Chapter 28—Israel Worships a Golden Calf
This chapter is based on
Exodus 32
to 34.
While Moses was absent, it was a time of waiting and suspense to
Israel. The people waited eagerly for his return. Accustomed in Egypt
to material representations of deity, it had been hard for them to trust
in an invisible being. They had come to rely upon Moses to sustain
their faith. Now he was taken from them. Week after week passed, and
still he did not return. It seemed to many in the camp that their leader
had deserted them or that he had been consumed by the devouring fire.
During this period of waiting, there was time to meditate upon the
law of God which they had heard, and to prepare their hearts to receive
further revelations that He might make to them. Had they been seeking
a clearer understanding of God’s requirements and humbling their
hearts before Him, they would have been shielded from temptation.
But they soon became careless, inattentive, and lawless, especially the
“mixed multitude.” They were impatient to be on their way to the land
flowing with milk and honey. It was only on condition of obedience
that the goodly land was promised them; but they had lost sight of this.
Some suggested a return to Egypt; but whether forward to Canaan or
backward to Egypt, the masses were determined to wait no longer for
Moses.
The “mixed multitude” had been the first to indulge murmuring
and impatience and were the leaders in apostasy. Among the objects
regarded by the Egyptians as symbols of deity was the ox or calf. At
the suggestion of those who had practiced idolatry in Egypt, a calf was
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now made and worshiped. The people desired some image to represent
God and to go before them in the place of Moses. The mighty miracles
in Egypt and at the Red Sea were designed to establish faith in God as
the invisible, all-powerful Helper of Israel. The desire for some visible
manifestation of His presence had been granted in the pillar of cloud
and of fire, and in the revealing of His glory upon Mount Sinai. But
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