Please read again Exodus 32-34. How do the main stories here (the Gold Calf story and Moses in the "cleft of the rock" tie in to the theme of Exodus as part of one of the finest of all law codes and something more than just a law code? What does the writer here suggest about the way religious worship is tied to questions of law and justice? What's attractive about Golden Calf worship? Why is it a danger to building a just society?
People always want something to worship and when they thought Moses hadn't come down from they mountain they demanded SOMETHING. Aaron produces the Golden Calf and the Israelites were then comforted because there was an object they could see and feel to worship. The Golden Calf is very attractive because it gave the Israelites a religious relic they could base their faith around. I think it's sometimes easier to believe and maintain your faith through trying times when you have a reminder or an object to help pull you through. Things become fishy when you start actually worshipping the object rather than using it to be closer to God. Completely eliminating religious images or icons makes some amount of sense to me so you don't become wrapped around the object/image, preventing 'Golden Calf' idol worshipping-type events from happening.
ReplyDeleteIt seems pretty clear why this section is considered law. Aaron tried to make his own religion, in which he was the head of. This seems like a way to gain power. Also the golden calf was very expensive and required a great deal of gold to make. This is viewed as an unnecessary expense for a useless and maybe even troublesome gain. The ten commandments are obviously strait forward rules in a law book, but the calf worship serves as an example. Finally this illustrates that even someone as powerful as Aaron and the brother to Moses is not above the law.
ReplyDeleteThis is again some pretty powerful law code. Straight from the hand of God we get the 10 commandments. Although the those actual laws aren't revealed right then, others were. The worship of false idles is dealt with swiftly and harshly. I like the excuse of the people that “it wasn't a new God, just a physical representation of God. Here though we are reinforcing the idea that no human can see the face of God. We're only in chapter two and God is yet again threatening to destroy anyone who doesn't follow his rules exactly. I found it curious that it didn't take much convincing from Moses to ward of God. A simple “hey, I know these people, these generally good people, and after all that work you did delivering them from Egypt you want to destroy them??” And it's like Gods response is “you got a good point...like why did I think of that?”
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