Exodus 32:4- And he (Aaron) received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.
Exodus 32:24- So I (Aaron) said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf
While Moses was on the mountain with God, receiving His commandments, the people in the camp got impatient, and eventually figured he wasn't coming back. So, Aaron, whom Moses had left in charge, basically bends to the will of the crowd, and creates an idol, a golden calf, to worship as a representation of God.
God, knowing what's going on basically tells Moses he's going to wipe them out because of it (justifiably), and Moses intervenes on their behalf. God relents for the sake of Moses and sends him down to address the situation.
Moses arrives and asks Aaron what the deal is, and Aaron basically tells him that he threw gold into a fire and a calf magically appeared, so they worshipped it.
Really Aaron? 🙄
We just read prior in verse 4 of the same chapter, that Aaron had fashioned the calf, using tools, and molded it.
How often are we this same way? We sin, and know we've sinned. Yet, when confronted, we think of an excuse or try to defend the sin, or lessen its severity by explaining it away. Aaron creates this golden calf on purpose to appease the impatient people, knowing it's wrong, but bending to the will of the crowd. Then he creates a pretty fanciful story to try to lessen his responsibility for the sin.
God forgives us when we repent, but to repent is to acknowledge, and confess our sin before God, and to show remorse for our actions. We should not be trying to justify it to God, or even to others. Passing the blame for doing wrong was nothing new in Aaron's day, though.
Adam, the first man, did the exact same thing shortly after he sinned by not only allowing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit without stopping her; but also, by blaming God for creating Eve after he knowingly takes and eats it when she offers some to him. When God confronts Adam, he says something along the lines of "the woman YOU gave me made me do it" (Gen 3:12).
Wow, Adam, really gonna blame God on that one? 🙄
God creates woman, woman eats forbidden fruit, man doesn't stop her, but participates, man blames God for creating woman because if she hadn't been created, he wouldn't have sinned.
Or, how about a modern example of that same goofy line of reasoning:
Apple manufactures a computer, and Cable One offers internet that I can use the Apple computer to access. I use that internet to look up a webpage I shouldn't. I'm confronted, and argue that it's really Apple's fault for designing a machine which has capacity to use the internet, which has the capacity to lead to a bad website. Surely, I wouldn't have looked at that site if Apple hadn't made the computer for me to use to get on the internet and accidentally stumble (per Aaron's method of explanation) into that bad site. Gosh Apple!
At least in my mind that's how ridiculous it sounds.
Yet, that's exactly what we do as Christians. We like to stay in a more toddler like state of maturity in Christ.
I have a toddler, and it would be just like Hannah (or any toddler), to try to invent some fanciful story to explain something they did wrong.
Scenario:
Dada: Hannah, did you hit Emery?
Hannah: No, dada, I was standing here with my fist out, and Emery walked into it
Dada: ...
Hannah: ...that's what happened, Emery walked into my fist.
(Imaginary scenario, Emery was not actually harmed in the writing of this blog)
We are saved/justified in an instant when we come to Christ, but that is just the beginning of a life in which we continually seek to grow and mature in our relationship and knowledge of Christ.
Yes, it is true that if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive and cleanses us of unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). But, in the very next sentence, John writes, "If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:10). We cannot expect to be forgiven if we're simply denying our sin, instead of repenting of it.
In the first moment of confrontation about their sin, Aaron and Adam both essentially said they didn't sin. Or implied their sin wasn't actually their fault. Ultimately, both repented, and were renewed in fellowship with God. As we also will be. But, If we are to grow and mature as Christians, we need to take the adult reaction of taking responsibility, admitting guilt, and accepting whatever consequence that may entail. Then moving on, not seeking to sin, but if we do, confessing it and admitting our guilt, knowing that by His precious blood, we are forgiven and made whole again in our relationship with Christ.
