Was the golden calf worship just dancing, or was it something worse?
The golden calf worship was not merely casual dancing. It descended into nakedness, immorality, and idolatry, the same pattern found in pagan worship. Scripture records that Aaron made the people naked to their shame, and 23,000 died by plague because of that event.
Les explains that verse 25 makes clear it was not just casual worship with native folk dancing. Instead, the people were naked and immoral. They had taken the golden calf worship and put it down to the same level as all other idolatry. Les points out that abject pagan idolatry, mythologies, and Greek gods always involve rank immorality; it is part and parcel of that system because it is satanically controlled. The evidence is that Moses saw the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked to their shame among their enemies. Then 23,000 were put to death through the plague because of this event. Paul uses this to shake the Corinthians out of their temptations and to warn us as well, since we are no different from the Corinthian believers.