Why Aaron Failed: Leadership, Idolatry, and the Golden Calf

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good afternoon to all of those here in the studio, and for those of you in television that are joining us, again we trust that you'll just grab your Bible and pencil and notepad and take down these notes with us, and we trust as we've heard from so many of you, and that's our big encouragement. I know one lady again wrote the other day, she says, I've learned more in six months than all the rest of my life put together. Well, that's what we love to hear. It's the only reason we teach, is to help people enjoy their Bible and begin to understand it. We're not trying to convince you that you're wrong or that I'm right, but if we can just help you to thoroughly enjoy reading and studying your Bible. All right, now we're going to go without any announcements. I want to get right into the book today, so turn with me to Exodus chapter 32. And remember last week we saw that God began giving the instructions to Moses while he was up in the mountain the first time, and of course while he was gone, what happened? Israel got impatient. He's been gone, what, 40 days? And coming out of Egypt, they were just saturated, of course, with idolatry and the paganism of the Egyptians. And so Moses is gone, what do they ask for? Make us gods. You know, it's hard for us to comprehend, and we're so easily brought to the place where we condemn the Jews. But you know what I always have to say? Human nature is no different today than it was then. I've maintained as long as I've been teaching that if Christ were to come on the scene today as He did then, you know what the human race would do? The same thing. They'd crucify Him, they'd reject Him, they wouldn't believe Him. And you see, everything that happened back here to Israel is just an exposure of human nature, and we're of the same nature. There is no difference. All right, so as soon as Moses, their leader, is out of sight now for a period of time, verse 1 of chapter 32, the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount. So the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us what? Gods, see? Now, I saw a clip on television again the other night, and I think you, all of those of you who have been in my teaching, I am very slow to point an accusing finger at anybody. But again, there was a clip on one of the news broadcasts, I guess, of some of these New Agers on the mountainside someplace, worshiping the sun, or who knows what. And I thought, how in the world can people of this enlightened day, so-called intellectuals, fall for such garbage? But oh, they do. See? And here was Israel. God, as I stressed the last few weeks, God has miraculously brought them out of Egypt, opened the Red Sea, and never lose sight of the fact that cloud and that pillar of fire is still over them every day. There it is, His presence. They couldn't escape it. But now, just as soon as Moses is gone, they come to Aaron and say, Make us gods, see? To go before us. For as for this Moses, continuing now in verse 1, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And Aaron doesn't even argue. Now this is the thing that amazes me. Now you would have thought that a mature individual like Aaron would have said, Now wait a minute, people. Moses is coming. Nuh-uh. Immediately, what does Aaron say? Well, take off your jewelry, bring me all your gold, and we'll make you a god. And oh, now let me see. We've got to compare right away. What does Aaron say when Moses comes back? I guess we'll come to it. You know what he says. Why, we threw this gold into the fire and what happened? Out came this calf as though he had nothing to do with it, see? But Aaron does. Aaron agrees. Yeah, we've got to make us some gods. So, break off, verse 2, he says, your earrings which are in the ears of your wives, and so on and so forth, and bring them unto me. And all the people broke off the gold and the earrings which were in the ears and brought them to Aaron. He received them at their hand, and we've got to put in the pronoun, and he fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf. And they said, Be these thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Who did? Aaron. Aaron did. Now, this would be different if somebody way out in a fringe, maybe a young person who hadn't really yet been steeped in all... But Aaron, of all people, the leader now since Moses is gone, and he goes right along with it, built an altar, and Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Can you imagine a man saying something like that? Was that a feast to Jehovah? Why, no. It's a pagan feast, copied right after one of the gods of Egypt, which was, I think, was Apsis, A-P-S-I-S, I think was the name of that god, the golden calf. And all that they're doing now is not a worship of Jehovah, but it's a worship of this pagan idolatrous god. Verse 6, And they rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat, to drink, and they rose up to play. Now, I've always been very careful on this program, because I know we've got a lot of kids watching, and that's another encouragement, when parents tell us that their 10-year-old kids are learning so much. So I don't want to get too explicit, but I think everybody, including these kids, have seen the movie, The Ten Commandments. And the first time I saw it, before I even knew the Scriptures as well as I do now, I thought, well, now, isn't that typical Hollywood, typical Cicibida male, to have these women out there in their scantily dressed appearance, putting on those seductive