Golden Calf and Idolatry

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y r t a l o d I & f l a C n e d l o G

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What Is Idolatry? s Accordin g to the dictionar definitio y, the n of idol atry is “ worship the of idols or exces devotion sive to, or re verence person, for some image, o r thing.� anything An idol i that repl s aces the one, true God.

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2nd Commandment s

The Second Commandment states ‘Thou shalt not make unto th ee any graven image, or any likenes s of any thing that is in heaven ab ove, or that is in the earth beneat h, or that is in the water under th e earth: Thou shalt not bow down thys elf to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous G od, visiting the iniquity of the fa thers upon the children unto the th ird and fourth generation of them th at hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments .

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Our Less

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s Despite God’s m ercy in bringing the child ren of Is out of bo rael ndage in Egypt an later pro d viding th em with water, manna, a nd quail for nourishm ent; they sinned against G od. In o ur lesso will revie n, we w the st ory of Is idolatry rael’s by worsh ipping th e golden c alf.

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Golden Calf s God had called Moses to Mount Sinai. When the people saw that Moses didn’t return in a certain amount of time, they went to Aaron and told him to make them gods to “lead� them. Aaron complied to the desires of the people and told the people to take all the golden earrings the people wore and bring them to him. Aaron took all the gold and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a molten calf.

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Altar Built s After the calf was made, th e people shouted “Th ese be our g ods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of E gypt!� Aaro n built an altar before the molten c alf and made a procla mation that t he next day would be a feast unto the Lord.

The people r ose early in t he morrow and offered burn t offerings, an d brought pe ace offerings. T he people ate , drank, and made sp ort before th e golden image.

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God Is Angry s The Lord saw as Israel corrupted themselves, and told Moses that this stiff-necked people made a molten calf to worship and make sacrifices to. God’s anger waxed hot against Israel and he even to ld Moses that he was going to consume the people and make himself another nation of people !

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A Plea s Moses besought the Lord and sa id that if God destroyed Israel, the Egyptians would say that God brought Israel out of Egypt just to slay them in the mountains, and consume them from the face of th e earth. Moses pleaded with God to turn his fierce wrath and repent of this evil against His people.

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A Plea s

Moses asked God to remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel and how he promised to multiply their seed as the stars of heaven and give them a land flowing with milk and honey. After hearing Moses’ words, the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto this people

s from Moses went down his the mount and in les of hand were two tab e law stone which had th y the b m e th n o n te it r w Moses hand of God. As ount, came down the m ua, h s o J y b t e m s a w he the who was not with people as they ol. worshipped the id s that e s o M ld to a u h s o J d of he heard the soun the war coming from camp.

s However, Moses told Joshua that it wasn’t the sound of war but the sound of the people singing and making merry. As soon as Moses came near the camp, he saw the golden calf and th e people committing idolatry against God! Moses’ anger waxed hot and he cast the two tables of stones out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

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s Moses took the the golden calf which people made and fire. burned it with the idol After grinding the read it p s e h r e d w o p a to d upon the water an rink made the people d is it. Moses asked h at brother Aaron wh to would convince him eat sin commit such a gr l god. o id e th g in k a m y b

s Aaron told Moses that the people were set on mischief and asked him to make them gods to go before them because Moses had been on the mount for some time and they didn’t know what had happened to him.

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Sons of Levi s As Aaron spoke, Moses noticed that the people were naked. Moses then stood in the gate of the camp and said “Who is on the Lord’s side?

Let him come unto me.� All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto Moses.

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Sons of Levi s Moses told the children of Levi to put every man his sword at his side and to go in and out each gate of the camp and slay everyone who had committed this great sin of idolatry. The children of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people about three

thousand men.

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Moses Intercedes s Moses told the people to consecrate themselves unto the Lord so that God may bestow a blessing upon them.

Moses explained to the people that they had sinned greatly and that he was going to go unto the Lord peradventure to make an atonement for them.

s Moses went before the Lord and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.� Moses asked God to forgive Israel of their sins; and if not, Moses told God to blot his name out of the book which God had written. God told Moses that he was not going to blot Moses’ name out of his book but, whosoever sinned against God would have their name blotted out.

And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

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