False Teachers and the Golden Calf

Exodus 32 tells the story of the golden calf. After the crossing of the Red Sea, God told Moses to meet Him on the holy mountain of Mt.Sinai. There God spoke with Moses and gave him the Law that the Hebrews were to follow from now  on. Moses was there for some time — 40 days and 40 nights. (We’ve heard the “40” number before, haven’t we? The number of completed preparation.) Moses took Joshua with him and left his brother the high priest Aaron in charge of the people.

But after Moses was gone for a few weeks, the people thought Moses is not coming back and so they talk (or threaten) Aaron into forming a golden calf. The calf idol was probably carved from wood and coated with gold, which had been created from the Israelites’ golden jewelry. Remember when Israel was allowed to leave Egypt, how God told them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for jewelry? Well, that’s where it came from.

Images of bulls and calves were pretty common in regional religions – Egypt, Canaan and Asia Minor. Cows are still sacred in modern India. It’s not terribly surprising when you think about it – the bull is an incredible image of power and fertility, and the calf is an image of great fertility and power-to-be.

As Israel had not yet entered Canaan, it’s a good bet that they were most aware of early Egyptian mythology and the worship of the bull-calf Apis. In this system of belief, the god Ptah owned a sacred bull named Apis. Apis was Ptah’s herald and representation. Ptah was a sun god and a giver of life. He also raised the dead to the underworld so they could complete their journey to the afterlife. (Those of you who know the mythology will recognize the name “Osiris.” In later Egyptian mythology Osiris would replace Ptah.)

The bull Apis’s title was “renewal of life.” He was worshipped both as a living bull and as a statue. The living bull was chosen as a calf due to unusual white markings on a black body. He was taken to the temple in Memphis, given his own herd of cows and was worshipped. Other bulls were sacrificed to Apis. Eventually he was allowed to die of old age and they started all over again to find another calf, the new Apis.

However, statues and household idols of the bull Apis were quite common and people worshipped them.

Here is the vital clue to why the Hebrews built a golden calf: Apis was an oracle. Worshippers believed that it stood between them and an unknowable god. Apis could hear questions, contact the god for the worshipper, and provide the correct answer. In order to do this thing, the priests interpreted the bull’s movements as “yes” or “no.”

Why is this key? Because the people thought that Moses had disappeared – and he was the one who interpreted God to them! Sure Aaron was still there but the priests were not themselves the oracle. The priests only interpreted the oracle. So they thought they could replace Moses by building an oracle themselves. Who? Why, the bull-calf Apis, of course. Not only could Apis speak for the all-powerful gods, the god he represented – Ptah – was a god of life and fertility. In other words, of good luck!

Now we can begin to understand why Aaron did what he did, when it seemed to out of character. When he fashioned the golden calf for the people, they were all mixing up the Lord their God with the Egyptian god Ptah. And as Moses seemed unavailable, the statue would serve as an oracle of Ptah’s will and blessing to the people. And so the people worshipped with the bull’s normal worship festival – a drinking orgy!

Of course this was a complete and utter misunderstanding of who God is and who the false “gods” of Egypt were. It also betrayed a complete misunderstanding of who Moses was: not an oracle of an Egyptian deity but a prophet of the One True God. The Hebrews apparently thought they could just trade one “oracle” for another! If Moses was gone then no problem – the Apis bull-calf idol would do just fine. If they couldn’t contact their own God, what the heck – they’d just contact Ptah instead. They were all the same thing, right? Wrong.

Let’s go on. It was bad enough that the people had the golden calf made as an oracle or a messenger of a god’s will. But it got worse than that. Aaron made an altar and set it up and the people sacrificed animals on the altar – probably bull-calves as the temple in Memphis would have done. And so they worshipped. And then they partied! The worship of Apis and Ptah wasn’t a nice little Ouija Board game, or some really good feelings about how swell life is. It was a fertility religion. And what do you think goes on in fertility religions? Yep –sexual relations between worshippers in ecstasy before the altar. Not much of a distinction between adults and children. Gluttony and drunkenness, because after all you are worshipping the fertility of the fields and vineyards! No need to get detailed, you get the picture.

So when  the people started this and Moses was still on the mountain, God Himself told Moses what was happening, and informed Moses that God was going to destroy these “stiff-necked people.” So Moses DID come down from the mountain and this is what he saw: a statue of the demon-god Apis and the people coupling like rabbits and dancing with complete and utter abandon (probably sans clothing), and falling down drunk amid the blood and gore of the sacrifice! This was their idea of worship! Furthermore, this had probably been going on for some days now since Exodus 32 refers to “the derision of their enemies.” In other words, non-Hebrews saw the scene and brought word back to their own tribes that the Israelites were crazy!

Moses held the Laws in his hands as he surveyed this drunken dance and orgy, and in his rage he threw the tablets down and broke them. The tablets represented God’s direct word and guidance to the Hebrews, and now they were broken. Moses burned the calf in the fire, which is why the thing was probably wooden and coated with gold. Moses then strewed the ashes in water and “made the Israelites drink it” is the verse – this was likely the fallen-down-drunk worshippers who were rooting around the base of the altar. It could not have been pleasant for them to drink water choked with ash.

