The People Stray

There is no other way to say it than to tell the truth, the ugly truth, that the people of God

strayed away from worshipping the LORD and offered their sacred worship to an idol. It was,

perhaps, a predictable outcome from the people of the new nation of Israel, since they had spent

the last four hundred years in the culture of ancient Egypt with their many gods and cult worship

practices. It appeared, from the people’s point of view, that Moses had been delayed on the

mountain and, the assumption made, that he and God had abandoned them. So Aaron made

them a new god in the form of a golden calf—a symbol of strength and fertility in the Egyptian

and Canaanite worship practices. But their assumption about Moses and God was wrong. The

truth is Moses was receiving instructions from God on their behalf and for their benefit.