When Moses was up at Mount Sinai talking with God people of Israel approached Aaron and got him to build a golden calf for them to worship as god. What we can learn from their behaviour?
I find the whole writing about Israelites’ time in the wilderness fascinating and you can read another post related to that part of the Bible here.
In their story, I can see patterns of human behaviour still relevant today; I can see my own shortfalls and I learn so much from it. There is so much learning in the whole book of Exodus, but it was particularly this Bible ‘story’ in Exodus 32 that made me think.
It talks about the time when the Israelites had already been in the desert for a while. They saw the glory of God. What’s more, they even promised to serve Him wholeheartedly. Yet, the moment Moses left them to their own devices, they went off track and did some rather stupid things.
Let’s see what happened prior to the golden calf incident.
In chapter 14, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea which God miraculously parted for them to do so. It was their mountain top experience, albeit deep in the sea, and so they praised God. Led by Moses’ sister Miriam, they sang this beautiful Song of Deliverance as written down in chapter 15. Verses 11-13 say:
““Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—
glorious in holiness,
awesome in splendour,
performing great wonders?
You raised your right hand,
and the earth swallowed our enemies.“With your unfailing love you lead
Exodus 15:11-13 NLT
the people you have redeemed.
In your might, you guide them
to your sacred home.”
They sang those lyrics but a shortly after, they built a golden calf and completely disobeyed the God ‘glorious in holiness’.
Before we rush to judge them though, let’s think how many times we praised God for something, only to choose our own way a short while later.
Not long after that, the Israelites grumbled that they didn’t have anything to eat and that they were better off in Egypt. Really?! God gave them manna from heaven, but some of them even then disobeyed His command and gathered more than they needed.
Later, they saw God giving them water from the rock in front of their very eyes. God even revealed himself to them on Mount Sinai before giving them 10 commandments (chapter 19 &20) and they promised to obey God through obeying Moses. You would’ve hoped that they knew better by then, but they didn’t.
So when Moses went up the mountain to meet with God, the Israelites asked Aaron to build them a golden calf to worship. And Aaron didn’t need to be asked twice.
There are some obvious learnings here about keeping your promises, not disobeying God and trusting Him more, but what else can we as individuals and as leaders learn from this?
1. Patience
Verse 1a says: “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron.”
We don’t know how long Moses was up on the mountain, but however long it was, they already knew him (or should’ve known him) as a trustworthy leader) and should’ve waited for his return. They knew he went to meet with God and not to do some mischief.
And so should we. We pray for something and want to see an instant answer, but God is God and not a magician. Patience is related to how much we (REALLY) trust God and how much we think He is really good regardless of what we see. If you’re impatient with God today, take a look at what’s beneath the surface.
2. Building relationship with your people as a leader
Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt – even though he first had to flee to the desert for killing an Egyptian he eventually ‘rose to fame’ as the one who freed Israel from slavery. God used him to split the Red Sea and to do other miracles that followed. The Israelites saw big things he did, but did they see the everyday work he put into his relationship with God? I’m not sure.
It looks like Moses’ relationship with the people he led was built upon big events. Yes, people brought everyday things to him (chapter 18), but he acted more as judge than a wise advisor, so I would risk a statement that he hadn’t built enough trust and connection with his people for them to trust him when he wasn’t there.
3. They didn’t trust him
And we see that that’s important because connection builds trust. And clearly, the Israelites didn’t trust Moses as they should. Despite everything that God did for them through Moses and despite his leadership so far, they didn’t trust him. Look at how they called Moses – ‘a fellow’. That’s not exactly how you call your leader.
Quite a few times before this occasion they grumbled against Moses and told him they would be better off in Egypt, which we all know wasn’t true.
We’ll never see a full picture of our leaders. There will be things they do that we don’t see, but that’s not an excuse to mistrust and disrespect them. Take time today to think about your leader as a human and how things look from their perspective.
4. Develop people around you
When Moses was out of sight there was no one around to keep the Israelites in check. Aaron wasn’t as strong or as committed to God, or as mature as his brother and so the moment, the people asked him to do the wrong thing, he did it.
He didn’t even hesitate. He listened to the voice of people only and didn’t weight it against his knowledge and faith in God. As a result, people disobeyed God, made Moses angry and attracted punishment on themselves. Aaron was close to Moses – he surely knew God’s intentions towards his people, but not enough to resist the pressure from people in a moment when they felt unsure and bored.
The trait of good leader is that he or she doesn’t rely only on their own leadership but disperse the power and build up those who will come after them. They also develop all the people, so they’re not only relying on the leadership, but can also think and make decisions for themselves. And you not only build the person who will come immediately after you, but the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th and so on.
Otherwise, you end up with your people worshipping the wrong God.
5. Be prepared to lead
Leadership ain’t for the faint hearted.
When you are in any way leading a group of people, they will come up with their own ideas – not always good ones. You need to listen to them and respect them but not blindly follow what they say. Weighing it up against your knowledge and external circumstances is key to making wise decisions which will be beneficial in a long-run too.
People might not like your decisions, so you need to be confident you’re making the right ones based on the information you’ve got at that moment. You might still make mistakes, but you’ll know you weighed up all the factors.
In the long run, people will appreciate that and grow to trust you.
6. We need good leaders
We need good and godly leaders – in good times and in bad times, but especially when we lack direction, feel insecure or unsure about the future, like Israelites felt when Moses went up on the mountain.
Leaders might not always have a particular role; they often are leaders for the leadership’s sake. Because they have what it takes to lead. As people following a leader, we need to listen to what they say and challenge it but from a position of trust, not for the challenge’s sake. It is a tough job to be leader and they need our support.
When we’ve got good leaders, we need to cherish them because they’ll set us the direction, keep us motivated and will stop us from doing stupid things like building a golden calf.
On the flipside, as leaders we need to lead from a place of care for and trust in our people. We need openness, honesty and connection to develop the right type of relationships with them.
There are so many valuable lessons to learn in here. Is there any particular thing that jumped out at you from the golden calf ‘story’ and/or from my thoughts?
Take your time to think about these things and share what you feel comfortable with in the comments.
Good Good Life 
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