Golden Calf (part 1)

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go quickly, descend, because your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them---they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.’” – Exodus 32:7-8 NET

Without question, this was a problem. As if it is not bad enough that God has taken to referring to Israel as “Moses’ people,” rather than His own people (your people, whom you brought up…), the Lord goes on to say, “I have seen this people. Look what a stiff-necked people they are! So now, leave Me alone so that My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation” (32:9-10). To this, Moses responded with intercession on behalf of the people of God, appealing to His faithfulness to the covenant that was begun with Abraham, and by extension, to His faithfulness to carry out, through Israel, His intended purposes of the blessing of all peoples and the creation through this particular people. So the Lord relents.

So why was God’s response so harsh? Why did He threaten to destroy Israel for this transgression? Was it simply because of the timing? Was God extra-exasperated with His people, seeing as how He had just delivered them from Egypt, brought them across parted waters, destroyed an army on their behalf, provided them food and water by miraculous means, and given them a law that said that they were specifically not to make any graven images or worship any other gods (though they had apparently not yet received the law from the hand of Moses at this point)? Is that the reason for the strong reaction? Undoubtedly, these were contributing factors, but it seems possible that there was something more.

To make an attempt at an exploration of that “something more,” we turn to the book of Numbers, where we meet up with a prophet by the name of Balaam. Balaam, of course, is most famous for the incident involving the talking donkey, but there is more to his story, with a possible, though tenuous connection that will enable us to better understand God’s altogether dire response to Israel’s worship of a golden calf. To provide some background to the story of Balaam, we find Israel camped in the plains of Moab (Numbers 22:1). Balak, the king of Moab, along with the Moabites, is fearful of Israel, so he sends messengers to Balaam, who is obviously a well-respected prophet (who consistently invokes the name of “The Lord,” which is the Name by which Israel knows their God), and says to him: “Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are settling next to me. So now, please come and curse this nation for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them and drive them out of this land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed” (22:5b-6). Though it is unrelated to this study, it is interesting that Balak uses language similar to the Abrahamic covenant (Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name-Genesis 12:2-3), in his communication to Balaam. This should not come as a complete surprise, as the Moabites were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, would have been well aware of the Abrahamic covenant, might very well have thought themselves to have had something of a share in that covenant, and so use language that potentially expresses a claim on that covenant.

At first, Balaam refuses to come to Balak, God having said to him, utilizing similar covenant-oriented language, “You must not go with them; you must not curse the people, for they are blessed” (22:12). Eventually, having been continually pressed by Balak’s servants, Balaam receives a different word from the Lord, and agrees to go with them, though he does not agree to curse Israel. Rather, upon meeting up with Balak, he agrees that “whatever He (the Lord) reveals to me I will tell you” (23:3b). We will not review the entirety of what Balaam had to say about Israel, but rather focus on two statements from this second and third (of four) of his prophecies. In the course of the second prophecy, Balaam said of Israel that “God brought them out of Egypt. They have, as it were, the strength of a wild bull” (23:22). In the course of the third, he repeats this and says, “God brought them out of Egypt. They have, as it were, the strength of a young bull” (24:8a). These two pronouncements may help to shed some light on God’s volatile and angry response to the golden calf at Mount Sinai.