You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me full and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation...
The people all responded together, "We will do everything the Lord has said."
Then the people took two days to purify themselves, and on the third day they went to the base of the mountain to meet their Lord. God appeared in the morning as fire on the mountain cloaked by a thick cloud; the blast of a trumpet ushered in his coming. Thunder boomed, lightning crashed, and the ground quaked beneath their feet. Yet God was not fully revealed for the people would have perished in his unveiled presence. Who could behold his holiness? One man was able to ascend the mountain and approach the living God to learn all this people would need to know. This was the marriage of God to a nation; a covenant of the people's faithfulness and God's unbridled love.
The man on the mountain had been gone for a long while. The people began to suspect that he had perished on that flaming hill. Fraught with uncertainty, they turned to the man's brother and begged for a new god. Full of doubt himself, the brother collected all the gold earrings from every man, woman, and child in the camp and cast a calf with his hands and tools. He declared, "This is your god who brought you up out of slavery." He prepared a place to worship it and led the people to give offerings before it. There was a raucous party, and the people indulged in food and drink to excess. They danced unfettered before their crude idol. But God saw them. He sent the man on the mountain down to the people to put an end to this folly. The man burned the handmade calf in a fire, ground the remains into a fine powder, and scattered the remains in the water. He made the people drink the glittering water. If they had been tempted to refashion their pseudo-god, it would be impossible to do so out of their own gold. Then God said, "come to me," to anyone who would acknowledge him as the true God. There was punishment for those who were unfaithful yet returned. But for those who rejected his appeal there was only death.
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| Tables of the Law with the Golden Calf by Cosimo Rosselli [source] |
It was time to move forward. The camps were packed up and the people prepared for the journey ahead. God would lead them to the home he had promised their ancestors. His desire to do good for them had not wavered in spite of the people's betrayal. And while God spoke generously of all he would provide (safety from their enemies, a fruitful land, and a prosperous future), the heart of God confessed he would distance himself from them. Their waywardness had pushed their loving God away from his treasured possession.
