Thesis: The story of the golden calf does not teach us about the types of idolatry that we often associate with paganism. The idolatry of Israel at this point in time needs to be contrasted with the texts regarding the tabernacle. By doing so, it can be understood that what Israel did was not an act of paganism, but in actuality yielded a much more offensive insult to Adonai.
- What do we think of when we think of paganism?
In today's English terminology, the concept of paganism has a couple of different connotations. First, there are people who are involved in the modern practice of wicca, or witchcraft, the sort that makes Harry Potter look rather tame. We find examples of this type of worship in various pockets around the US. In Haiti or Mexico, the practice of the witch doctors or "burjaria" is often a model of what we are talking about. In the vaguest of senses, the Masons and Ararat Shriners could also be classified into some sort of paganism. The basic notion in these occult practices is that they recognize some sort of a "Mother" or "Father" in their practices. The worship of their deity is often included with HaSatan and demons. A second sort of paganism is the sort that we think about when we think of ancestral worship. This type of paganism is exemplified by different religions that make shrines to the dead. The different forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and other Far Eastern religions do this. The ancestral worship is also associated with different Native American practices as well. In what is classified as the "Classic era" of world civilizations, the Romans, the Greeks, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Canaanites, and many others has worshipped some sort of a polytheistic realm of deities. This sort of polytheism has evolved in many ways into something else. In reality, these polytheistic religions have mostly faded from existence. However, many of the practices have syncretized into different practices that appear in other religious faiths, including Judaism and Christianity. It must be noted that Buddhism and Hinduism are classified as "monistic" and are not to be confused with "polytheistic" religions. However, it is unimportant for the purpose of this article to make the distinction between those who believe that there are realms of deities that we answer to, or if the whole universe is itself the deity, and all of nature including us are one with the deity. The point is that these "theologies" are a rejection of the reality that "the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is One."
Now, if the G-d of Heaven, the G-d of Israel, is the Creator of all things, how was it that all of the different culture and religious groups in the world came to a conclusion that there were other gods to be worshipped? Remember back to Genesis. Many things occurred, even at the beginning of the story of humanity, which led people away from G-d's presence. From Adam's fall to Cain's exile from the rest of humanity, mankind has been moving in a direction away from G-d.
Here is one historically speculative example; however it exemplifies how paganism evolves over time: Most people are familiar with the three Great Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt. Actually, there is one Great Pyramid, and two lesser Pyramids. In secular studies, these pyramids were built by King Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt around 2100-2000 BCE. This took place a number of years after the building of the Tower of Babel, which is dated to around 2250 BCE. Now, the name "Egypt" in Hebrew is "Mitzraim." The father of Mitzraim was Ham. Mitzraim had a brother named "Cush." We often associate "Cush" with Ethiopia; however, it would be a fallacy to associate any of these ancient names with the modern societies and cultures which carry the same name. Remember also, during the age of Noah and his sons, people often lived several hundred years. At some point, Ham, Mitzraim, and Cush all die.
One of the religious (non-secular) theories about these pyramids is that one of the later kings might have been paying homage to their great patriarch, Ham. (This would not be the name found in hieroglyphics because the names in the Bible were given in Hebrew, and the ancient Egyptian language would not necessarily sound anything like its transliteration.)
In any case, when the patriarchs died, the people who remembered them, i.e. their family, would have mourned them. They might have even made yearly pilgrimages to visit their dead relative, even to contact his spirit in some way involving sorcery. Over time, the name of the patriarch becomes associated with another name, such as Ra. This ancestor is said to be watching over them from the heavens. In fact, perhaps this patriarch is the one who provides the sun, and moon, etc. It is their grandfather who is in fact a diety. Thus is born a new pagan religion. It is necessary to note that the people were not intentionally disregarding the One True G-d, it is just that their natural tendency to worship one they knew, a relative who has passed, was stronger than their knowledge of G-d.
In most of the ancient priest-based religious systems, the religious leader holds a great deal of political power. For example, in the story of the Exodus, Pharaoh was thought to be a god in his own rights. He was above the priests only because he himself could control the heavens. With this type of socio-religious system, people had to accept the pharaoh-is-god scenario in order to function within the society. If someone rejected Pharaoh as the deity of Egypt, imagine how difficult it might have been to own a business, to farm the fields, to trade goods, etc. Being religious was just a means to an end, their end being survival.
Does any of this sound different than our religious systems today? In many ways, Christianity resembles many pagan religious systems simply because the power structure that exists does not affect the worship of G-d, nor the people who are seeking G-d. Rather, the religious system in some way benefits a political structure, most frequently where the religious leader/priest is overly elevated above the people. Mainstream Jewish and Messianic Jewish circles are not exempt from this type of religious downfall into paganism.
Having explained what paganism looks like, both in the ancient and the modern sense, the question can be asked, was the Biblical account of the building of the golden calf similar to lapsing into paganism (or idolatry)?
- What the Biblical text says about the incident with the golden calf
In order to establish the context of the fall of Israel at the sin of the golden calf in Exodus 32, one must first remember the experiences of Israel in Exodus 19 and 20. In Exodus 19, Israel had "seen" and come to "know" G-d. Each Israelite could have easily remembered the experience of the great thundering, the shofar-like blasts, the voice from heaven, and the physical and spiritual presence of G-d. Unlike any other generation on Earth, the Israelites experienced G-d in a unique way. Furthermore, in Exodus 20, each of the Israelites heard G-d say each of these commandments. In response, the Israelites say, "all that G-d says, we will do." At some point, the Israelites negotiate with G-d about their process of negotiation. The people were afraid that if they continued to hear G-d directly, they would die. So, they agree to allow Moses to mediate between G-d and Israel. This is highly relevant to the story of the golden calf, since its building was instituted not because of the removal of G-d's presence, but because of the lapse of time regarding Moses' being on the mountain.
