Dozens of days have passed since Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. The Israelites, who are waiting for him to come down, rush to Aaron and ask him to do something.
“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.”
Aaron proceeds with what they ask in order to calm them down.
“Bring gold to me.”
Aaron takes the gold that the people brought and makes it in the shape of a calf, and the people present burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the golden calf. Afterward, they dance and indulge in revelry.
Moses is the prophet who boldly went to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to ask him to release the Israelites, divided the Red Sea with a staff to let them walk on a dry ground, and even saw God face to face when God descended in His majesty. As such a great man was absent for long, the Israelites became anxious. They were afraid to die in the desert where their leader had disappeared, and they even threatened Aaron to make an idol.
Here is something that the Israelites had overlooked. It is the fact that Moses was just a prophet whom God appointed, and the One who led all the work of salvation was God. Not only for forty days while Moses stayed in Mount Sinai, but also for forty years in the desert, God never left them even for a moment. Once again, we can learn from the destruction of those who did not look up to God in the desert. We must have faith and depend only on God no matter what situations we are in.