The readings today were something they normally are not – jarring in their dissonance. I have been amazed at how the readings from the different sections track either by subject or by mood. Today was different. I went from depressed after Moses had the priests kill 3000 of their fellow Israelites for disobedience to the wrenching stories of Peter and Judas to the almost giddy Psalm. Even the Proverb felt lightweight compared with some we have read.
I wanted to explore that feeling of dissonance and unease that I have with how Moses treated the ‘stiff-necked’ Israelites. This isn’t the first time they have acted this way with him but his response seems really harsh. And he didn’t kill Aaron nor did he single people out and let them explain, he just sent the Levites through with drawn swords. My Stone Chumash gives an explanation for it but I am not buying it. Here is what Rashi and his fellow rabbis said.
1. Golden Calf was not an idol to replace Hashem (God). It was a stand-in for Moses who was late.
2. Aaron knew better but in order to protect his life (the other man Hur left with him having been killed), he agreed.
3. Aaron did his best to delay the proceedings. He asked for the gold from the women and children expecting them to put up a fight for what they had been given upon leaving Egypt. But because of the mob, everyone ponied up.
4. Aaron didn’t fashion the calf, Egyptian sorceresses did. This is based on Exodus 22:19. Apparently, there were about 3000 hanger-on-ers who left Egypt with the Israelites. They included a bunch of thieves and sorceresses. Aaron bound up the gold and tossed it into the fire, it came out a calf. Only magic could have done that so it must have been the work of the above.
5. Aaron tried again to delay. He asked them to wait until the following day and to have a festival, not to the calf but to Hashem (God).
6. These 3000 hanger-on-ers were the real rabble-rousers. The faithful Jews just didn’t stop them. That is why Aaron and the Levites could kill with abandon.
When I read commentaries like this, what I see is that people need to EXPLAIN why they are uncomfortable with God and Moses’ behavior. Why do we need to do that?
It also happens with Peter in the courtyard. Why was he even there? Why was he chatting up those folks so that they could recognize his accent? Why didn’t he pull a Tolkien Strider and lurk in the shadows? Keep his mouth shut and wear a cloak? But he needs to defend or explain or at least be some sort of participant.
When I was younger, it used to drive me crazy that I couldn’t make my religion fit neatly with my beliefs. Now, it just makes me crazy that I am still, 30 years after starting an intensive study of the Bible, learning new and ENORMOUS facts, figures, ideas, back stories and revelations.
May all our studies jar us a little so we are awake to God’s revelations.
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Our "living bible" stays the same Sylvia but we come to it different every time we study it. Our life circumstances give us more wisdom, our age more maturity, our disappointments more insight. We peel back an endless layer of understanding every time. Wow.
ReplyDeleteMoses was on the mountain alone with God for 40 days and nights and the people grew restless and Aaron was weak. The Hebrew word egel actually means "a young bull in his first strength." It might have been an image of Baal or Apis, the great bull god of Egypt to them. They wanted something tangible to worship. Then a party broke out and all control was lost. These people had seen God's miracles first hand. But what the people didn't have was an inner change or a rebirth. Then Moses came down the mountain with tablets where number 1 on the list was do not make an idol in the form of anything. How ironic. Aaron shared in their guilt and made excuses like many religious leaders in the news today. 3000 out of 600,000 were killed (1/2 of 1%) and how sad that the men of Levi had to kill relatives and friends. Remember when Jesus said, Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37) and "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26) I can't imagine what it must have been like for Moses to go back up that mountain and face God! Moses offered his life but that is not the life that would pay the ransom for our sin. Could there be a correlation between how the people turned away from God when Moses was away and how Jesus followers acted as they did once he had been arrested?
The psalm says that we can trust everything that God does. Even the killing of 3000. The Proverb says in God we find life but those who miss me injure themselves. We sure saw evidence of this in the OT readings. Maybe it does all fit together Sylvia!