Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation." Sermons
I. JEHOVAH DESCRIBES TO MOSES THE APOSTASY OF ISRAEL. Jehovah is omniscient; even while spreading before Moses, with all elaboration, the patterns in the mount, his all-observant eye is equally on the doings of the people below. And now, just when Moses is expecting to be dismissed with his instructions for the people, he is fated to learn that they have proved themselves utterly unworthy of Jehovah's great designs. The thing described is an utter, shameless, and precipitate apostasy from Jehovah. Previous outbreaks of the sinful heart were as nothing compared to this. If it had only been the sin of a few, some half-secret departure from Jehovah confined to a corner of the camp; if there had been a prompt repudiation of it and punishment of it on the part of the great majority: then, indeed, Jehovah might have found cause even for rejoicing that the apostasy of the few had been occasion to prove the fidelity of the many. But alas! the transgression is general; there is a public adoption of the golden calf with worship and sacrifice. The idolatrous spirit has been shown in the completest and most demonstrative way. Idolatry, with its awful degradations and its fatal influences, must always be an abomination to God; but how peculiarly abominable when it rose in the midst of a people with whom God had been dealing with the tenderest compassion and the sublimest power! It is to be noticed that God calls special attention to the quickness of this apostasy. "They have turned aside quickly, out of the way." The fact of course was that they had also been turned quickly into that way, and kept in it by a kind of external force. They might promise, and while they promised mean to keep the promise, but nature was too much for them; and as soon as the Divine constraint was in any way relaxed they returned to the old path. The impression Jehovah would make on the mind of his servant is that nothing can be expected from them. II. Jehovah indicates to Moses THE RIGHTEOUS SEVERITY WITH WHICH HE PROPOSES TO TREAT ISRAEL (vers. 9, 10). We have to think here not only of the words of Jehovah, but also of the attitude of Moses, which seems to be indicated by these words. Even before Moses puts in his earnest intercession, we have a hint of what is in his heart. Jehovah says, "Let me alone;" as one man, about to strike another, might speak to some third person stepping between to intercept the blow In the speaking of Jehovah's words there must have been an indication of wrath, such as of course cannot be conveyed by the mere words themselves. And what, indeed, could Jehovah do, but give an unmistakable expression of his wrath with such an outbreak of human unrighteousness as is found in idolatry? No doubt there is great difficulty in understanding such expressions as those of Jehovah here. When we remember the low estate of the Israelites spiritually, and the infecting circumstances in which they had grown up, it seems hardly just to reproach them for their lapse into idolatry. But then we must bear in mind that the great object of the narrative here is to show how Jehovah cannot bear sin. The thing to be considered first of all is, not how these Israelites became idolaters, but the sad and stubborn fact that they seemed inveterate idolaters. Such a decided manifestation of idolatry as the one here revealed, when it came to the knowledge of Jehovah, was like a spark falling into the midst of gunpowder. It matters not how such a spark may be kindled; it produces an explosion the moment it touches the powder. The wrath of God must be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Yet doubt not that the God who spoke here in such wrath and threatening loved these Israelites in the midst of their apostasy. But it was not possible in one and the same moment, and from one and the same voice, to make equally evident love for the benighted apostate himself, and wrath because of the evil that was so intimately mixed with his nature. On such an occasion it became God to give a direct and emphatic expression of wrath from his own lips, leaving his love and pity to be known indirectly through the intercession of his servant Moses. When Jehovah is angry, it is then we need most of all to remember that love is the great power in his nature. III. Jehovah further indicates A CERTAIN TEMPTING POSSIBILITY TO MOSES. "I will make of thee a great nation." Thus we see how the word of Jehovah is made to serve two purposes. It both expresses the fulness of wrath with an apostate people, and at the same time puts a cherished servant upon a most effectual trial of his magnanimity and mediatorial unselfishness. Thus this proposition of Jehovah comes in most beautifully to emphasise the simplicity and purity of the feeling of Moses in his subsequent mediation. And though Moses makes no reference to this proposition, it is well to be enabled to see how little hold any self-seeking thoughts took of his mind. IV. THE REPLY OF MOSES HAS NOW TO BE CONSIDERED. Not that we need stay to investigate the merits of the considerations which Moses here puts forward. He could only speak of things according as they appeared to him. We know, looking at these same things in the light of the New Testament, that even if God had destroyed these People as at first he hinted, his