dances? And I thought, now, that has to be strictly an invention of Hollywood. But it wasn't. It's what it was, because, see, the word here in the Hebrew, rose up to play, was that they actually, and we'll see later on, they were naked, and they put on these seductive dances. Now, those of you who've been in my classes over the years, you've heard me say it over and over, paganism, idolatry, always was steeped in the most abject immorality that we can imagine, and then so. That was part of their worship. And so what did they do? They brought that right out of Egypt, they make the golden calf, and they go right down into that lower level of human depravity, see, the Israelites of all people, all right? So they rose up to play. They put on their lascivious dances and so forth. Well, anyway, Moses and Joshua now are coming down out of the mountain. And verse 15, now, in the same chapter, Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand, that is, of the moral law, the ten, the tables written on both their sides, on one side and the other. Verse 16, the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua... See, now, evidently, when Moses went up into the mountain, Joshua accompanied him. But when he went into the very presence of God, I'm sure that Joshua had to stay back, because I think Moses, I feel, was absolutely alone with his God. When God gave the instructions, as we saw last week, for building the tabernacle, gave him the law, but now Moses and Joshua pick up their companionship as they come down out of Mount Sinai. Verse 17, And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. Man, somebody is attacking us. And he said, It's not the voice of them that shout for mastery. That's not a victorious army we are hearing. Neither is it a voice of them that are crying for being overcome. It's not the screaming of people who are being overrun by an army. It's something different from either one of them. It's the noise of those that sing. Verse 19, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh... In other words, he comes into view of the Israelites. ...as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the... Now, what is it? The dancing. And again, the word in the Hebrew is seductive dancing, lascivious dancing. And Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and he broke them beneath the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed or strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. Now, here's another amazing thing that the Bible never contradicts science. For years, the scoffer said, whoever heard of such a thing as putting gold into solution? But those of you who may have had arthritic friends, at least years back, what was one of the prime... Yeah, they would give them gold shots. Actually put gold in solution, and gold shots were given for arthritis. So you see, the Bible was chemically correct way back here. Of course, you could put gold in solution, as Moses did, and he made them drink of it. All right, now then, verse 22, and Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people... Oh, you bet Moses knew them. He got disgusted more than once, didn't he? Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief, for they... Now watch this. Now watch what Aaron says. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not or we don't know what is become of him. Now watch it. And Aaron said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me, I cast it into the fire, and what? Out came this calf. Now, isn't that amazing? Oh, that's a grown man. You know what that sounds like to me? My little four-year-old grandson would say something like that. He'd say, Well, Grandpa, I just did such and such, and this is what happened. But here is this grown, mature man, Aaron, trying to fool Moses, but more than that, who does he think he's fooling? God. See? As if God didn't know that he was the one who fashioned it. He was the one who set up the altar to worship it. Now, I'm going to make an analogy. And I'm a friend of preachers. Some of my dearest friends have been some of my pastors. In fact, in the last month, my wife and I got back up to our old home area of Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota, and it was a centennial of my little old hometown. And so we saw everybody all the way back to when I was a kid just barely learning to walk, I think. But among them was the old pastor who got me started teaching. He was the one who literally twisted my arm and got me to teach a class of high school boys. And it was just such a thrill to see him. So when I say some of these things, don't think for a minute that I don't have a kinship with pastors. But on the other hand, we've got to say things like they are. I think I mentioned in one of my broadcasts a long, long time ago, I remember when I was in service, I think I was driving across Texas someplace, I had my radio on, and I heard a great old Southern Baptist preacher, and I'm not sure, I'm not a Southern Baptist from way back. But anyway, I think he may have even been president one time, and I can't even think of his name right now. I think it was Havner or Havnon, some of you older people may know. I think Vance, was it Vance Havnon or Havner? Well, a lot of people in the South will know who I'm talking about. He's long gone. But I'll never forget a statement that he made in that sermon I heard on the radio. He said, you know, when I was a little boy growing up in the Carolinas, and the Carolinas are known for their big, tall pine trees, you know. He said, when I was a little boy growing up in the pine