Exodus 32: Worship to….?

I. Introduction: The message I’m going to bring this morning is on Exodus 32

verses 1-8…story of the Golden Calf.

a. I think most of us are pretty familiar with at the least the big picture of the
story….Moses is gone up in Mt. Sinai for 40 days/nights and returns to find the
Israelites committing idolatry with the Golden Calf.
b. This morning I want to focus on a particular aspect of the story – and that’s the
idolatry that was going on.
c. In looking at the practice of idolatry, we find there are 3 parties to the transaction.
The one worshipping the idol (idolater), the idol itself (which in this case in the
Golden Calf) and a God that the idol represents.
d. That being the case, what I’m interested in is who was the God they had in mind?

e. For many years, I had a view that this was a group of people who had completely
dismissed God and there was simply no mention of him.
f. After getting deeper in the scripture I found that’s not exactly true.
g. On the one hand, they are worshipping a cow but on the other hand – they were
dedicating the Feast to Jehovah and even performing other acts of biblical worship.
h. Depending on which way you look at it, you could draw a number of conclusions….

II. Preview: What I want to examine this morning is who exactly were they worshipping?

a. Was it just the Golden Calf?

b. Was it worship to the Gods of Egypt?
c. Was it a sincere but misguided form of worship to God almighty?
d. Or maybe they had something else in mind?

III. Gameplan: The way in which I want to go about exploring this is to:

1. Bring to your attention the critical points of verses 1-8 that apply to this question
2. Review 3 possible but improbable explanations about who they were worshipping
3. Finally, I want to attempt to draw a conclusion about what scripture says happened

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Moses has been gone for close to 40 days and 40 nights:

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, To

morrow is a feast to the Lord. 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. 7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou

broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 they have turned aside

quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and

have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel,

which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

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Critical Points of Verses 1-8

1. Exodus 32:1: The people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him
Up, make us gods, which shall go before us;

• Up make us gods is not “make US gods”. Instead, it means they want a god to go
before them. A god they could see with their eyes.

• Hebrew word for Gods in this passage is Elohim. Elohim is H430 in Strongs

• In the plural - Rulers, judges, divine ones, angels or in the singular it can mean God,
Goddess, God-like one or the one true God.

• In this verse, Elohim is referring to a physical idol. We can confirm that with Aaron’s
creation of one calf.

a. Idol: an image or representation - “of a god” - used as an object of worship.

b. Key point here: the idol is a representation of God, not God himself.

• Translation: “Up Make us Gods” means “Make us an Idol”

2. We know Aaron made a Calf….

Why a calf?

• They were familiar with Egyptian style worship from Egypt.

• Apis was a very popular God in the Memphis Region, Southern Capital of Egypt
• God of Fertility and said to be an intermediary between the people and Osiris
• Also, the bull represented the combination of wisdom, strength, and omnipresence,
which characterizes divinity.

3. Verse 4: “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”

“These by thy Gods”

• They are looking at one calf and saying “These by Thy Gods” - one God or multiple?

• Nehemiah 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, “This is thy
God” that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;

• We are talking about one idol representing one God who brought them out of Egypt

• In finding out who they had in mind to worship, this verse is critical

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4. Verse 5: And When Aaron Saw it he built an Altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

• Aaron builds an Altar – Altar - place of slaughter or sacrifice. Hebrew “Mizbeach”

o The word altar is found 35 times from Exodus 17 to 31.

o It has a very important part in God’s plan of worship.

• Aaron makes Proclamation

o Proclamation - a public or official announcement, especially one dealing with

a matter of great importance.

o Aaron’s proclamation was to dedicate “The Feast to the LORD”

o This proclamation was a booming public proclamation

• LORD = Strongs H3068 – Yehovah/Jehovah. The proper name of the one True God.

• Aaron is proclaiming that the feast will be to Jehovah, the one true God

5. Verse 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.

• Burnt offerings and peace offerings are two different forms of animal sacrifices.

• Exodus 20: 24: 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice
thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all
places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

• This verse establishes biblical protocols for correct worship

• “And the people sat down to Eat, Drink and Rose up to Play”

o In a feast setting, the eating and drinking is pretty obvious.

o The play part is shouting, singing and sexual immorality.

6. Verse 7 and 8: And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people,
which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 they
have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made
them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto,

• They worshipped the calf

• They sacrificed unto the calf – using God’s form of burnt and peace offering

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Now that we’ve built a small foundation of terms here, I want to discuss three possible but
highly improbable explanations for who they had in mind to worship.

