Page 53 - Living Light Autumn 23

Monday October 30 - Debased worship
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings...So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. Exodus 32:2-3
In the account of the Passover we read that the Egyptians gave the escaping Israelites their silver and gold, so desperate were they to see the back of this people that had caused God’s wrath to break out upon them. It must have been this gold that the Israelites now gave to Aaron to melt down and recast as an idol.
Could there be any more vivid an illustration of a people abusing God’s abundant blessing? God had ensured not only that the Israelites were freed from the slavery of the Egyptians, but that they were provided for materially as they fled (Exodus 12:35-36 tells us that the Egyptians gave silver, gold and clothes to the Israelites). Yet here we have that same gold now being used, not as a means of blessing the Israelites or giving glory to God, but in order to make a false god.
In this story we see in miniature the root of human sin, that began with Adam and Eve and continues in our world today. God has blessed the world abundantly but instead of worshipping the Creator of all, humanity worships creation itself and so the blessing is turned into a curse. How might we take a right attitude towards God’s good gifts to us, enjoying the blessing and honouring the One who blesses us?
Good Lord, thank you for the blessings in my life. May I use that goodness for your praise. Amen.
Tuesday October 31 - These are your gods!
He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape
of a calf...“These are your gods, Israel,...” Exodus 32:4
In many plays or television dramas there will be a point when the reader or audience have been told something important, of which the characters in the story are oblivious. We can see the impending disaster looming, while the players continue regardless. This is sometimes called dramatic irony.
There is a dramatic irony in today’s passage. Moses has been at the top of Mount Sinai receiving the Law, part of which we know as the Ten Commandments. The second of these commandments forbids the making of images and the worship of them (Exodus 20:3). We know that God has given Moses this command, but the Israelites do not (although that doesn’t excuse them!). If this was a soap opera you might be shouting at the television for the Israelites to stop it!
So as Moses is at the top of the mountain receiving God’s commandments, at the bottom of the mountain Aaron has melted down the jewellery and made a statue of a calf. If you visit the British Museum you will see plenty such figurines. They were common objects of worship for the pagan nations surrounding Israel. This makes the sin even worse. The Israelites have copied the godless nations in making such an idol. It is as if they are renouncing God’s rule over them: “These are your gods, O Israel!” Is there any more tragic sentence in the whole of the Old Testament?
Merciful Lord, please help me to worship you in Spirit and in truth. Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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