trees of the Carolinas, I always noticed that the trees that died started dying where? At the top. Now, you see, what was he driving at? Well, he was castigating his own denomination for the departure from the truth that was taking place then already in the higher echelons of the denomination. Now, they're not alone. I mean, every denomination takes that track. Their leadership is what begins the slide. And again, it's nothing new. Here's this man Aaron. He should have been the man that stood in the gap while Moses was gone. Instead, what does he do? He gives in to the demands of the people. You know, that's again why I just thank the Lord for the role that He's given me. And I love people, and I like to get as many people in my class as I can. But you know, I'm not beholden to anybody. My salary doesn't depend on trying to keep people happy out there in the pew. And you see, this is where a lot of preachers are up against it. They have to, after all, keep everybody content. Well, the money doesn't come in, and first thing you know, he's without an income. Well, I don't have that worry. As long as those old cows have a calf or two, I'm going to survive. But anyway, I can just go ahead, and I can teach the book. I don't have to compromise, and I just thank the Lord for that ability to do that. But here's this man Aaron, who should have stood in the gap. And instead, what does he do? Gives in to what the people wanted. And we see it all through Christendom constantly. And so here he is. He said unto them, whoever hath gold, they gave it to me. I cast it in the fire, and here came this calf. And now verse 25, and when Moses saw that the people were what? Isn't it amazing how far down people can go in just a little while? I always have to remember a sermon I heard, and it may have been from the same old pastor I just made mention of. He was a tremendous Bible teacher as well as a pastor and a preacher. But he was talking one time about the maniac in the New Testament, do you remember? The Gadarenes, out of whom Jesus cast legions of demons. And he made the point and the analogy, and I'll never forget it. When they saw that man filled with his demons, what was he? Naked. As soon as Jesus came into that man's life and cast out the demons, what was the first thing that man did? Put on his clothes. And that hasn't changed. It hasn't changed. Go back to what I said last program. Everything that God says, thus shalt thou do, what does the old devil say? Opposite. See? Always the opposite. God has instructed us how to clothe our body, but what does Satan do? Take them off. I mean, it's so obvious. Well, anyway, here they are. They're naked. They're dancing these lascivious dances around this golden calf. A perfect example of the idolatry from which they had come. Verse 26. And so Moses stood in the gate of the camp and he said, who's on the Lord's side? How many of you are going to mean business with our God? And so he puts them up against it, doesn't he? God moves in, and he brings on a plague because of their gross immorality. Now, you know, I'm not an old prude. I hope I'm not. But I'll tell you what. I know what God expects of the human race. I know that God has not changed one iota from Genesis 1 to our day today. He has not changed. What God hated back here, he hates today. But again, see, we're all being programmed. My wife and I were just talking about it on the way up today. Some of the lyrics that she's heard in just the last few days that our kids, our little kids, my grandkids now, are being subjected to. It's frightening. It's frightening. And they are just literally scoffing at everything that God has ever instructed for the human race. And immorality is just something that is just taken for granted. I mean, after all, everybody's doing it, isn't that the idea? But you see, God hated it then. He's hated it ever since. And He hates it even today. And so He brought a plague on them. Now, when you come down to verse 28, "...and the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses." In other words, they went out to the camp and put to death all those that they knew that were guilty. "...and the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." Now, that didn't count the women. These are just the men. That's the way the Scripture usually counts. Now, it's interesting that if you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, and here is again where the scoffers come into the picture, and they say, see, the Bible just contradicts itself all the time. Well, as a rule, the scoffer doesn't know their Bible. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, jump down to verse 8, where Paul is making reference to this very event around the golden calf and God's anger against the children of Israel and His punishment of them. And now in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul, referring to it, says in verse 8, "...neither let us commit fornication or immorality, as some," not all, "...as some of them committed, and fell in one day," how many, "...twenty-three thousand." Oh, you see, they jump on that, see, and they say, well, the Bible says in one place three thousand, and then the New Testament says twenty-three thousand. Well, now come back with me to Exodus, and I can explain that. Exodus, again, where we just left off in chapter 32, where Moses now intercedes on behalf of the people. And in verse 30, "...it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up unto the Lord, for adventure I shall make, an atonement," or a covering—now the word atonement, we're going to cover that in the next