brings us back to the Nation of Israel waiting below.

Let’s read through the first few verses –

Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”
2 And Aaron said unto them, “Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.”
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said,

(NOW, LISTEN CAREFULLY TO WHAT AARON SAYS HERE)

“To morrow is a feast to YAHAVAH.”
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.”

So many principles to all of this in these 6 verses – more than we might initially believe. Jump back to verse 1 with me.

Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.”

How long this was before the end of Moses forty days up there we cannot tell but some time must have passed to cause such impatience on the part of the people.

We remember that the whole Nation previously committed to “doing all that YAHAVAH required” before Moses went up and seems to have disappeared but this promise seems to have faded from their collective memory in really short order.

Through them we can see what humans do in the absence of God or His representatives? They often get frightened, they make rash decisions, and one of those rash choices is to choose alternative gods that will in the end corrupt them and their direct allegiances to YAHAVAH.

In this case Moses was gone for a few weeks and they appear to have quickly sought after at least a physical representation of divine power to go before them.

How many miracles have they seen from the hand of YAHAVAH – not enough, apparently.

So, the Nation recruits Aaron (and this recruitment includes the possibility of them threatening his very safety) to make them another or an additional god in which they could place their trust.

According to Stephan’s words recorded in Acts 7:39-40, their hearts were intent on going back into bondage in Egypt because Moses had been so long away from them. This is what we read there from the faiths first Martyr,

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, “Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

The works of their own hands was materially a golden calf, but the meaning is clear – when people loose faith or connection to the Living God they can quickly allow themselves to turn to almost anything else to replace Him.

These “anythings” are everywhere and depending on their nature they can become willing participants who offer promises of hope, protection, and security of some sort to the fearful frantic soul.

I can’t help but think of the lyrics to Simon and Garfunkle’s, The Boxer where in the song a man speaks of being rejected and struggling to find employment, and Paul Simon sings:

“Asking only workman’s wages, I come looking for a job but I get no offers,
Just a “come-on” from the whores on 7th Avenue.
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome, I took some comfort there, la-la-la-la-la-la-la.”
Taking refuge in the things around us offering comfort, peace, temporary pleasure in the place of God Himself is proverbial to the human experience and we have all done it and/or do it.

Let’s get real on this topic as it reveals so much about the facts of salvation.

By our very nature, in our biology and material cells, human beings are wired for idolatry in some way or another – we cannot escape placing our heart felt desires for such by virtue of our material construction.

I mean we can claim utter and absolute allegiance to Him but try going without oxygen, water, food, or shelter and see at what point you exchange your devoting to Him for even a small amount of such things if they were lacking.

This is normal, natural, in our flesh and automatic. Spiritual rebirth enables all of us to begin to seek and love Him more – and in some souls their commitment levels are high, but no human being is ever, while in the flesh, exempted from desiring and seeking after other things with equal fervently.

For non-believers He is entirely excluded compared to their wants; for believers He shares the throne in our natural need for certain things which often change.

Because of this, His mercy and the salvation extended to all is one of Grace alone and by allowing yourself to see this reality we more fully recognize how personal holiness is an impossibility.

That One exception to this fasted forty days and nights – food did not have a place over His allegiance to God. He rejected all that Satan offered Him – which was the WORLD. THEN He gave UP His life, embraced thirst, shed His very Blood, all because He had His Father as His primary focus – something no other human could or would ever do.

But look closely at this particular form of Idolatry here in Exodus. Yes, the Nation of Israel in the nascent years ran after other Gods but here even Aaron fabricated an idol but through this idol Aaron intended to see it as???

As a representation OF God Himself. Listen to verse 4-5 again:

4 And he received them (the gold earrings) at their hand, and fashioned it (the calf) with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, “These (he only crafter one little calf – why the plural?) These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, “To morrow is a feast to YAHAVAH.”

In other words, I suggest that what Aaron was attempting to do, while the Nation demanding an Egyptian idol from their past, was he was appealing to the very natural trait all humans possess for tangible, material idols while trying to use it to represent YAHAVAH!

As if God would ever share His glory with an inanimate cow of gold!

It seem that for Aaron, this was a way to appease these people in their fears while he avoided being killed.

