Exodus 32:1-6 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron… I. THE VERY ESSENCE OF IDOLATRY IS NOT SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE AND OBTUSENESS, BUT A WILFUL TURNING AWAY FROM THE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE AND WORSHIP OF GOD. 1. This act of idolatry was in the very front of the majesty and splendour of Jehovah revealed on Sinai. 2. With the idol before him, the priest proclaimed a feast unto the Lord; and the people pleased themselves with the thought that they were "fearing the Lord, while they served their own gods." The real heart of idolatry is here laid bare. It is, in plain terms, an effort to bring God within reach; to escape the trouble, pain, and weariness of spiritual effort, and substitute the effect of the eye, hand, and tongue for the labour of the soul. 3. In God's sight — i.e., in reality — this is a turning away from Him. They meant this bull to be an image of God their leader. God saw that it was an image of their own idolatrous and sensual hearts. II. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE PROPHET AND THE PRIEST. III. THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF IDOLATRY IS THE SHRINKING OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE INVISIBLE GOD. It is the glory of the Incarnation that it presents that image of the invisible God which is not an idol, that it gives into the arms of the yearning spirit a Man, a Brother, and declares that Jesus Christ is the God of heaven. (J. B. Brown, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. |
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