Exodus 32:24 And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire… I. AARON BLAMED SOCIETY. Thus is it with men now. Yielding to the pressure of society, we do not live out our highest convictions. 1. We defer to public opinion. Great is the tyranny of public opinion, and many dare not brave it. Aaron dare not in the text, and thousands still are overawed by it. We like to be talked about, but not against. We stay short of being what we ought to be, of doing what we ought to do, for fear of the adverse criticism of our neighbours, work-fellows, countrymen. 2. We defer to public custom. The Jewish rabble wanted images, such as were in Egypt, and Aaron had not courage to resist the demand. So we often bow to the questionable customs of society. Our convictions are otherwise, but we have not the bravery to be singular — we cast a grain of incense on the world's altar when we ought to hurl a stone at its gods. 3. We defer to public violence. "They gathered themselves together unto" (ver. 1) — rather "against" — Aaron in a tumultuous manner, to compel him to do what they wished. And Aaron was coerced by them. So we often fear the anger, menace, violence of those around us, and act a consciously unworthy part. Aaron in the text blaming "the people" is a picture of thousands of us to-day! We do not wish to act thus and thus, but we are the victims of our social surroundings. It is not I, but the people. We, none of us, are guilty; it is the crowd behind which pushes us. II. HE BLAMED NATURE. "I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf." As if it were not his fault, but nature's. He says nothing about the mould that he made; nothing about the graving tool that he used (ver. 4); but nature has done it — it has done itself. So do we reason still. 1. We blame nature for our sins. We ignore the fact that we failed to interpose our will; that we fed the fires of passion; that in making preparation for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, we constructed the mould. 2. We blame nature for our miseries.Lessons: 1. The childishness of this method of shifting responsibility. 2. The foolishness of it. 3. The uselessness of it. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. |
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