Let's Make a (BAD) Deal - September 15, Readings: Isaiah 41-42, 1 Corinthians 15:35–58, Psalm 106:13–20, Proverbs 23:1–3

Links to Today's Readings

They made a calf in Horeb

    and worshiped a metal image.

They exchanged the glory of God

    for the image of an ox that eats grass. Psalm 106:19-20

Horeb is the mountain of God, also known as Sinai, where the God revealed to Israel his Law, which was to be their guide. The cornerstone of the Law was the first commandments, that Israel was to have no other gods before the one true God, Yahweh. They were to love him, serve him and honor him alone as God, making no idols. 

While Moses was up on the mountain receiving the law, something different was happening down below. Almost as soon as he disappeared into the heights, into the presence of God, the people of Israel began to turn from him. They approached Aaron and demanded to forge a god for themselves, a Golden Calf. 

Instead of dwelling in the glory of God, they made their own gods in the image of livestock that eats grass. You can hear the Psalmist's derision in this verse. 

On the one hand, there is the Creator God, the one who made and sustains the universe. He is sovereign over world affairs, who empowers his people to do his work and rewards those who serve him. He sent his Son to pay for our sins that we might have eternal life. 

On the other hand you have livestock. I like a good steak as much as the next guy, but I'm pretty sure that cows and oxen are not worthy of worship. 

It was the folly of Israel, evident in their first moments as a nation at the base of Horeb. It was a folly they continued throughout their existence as a nation during the years of the Old Testament. Time and again they exchanged glory for livestock, the worship of the One True God for idols. 

Today, we do not do anything so crass as to build and worship idols, but we are still guilty of Israel's folly. We turn from the pure worship of God to serve the pleasures of this world. We serve sex, or entertainment, or fun. We exchange the glory of God for the oxen of arrogance and self-centeredness and of greed and materialism. These are all as empty, as silly and as useless as the idol gods Israel worshiped. 

Father, forgive me for when I have exchanged your glory for livestock, for the empty and useless things of this world.