promises would not therefore have been nullified. The temporal destruction of a single generation of men, however perplexing it might have seemed at the time, would afterwards have been seen as neither any hindrance in the fulfilment of God's purposes, nor any dimming of the brightness of his glory. Be it remembered that these same people whom God brought out with great power and a mighty hand, yet nevertheless perished in the wilderness. Spared this time, they were in due season cut down as cumberers of the ground. And as to any scornful words the Egyptians might speak, God's glow was not at the mercy of their tongues; for it had been manifested beyond all cavil in a sufficiently terrible chapter of their own history. Then as to the words spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even if all but Moses had been swept away, yet in him the seed of Abraham would have been continued, just as in the days of the flood. God did not utterly destroy the human race, but narrowed it down to one family. And more than all we should bear in mind that the true fulfilment of God's promises was to Abraham's spiritual seed; they who being of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Hence we must not too readily conclude that what Moses said was the thing which here influenced Jehovah in what is called his repentance. The influential power was, that here was a man to say something, to act as a mediator, one deeply concerned to secure escape for these people, even while they, revelling in the plain below, are all unconscious of their danger. Notice that Moses says nothing by way of excuse for the people. Indeed, the full magnitude of their offence had not yet been comprehended by him; and it is interesting to contrast his pleadings here with an angry God, and his own wrath when he came actually in sight of the golden calf. The one thing Moses fixes on, in his appeal to God, is the great Divine purpose for Israel. He recaps how great that purpose is; he is profoundly concerned that it should not be interfered with; and so we are led to think of Jesus the true Mediator, with a knowledge of Divine purposes and human needs, such as it was not for Moses to attain. Consider how Jesus dwells and caused his apostles to dwell on God's great purposes for the children of men. Thus both from Moses the type, and Jesus the antitype, we should learn to think of men not as they are only, but as they ought to be, and as God proposes they should be. Evidently Moses kept constantly in mind God's purposes for Israel, even though he knew not how profound and comprehensive those purposes were. So let us, knowing more than Moses of God's purposes for men in Christ Jesus, keep constantly in mind that which will come to all who by a deep patient, and abiding faith approve themselves true children of Abraham. - Y.
Up, make us gods. I. THE VERY ESSENCE OF IDOLATRY IS NOT SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE AND OBTUSENESS, BUT A WILFUL TURNING AWAY FROM THE SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE AND WORSHIP OF GOD.1. This act of idolatry was in the very front of the majesty and splendour of Jehovah revealed on Sinai. 2. With the idol before him, the priest proclaimed a feast unto the Lord; and the people pleased themselves with the thought that they were "fearing the Lord, while they served their own gods." The real heart of idolatry is here laid bare. It is, in plain terms, an effort to bring God within reach; to escape the trouble, pain, and weariness of spiritual effort, and substitute the effect of the eye, hand, and tongue for the labour of the soul. 3. In God's sight — i.e., in reality — this is a turning away from Him. They meant this bull to be an image of God their leader. God saw that it was an image of their own idolatrous and sensual hearts. II. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE PROPHET AND THE PRIEST. III. THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF IDOLATRY IS THE SHRINKING OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE INVISIBLE GOD. It is the glory of the Incarnation that it presents that image of the invisible God which is not an idol, that it gives into the arms of the yearning spirit a Man, a Brother, and declares that Jesus Christ is the God of heaven. (J. B. Brown, B. A.) II. THE IMPATIENCE OF MAN AT GOD'S METHOD OF WORKING. Moses delayed in the mount. The people would not wait for the man with God's Word. III. THAT MAN WILL HAVE A GOD. Up, make us gods. They are often manufactured gods. The man who would be popular must make gods to go before the people. It is the very height of folly when men of science, art, or manufactures, say of their own works, "These be thy gods, O Israel." IV. THE EFFECT OF SLAVISH ADHERENCE TO OLD IDEAS. In one sense, at least, they were not out of Egypt — The sacred ox. See the importance of keeping the young from early impressions of error. Let none expose themselves to false teaching, it may bring them into bondage. V. THEIR EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDITURE FOB THE GRATIFICATION OF A FANCY (ver. 2, 3). People often spend more in superstition than Christians for the truth. Christians spend far more for luxury, pleasure, fancy, than for Christ. Who amongst us is willing to do as much for Jesus as these people did to procure a golden calf? VI. HOW ART IS DESECRATED TO SINFUL PURPOSES (ver. 4). So in building at Babel; in worship at Babylon, and Ephesus, and Athens. Abundant proof in our picture galleries and museums, and also in our modern theatres, gin palaces, etc., etc. VII. THAT IF GOD IS DISHONOURED, MAN IS MISLED, HUMILIATED, RUINED. (W. Whale.) Homiletic Monthly. 