Lesson 3: The Prophet Aaron and the Golden Calf

Before you do this lesson, read these verses from the Taurat:

Exodus 32:1-24 -- When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods [a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, [b] O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. [c] Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

7 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

9 "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.' " 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."

18 Moses replied:
"It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear."

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21 He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?"

22 "Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.' 24 So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"

Exodus 40:16-38 -- Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.

17 So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. 18 When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts. 19 Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the LORD commanded him.

20 He took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it. 21 Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD commanded him.

22 Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain 23 and set out the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.

24 He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle 25 and set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.

26 Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain 27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD commanded him. 28 Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.

29 He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the LORD commanded him.

30 He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing, 31 and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. 32 They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.

33 Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.

Now read the lesson and do the test at the end. The lesson explains what you have read in the Taurat.

After the People of Israel promised to obey God, God called Moses into the mountain to explain more about the Ten Commandments. Moses was very happy as he climbed the mountain to listen to the words of God.

The people in the camp were also happy. They knew that they had often disobeyed God in the past. But now God had appeared to them at Mount Sinai and they had accepted God's covenant with them. They were glad that God had chosen them to be his own people. They wanted to obey God and they were glad to accept the blessing of God.

The People Sinned

The people waited patiently for Moses to come down from the mountain. One week, two weeks, three weeks passed. Still Moses did not come back. They thought that perhaps he had died. Four weeks passed and five weeks. The mountain looked cold and empty. The people wanted to travel again. They thought that God was no longer with them and that Moses was dead.

So the people came to Moses' brother, Aaron, who was the leader when Moses was away. They said: "Make us a god to lead us" (Exodus 32:1). They gathered together many gold ear rings and Aaron melted the gold in fire and made a calf out of the gold.

The people set the golden calf up in the middle of the camp and shouted: "Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt!" (Exodus 32:4). Soon most of the people had turned from worshipping the true God and were praying to the golden calf.

We Also Sin

How could this terrible thing be? How was it possible for the people to turn away from God so quickly? If we examine ourselves carefully and honestly we can understand quite well why the People of Israel turned away from God so quickly.

For example, perhaps you are a student. Perhaps you want to join a certain school, but you are afraid of the entrance test. So you pray to God to help you. When you take the test, you make a very high mark. But then you say to yourself: "I did very well because I am excellent." Instead of giving thanks to God, you become proud. This is not right. Who gave you your good mind? Who helped you to study well? To whom did you pray for help? Without God you have nothing at all! Whom should you thank when you do good work? God, of course!

How often we thank ourselves instead of God! And that is exactly what happened to the People of Israel. God helped them greatly, but they did not thank him. Instead they prayed to something which they had made with their own hands.

God is Merciful

When God saw what the people were doing, he was ready to burn up all of them immediately. God will not accept idols and false gods. He would not accept false gods in Moses' time, and he will not accept them today. But Moses prayed to God to forgive the people, and God answered that prayer. God had mercy on them, yet many were punished with sickness and died.

The Prophet Aaron and the Tent of the Lord's Presence

Truly God is merciful! While the People of Israel were still at Mount Sinai, God forgave Aaron for making the golden calf. In fact, God chose Aaron to be the leader of all the priests*. God also chose Aaron's sons to be priests.

God told Moses to build a tent* for worship (Exodus 40:16-38). The tent was called the Tent of the Lord's Presence. Inside there were two rooms. The first room was called the Holy Place. The second room was called the Most Holy Place. Around the tent was a court. A curtain* separated the court from the desert.

A number of objects were placed in the Tent of the Lord's Presence. An Altar* for Burning Offerings and a Wash Basin were placed in the court. In the Holy Place there was a Table for Bread, a Lampstand, and a Gold Altar . In the Most Holy Place the Covenant Box was kept.

Each of these objects had deep meaning. The Tent of the Lord's Presence and the objects inside the Tent helped the people to understand the right way to worship God.

Following is an explanation of some of these truths about worship.