1. They worshipped the Golden Calf unto the Golden Calf; No Other Diety

a. The best proof we have is in Verse 4 when they look at the Calf and say
“These be Thy Gods that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt”

b. Simply put, they did not believe the calf they made hours ago delivered them
out of Egypt

2. Their intended worship was to the Gods of Egypt. They consciously and
verbally devoted the worship to “Apis” or “Egyptian Gods”.

a. First off, no bible verse saying Gods of Egypt were worshipped specifically

b. However, there was evidence they were familiar with this type of worship
back in Egypt

1. Joshua 24:14: Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in
sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers
served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye
the Lord.

c. In all fairness, that occurred prior to witnessing some major events:

1. Plagues including their first born’s being spared

2. Exodus
3. Red Sea Parting
4. Manna falling from Heaven
5. Them making a blood covenant with God in Exodus 24.

d. The Strongest Evidence against this is Verse 4, Exodus 32: “They looked at
the calf and said These be Thy Gods That Brought Thee Up out of the
Land of Egypt”

1. If we can prove they believed it was Jehovah that brought them up

out of Egypt, then was can simultaneously disprove Apis.

2. Exodus 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage.

3. Exodus 14:30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand
of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea
shore. 31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon
the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the
Lord, and his servant Moses.

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 4. Exodus 19:3 And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called
unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the
house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what
I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and
brought you unto myself.

a. Exodus 19:7 And Moses came and called for the elders of
the people, and laid before their faces all these words which
the Lord commanded him. 8 And all the people answered
together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.

5. We have the people believing him, fearing him and proclaiming to

“do all that the Lord hath spoken we will do”

6. I think this is sufficient evidence to prove they absolutely believed

Jehovah brought them up out of Egypt and NOT Apis.

e. It’s also important to mention Aaron’s Proclamation - “Feast to the

LORD” as well as the Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings

1. It’s just hard to imagine that after proclaiming the feast to be in the
name of the LORD, they starting chanting “Apis”

2. Next, they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the
Feast. While these were misused, they were still biblical patterns of
worship established by Jehovah

3. If they were really all about Apis or the Egyptian Gods, why even
bother with the Jehovah stuff?

a. Moses had been gone 40 days and 40 nights – that must

have seemed like an eternity to those people. If they were
really casting Moses and God aside, why mention him?

f. Some would say “They forgat their Savior”

Psalms 106: 19-21 They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten
image.Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth
grass.They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;

1. Let’s examine this.

a. Does “forgat” mean removed completely from all memory?

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 • We have Aaron’s proclamation – to the LORD
• We have burnt offerings and peace offerings
• With these two things, we have acknowledgement

b. Forgot his sovereignty - yes

c. Forgot his power – yes
d. Forgot his glory – yes
e. Forgot what they were and weren’t supposed to do - yes
f. But forgot he existed at all – I don’t think so

2. Also, keep in mind that even if they forget him on the highest level,
that still doesn’t prove they were worshipping Apis

g. Minor Point - Apis worship is live bull worship, not a calf made of Gold
1. If they were trying to emulate Apis worship, they probably would
have used a live bull

h. In conclusion to the Apis worship argument, I think there’s too much

acknowledgement of Jehovah to presume onto them that their conscious
minds were after the acceptance of the Gods of Egypt.

1. Wayward and unrighteous – yes. Thinking about Apis delivered

them out of Egypt – no.

3. They worshipped Jehovah out of a heart of sincerity and ignorance. In other

words, they were shouting Jehovah, we love you, we give it all to you while
innocently worshipping him with the Golden Calf. They didn’t know any better.

SINCERE?

a. Acts 7:38-39: Speaking of Moses: 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

1. In other words, they gave Moses the boot

2. and turned back to the security of what they knew in Egypt

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 b. 1 Corinthians 10:6-7:.6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent
we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye
idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat
and drink, and rose up to play.

c. Exodus 32:9: And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and,
behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

d. 2 Chronicles 30:8: Be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield

yourselves unto the Lord".

a. Hearts back into Egypt

b. Lusted after evil things
c. Idolaters
d. Stiffnecked and unyielding to the Lord
e. NOT SINCERE

IGNORANT/UNINFORMED?

f. Exodus 32:8: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I
commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto

g. Exodus 20:4: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

h. Exodus 20: 23: Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye
make unto you gods of gold.

i. Exodus 24: 6-8: Blood Covenant with God…. 6 And Moses took half of
the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the
altar. 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience
of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do,
and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the
people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath
made with you concerning all these words.

j. Between blood covenant with God, not worshipping graven images and
golds of God – they knew better.