1. The calf of gold was made of earth's choicest valuables. The Lamb of God was heaven's greatest treasure.2. The calf of gold was made to make God visible. Christ was God manifest in the flesh. 3. The calf of gold was made to meet a seeming extremity. Christ came when man was lost beyond hope. 4. The calf of gold was made to go before the children of Israel to the land of promise. Christ is the way from sin and bondage to a land glorious beyond the imagination of men to conceive. (Homiletic Monthly.) I. The first fact that asserts itself in these lines is this — THAT THE GREATEST MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD S PRESENCE AND POWER DO NOT NECESSARILY KEEP US FROM SIN. We must rely on Christian principle; or, if we say it in other terms, we must walk by faith, not by sight.II. Another lesson which comes out of this painful history is THE UNCERTAINTY OF POPULAR MOVEMENTS IN RELIGION. They are very deceptive, and never more so than to-day, when the democratic idea is carried over into the realm of Christian faith and made to do duty where it has no place. The work of the tempter is seen not only on individuals, but on whole communities, swaying them from the severe standard of purity and truth. With the children of Israel the rule was the Ten Commandments which they had just accepted from Jehovah and which left them no excuse for idolatry. With us the standard is the whole Word of God. III. PERHAPS THE MOST PITIABLE FIGURE IN THE WORLD IS A PRIEST LIKE AARON WHO WEAKLY SUCCUMBS TO THE POPULAR WILL AND ATTEMPTS TO LOWER THE UNCHANGING AND THE SPIRITUAL LAWS OF GOD. It was convenient for the turbulent and idolatrous crowd at the foot of the mountain to have an Aaron to do their wicked work. It made it look better and soothed the outcries of conscience. It has often been convenient for godless and cruel monarchs, like Henry the Eighth, to have a Wolsey to sanction their wickedness. IV. Lastly, we see THAT THE COVENANT WAS BROKEN, BUT NOT ANNIHILATED, BECAUSE THERE IS FORGIVENESS WITH GOD OUR FATHER. The two tables were shivered to atoms, but the law that was written on them by God's finger is still in power. (E. N. Packard.) It was then a period of ignorance and superstition; but even now the greater portion of humanity worship tangible gods. The cry is for something which can be touched; and though men believe in an invisible God, yet they seek to gather comfort from makeshift idols. Men see that gold will enable them to obtain the comforts of life, and thinking that such comforts will give joy to the soul, they say, "Oh, that we could get gold!" They work and slave, and bow down, and sacrifice themselves for gold, as if it were a god. The fountain of pure joy and rest can be given only by a living God; gold is a dead thing, which does not know us and cannot sympathize with us. Men have an instinct for religious worship and for holy conduct, and if they do not exercise this sacred instinct in its true channels, they must have a makeshift to satisfy them for the time being. Let us describe some of the makeshifts on which men try to lean for comfort.1. Some people make their intention to serve God to-morrow a makeshift for goodness to-day. You use this intention as a makeshift for true piety, and try to persuade your conscience to be content with it instead of the genuine article. 2. Many people seek worldly satisfactions as makeshifts for spiritual realities. Men say, "If I had this wealth, or that friendship, or his love, or her affection, I should have a happy soul." They think that earthly satisfactions will be good makeshifts for blessings which none but God can bestow. 3. Others seek in the approval of men a makeshift for the approval of God. 4. Is it not true that many people consider the pleasures of sin a makeshift for the joys of holiness? Can you find any of the men who have given themselves to sin and profligacy who can truly say that they have enjoyed life? 5. Perhaps you have given up some sins, and make that fact a makeshift for perfect cleansing. As a child is content with washing a part of her face, leaving the crevices of the eyes and ears untouched, so you have put away some of your sins, but have left your heart as it was. 6. Some people make attendance at church a makeshift for Divine service. (W. Birch.) Aaron, formerly so courageous; fearlessly speaking to Pharaoh; who was a mouth unto Moses his brother; called the saint of the Lord. Aaron, so prompt in obedience to the will of God, listens to the people, and actually leads them on in the way to destruction! In all probability he was afraid of offending the people, who were assembled in numbers, and he had not courage to resist their sinful desires. We have other instances in Scripture in which the servants of God failed in that very grace for which they were most remarkable. Simon Peter could declare his determination to go with his Master to prison and to death; yet within a short time he cursed and swore, saying, "I know not the man." Elijah, who cut off