This brings us to the text. The story could be summarized like this: The people felt that had waited too long for Moses. Some of the people ask for gods that can lead them. Aaron acquiesces and asks people to give them their gold rings that belonged to the women and children. (Imagine that Aaron was asking them to remove wedding bands and special jewelry given to children in order to make this idol. The purpose was to cause the Israelites to think again.) Yet, the people brought this gold quickly.
Seeing that the people were determined, Aaron again acquiesces, and forms the golden calf. The Midrash explains that Aaron's intentions were to make something unrecognizable, yet because of those from Egypt who had been practiced in sorcery, through demonic means they caused a calf to come out. Or, perhaps Aaron formed the calf because the first letter of the Hebrew alef-bet is alef. The shortest spelling of G-d's name, Adonai, begins with alef. Thus, by creating a calf, Aaron is reminding the Israelites that G-d is their God. Certainly this is a poor excuse; however, it is clear that Aaron is never held accountable for the act of creating this calf. In can be concluded that Aaron's intentions were to delay the people's intent on this style of false worship, but he alone was not wise enough to stop the people from their evil desire.
Once the golden calf is made, the text says that they offered elevation-offerings and peace-offerings. This is significant. There are no pagan practice that includes these kinds of offerings. To be more specific, the purposes of the elevation-offering (the olah) and peace-offering (Shlamim) were to bring Israel close to G-d and to worship Him. Both of these offerings were free-will offerings, and not required offerings for a sin. The odd part of this Scripture is that somehow, this causes the people to revel (L'tzachaikh). In Hebrew, one might make the connection between Isaac's name (Yitzchakh) and this term, which both come from the same root. Both the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon and the sages agree that this term is used to imply idolatry, adultery/fornication, and perhaps murdering. The plain meaning here is absurd, but we have to work this out: The people were in a lewd way in order to worship the L-rd. This whole scene is outside of most Christian and Jew's understanding. As a result of this event, we are not used to thinking in these terms, but these people thought that their worship would somehow be accepted and be pleasing to G-d. It is NOT what we think of when we think of paganism, nor is it what we think of when we properly worship Adonai. The idolatry at the golden calf was NOT that they were worshipping a FALSE god, but rather, they were worshipping The G-d in a FALSE way. Read the rest of this passage, and it is clear that G-d was NOT pleased with this manner of worship.
- What is the application for us today?
G-d is often NOT pleased with how we worship Him. Clearly, we cannot recreate the tabernacle nor the Temple out of mere desire to do so. Nor can we worship the Messiah Yeshua at the Temple or in Jerusalem. This is because there is no Temple, and Jerusalem is not under the control of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
Consider how churches or synagogues go about worship today. Perhaps there are songs. Perhaps there is a sermon. Perhaps there are liturgical prayers, both from Scripture or man-made prayers that have survived the ages. There is nothing wrong per se with these acts of worship. At the same time, G-d never prescribed them in the Scriptures either, at least in regards to format of a worship service. Does simply attending a weekly service qualify as an act of worship of the Almighty, especially if no other part of our week exemplifies our worship of G-d? Or perhaps the worship service we attend was designed to glorify the actors on a stage, perhaps a choir, or band, or the cantor, or the preacher, or the priest, or the rabbi? The worship service is merely a show that allows the actor(s) to be on a stage. Some churches or synagogues are simply a place with a particular political persuasion, and G-d is not even mentioned. Whatever the case may be, G-d has prescribed in Torah the kind of worship that He desires. The Israelites had tired of waiting for Moses, they wanted something now. But G-d always desires patience, and when those who worship Him "jump the gun" so to speak with what G-d wants, they often find ourselves in a situation like the Israelites, just doing whatever feels right at the moment, without regards to what G-d is asking. As we see in the Exodus 32 passage, this may have consequences greater than what people may think.
The reason that this golden calf incident is book-ended between the giving of the instructions of the tabernacle and the actually building of the tabernacle is because G-d wants it to be clear that He has established a prescribed way of being worshipped. Now, in defense of many churches and synagogues, G-d is willing to have fellowship with His people, even when they do lapse into brining man-made forms of worship into His presence. Many elements in the synagogue/church worship style, including singing, praying, playing musical instruments, and other actions were all things that were done in the Temple. So, if a person has a place he/she enjoys worshipping, certainly this is something G-d desires. However, if the worship is lifeless or too chaotic, it is likely that the people have lapsed into their own calf-like idolatry.
In conclusion, the story of the golden calf needs to cause us to consider our worship experiences. Is the place where you attend dry and lifeless? Or, is it too chaotic in which people seem to be reveling? One must be very careful not to be persuaded by some who say, "I heard G-d tell me…." Or, "The Spirit was talking to my spirit today…" And the classic, "...Thus saith the L-rd…" Be wise, and do not follow these groups. When G-d brings about His judgment upon these groups, as He does often and frequently, one does not want to be involved in that process. It is usually messy and heart-breaking for families and friends. Not only this, but also it seems wise to investigate carefully any Messianic/Jewish roots groups as well. Sometimes, one's zealousness for Torah reaches beyond what G-d has ever asked, and then individuals or small groups of people lapse into legalism regarding Torah. These groups go beyond what Torah says in order to force everyone into the same belief system and practical system, with very little acceptance of people who have differing interpretations. These, too, one must be aware of. Yeshua said it best when He warned about wolves coming around in sheep's clothing. Be careful, be wise, and always pray!