The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 47: The Golden Calf (2023)

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

In today's reading from Exodus 32, Fr. Mike shows us how when we become uncertain, we immediate try to take control of the situation, and build up idols in our hearts. We also read Leviticus 23 and Psalm 79. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 47. We are reading from Exodus chapter 32, Leviticus chapter 23. We are praying Psalm 79. I keep forgetting to say that. I keep forgetting to mention that the Psalms are prayers. And when we, we don't just read the

Psalms, we pray the Psalms much like the rest of scripture, but there's something about the Psalms. So there's something about those, that particular genre in the Bible where it's meant to be a prayer. And so hopefully that's the sense that you get. And hopefully that's what's been happening. If it hasn't, well, we have a lot of Psalms to go. So as you probably already know, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. You can also follow along by downloading your own Bible in a Year reading plan. When I say follow along, I mean you get to see where we are and get to see where we're headed. But that reading plan is found at ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.

ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And when you do that, you can check it off, and you can check off every day, and you can see that we're on page two and we're moving on to day two of page two, which is actually day 47. Anyways, you can also subscribe in your podcast app. All that being said today, moving on to the story of the golden calf in the book of Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32, the golden calf. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Take off the rings of gold, which are in the ears of

your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold, which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a molten calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, go down for your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it

and sacrificed to it and said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them. But of you I will make a great nation. But Moses begged the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great

power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent he brought them forth to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the covenant

in his hands, tables that were written on both sides, on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, there is a noise of a war in the camp. But Moses said, it is not the sound of shouting for victory or the sound of cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear. And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses's anger burned hot and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf, which they had made and burnt it with fire and ground it to powder and

scattered it upon the water and made the sons of Israel drink it. And Moses said to Aaron, what did this people do to you, that you have brought a great sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, Make us gods, who shall go before us.

As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And I said to them, Let any who have gold take it off. So they gave it to me and I threw it into the fire and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them break loose to their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, Thus says

the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword on his side, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, that he may bestow a blessing upon you this day. The next day Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. So Moses returned to the Lord and said, Alas, this people have sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin,

and if not, blot me, I beg you, out of your book which you have written. But the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you.

Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord sent a plague upon the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made. The book of Leviticus chapter 23. The Sabbath. The Lord said to Moses, say to the sons of Israel, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed feasts are these. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings. The Passover. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is

the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. But you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. The Offering of First Fruits And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord.

And the cereal offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil to be offered by fire to the Lord, a pleasing odor. And the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain, parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. The Feast of Weeks. And you shall count from the day after the Sabbath,

from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven full weeks shall they be, counting fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord. You shall offer from your dwellings two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven as firstfruits to the Lord. And you shall present with the bread seven lambs, a year old without blemish, and one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord with the cereal offering and their drink offerings,

an offering by fire, a pleasing order to the Lord. And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And you shall make proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. The Feast of Trumpets And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel,

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blasts of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work, and you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. The day of atonement. And the Lord said to Moses, On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present an offering by fire to the

Lord. And you shall do no work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whoever is not afflicted on this same day shall be cut off from his people, and whoever does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves on the ninth day of the month, beginning at evening. From evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath. The Feast of Booths And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel,

On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and for seven days, is the Feast of Booths to the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. Seven days you shall present offerings by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly.

You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocations for presenting to the Lord offerings by fire, burnt offerings and cereal offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day. Besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive offerings, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And you shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees,

and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All that are native in Israel shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the sons of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord. Psalm 79 A PLEA FOR MERCY FOR JERUS for Jerusalem, a flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood

like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those round about us. How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you and on the kingdoms that do not call upon your name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his inhabitation. Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers. Let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God, our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and forgive our sins for Very low. according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors, the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord. Then we, your people,

the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever. From generation to generation, we will recount your praise. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this prayer. We thank you for revealing to us the brokenness of our own hearts. When we hear the story of the Exodus and the story of the golden calf, we know, Lord God, that our hearts are idol-making machines, and we can turn to anything instead of turning to you. Help us always, always to be faithful to you, not just in great things, but also in small things. Lord God, we want to belong to you. We want to be yours. Help us to be yours fully. In Jesus' name,

we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. So this is the famous story of the golden calf. Here's Moses on the mountain and he's at Mount Sinai. He's received the Ten Commandments written as it specifically says, very, very clearly says written by the very hand of God. And yet, meanwhile, down in the camp, what happens? There's a couple of things that are very important for us to highlight. One is that the people become upset. They become uncertain, right? Because here's Moses,

the one who led them out of Egypt. He's nowhere to be seen. We don't know what happened to him. And so they have this uncertainty. And in the midst of their uncertainty, what do they do? They try to take control. And this is, oh my goodness, this is the lesson for all of us. Here is God who allows us to walk and invites us to walk in faith. He invites us to walk in the midst of uncertainty. And yet in the midst of that uncertainty, what do we do? We say, well, what can I take? How can I take control of this situation?

