1And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
(Exodus 32:1–5)
In the Bible, in the book of Exodus, we can read how God delivered the Israelites from Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai. The people were able to witness and experience the mighty manifestations of God’s power and glory during the Exodus, and subsequently participated in the event of God’s glory descending upon Mount Sinai. God chose to reveal Himself to the people, accompanied by thunderous claps, flashes of lightning and the very loud blasts of trumpets – though shrouded in a cloud, because we humans cannot behold God’s true glory, for it is deadly. At that encounter, God gave them His promises and the Law, and entered into a covenant with the people. The people, however, were so overwhelmed by all these manifestations that they were not keen on a repeat.
18And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
(Exodus 20:18–19)
At that moment, Moses was appointed as a sort of intermediary between God and the people. From then on, Moses would speak directly with God, and the people would listen to Moses rather than directly to God. In Deuteronomy 18, we read that God agrees to this.
15The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16according to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
(Deuteronomy 18:15–19)
At this point, God makes a promise the people that in the future a Prophet will arise who will indeed speak directly to the people, and according to Peter and Stephen, this future Prophet is Jesus Christ (see Acts 3:22 and 7:37). When Moses subsequently remains with God on the mountain for forty days, it becomes apparent that, in such circumstances, the people are no longer able to wait; they suspect that Moses has disappeared for good and believe they must seek out something or someone who will apparently take over Moses’ role as an intermediary. The only frame of reference they have is their years-long stay in Egypt, where they were regularly confronted with the bull god Apis and the cow goddess Hathor; they therefore decide that a golden calf must be made to stand, as it were, between the people and God. It does not appear to be the people’s intention to replace the LORD with Egyptian gods, but rather to use this golden image as a substitute for Moses.
… To morrow is a feast to the LORD
(Exodus 32:5b)
The people apparently chose, to the best of their knowledge, a form they found suitable for serving the LORD; they drew upon what they had learnt from Egyptian religious practice.
Years later, immediately following Solomon’s reign, we see the same phenomenon occur again. Jeroboam had become king over the house of Israel, which had broken away from the royal house of David. When Jeroboam was confronted with the idea that the people must journey to Jerusalem to appear before God during the festivals, he too devised an alternative.
26And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan.
(1 Kings 12:26–29)
The temple service instituted by Moses functioned as a sort of intermediate step, enabling the people to encounter God in an environment that was ‘safe’ for them; it thus served as a kind of intermediary in place of Moses, who, in his capacity as a human being, could naturally not play a permanent role, having ultimately died.
From then on, the people had to make do with the laws written by Moses and the service established by him around the Tabernacle, which was later, in the time of David and Solomon, replaced by the temple service in Jerusalem. Jeroboam feared that if the people were to set out for Jerusalem, they would then return under the guardianship of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and David. He devised a plan to stop them setting out, convincing the people that they could also meet the LORD at the golden calves in Dan and Bethel.
4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…
(Exodus 20:4–5a)
The use of physical objects of any kind would have turned God into a caricature; nothing that this creation has produced can represent the majesty of the Creator. The image we have of God only becomes smaller, depending on what we can imagine; we then, as it were, become the creators of God. Only the temple service was permitted to function as a kind of reflection, to elevate our understanding of who God is to a higher level. The Epistle to the Hebrews devotes considerable attention to this subject.
5who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
(Hebrews 8:5)
Under the Old Covenant, Moses’ Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem were regarded as the dwelling place of God; in both cases, at the time of their consecration, the glory of God had descended and filled the Tabernacle and, later, the Temple (see Exodus 40:34 and 2 Chronicles 7:1)Once you understand that, under the New Covenant, the temple or house of God is not a physical building, but Jesus Christ Himself is the temple, and that the church of Jesus Christ can therefore be regarded as the temple or house of God, it should be clear that, on the mountain, Moses was granted a glimpse into the spiritual reality of God. There, he saw Jesus and was commissioned to construct the Tabernacle and all its associated ceremonial practices in order to represent the Son of God. For clarity’s sake, here are a few more passages.
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
(John 2:19–22)
15But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
(1 Timothy 3:15)
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
(1 Corinthians 3:16)
To replace Moses and, later, the temple in Jerusalem with a golden calf was therefore expressly rejected by God and ultimately led to the termination of the covenant and the various exiles that accompanied it. Physical images and objects are evidently incapable of serving as a reflection or shadow; only Jesus can reveal who God is.
