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One of the great themes that runs through the entire Word of God is that God is Emmanuel, God with us. That’s a promise; a promise to cherish, a promise to take hold of; a promise to rely upon, I promise never to take for granted.

What if God was not Emmanuel? What if His presence did not go with us? To Moses, that was unimaginable.

But that was the very crisis that Israel came to in Exodus 33. Israel had become such a difficult, stiff-necked, and obstinate people that God finally came to the point where He said to Israel, “Go up to the land which I promised, but go up without Me. If I should go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you, for you are and obstinate and stiff-necked people.”

When Moses heard that, it broke his heart. He couldn’t imagine Israel traveling through the desert without the presence of God. So Moses interceded for Israel and even said, “If Your presence does not go with us, then do not lead us up from this place.” In other words, Moses was saying, “Without you, God, I don’t want to go anywhere.” What great life lessons there are in the story.

One of the keys to understanding Exodus 33 is that it immediately follows chapter 32. God called Moses to reside in His presence on Mount Sinai 40 days. God gave Moses the Law and commandments, the way of greatest blessing. He was also describing to Moses how to build the tabernacle, the place where His glory would dwell.

The people of Israel thought Moses had been gone too long on the mountain, they didn’t know what had become of him. They insisted Aaron make a god to go before them. They hadn’t heard anything from Jehovah for forty days and decided they needed another god; any god would do, apparently.

So Aaron told them to tear off the gold rings which were in their ears and from the gold he fashioned a golden calf. Then they, and we don’t know for certain who they are, said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”

Interesting use of the plural in the phrase “these are your gods.” There’s just one calf there. Then, making this story even more intriguing, Aaron built an altar before it – obviously for the purpose of worship – and made a proclamation, saying, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah.”

Now the phrase ‘these are your gods’ comes into focus. They weren’t trying to cast off Jehovah, they were adding the golden calf. You can take the people out of Egypt, but it’s hard to get Egypt out of the people. The Egyptian god, Apis, was a sacred bull worshiped in the Memphis region. He was the son of Hathor, mother of the sun god Ra, the symbolic mother of the pharaohs. He was the god of fertility and represented the strength and vitality of the Pharaoh.

They wanted Jehovah, but they also wanted the calf, made of gold, the god of fertility and virility and power. There is a great lesson in this story. You can’t have both. But many try, and you can be sure, God will not be pleased with it.

They held a great feast and began to dance before it in a lewd way. When Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain, Joshua said, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” Moses replied, “That is not the sound of war - of triumph or defeat - the sound of singing is what I hear.”

Moses then became angry and threw down the tablets of the Law which God had given him, ground the golden calf into powder and made the people drink it. Then, he called out, “Whoever is for Jehovah, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to Moses. He told them to strap on swords and purge the camp.

Then we come to chapter 33. God told Moses to move the people from that place and go toward the land He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There are life lessons and spiritual applications out of the story.


Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
Calvary Chapel Oregon
Calvary Chapel Beaverton
Calvary Chapel Portland

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