The Altar for Burning Offerings

The Altar for Burning offerings was in the court outside the Holy Place. When anyone needed to be forgiven for his sins, he brought a lamb or goat to that altar. He placed his hands on the animal and then the priest killed it. The priest took the blood and put some on the top of the altar. They poured the rest of the blood at the bottom of the altar. The fat of the animal was burnt up on the altar. The person was forgiven.

Many of the people trusted these sacrifices to take away their sins. Even Aaron, the leader of the priests, offered sacrifices for himself. Once a year he sacrificed a bull* for himself and his family. (Leviticus 16:6).

Plan of the Tent of the Lord's Presence

Even today many people sacrifice a sheep, a goat or a chicken when they want to be forgiven. But Christians do not offer animal sacrifices. This is because God forgives all our sins through the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah.

The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place

A second altar was placed in the Holy Place inside the Tent. This was the Gold Altar. Here the priests burned incense* in the Holy Place continually. This was a sign of the prayers of the people.

In the Most Holy Place there was a wooden box covered inside and outside with gold. It was called the Covenant Box. A few objects were kept inside the Covenant Box. One of these objects was a stone on which the Ten Commandments were written.

On top of the box was a special cover made of pure gold. On each end of the cover there were figures of angels facing each other. The wings of the angels were spread out above the cover. This special cover was the place of God's mercy. (Exodus 37:6).

God allowed His glory to appear especially above the Covenant Box. This was a sign to the People of Israel that God is present with the people who have accepted his covenant.

A curtain was placed between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. That way no one could see God's glory or go into the Most Holy Place. However, once a year Aaron the priest was allowed to enter. He took burning incense and the blood of a bull and a goat into the Most Holy Place. There he sprinkled* the blood on the cover of the Covenant Box. Then he repeated before God all the sins of the people. And God who is merciful accepted the people (Leviticus 16:1-28).

The Tent was a Sign

The curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place showed the people that they could not fellowship* with God freely as Adam and Eve had done before they sinned. The curtain reminded the people that their sin separated them from God. Even the sacrifices did not make it possible for the people to enter the Most Holy Place.

But more than 1000 years later a wonderful thing happened. The Injil shows us that Jesus the Messiah gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins. When that happened the curtain between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place was torn in two pieces.

Here is a list of difficult words in this lesson.
priest                -     a person who prays for the people and leads in their religion
tent                   -     a house made of cloth
curtain              -     a cloth fence
altar                  -     a place where a sacrifice can be burned
incense            -     something which smells very good when burned
bull                   -     a male cow
sprinkle            -     to throw in small drops or amounts
fellowship        -     deep friendship and friendly talking together

Learn this verse. 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again."

Test 3: God's Covenant with People

Here is the test for Lesson 3. Write the letter of the correct answer on the line provided.
1)   When Moses was away,
      a)   Aaron was the leader.
      b)   Abraham was the leader.
      c)   Isaac was the leader.       
___
2)   The idol which the People of Israel worshipped at Mount Sinai was
      a)   a wooden goat.
      b)   a golden calf.
      c)   a stone bird.      
___
3)   The Most Holy Place and the Holy Place were separated by
      a)   a wall.
      b)   a curtain.
      c)   the altar of sacrifice.     
___
4)   The box in the Most Holy Place was called
      a)   the Altar for Burning Offerings.
      b)   the Gold Altar.
      c)   the Covenant Box.     
___
5)   When someone wanted to be forgiven, he had to
      a)   bring a living animal as a sacrifice.
      b)   pay money to the priests.
      c)   do many good works.    
___
Write "True" or "False" after each of the following sentences.
6)   Aaron told the people not to make the golden calf.     ______
7)   The Altar for Burning Offerings was in the Holy Place      ______
8)   The incense which the priests burned was a sign of the prayers of the people.    ______
9)   Christians do not offer animal sacrifices.     ______
10) God allowed his glory to appear especially above the Covenant Box.    ______