At this point Joshua was with Moses but not many more, so he was acting nearly alone. So why did the Israelites let him do it and did not try to defend themselves? Because he was the oracle after all, the returned prophet OF AN ALMIGHTY AND SERIOUSLY TEED-OFF GOD! They must have been terrified!

But Moses knew that this mood would not last, and once the people sobered up they may well have taken matters into their own unclean hands. So he called his loyal followers to him. The Levites, the servants of God and the priests, responded to his call. He told them to go into the disgustingly drunken crowd that was closest to the altar, the worst of the idol worshippers. They were to kill them. They were not to spare even their own family if they were found among the worshippers. And so the Levites did. A very angry God followed up with a plague, and only after that was Moses able to beg forgiveness for the people.

The Golden Calf as False Teaching
How often do we run into this very thought in our own world? How often do we hear good people, nice people, say that all paths lead to God? Or all religions are the same? Or whatever? But they’re not. Buddhism has no god. Hinduism has 600 and counting. Paganism worships the spirit of the earth as a goddess and does not believe in heaven or hell. Ancestor worship seeks wisdom from one’s ancestors. Islam and Judaism believe in one God as Christianity does, but they do not believe that Jesus Christ is Messiah and is the only path to God. They are not the same. Religions that don’t even believe in a God are certainly not a path to Him!

But we want to be kind. We want to be accepting. We don’t want to be like the man in this joke:

“I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, “Stop! Don’t do it!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.
I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!”
He said, “Like what?”
I said, “Well, are you religious or atheist?”
He said, “Religious.”
I said, “Me too! Are your Christian or Buddhist?”
He said, “Christian.”
I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”
He said, “Protestant.”
I said, “Me too! Are your Episcopalian or Baptist?”
He said, “Baptist!”
I said, “Wow! Me too! Are your Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?
He said, Baptist Church of God!”
I said, “Me too! Are your Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?”
He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!”
I said, “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?”
He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!”
I said, “Die, heretic scum!” and pushed him off.

We don’t want to be like that!

But here is the thing: The one and only point of the whole Bible is that God has provided one way back to Himself and one way only, and that way is the sacrifice for forgiveness of sins! It was true for the Jews in the OT and it’s true for the world in the NT. There is no getting around it, none.

Certainly there are parts of the Bible that we accept as cultural. Slavery is one of them. Paul supported the institution but we know now that it a wicked institution. Paul grew up with it and simply did not know that. Or take baptism – immersion or sprinkling? People act like it matters but it does not. The fact that you are baptized does. There are other things too, like the order of the events in Revelation. Does a detailed chronology matter? Nope – the point is that Jesus is coming back. Some people base their belief about salvation on these less important points. You have to be immersed to be baptized, or you have to believe in an actual change of the elements to take Mass, or you have to think that Mary was a virgin all her life. Whatever. We need to hold to what the Bible teaches, what Jesus said about Himself: “’I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

This is the point, the major point, of the whole Bible is that God provided one way to be saved and one way only. In the OT it was a system of temple sacrifices and atonement. These were replaced by the final sacrifice of Christ. Either you believe in Him and accept His sacrifice for your atonement – or you don’t. There is no middle ground. The Bible is quite clear on the subject.

You are not being judgmental about this, you are being truthful. And when you start feeling uncomfortable about this, remember that God loves the lost more than you or I ever could. He loves your non-Christian son or daughter or sister or brother more than you are capable of loving them. And that is a lot! Don’t you think He’s going to work for their salvation? And that is why we must pray for our non-Christian friends, fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters and cousins. Pray for them. Because if they do not believe in Jesus Christ then they are worshipping a form of Ptah and the golden calf. They’re trying to substitute their beliefs and call them good – call them “God.” And they’re wrong.

And we see this in many of our churches every day! Especially the more liberal congregations. When preachers and teachers are up there in the pulpit telling Christians that any religion is OK as long as it is loving, that “all paths lead to God” — that is a heavy burden for them to bear! False teaching is alive and well in 21st century America.  “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” (2 John 1:7-11)

For example, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is the head of the Episcopalian church in America. Now, I belonged to an Episcopalian church in Studio City for years and I loved that church. I am not slamming individual parishes. But the head of the Episcopalians told delegates to the group’s triennial meeting that the church’s problems stem from, and I quote, “the great Western heresy — that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God.” She goes on to say, “It’s caricatured in some quarters by insisting that salvation depends on reciting a specific verbal formula about Jesus,” Jefferts Schori said. “That individualist focus is a form of idolatry, for it puts me and my words in the place that only God can occupy, at the center of existence, as the ground of being.” Instead the Episcopalian church in America decided that its yearly theme would be “Ubuntu,” an African word that describes humaneness, caring, sharing and being in harmony with all of creation. It is no accident by the way that the African and Latin American Episcopalian churches have been threatening to withdraw from the communion. The officials of the Episcopalian church in America no longer believe in personal salvation. Scary stuff!

This should be us instead: “For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming. (1Thess. 1:9-10)

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Col. 2:8)