Psalms 106:19

SIN NO. 4

This was the worship of the golden calf:

"They made a calf in Horeb,

And worshipped a molten image.

Thus they changed their glory

For the likeness of an ox that eateth grass.

They forgat their Saviour,

Who had done great things in Egypt,

Wondrous works in the land of Ham

And terrible things by the Red Sea.

Therefore, he said that he would destroy them,

Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach,

To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them."

The Exodus account of this is in Exodus 32. See my comments in that chapter for a full discussion of this.

"They made a calf in Horeb" (Psalms 106:19). This is an alternative name for Mount Sinai. The shame of this episode is that it took place even in the vicinity of Sinai, where the sacred Law was given.

"Thus they changed their glory for the likeness of an ox" (Psalms 106:20). It is surprising indeed that any allegedly Christian commentator should question this; but Addis, declared that, "They had no intention of doing what is here stated. That it was an image of Yahweh that they made appears plainly from Exodus 32:5)."[16] No bull calf was ever "an image of Yahweh"! That is the age-old delusion about image worship.

God cannot be worshipped by bowing down to anything that men might make. Furthermore, such a device is incapable of "reminding one of God." How could that which is blind, deaf, immobile, helpless, dead and powerless "remind one" of Him who is none of those things? And that goes for "a graven image of Christ himself," no less than for that of Aaron's bull calf!