But here’s the vital principle to this story:

Throughout the history of the Nation of Israel men and woman, following in pursuit of Aarons mindset, have and continue to erect all sorts of “interfaces, idols, and material interlopers in the very same way, all of which suggest (LISTEN)

That . . .
“THE WAY TO ENCOUNTER GOD IS THROUGH SUCH THINGS.”

Our golden calf that we use to represent Him come about through

idolatrous positions of authority.
Confessionals
through religious rites, rituals, books studied, Laws imposed, crosses, altars, priesthoods and the like.

How many times I have heard well meaning people suggest that all they are offering people is “a conduit to God?

But God doesn’t need any conduits anymore than the Nation of Israel needed a golden calf!!!

How many times have we heard of people going before “the alter” at church, falling down “at the cross,” or esteeming a book of printed letters as being equal to or a representative of God Himself!!!!

I mean, even the ven diagram representing the Trinity or the Trinity itself? Is it not a man-made creation we insert to aid us in our confusion about the make-up of YAHAVAH?

How many people want a church wedding or some other item that represents who we know to be invisible?

(beat)

Faith is not easy. It is a call God makes on His creations who walk by sight, sound, taste and touch? Because our very makeup is so constituted, the ten word covenant was put in place to warn us of the idols and their power and how they can and often do insert themselves between Him and our hearts.

I personally did an inventory of my heart and desires a few weeks ago. I sought the living God out to help me see what really resided in my soul as a human being – even after all these years of hotly seeking Him.

As an encouragement to you I have shared how I have sought after some specific things from the Living God and He has given them to me.

The first was to be a man of faith – which I asked for when I was not and He gave it to me.

The second was to learn to love selflessly and the way He wanted me to. That’s a work in progress and victory is transitory.

The third was to understand and more fully embrace humility. That one came with what was something of a mistake because I asked God to humble me (and I cannot begin to tell you how He has gone and continues to do this) (I do not recommend it).

All of these things are still in the works but most recently I asked him to reveal to me where my idols hide and what they look like.

I’m not going to go into what I learned and saw but what I will say is I thought I had a heart solely for God and He showed me how far, far, far I was from this reality.

And it was sobering.

But it reiterated to me how strongly and deeply we cling to whatever they are, and how they are always seeking to remove Him from having the Only Throne in our lives.

In shock, I took immediate action to rid myself of its immediate presence but I have come to see that this abiding idol is at the cellular level of my person and I am broken by the reality of it.

I am going to wrestle with this for a while until He helps me understand it, its place, and if I will ever rid myself of it or not. If not, I have to live by the faith that He loves me still.

No friends, the idol-wolf is always at the door of our lives.

In the least, however, we can remove the ones that are obviously attempting to reign over us especially in terms of religious devotions.

And while our very bodies cannot help but idolize to some extent elements from the material world – money, security, sex, food, drink, oxygen, entertainments, self – it seems that our only response is to cling to faith and trust that someday we will be freed.

However, even in the face of our natural need to idolize things around us, every believer can choose to eradicate any and all human efforts to make themselves or their churches a Golden Calf.

Church is not a physical representation of the invisible God. But people love church for the very reason they love matinee idols, sex, drugs and rock and roll and the Nation sought the golden calf.

It all appeals to our fleshly construction.
And religious empires choose to literally supply people with what they naturally CRAVE – material mediacies representing the Living God causing us to look to our church and say the same words (in effect) that Aaron said to the nation when he finished forming the golden calf

“This is your Elohim that brought you out of Egypt.”

Come, Kneel before the altar!
Kneel before the cross!
Kneel and kiss the ring
Devote yourselves to coming to this house of worship.

“We have sanctuaries. We have tabernacles. We have systems! We have authority to absolve you of your sin. We have the rite and the right!

And then what do the church idols demand? Allegiance.
Alliance.
Garlands in the shape of tithes.

Aaron, I suspect, was weak. But in the face of what he did he seems to have justified his actions by somehow believing that the calf would help bring the Nation into the worshipful service of the Real Thing.

It’s been the mistake all idol-loving creatures have done since God called out of the ether and said, “I am YAHAVAH. Have NO other gods before me, along side of me, in addition to me, and then especially, in place of me.”

We will pick back up with Aaron and the Calf next week.

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