Exodus 32:15–20
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We live in a sophisticated age, or so we are told. We have smartphones in our pockets and rovers on Mars. We consider ourselves to be far removed from the crude, primitive fumblings of ancient Israel. We read a story like this one, about a golden calf and a wild party at the base of a mountain, and we are tempted to feel a certain chronological snobbery. But to think this way is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of sin, the nature of idolatry, and the nature of the human heart. The idol may no longer be a golden calf; it may be a political party, a sexual identity, a 401(k), or even a particular style of worship. It is the creature attempting to dictate terms to the Creator. It is man, impatient with God's timing and uncomfortable with God's transcendence, deciding to create a god he can manage, a god he can see, a god who will lead him where he already wants to go.