CONCLUSION: They were not sincere and not ignorant of what they were supposed to do.

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 LET’S REVIEW EXPLANATIONS 1-3:

a. #1 - Did they worship the Calf and consider no other deity when doing so?

a. No! They looked at the calf and said “This is Thy God that Brought us
up out of Egypt”
b. They did not believe the calf brought them up out of Egypt.

b. #2 - The Gods of Egypt were not likely worshipped by intent and name when:

a. They believed Jehovah delivered them from Egypt

b. Dedicated the Feast to the LORD

c. #3 - Third, this was not a sincere/uninformed bunch trying desperately to

worship Jehovah God.

a. God clearly instructed them on what not to do, they made a Blood
Covenant confirming it and went back on their promise.

**Here’s the question…so, if they weren’t going vigorously after the Gods of Egypt and they
weren’t sincerely trying to serve God – how do we explain what was going on in their heads?

4. Classic Double-mindedness. Their unrighteousness and lack of godliness led

them to create their own program of worship (mixing God’s program and
Egyptian idolatry together) and ultimately dedicated it to Jehovah (barely).

a. They acknowledged Jehovah, did a couple of totally misplaced “do-gooders”

and paid him lip service - but that was IT.

b. Matthew 15:8 - “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me”

5 MAIN POINTS REGARDING WHAT HAPPENED:

1. The people wanted an idol and Aaron hearkened unto them and
gave it to them, knowing better!

2. Aaron took the false form of worship and made it central to the
Feast to the LORD”

3. Aaron was covering both their sin and his sin by declaring the Feast
to be in the name of the LORD

4. They were probably alone, fearful and angry with Moses being
gone and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt while slapping
God’s name over their unrighteousness.

5. God got lip service and they got a party

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…. Arthur Pink….

"And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it" (v. 5). Still darker become the clouds
which hang over this awful scene. Not content with substituting a false god for the true One,
they must, perforce, cover up their wickedness under the cloak of religion. An "altar" is now
erected. Thus it has always been, and still is: man ever seeks to hide the shame of his
idolatry by putting over it the name of Deity. Therefore the next thing that we read here is
that, "Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord" (v. 5). As a fact,
this was a pretense, for there were no "feasts" in either the third or fourth months. (See
Leviticus 23.)

What is before us in this 5th verse but gives the prototype of what is now going on almost
everywhere in Christendom. Men have set up their idols and then sought to dignify and
sanctify their inventions by worshipping them in the name of Christ. Romanism and Ritualism
give us one form of it. Wordliness and fleshly indulgences another. Just as Aaron proclaimed
the honors paid to the calf and the carnal merriment that followed as "a feast unto the Lord,"
so many a "church supper," bazaar, religious carnival, whist drive, etc., is officially carried out
under the name of Christianity. What a mockery it all is! Aaron had no Scripture to justify his
proclamation, nor have the present-day leaders any word from God to warrant their doings.

• I think Pink nails it here. They wanted what they wanted and threw God’s name on it
to cover their shame.

To wrap this up, I want to go back my original questions:

**Were they worshipping God?

• If you define worship as their stated acknowledgment and misguided practices to

God - then yes.
• But it’s still false worship.
• I think to say they were worshipping God isn’t necessarily wrong but I think for good
communication’s sake, it needs more clarifying.

**Were they worshipping the Gods of Egypt?

• If false worship not accepted by God is automatically considered given to the Gods of
Egypt, then yes.
• While I don’t believe they paid these Gods lip service as they did Jehovah, their
behaviors were in line with Egyptian worship rituals to a clear extent.
• I believe to say they were worshipping Egyptian Gods is an incomplete thought and
needs more clarification.

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FINAL CONCLUSION:

1. I think this is important because the consensus I get from many on this topic who haven’t
studied it is:

• These people were archaic

• They were stupid
• They were so wayward, God wasn’t in the picture at all
• And that’s just not true

2. These verses might be one of the best examples of “mixed worship” and double
mindedness we have in the entire bible.

3. But these verses gain none effect on us if we’ve written the people involved off as stupid
and us as “much wiser and more righteous”. I think to believe that is a convenient way of
hiding our own idolatry.

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