How could Israel worship the golden calf after seeing God's fire and cloud?
Israel could worship the golden calf because the idolatry appealed to their emotions and satisfied the flesh, even though they had seen God’s fire on the mountain and the pillar of cloud and fire. They were not helpless victims; they corrupted themselves by their own volition and choice.
Les teaches that Israel’s fall was astonishing because they had already received proof of the Almighty God: fire on the mountain, the pillar of fire at night when they came out of Egypt, and the pillar of cloud by day for shade. Yet they still went into the depths of idolatry to worship a stupid golden calf, a dead thing with no life. Les explains that it was an emotional thing; it appealed to their emotions and became a practice of the satisfaction of the flesh. With the calf at the center of the camp, they sat down to eat and rose up to play. God told Moses the people had corrupted themselves—no outside force made them do it; they acted of their own volition and asked for it. Les applies this by noting that people today often claim they could not help it or are victims of circumstances, but they are people of choice who make choices.