Moses does an interesting thing. "And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it." (Exodus 32:20) He melts down the golden calf, probably forms the gold into many small thin disks, and then grinds them down into powder and sprinkles the powder into water and makes the people drink the mixture. Why does he do this? For one thing, it proves to them that their idol (and whatever god it represents) is powerless to prevent itself from being destroyed. If it can't prevent itself from being destroyed, how can the Israelites keep giving it the credit for having brought them out of Egypt? How can they expect it to protect and guide them in the future? Grinding the idol to powder utterly destroys it both literally and figuratively, for the people are forced in their minds to give up their reliance on it.
I think another reason Moses makes them drink the ashy water is to cause the Israelites to experience the bitter and disgusting taste of sin. The Bible tells us that sin is pleasurable for a season (Hebrews 11:25), but sin bears many bitter fruits such as guilt and shame and distasteful consequences---sometimes even the consequences of physical death or the eternal separation of the soul from the presence of God. As the wise King Solomon once said, sin may taste as sweet as honey at first but then it turns bitter as gall in the stomach. (Proverbs 5:3-4) I'm paraphrasing him because he was speaking of the sin of adultery in particular but the same can be said of all sin: it's attractive and pleasurable at the beginning and it fools us into thinking it enhances our lives, then suddenly it begins to affect us like a potent poison.
I'm reminded of what the Lord told the people through the prophet Isaiah during the worst period of idolatry in the nation's history. About the fashioning of useless idols and about the senselessness of bowing before them and expecting them to do anything at all, the Lord said, "Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him." (Isaiah 44:20a) Ashes aren't capable of providing nutrients to the human body and in fact they can be quite detrimental to the health. Likewise, sin offers no sustenance for body or soul but instead takes away from the quality of life, throws up a barrier between man and God, and places the eternal soul in jeopardy.
Now Moses takes his brother to task for allowing idolatry to enter the camp. "He said to Aaron, 'What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?'" (Exodus 32:21) Moses holds Aaron more accountable than the people Aaron was left in charge of. As Moses' right hand man and as a priest, Aaron had a duty to set a godly example. He was in a position of high authority and this placed him in a position of great responsibility. He failed to faithfully fulfill his duties.
Aaron behaves as if the entire situation was out of his hands from the very beginning. He suggests that the people cannot be managed (although nothing like this happened on Moses' watch which proves it was possible to keep this shameful occurrence from happening) and he behaves as if the entire matter was beyond his control from the get-go. He even insinuates that the idol shaped itself and that he was helpless to prevent it. "'Do not be angry, my lord,' Aaron answered. 'You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.' So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!'" (Exodus 32:22-24)
I picture Aaron throwing his hands up and saying, "There was nothing I could do! You know these people can't be reasoned with. When they want something it's dangerous to be standing in their way. Besides, I didn't set out to make a calf. When I put the gold in the melting pot it just magically turned into the shape of a calf. Obviously some sort of spiritual force wanted it to come out that way." He's lying because in Exodus 32:4 the Bible told us he cast the idol in the shape of a calf by fashioning it with a tool. But Moses wasn't there when Aaron formed the calf and he thinks he can trick Moses into believing some force or entity of the spiritual realm fashioned the calf. He wants Moses to believe that the gold just automatically formed itself into the shape of a calf and that there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He's insinuating that if Moses questions him and finds fault with him then, by extension, Moses is questioning and finding fault with whatever spiritual entity caused the gold to mold itself into a calf.
Sin is bad enough but denying and hiding sin compounds the issue. We just keep painting ourselves further and further into a sad corner when we refuse to acknowledge our guilt. When confronted with our faults or when troubled by our consciences it's far better to say, "Yes, I agree. I did wrong. I've sinned. Lord, I'm sorry I sinned. Please forgive me and give me strength!"
King David was a man who resisted listening to his conscience for some time until his friend, the prophet Nathan, came to him on the authority of the Lord and pointed out his errors. To his credit, David immediately said, "I have sinned against the Lord." (2 Samuel 12:13) Just think of how many sleepless nights David could have avoided if he'd repented of his sin far earlier. Just think how much better he'd have felt if he'd bowed before the Lord right away and confessed and repented of his sin. Yes, there still would have been natural consequences of his sin to face, but at least he wouldn't have suffered the days and nights of shame and guilt when he couldn't even lift his eyes to heaven. At least there wouldn't have been that awful feeling of being out of close fellowship with the Lord. But Aaron isn't like David, at least not right now in Exodus 32, and he refuses to accept responsibility for the role he played in this sad episode of Israel's early history.
In tomorrow's study the people will be given a choice. Are they going to recommit their lives to the Lord and serve Him? Or are they happy to continue living in sin and idolatry? Some will make the right choice. Those who make the wrong choice will face the discipline of the Lord.
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