Tabernacle vs. Golden Calf

I read the article below recently and thought others might find the thoughts within it interesting. Patience has never been a great virtue of mine, so this is a good lesson.

Tabernacle vs. Golden Calf
Thought for the Week
We find it all too easy to go from being spiritually high to plummeting into sin and disobedience when the buzz wears off&mdashpand it always wears off. Part of the solution is to quit looking for spiritual buzzes. A traveler who is always charging up mountaintops and then sliding down into valleys will not get very far. If he wants to achieve real progress, he needs to stay on the level ridge routes, avoiding the peaks and the dips. We need to work on the simple, day-to-day disciplines of faith.

Commentary

Aaron said to them, "Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." (Exodus 32:2)
When we attempt to "do religion" without first consulting God's instructions, we end up with golden calves. The Torah tells the story of the golden calf in juxtaposition to the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle represents God's way of doing spirituality. The golden calf represents man's way of doing spirituality. God and Israel were both striving for the same end: they were each attempting to create a medium whereby Israel could worship God and celebrate their relationship with Him. Their methods of accomplishing that end were very different, though.

The golden calf was a poor substitute for the glory of the Tabernacle. The Torah tells about the work of making the golden calf to contrast it against the work of the Tabernacle.

Aaron did not know that God had chosen to make him the high priest over Israel. When the people asked him to make an idol for them, he took the role of priesthood himself. If he had waited for Moses to return, he would have learned that God had chosen to install him as a priest in the Tabernacle.

The people did not know that God had ordered them to raise a contribution of gold and precious materials for the building of the Tabernacle. If they had waited, Moses would have told them. Instead, Aaron told them to donate the gold of their jewelry for the idol.

The people were to fashion the furnishings of the Tabernacle of gold. Instead, Aaron fashioned the idol "with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf" (Exodus 32:4). The people were to build a bronze altar for burnt offerings and a golden altar for incense. Instead, we read that "he built an altar" (Exodus 32:5) for the idol. The people were to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar in the Tabernacle. Instead, we read that the people "offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings" (Exodus 32:6) to the idol. The Tabernacle was to be a resting place of God's divine, invisible presence. Instead, the people made a visible, idolatrous representation of God. All the things that Israel desired, God had already planned to give them.

A girl from a poor farmer's family was ready to be married. Her father promised to find a match for her. He set out for a distant city to find a suitable fellow. In his absence, she grew impatient. She was lonely, and she felt that she needed someone to provide for her. Rather than wait for her father to return, she married the crass and ignorant son of a local farmer. The day after the wedding, her father returned with the match he had found: a wealthy, handsome, and well-educated young noble. Imagine the girl's shame and disappointment.

Patience really is a virtue. It is always better to wait on God.

(FFOZ)

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Permalink Reply by ronald wayne copeland on March 11, 2009 at 7:58am

I just got through asking what was Arron's role in the golden calf? thank you for your insight Catherine

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Permalink Reply by Melanie Carroll on March 11, 2009 at 5:03pm

Hi,
Thanks for this, as an incredibly impatient person these types of stories always ring true to me. Human impatience is incredible but i think in some ways its part of our nature due to the realisation of how little time we have upon the earth and yet that amount of little time is also a consequence of our impatience - after all had we been better at waiting on the lord then we would have had a longer life span than we do! lol.
That aside though what really made me think on this passage was the way in which it compares Aaron's act against him being the high priest and choosing to act themselves etc
For me I always saw this as not just a disobedience act but also an ordained act as well (Sort of like if you accept the NT the way in which Judas is both betrayer and yet also fulfiller! after all had he not betrayed then would Jesus have been executed in such a way as to fulfill the prophecies and atonement?? ). God knew what was and would be done because in some ways the act of the first high priest falling down on the job like this is showing that no one is perfect and even the one who should best know is not without failure or temptation, just like first man, Adam, temptation for humankind seems almost impossible to ignore, we are weak and only God can give us the strength to resist and to be made pure and yet more often that not He does not, He leaves it to us to make our own mistakes, to fall down, and yet He seems time after time to forgive us - not without penalty or punishment and atonement, but nevertheless He allows us to come back before him and be forgiven and to be restored.
After all one would think that after the golden calf issue there was no way Aaron should have been allowed to remain a priest of any type and yet he does. Man sins, we atone, God forgives and we go on.
More importantly there is some sort of picture here, the one that makes the sin offering, the sin atonement for many is not sinless and must constantly be cleansed. One atonement and offering is rarely the end of the story rather it is a constantly repeating cycle that all must participate in and act upon. Bad choices are part of our nature and forgiveness is part of Gods nature - just as well for us I think.
I think that in some way Aaron failing in such a big was is in itself an important part of the story - man cannot be perfect, we lost that right a long time ago and to be too perfect is to try to go up against God - to make of ourselves gods and false idols! rather we should acknowledge always our less than perfect ways and that only God can bring us to anything approaching goodness and wholeness, and that it is only when we act along with God that we get anywhere,a cting alone is never enough and always recipe for disaster. I think this is the reason the High Priest had to fail, to be not perfect but to be human and to constantly return to God knowing he had failed. There is humility in a humbling act, and failure can often bring forth faith.
Ok well enough of my rambling, I hope this made some sort of sense and please anyone and everyone feel free to jump in and jump on me for this!

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Permalink Reply by Catherine on March 12, 2009 at 12:16am

Thanks for the reply Melanie. I agree with your thoughts. I think we are given a choice, but in full knowledge of our imperfect nature and wisdom, it's almost a for gone conclusion that we'll fall. Who hasn't? it's true we're so reliant on grace and forgiveness from God. it's a very humbling realization. It's too easy to look upon these events and feel that we would have done differently. But given the circumstances at the time who is to say we wouldn't all have acted in a similar fashion to Aaron. I guess the important thing is to keep striving to walk with God in Love.