January 30...

Forty Days!!

Exodus 32

Forty days!! It really isn’t that long. You were getting out of school for Christmas break about 40 days ago. 40 days, the Israelites went from saying “We will obey. We will do everything the LORD has said to do” to “Come make us gods who will go before us!”

Commandments 1 and 2 – L1 – the biggie! And, Aaron who had been on the mountain top in the presence of God just a few weeks ago – who was entrusted with the leadership of the God’s people – responded, “Bring me your gold.”

Are you kidding me? Then he had the gall to say that the idols that he made were the gods who brought them out of Egypt!! They didn’t just kind of break the L1 commandment – they built an altar, made sacrifices, and had a festival. They treated these Aaron made gods as if they were the one true GOD!

What was God’s response? Anger! He was ready to destroy them, but Moses begged God to spare them.

When confronted by Moses, Aaron lied. He would not even take ownership for his part in the sin. Moses had to be disappointed in the Israelites – and Aaron. But he begged for God to forgive them.

Did God forgive them?
Were there consequences to their sin? What were they?
Why do you think Aaron was a weak leader? Do you think he was jealous of Joshua?
Why do you think the Israelites turned away from obedience so quickly?
Do we so this today?

For Further Study: Exodus 25-31 – Guidelines for worship
God was very specific about how He was to be worshipped. Read the guidelines set forth in these chapters. Why do you think God was so specific? Do we still observe any of these guidelines today? Why or why not?