My daily Bible reading for the past few days has been in Exodus. So I’ve read about the Israelites being held captive in Egypt; the miraculous story of Moses’ birth and rescue – being raised in the opulence of Pharaoh’s home with all the benefits of the wealth and outstanding education; Moses then as an adult fleeing Egypt and eventually his very personal encounter with God when he’s called to go back to Egypt and deliver the Israelites. The story progresses with Moses going back to Egypt, dealing with many difficulties but seeing God’s hand at work and the eventual release of the Israelites – all with the help of his brother Aaron.
From there Moses deals with some of the most unbelievable, ungrateful behavior by the Israelites that you can imagine – considering their deliverance and all that they’ve witnessed. Because of their behavior and unbelief they’re forced to wander around in a desert, yet God continues to do wonderful miracles for them. Then the Lord called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai and Aaron was instructed to go with him.
When Moses went up onto the mountain God began to lay out the litany of commandments and rules and regulations that the Israelites were expected to obey. Exodus 20:22-23 NLT – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven. Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me.’”
In Exodus 23 God continues to assure them that His presence will be with them on their journey. In chapter 24 Moses presents all the instructions given to him by God to the Israelites and in verse 7 (NLT) it says: “Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, ‘We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.’” Later in this chapter God tells Moses to come up to the mountain again and He will give Him the commandments on tablets of stone. Once again Aaron (along with a large number of other elders) went with him, but at some point they were instructed to wait as Moses climbed higher. Verses 15-18 (NLT): “Then Moses climbed up the mountain, and the cloud covered it. And the glory of the Lord settled down on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire. Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”
While there, God presented more information, including very detailed instructions on the tabernacle that they were to construct – then presented him with the stone tablets on which He had inscribed the Ten Commandments. But while Moses is immersed in the wondrous glory of God, there’s trouble brewing back in the camp.
Exodus 32:1-6 (NLT): “When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. ‘Come on,’ they said, ‘make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ So Aaron said, ‘Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.’ All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, ‘O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, ‘Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!’ The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
WHAT was he thinking? Aaron had been with Moses from the very beginning of this whole long journey. He assisted Moses as God performed wondrous miracles over and over again. He had been called up on the mountain with Moses – not once but twice. Yet when the Israelites – obviously forgetting their pledge to do everything the Lord had commanded and to obey – grew restless and started asking for a “god” to lead them, Aaron had them bring gold and he himself formed a golden calf and called for a celebration that ended up in disgusting sinfulness. What would cause a man in his position of power and influence to bend to such behavior? He seemed to have been very easily influenced to go along with their ridiculous desires. Maybe he had grown jealous of Moses and his position and relationship with God – of basically playing 2nd fiddle. Maybe his pride told him to inflate his own worth and power to the people – to show them that he too was someone to be reckoned with – maybe to replace Moses in the lead role. We can only guess what his motivation was.
But then it’s shocking how easily he blatantly lied to Moses about how the golden calf came into existence (read Exodus 32:22-24.) I’m really amazed that God didn’t just strike him dead right there in front of everyone! Although Aaron seems to have escaped the wrath of God, some of the people paid the price.
In the commentary for today’s reading it said this: “God reiterates the need for wholehearted devotion, declaring that He is jealous about His relationship with Israel.” In Exodus 34:14 (ERV) God declares again: “‘Don’t worship any other god. I am Yahweh Kanah – the jealous Lord. That is my name. I hate for my people to worship other gods.’”
The impact of this idea of God being jealous was even stronger when I read my devotional for the day. The verse that went with the reading was that very verse – Exodus 34:14. So it got my attention as it always does when the same idea/topic comes up more than once in a short time. This devotion was once again a direct word spoken by God to the writer – Chris Tiegreen. I want to share a portion of what he had to say: “‘You need to know how I feel about you. You need to understand this jealous love I hold in My heart for you. If you don’t, you will receive My words of correction as rebuke rather than as an invitation to come closer. You will receive My words of anger as a statement against you personally rather than as a statement against the things in your life that interfere with our relationship. You will think I’m driving you away when I’m actually removing from your life all that hinders and hurts you … .You need to cling to the fact that everything I say to you comes from a heart of deep, intense love. Then you will hear without being offended or hurt. And you will see how everything I say draws you closer to Me.’”
This was a WOW moment for me as I read those words. It caused me to rethink things that have happened to me that seem to be a major rebuke from God and how at times it has felt as though He was speaking something against me. I never considered that He was simply inviting me to come closer to Him and how my words and actions were causing so much interference in my relationship with Him. It makes me want to focus deeply on these comments: “‘You need to cling to the fact that everything I say to you comes from a heart of deep, intense love. Then you will hear without being offended or hurt. And you will see how everything I say draws you closer to Me.’”
As I strive this year to increase my ability for “Hearing His Voice” – I need to remember that His jealousy is not going to be expressed in a way that is hurtful – that it will be done in a way to draw me nearer to Him and His love and to help remove the hindrances and hurts.
Please Lord, don’t ever allow me be like an Aaron – where my envy or pride or anything else causes me to do anything that would cause you to look at me and say: WHAT was she thinking??
Written by Karran Martin – February 11, 2025
[All bold emphasis is mine]
The devotional book written by Chris Tiegreen from which I quoted is titled: “Hearing His Voice”
Karran's Korner 