Read Exodus 32:6. Where did their idolatry quickly lead them? (See also Ps. 115:4–8; Ps. 135:15–18; Isa. 44:9, 10.)
The golden calf resembled the Egyptian bull god, called Apis, or cow god, called Hathor. This was a blatant transgression of the first and second commandments (Exod. 20:3–6). This violation could not go unpunished because it openly broke their relationship with the living Lord. Instead of worshiping their Creator, the Israelites worshiped their own creation, which could not see, hear, smell, speak, care, love, or lead.
The Creation order was reversed: instead of understanding that they had been created in God’s image, they now made a god, not even in their own image—which would have been bad enough—but in the image of an animal. This was the god whom they wanted to serve? Thus, they had greatly sinned against the Lord (Isa. 31:7, Isa. 42:17).
In what ways does the golden calf apostasy reflect what is written in Romans 1:22–27?
Idolatry denies the theological understanding that God is God and man is man. Idolatry erases the gap between God and man (Eccles. 5:2) and breaks the connection with Him. Whether it is blatant and open or something concealed in the heart, idolatry quickly ruptures our relationship with the Lord and leads in a downward moral spiral. No wonder the text talks about what they did the next day: after offering sacrifices to the idol, they then began to party, in what Ellen G. White depicted as “an imitation of the idolatrous feasts of Egypt.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 320.
Humans are geniuses at fabricating their own idols. They create their own gods, which is bad enough, but then they go and serve those gods. The Creator is replaced with things that, sooner or later, lead to moral degeneration.
What are ways today that humans worship the creation instead of the Creator?
Supplemental EGW Notes
During this period of waiting, there was time for them to meditate upon the law of God which they had heard, and to prepare their hearts to receive the further revelations that He might make to them. They had none too much time for this work; and had they been thus seeking a clearer understanding of God’s requirements, and humbling their hearts before Him, they would have been shielded from temptation. But they did not do this, and they soon became careless, inattentive, and lawless. Especially was this the case with the mixed multitude. They were impatient to be on their way to the Land of Promise—the land flowing with milk and honey. It was only on condition of obedience that the goodly land was promised them, but they had lost sight of this. There were some who suggested a return to Egypt, but whether forward to Canaan or backward to Egypt, the masses of the people were determined to wait no longer for Moses.
Feeling their helplessness in the absence of their leader, they returned to their old superstitions. The “mixed multitude” had been the first to indulge murmuring and impatience, and they were the leaders in the apostasy that followed. Among the objects regarded by the Egyptians as symbols of deity was the ox or calf; and it was at the suggestion of those who had practiced this form of idolatry in Egypt that a calf was now made and worshiped. The people desired some image to represent God, and to go before them in the place of Moses. God had given no manner of similitude of Himself, and He had prohibited any material representation for such a purpose. The mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea were designed to establish faith in Him as the invisible, all-powerful Helper of Israel, the only true God. And the desire for some visible manifestation of His presence had been granted in the pillar of cloud and of fire that guided their hosts, and in the revealing of His glory upon Mount Sinai. But with the cloud of the Presence still before them, they turned back in their hearts to the idolatry of Egypt, and represented the glory of the invisible God by the similitude of an ox!—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 315.
Only a few days before, the presence of the Lord was manifest in such power that they were terribly afraid and asked that Moses might hear the words of God, and then speak the same to them. But now they wanted something present that they could depend upon.
They might, at this time, have been learning precious lessons, which the Lord was ready to give them, if they had trusted fully in him. But the result of their murmurings and unbelief was that Aaron made them a golden calf to represent God. He proclaimed this idol to be God, and a great deal of enthusiasm was created over this false god. If instead of doing this, he had called to mind the wonderful deliverance which God had wrought for them, and every mind had been drawn upon to express gratitude to God for all his rich mercies in delivering his people from Egyptian bondage, they might have been placed on vantage-ground, to glorify the Lord God who had wrought such wonderful deliverance from degradation and slavery.—“Correct Views Concerning the Testimonies,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, September 6, 1906, par. 12, 13.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.