32:1
Moses had faith in God, along with many faults, but he was genuinely committed to the Lord. Aaron and most of the people were not. Most of the people had just gone along with things, “going with the flow”. As soon as Moses went away they fell away. Moses had gone to see the Lord (not permanently!), and had told the people what was happening, Aaron and others certainly knew what was happening. The people saw Moses as the man who brought them out of Egypt. We can make the same mistake with pastors, ministers, evangelists etc. What matters is what God is doing. We should respect and honour the people through whom He works, for their task will almost always involve much hard work and suffering, but our faith must be in the Lord Himself. The people had little or no understanding. The people wanted “gods” that they could see, so they wanted Aaron to make an idol for them. Remember that in the ten commandments the people are explicitly told not to make a graven image of God.
32:2
Aaron did know what was happening with Moses, yet he offered no resistance to the people’s rebellion. It is not the job of a leader to go along with whatever the people want. Sadly this is what many church leaders do, going along with either the people in the church, or society at large. We are to serve the people, but we are to serve as God’s servants. We are to lead the people in the ways of God, not the ways of the world. Instead, Aaron tells the people to take off their gold rings. This probably included a lot of the jewellry that the Egyptians had given to them when they left.
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