four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Baal, was intimidated by the threats of Jezebel, fled from his post of duty and usefulness, and wished for himself that he might die. We may remark from this that no sacredness of office or of character will keep man from sin. It is only grace that can effect this for us. It is imagined by many that Aaron did not intend to promote idolatry; that he merely gave the advice which he did give to get rid of the difficulty, and that he did not expect the people would make the sacrifice which he demanded, knowing their love for their ornaments and jewels. But how unwise and unholy was such conduct: he was at any rate appearing to sanction what he knew to be wrong; he was putting the most important interests in jeopardy, and descending from the only ground which a child of God ought to occupy in moral questions. But Aaron's manner of defending himself with Moses afterwards proves that he had given way in opposition to his conscience (ver. 24). What need have we to pray that ministers especially be not left to themselves! we are men, not angels; we are compassed with infirmities, and subject to like passions with others; we have need constantly to watch and pray, that your desires may not lead us to say or do what would be injurious to your best interests.(George Breay, B. A.) Of ready and eloquent utterance, he seems, like many who have been similarly gifted, to have been of a pliant and flexible disposition. He bent, like the sapling, to almost every breeze; his nature was receptive rather than creative; he took impressions from others, but made little or no impression on them in return; he floated on the current which others formed, but he rarely, if ever, made a torrent which swept all opposition before it. He had little of that formative power which is always the indication of the possession of the highest greatness, and by which the individual moulds and fashions all who come within the range of his influence. He had more of the soft impressiveness of the melted wax than of the hardness of the die that stamps it. Hence he was well enough in time of peace, and when everything was going smoothly; but when a sudden emergency arose, when a mutiny was to be quelled, or, as in the present instance, a fit of idolatrous madness was to be repressed, he proved unequal to the occasion, and was found yielding, against his better judgment, to the demand of the multitude. From a timid and pusillanimous regard to his own safety, he would not oppose the wishes of the people; and so it happened that the spark, which a moment's firmness might have trodden out, became at length a mighty conflagration, in the flames of which some thousands were consumed. It was in his power, had he resisted the demand at the first, to have prevented all this evil; and even if he could not have put down the idolatrous revolt, it was still his duty to have offered to it the most uncompromising opposition. Hence his conduct was not only condemned by Moses, but also in the highest degree displeasing to God (Deuteronomy 9:20).1. It is always wrong to do wrong. Aaron does not think for a moment of denying that idolatry is a sin; but the whole drift of his reply to Moses is, that his making of the golden calf was, as far as he was concerned, a thing which he could not get rid of. The man who came home intoxicated last night, saying that he could not help it, because he met some friends who insisted on his going with them, and he could not get away; the family who are ruined by reckless extravagance, and declare that they were under the necessity of keeping up appearances; the merchant who, on the eve of bankruptcy, has recourse to dishonourable expedients; the youth who helps himself to his employer's money, because he had to do something to pay his debts — all are in the same category with Aaron.(1) In settling what is your duty you have nothing to do with consequences. The moment you begin to trouble yourself about what will be the issue, you admit the tempter to a parley; and it will be well if in the end he do not bring you over to his views.(2) We must remember that no one can compel us to sin. We cannot do wrong until we choose to do it, and the choosing is a free act of our own. 2. The difficulty of doing right is always exaggerated by the timid. The world's own maxim is, "Grasp the nettle firmly, and it will not sting"; and a deep knowledge of your own heart, or a large experience of the ways of men, will convince you that, if with spirit and energy you do the right thing at the right time, opposition will fall away from before you, and they who threatened to persecute will in the end approve. Nor ought we to forget that God has promised to be with those who stand up bravely for His cause. The stern eye of an unflinching man will hold — so it is said — even the lion spell-bound; and courage in the service of God, turning an unyielding eye on Satan, will send him away from us for a season. 3. The consequences of wrong-doing are always more serious than the wrong-doer at first supposed. I can imagine Aaron bitterly upbraiding himself for his weakness when he saw the fatal fruits of it, but then it was too late to repair the wrong. You cannot stay the shell midway in its flight; after it has left the mortar it goes on to its mark, and there explodes, dealing destruction all around. Just as little can you arrest the consequences of a sin after it has been committed. You may repent of it, you may even be forgiven for it, but still it goes on its deadly and desolating way. