(Cont’d from last Weekend VOICE)
What? That’s idolatry. How can idolatry be done with good intentions? You will find this event in (Exodus 32), what is often missed in reading this account is that the Israelites were not worshipping a different Eloim (MIghty one or God) they were still worshipping Yahweh their Eloim, but in a way He forbade. In the first verse the people ask Aaron to make an Eloim to go before them. Aaron does as they request, and in verse four declares that this golden calf is “The Eloim which brought you up out of Egypt”. Aaron was stating that the calf represented the presence of the Almighty, not that some other Eloim had effected their deliverance. Remember, that the smoke and fire of His glory was still on the mountain where they were, they certainly were not trying to compete with that by introducing another deity! If that’s not clear enough then look at verse five. Aaron builds an altar in front of it and states that “tommorow is a feast to Yahweh the Most High”. He didn’t declare a feast to the calf, but to the Most High.

The Israelites were not replacing Yahweh, they were replacing Moses who had not returned. They were substituting the mediator and physical symbol they followed. They believed, with the best of intentions, that they were still worshipping Almighty Yahweh! Of course, the problem was this is not how He had commanded worship. Another example is found when the northern kingdom separated from the southern in (1 Kings 12) Jeroboam set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, yet again, those worshipping there had good intentions and thought they were worshipping the Heavenly Father Yahweh. The key here is in the context. In verses 26-27, we see that there was political danger in the people going to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh. then in verse 28 Jeroboam substitutes the calves as symbols at these new places of worship, identifying them as the deliverer from Egypt.

(Cont’d next Weekend VOICE)