week or two—for your sin. "...And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, O this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now," God—Moses speaking to God, "...if thou wilt forgive their sin." And then what have you got? You've got a blank, see? Oh, he couldn't even imagine, see? He couldn't imagine how that God would forgive such gross sin. And so the sentence isn't even finished. And he says, "...if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore, now go, lead the people to the place which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, my angel," now here it is again, "...my angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord," what's the next word? "...plagued the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made." Now, in that one verse, what do you pick up? Well, you pick up the 20,000 that is seemingly a contradiction. 3,000 are listed up here earlier. Then the Scripture merely says, He plagued them. And Paul fills it in then in Corinthians by saying that it was 23,000 rather than just the 3,000. All right, now I'd like to have you come on over to chapter 35. Now again, for those of you watching on television, I'm trying to move along as speedily as I can. I know so many of you are getting anxious for prophecy, and yet I don't want to skip too much so that we lose the flow here as we come up through the book of Exodus. But now in chapter 35, Moses has now come down with the second tables of law, or the second stones with the commandments on them. And the Sabbath day is renewed again, and Israel is reminded of it. But now you come to chapter 35, verse 4, "...and Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart." Now this is more or less a repetition of what we read a week or two ago. Those who are willing, let him bring an offering of the Lord, gold, silver, brass, blue, purple, and so on and so forth. Verse 9, I'm just skipping now, "...anic stones, and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate." Verse 11, the tabernacle, its tent, its covering, its tashes, its boards, bars, pillars, and so forth. Verse 14, the candlestick also for the light, and the furniture, and the lamps, the incense for the altar, the stave, the anointing oil, and so on and so forth. All this material now is to be brought. Now verse 22, "...and they came." Now don't lose sight of the fact, what has just taken place? Oh, all these horrible events around that golden calf. But God has cleansed Israel. The remainder now have come, I think, to a place once again of fellowship, and they've been forgiven. Now verse 22, "...and now they came, both men and women, as many as were willing -hearted, and brought bracelets, earrings, rings, tablets, jewels of gold, and so forth. And every man with whom was found these various kinds of cloth, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goat's hair, red skins, and so forth, every one did offer an offering." Verse 25, now we're not going to leave the women out, "...all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands." See? Now a lot of people get the idea that God is a little bit partial toward men, especially in the Old Testament. Well, maybe in some areas He was, but God still used the women. And even in our New Testament, in the Age of Grace, I can remember back, oh, I guess when the feminist movement first began, I remember reading in one of our major newspapers how they were trying to get the Bible out of all of our universities. They didn't want a single copy of it in. And when one of them was asked by a reporter, well, why are you so intent on getting the Bible out of the universities? They didn't like the letters of Paul. That was all. If they could just get Paul out of the Bible, they could probably stomach it. But you know, I come back and I say, now look, anybody who has read that last chapter of the book of Romans could never accuse Paul of being anti-feminist. You go through that chapter, and he names woman after woman who was part and parcel of his ministry, who helped him in the ministry. So the Bible is not anti-feminist. In fact, if you stop to think about it, you know what was the greatest feminist movement that ever hit the human race? Christianity. Christianity. Now, amongst most of your pagan peoples, yes, the woman is still a second-class citizen. And even in our Middle East, the woman just does not have the same rights and privileges that we in the Western world normally think of. But anyway, even the women are involved here, and they're putting their spinning wheels and their needles to work. And then I'd like to have you come all the way up to verse 30 now. We're going to have to close this half hour. And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, and he, the Lord, hath filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in spiritual things? No. In what? Oh, in workmanship. See? Do you think God is not concerned with your daily life? Absolutely He is. From 24 hours a day, God is concerned with every facet of your life. Now, I know some people think that, Oh, we can't bother God with material things. Well, all He's interested in is the spiritual. Don't you believe it? God is interested in every facet of our lives, physical, material, as well as spiritual. All right, so He's filled with the knowledge of all manner of workmanship, to devise curious work in gold, silver, and brass. And then, verse 35, this just puts the frosting on the cake. All these men that He's been setting aside now to be craftsmen, He hath filled them with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work.