Because I'm tired of waiting and I'm tired of the uncertainty. I'm tired of not knowing. And so I'm gonna take matters into my own hands. So that's the first thing. The first thing is what's the impetus? What's the motivation for these people? It was not they wanted to rebel against God. This is very, very important. They didn't say we defy the God who brought us out of Egypt. They simply say, basically, we don't know what happened to this Moses. So what we're going to do is we're going to take matters into our own hands we're going to take control of the situation so that's the first thing to understand the second thing is i think very

very important is that when aaron makes the golden calf what the how do the people respond they it they are not acting as if they are turning away from the God who led them out of Egypt to a different God. What they're saying is, this, O Israel, is the God who led you out of Egypt. It's so fascinating that instead, they're not completely, I guess, whole hog, I don't know what the term would be. They're not completely rejecting the God who delivered them out of slavery in Egypt, but they're ascribing to this image, right? The golden calf, the very role of God. So they're saying, this is the God who delivered you out of slavery. And this is the

thing that so often for us, so often for us, we turn to idols, right? We turn to other sources of trust or confidence. We take good things, make them into ultimate things. Why? Because we're uncertain and we want to take control. But then secondly, they do this in this, and we do this in this so such a unique way where it's not, I'm turning away from God, but instead it's, I'm making a God of my own, a God that I can control. I'm making a God that I'm still saying that, no, this is the God, but it's one that I can put away when I'm done with him and take him out when I need him. You know, I think about this. How often do we treat God like that? Say, no, no, I know who you are. Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, God,

the father, son, and Holy spirit, the Trinity. Like, yes, I know this, but then we treat God as a toy. We treat God as that kind of like, again, that idol, the idea is like, he's on the shelf. When I need him, I take him off the shelf. When I don't really want him around, I put him back on the shelf. And that's what you can do to a God that you've made on your own is that you can, you can isolate them. You can dismiss them when you, when you want to, when you feel like it, and then he's there when you need him, but that's idolatry. And as someone has once said that the human heart is an idol making factory. And I believe that that is true about my heart. And that is true probably about your heart, because if we have the broken human heart that we all have, we can trade in uncertainty for control, right? And this is, this is the heart of

in so many ways, what God is trying to do and break through to the people. One of the reasons, one of the things we're going to see as they journey through the wilderness in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, what we're going to see is, here's God training his people to trust him, that they're not in control, just like you and I are not in control. But God allows us, he calls us,

and he calls us to walk in faith. Why? Not just so that, like, I don't want you to know what's next, what's happening next. It's, I want you to walk in faith so that you can learn. You can trust me. I know that you've lived in uncertain times.

I know that what's going on in the world is uncertain. I know what's going on in your life is uncertain. And I know the temptation is to turn to something that you can control and put your faith in that. But here is the true God who says, no, I'm the true God. You can't control me, but you don't have to because I love you. Last thing, the last thing to note here, not only is to note that Aaron, it clearly says in Exodus that Aaron fashions the golden calf and then Aaron's excuses.

They gave me gold. I threw it into the fire and there came out this golden calf. then Aaron's excuses. They gave me gold. I turned into the fire and there came out this golden calf. Like, okay, bro, whatever. But is the birth of Levitical priesthood up until this point in the people of Israel, the father of the family was the priest of the family. So that Passover that we had at the very beginning of the book of Exodus, that Passover sacrifice was done by the father. From now on, the Levites are going to be the priests. That priesthood was taken away from the, by nature, fatherhood and is now given to the Levitical priesthood. That's why we have, obviously, the book of Leviticus, right? Because it's the Levitical priesthood coming from here, Exodus chapter 32, where the tribe

of Levi becomes the tribe of priests. And that's going to do a lot, obviously, to shape the future of the people of Israel. And also going to do a lot to reveal to us now in the new covenant what it is to be a priest as well. And so there we are. Gosh, what a gift we have to be able to not only hear this story of Exodus chapter 32, but also of Leviticus 23, where we have the feasts. We talked about them a couple of days ago, the feasts of tabernacle, the feasts of Passover, the feast of weeks. And also the feast of Yom Kippur, the Feast of the Day of Atonement,

which we already talked about before. So again, some of these things, hopefully, as we keep reading them again and again, the Bible does repeat itself a number of times. And that's not a mistake. That is on purpose. And that is for us so that we didn't just hear about something once. And then we just kind of like, what was that? That we hear about it again and again. And we are going to hear about these feasts again, again, and again. And oh my gosh. So as we continue to pray with each other and we continue to pray for each other, recognize that our hearts can make idols out of almost anything. And so we pray for each other so that we have freedom and we have trust that even in the midst of uncertainty in our world, in our lives, in our hearts, that we have the confidence to

follow after the Lord God as he truly has revealed himself. Pray for each other. Please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you again tomorrow. God bless. you