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) I have never read of any island so impregnable but nature has left in it some place or other by which it might be vanquishable; nor have I ever met with any person so well armed, at all points, as not to leave some way whereby he might be sometime surprised: this passion, that affection, this friend or that kinsman, this or that delight or inclination. He is the strongest who has the fewest accesses. As those places are the weakest which lie open to every invader, so, certainly, he is the most subject to be overcome whose easiness exposes him to be prevailed upon by every feeble attempt. And however fertile he may be by nature, and of a good soil, yet, if he lies unsurrounded, he shall be sure to be always low. At least he ought to have a fence and a gate, and not let every beast that has but craft or impudence to graze or dung upon him.(Owen Felltham.) "A man without decision," writes John Foster,"can never be said to belong to himself; since, if he dared to assert that he did, the puny force of some cause about as powerful, you would have supposed, as a spider, may make a seizure of the hapless boaster the very next moment, and contemptuously exhibit the futility of the determination by which he was to have proved the independence of his understanding and his will. He belongs to whatever can make capture of him; and one thing after another vindicates its right to him by arresting him when he is trying to go on, as twigs and chips floating near the edge of a river are intercepted by every weed and whirled in every little eddy. Having concluded on a design, he may pledge himself to accomplish it, if the hundred diversities of feeling which may come within the week may let him. His character precluding all foresight of his conduct, he may sit and wonder what form and direction his views and actions are destined to take to-morrow; as a farmer has often to acknowledge that next day's proceedings are at the disposal of its winds and clouds. This man's notions and determinations always depend very much on other human beings; and what chance for consistency and stability while the persons with whom he may converse or transact are so various? A succession of persons whose faculties were stronger than his own might, in spite of his irresolute reaction, take him and dispose of him as they pleased. Such infirmity of spirit practically confesses him made for subjection; and he passes like a slave from owner to owner."Scientific Illustrations, etc. How surprised sometimes is the naturalist who, after carefully preserving a chrysalis, and awaiting day by day the appearance of the beautiful butterfly, of which it is the coarse and mysterious envelope, sees a crowd of flies emerge in place of it! This is through the work of the echinomyia, a genus of insects which derive their nourishment from flowers. They deposit their eggs on caterpillars, and the young larvae on hatching penetrate their bodies and feed on their viscera. How surprised sometimes is the kind father of a family who, after carefully watching the growth of a child, and anticipating the development of a noble character, sees to his dismay an exhibition of all the gross and common vices instead of it. This is the work of various bad associates, such as servants, tutors, or others who, whilst deriving their livelihood from tending children, have deposited in their minds — perhaps unintentionally, but nevertheless effectually — vicious ideas which have only waited the opportunity for a horrible unfolding. The victory of these vicious ideas is so insidious that forethought is disarmed. The embryo is placed where even ingenuity might search in vain. When those ideas develop they are as certain to destroy a beautiful character as the echinomyia are to destroy the most lovely butterfly.(Scientific Illustrations, etc.) Then there was John Bunyan, who, under the despotic and profligate reign of Charles II., was sent to the Bedford gaol. True, they offered to release him, and allow him to go back to his wife and four children (one of them blind), but it was at the sacrifice of his convictions, and he scorned that. He was a man every inch of him, and in reply to the offer he said, "Before I will do that, I will stay in the gaol until the moss has grown around my eyebrows." Brave John Bunyan!Sat down to eat and to drink I. WHO DID THIS? The people; who had impiously presumed to set up a worship against God. Whence note that feastings and idleness are the undivided companions of idolatry. The counsel, then, of the apostle, upon this ground, is not unseasonable (1 Corinthians 10:7). Be not idolaters, as they were. But we are the people of God, and baptized in the name of Christ; there is no fear we should be idolaters. The Jews were God's people, yet set up the golden calf.II. WHEN THEY DID THIS. Even when their case was most miserable, then were they most insensible; for — 1. They had robbed themselves and made themselves poor, in that the ear-rings and jewels which God had given them from the Egyptians they bestowed upon an idol. 2. They had committed an horrible sin, aggravated sundry ways. They had turned