000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

100 Proper 23 [28]/Year A
Moses has been on the mountain a long time; his return was “delayed”
(v. 1), and having no one to “go before” them, they take matters into their
own hands, whereas the initiative in the exodus story had been from
YHWH. In their fear they demand of Aaron “make gods for us, who shall
go before us; as for this Moses . . . we do not know what has become of
him” (v. 1). They ask Aaron to make an image, forbidden by Exodus 20:4
because the personal, interactive God cannot be replaced by an impersonal,
impassible object.
“Go before” elsewhere in Exodus is used only of YHWH or Moses
(e.g., 14:19; 23:23). Now the people seek a god made by human hands to
go before them. They do not request a “calf”; but this is what Aaron fashions
from the gold that he collects. The calf (or bull) served in the ancient
world as a symbol of fertility and military power. Because of the fertility
connections, their celebration (v. 6) has often been interpreted as a sexual
orgy. But “burnt offerings and . . . sacrifices of well-being,” eating, drinking,
and being joyous, are all proper activities in the worship of YHWH.
The only matter that is not is the calf, which is important in today’s story
for protection against feared attacks. The people want something to stand
in the place of the absent Moses and the absent God (since Moses had represented
God’s presence, Moses’ absence represents God’s presumed
absence). They failed to trust God and they put their trust in something
that they could manipulate—an image.
It is a sign of YHWH’s relationality and vulnerability, that YHWH’s
“wrath” (v. 10) burns hot against the people for so quickly (v. 8) turning
away from the obedience they had promised (Exod. 24:7). When we feel
anger at our children for their self-destructive behavior, it is only because
we care very deeply; we should appreciate that God does, too.
God says to Moses: “Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot
against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great
nation” (v. 10). God proposes displacing the people Israel and replacing
them with another people! Christians will later take up the displacement/
replacement theme and claim that this is precisely what God has done in
Christ: replace sinful Israel with the obedient church (Barnabas, Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Augustine, and Chrysostom among many
others persistently rang the changes on supersessionism).
What far too many Christians rejoiced in, Moses rejected. He intercedes
with God on behalf of the people: “Turn from your fierce wrath;
change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people” (v. 12). Moses
makes three arguments with God. First, he points out that God has just
brought Israel out of Egypt (v. 11); what kind of sense does it make to fol-