…he that hath seen Me(Jesus) hath seen the Father…
(John 14:9)
15Who(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature…
(Colossians 1:15)
Turning to our present time, it is clear that our focus should be on Jesus alone. Whatever is devised that might serve as a focal point apart from Jesus is comparable to creating a golden calf—and is therefore a breach of the second commandment.
2looking unto Jesus (alone) the author and finisher of our faith…
(Hebrews 12:2a)
Ever since John Nelson Darby put forward his dispensationalist views in the mid-nineteenth century—a view aided in the early twentieth century by the so-called Scofield Reference Bible, which had incorporated this doctrine into its commentary, along with the teaching of the rapture of the Church—a distinction has been drawn between Israel on the one hand and the Church on the other. Added to this is the whole narrative surrounding the Second World War and, connected to that, the establishment of the State of Israel; for many, this has resulted in a shift in focus from ‘Jesus alone’ to Jesus and Israel, and the entire field of eschatology – that is, the doctrine of the end times – has come to centre on the Middle East and Israel. Among a great many Christians of Evangelical and Reformed persuasion, it is evident that there has been a noticeable shift in focus; all eyes seem to be fixed on that small country in the Middle East, and the entire outlook for the future hinges on it. The consequence is that a blind eye is turned when it comes to matters that would be utterly unacceptable were we ourselves to be guilty of them. Our colonial behaviour may have brought some good here and there, but it has caused a great deal of harm to the indigenous populations in the colonised territories. Appropriating another’s territory and property is called theft; the oppression of the local population, accompanied by murder and manslaughter, is a violation of the sixth commandment:
13Thou shalt not kill.
14Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15Thou shalt not steal.
16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
(Exodus 20:13–17)
These are a few commandments that come directly from the mouth of God and were written by the finger of God Himself on stone tablets; these commandments are universally applicable and have even become part of universal human rights. They apply not only for the people of Israel of that time, but also for humanity as a whole – and thus specifically for us Christians as well; naturally, this also applies to the modern State of Israel. Reference is then made to other biblical passages that justify the behaviour of Israel and the IDF. The land is said to belong to the Jews, this would mean that they have the right to take ownership of the land, with all the disastrous consequences that entails for the local population who have lived there for centuries.
32who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
(Romans 1:32)
By shifting the focus from ‘Jesus alone’ to Israel – and perhaps including a little bit of Jesus as well – people within the circles mentioned very often turn a blind eye. Christians, in particular, ought to be well aware of God’s righteous judgement; yet, based on this focus, they are inclined to give their approval to the atrocities committed by the state of Israel. If, on the other hand, we keep our focus exclusively on Jesus, a different attitude might be expected. Shifting the focus away from God Himself and Jesus Christ – at that time in the form of golden calves, and in the time of Jesus and the apostles, the splendour of the temple complex – almost automatically results in a shift in moral standards as well. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah, this resulted in the people being driven out of the land; and for the remnant of Israel that remained at the beginning of the New Testament era, this resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, and the expulsion of the remnant of the people of Israel insofar as they had rejected Jesus Christ, with the exception of those Israelites who had indeed received Jesus; they were protected by God and incorporated into the new people of God, the church of Jesus Christ. In this, all distinction relating to ethnicity has been definitively abolished.
9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
(1 Peter 2:9–10)
A series of promises accompanied God’s call to Abram.
1Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
(Genesis 12:1-3)
Jesus Christ is the heir to all the promises set out here; therefore, both are true: if you bless Abram, you are blessed; if, on the other hand, you curse Abram, you are cursed. Since Jesus is the heir, we are blessed when we bless Him and cursed when we curse Jesus. The vast majority of the present-day Jewish people curse Jesus Christ and must therefore be regarded as a cursed people; the true church of Jesus Christ blesses Him and is therefore blessed by Him.
2hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things…
(Hebrews 1:2a)
9So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
(Galatians 3:9)
16Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
(Galatians 3:16)
26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians 3:26–29)
Until the mid-nineteenth century, the central focus of true Christianity had been on Jesus alone; from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, the focus has gradually shifted towards Israel, which, according to the Bible, must be regarded as a cursed people. This shift in focus places us outside the promised blessings because we no longer give Jesus and his church the place they deserve; this shift is therefore tantamount to setting up a golden calf—it makes no difference in this regard whether the calf is made of old scrap metal or precious gold; it is and remains an abomination in God’s eyes.
4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
(Revelation 2:4–5)
If we in these evangelical or Reformed circles do not repent of the fact that it is not Jesus who is our first love, but that the golden calf of Israel has been made our first love, then Jesus promises that at some point our candlestick will be taken away, with all the consequences that entails.