the glory of an incorruptible God into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay. 3. For this fearful sin they lie under a heavy punishment: they were now naked, and God was coming to revenge upon them; and after He was entreated, at the instance of Moses, to spare them, yet, for example, three thousand of them were presently slain. III. BUT IS IT NOT LAWFUL TO EAT AND DRINK? Yes, it is not lawful only, but necessary to nourish our life, to repair strength decayed, and enable us to our duties and calling. Nay, more: we may use the creatures, not only for necessity, but for delight. God hath given us leave liberally to use His mercies, and furnished us with variety far beyond necessity. He hath not given bread only to strengthen the heart, but oil to make the face shine. What, then, did this people other? They failed in many things. 1. Whereas the chief end of eating and drinking is to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), the end of this eating and drinking was to dishonour God and honour the calf. 2. Whereas eating and drinking should fit us to our duties and callings, both general and special, they by eating and drinking made themselves fit for nothing but play and wantonness. 3. Whereas men ought to eat and drink according to the call of nature, in sobriety and moderation, the text noteth an intemperate waste both of time and creatures, addicting themselves to the creature and nothing else. 4. Whereas feastings are seasonable in times of joy and gladness, these feast in a time when God's judgments are coming on them for their sin, and so the deepest sorrow would better beseem them, as also did they in Noah's time. They ate and drank, etc. (and Isaiah 5:12), not considering the work of God. (T. Taylor, D. D.) Rose up to play If we be ruled by God in our sports and rejoicings, we must listen to His directions.I. First, our choice must be of sports in themselves lawful. We may not play with holy things, suppose Scripture phrases; we must fear the holy name of Jehovah, not play with it. Neither on the other side may we play with sin, or things evil in themselves, viz., to make one drunk or swear, or to laugh at such persons. It is a matter of sorrow to see God's image so defaced. So in other sinful merriments. Or if we have not warrant for them, by general rules of the Word, if the laws of the land prohibit them as unlawful. Here pause on that rule (Philippians 4:8). And Christian wisdom will also guide us to the choice of the best sports. A spiritual mind will choose spiritual recreations, as a carnal mind will use carnal. II. Secondly, when we have chosen warrantable sports, we must beware we sin not in the use of them. And to keep us from sin in our recreations we must look to our neighbour, to ourselves. 1. For our neighbour two rules must be observed: one of wisdom, the other of justice.(1) For wisdom: we must wisely sort ourselves in our sports with the most sober, godly, and wise of our degree, condition, and sort of life, that may rather watch over us that we offend not in them than anyway draw and provoke us so to do. No pestilential air so contagious as where swearers and riotous gamesters are met.(2) For justice: the rule is that we must not use gaming as a colour to purchase our neighbour's money, or to help ourselves by the hindrance of his estate. 2. We must look carefully to ourselves. First, for our affection, that it be moderate. We may use lawful sports, but not love them. Secondly, for our ends. Our ends must not be to pass the time, which passeth whether we will or no, and we ought to redeem our time, and not let it pass without gaining something better than itself; nor yet to maintain idleness as men that cannot tell what to do with themselves else. Again, the end of sport is preservation of our health, both of soul and body, and not to impair the health of either, as many by watching at play, and forgetting or foregoing their diet and rest for play, destroy their health and call in numbers of diseases on themselves, and oftentimes untimely death. Lastly, seeing nothing can be lawful wherein some glory accrues not to God, therefore, if the end of our sports be not to enable us with cheerfulness in duties of religion and Christianity, it will all be returned as sin in this reckoning. (T. Taylor, D. D.) Remember our amusements and recreations are merely intended to fit us for usefulness. I hope that none of you have fallen into the delusion that your mission in life is to enjoy yourselves. Pepper and salt and sugar and cinnamon are very important, but that would be a very unhealthy repast that had nothing else on the table. Amusements and recreations are the spice and the condiment of the great banquet. But some of you over-pleasuring people are feeding the body and soul on condiments. We are to make these recreations of life preparations for practical usefulness. We must make our amusements a reinforcement of our capacity. Living is a tremendous affair, and alas! for the man who makes recreation a depletion instead of an augmentation. Once when the city of Rome was besieged by Hannibal's army there was a great shout of laughter inside the walls, and it strangely frightened the besieging army, and they fled in wild precipitation. That is a matter of history. But no guffaw of laughter will ever scatter our foes, or lift our besiegement, or