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What more natural than for those who waited, week after week, in unexplained
solitude, within sightof this fire, to imagine that Moses had been devoured by it. Their
leader was gone, and the visiblesymbol of Jehovah was high up on the mountain top,
like "a devouring fire." They must have anotherleader; that would be Aaron. But they
must also have another symbol of the Divine Presence. Oneonly occurred to their
carnal minds, besides that which had hitherto preceded them. It was theEgyptian Apis,
who, under the form of a calf, represented the powers of nature. To his worship
theyhad always been accustomed; indeed, its principal seat was the immediate
neighborhood of thedistrict in Egypt where, for centuries, they and their fathers had
been settled. Probably, this also wasthe form under which many of them had, in
former days, tried, in a perverted manner, to serve theirancestral God, combining the
traditions of the patriarchs with the corruptions around them (compareJoshua 24:14;
Ezekiel 20:8; 23:3, 8). It is quite evident that Israel did not mean to forsake
Jehovah,but only to serve Him under the symbol of Apis. This appears from the
statement of the peoplethemselves on seeing the Golden Calf: (Exodus 32:4) "This is
thy God," and from the proclamationof Aaron (32:5): "To-morrow is a feast to
Jehovah."
Their great sin consisted in not realizing the Presence of an unseen God, while the
fears of theirunbelief led them back to their former idolatrous practices, unmindful
that this involved a breach ofthe second of those commandments so lately proclaimed
in their hearing, and of the whole covenantwhich had so solemnly been ratified. Some
expositors have sought to extenuate the guilt of Aaron bysupposing that, in asking for
their golden ornaments to make "the calf," he had hoped to enlist theirvanity and
covetousness, and so to turn them from their sinful purpose. The text, however,
affords nowarrant for this hypothesis, It is true that Aaron was, at the time, not yet in
the priesthood, and alsothat his proclamation of "a feast to Jehovah" may have been
intended to bring it out distinctly, that thename of Jehovah was still, as before,
acknowledged by Israel. But his culpable weakness - to saythe least of it - only adds to
his share in the people's sin. Indeed, this appears from Aaron's laterconfession to
Moses, (Exodus 32:21-24) than which nothing more humiliating is recorded,
eventhroughout this sad story. Perhaps, however, it was well that, before his
appointment to thepriesthood, Aaron, and all after him, should have had this evidence
of natural unfitness andunworthiness, that so it might appear more clearly that the
character of all was typical, and in no wayconnected with the worthiness of Aaron or
of his house.
While Israel indulged in the camp in the usual licentious dances and orgies which
accompanied suchheathen festivals yet another trial awaited Moses. It had been God
Himself Who informed Moses ofthe "quick" apostasy of His people (32:7, 8),
accompanying the announcement by these words:"Now therefore let Me alone, that
My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consumethem. and I will make of
(^)