gain our victory. It must be face to face, foot to foot, battle-axe to battle-axe, if we achieve anything worthy. Can you imagine any predicament worse than that which I now sketch? Time has passed, and we come up to judgment to give our account for what we have been doing. The angel of the judgment says to us: "You came up from a world where there were millions in sin, millions in poverty, millions in wretchedness, and there were a great many people, philanthropists and Christians, who toiled themselves into the grave trying to help others. What did you do?" And then the angel of the resurrection, the angel of the judgment will say: "Those are the women who consecrated their needle to God and made garments for the poor." The angel of the resurrection, the angel of the judgment facing the group of pleasurists: "What did you do?" "Well," says one of them, "I was very fond of the drama, and spent my evenings looking at it." May the Almighty God forbid that you and I should make the terrific mistake of substituting merriment for duty! Pliny says that the mermaids danced on the green grass, but all around them were dead men's bones. Neither bat nor ball, nor lawn tennis racquet, nor croquet mallet, nor boat, nor skate — although they all have their uses — can make death, life, and eternity happy.(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.) Play is neither idleness nor folly. It is one of the many good things which have come into your life from heaven. It is a gift from God. It is a part of your life as truly as prayer is, as truly as the soul itself is. And it is part of the life of children all the world over.1. Now, the first thing I want you to see is that this playing of you boys and girls is a pleasure to God. He is a God so kind and loving that He delights in everything innocent that is a delight to you. Just as He delights in the songs of birds and in the colour and fragrance of flowers, He delights in the play of childhood. 2. God has made play a part of your life, because He wants you to be strong. He has work waiting in the years to come for every boy and girl on the earth. And although it is not all the same kind of work, all of it is work which will want strength for the doing. Therefore He will not have you always at tasks. He has divided the time for tasks with the time for play. He will have you out in the open air. By your games He will have your body in endless motion. You shall run and not be weary. 3. For another thing God wants you to have a happy gateway into life. Nobody can tell beforehand whether your after-life will be happy. In games you are joined together, just as we who are old are in our toils. The playground is a little world. You cannot have any pleasure in any of its games unless you try to have the others playing with you as happy as yourself. To be unkind, unjust, unfair, or ungenerous in a game is to spoil it or bring it to an end. Surely this is a new, rich addition to our knowledge of God when we discover that the same kind Father, who gave His Son to die for us, that He might deliver us from sin and death, made the joy and play of boys and girls in the streets and in the house. May you carry something of the joy of it through life with you, and may you remember that God has been so good to you that He has set your life between two worlds of joy — the world of your happy childhood and the world that awaits you in heaven! (A. Macleod, D. D.) People Aaron, Egyptians, Isaac, Israelites, Joshua, Levi, Levites, MosesPlaces Egypt, SinaiTopics Alone, Anger, Burn, Burning, Consume, Destroy, Destruction, Hot, Leave, Nation, Wax, WrathOutline 1. The people in the absence of Moses, caused Aaron to make a calf7. God informs Moses, who intercedes for Israel, and prevails 15. Moses comes down with the tablets 19. He breaks them 20. He destroys the calf 22. Aaron's excuse for himself 25. Moses causes the idolaters to be slain 30. He prays for the people Dictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 32:1-10Library The Golden Calf'And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3. And all the people brake off the golden … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Swift Decay of Love The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus Threefold Repentance The Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood How those who Use Food Intemperately and those who Use it Sparingly are to be Admonished. Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis Seasons of Covenanting. Letter xxii (Circa A. D. 1129) to Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices. The Prophet Micah. Instruction for the Ignorant: How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste. Purity and Peace in the Present Lord How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished. Moses the Type of Christ. Solomon's Temple Spiritualized The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day. The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close. Exodus Links Exodus 32:10 NIVExodus 32:10 NLT Exodus 32:10 ESV Exodus 32:10 NASB Exodus 32:10 KJV Exodus 32:10 Bible Apps Exodus 32:10 Parallel Exodus 32:10 Biblia Paralela Exodus 32:10 Chinese Bible Exodus 32:10 French Bible Exodus 32:10 German Bible Exodus 32:10 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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