The Tupelo journal., 1907-07-26
THE GOLDEN
CALF
Sunday School Lesson for July %. 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper

LESSON TExT.-Exodus s2:1-s, so-s.
Memory verses, "a, 35.
GOLDEN TEXT.-'Little children keep
yourselves from idols John 5:2l.
TIME.-Sometime in July, B.. C. 1891
according to the common chronology.
toward the close of Moses forty days on
Mount Sinai; six or seven weeks after the
giving of the law.
PLACE.-The people are still encamped
before Mount Sinai in the Valley of Er
Rahah.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES Warn
ings against modern idolatry: Rom. III
rs; l Cor. $40; 1914, 2o-22; l John 5:2;
Rev. 21:8.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
After the commandments had been
given by God through Moses and the
covenant assented to by the people.
Moses again went up into the mount
to obtain the commandments in more
permanent form, written on tablets Of
stone, n to receive further instruc-
tons; and also to be prepared by his
intimate communion with God for his
long and difficult work of forming the
people into a nation that could dwell
in the promised land. Every quality
OF mind and of spirit was to be taxed
to the utmost. Every minister, every
teacher. every believer needs, says
Joseph Parker, periods of solitude
and communing with God; away from
the fray, the battle, the race, but re-
ceiving nourishment, nutriment, in
spiration, comfort, and even words by
which to express the divine thought.
And, coming back from the mountain
OF contemplation, he touches life with
a steadier hand, and does his duty
with a completer obedience and more
radiant cheerfulness."
V. 1. Saw that Moses delayed"
He was gone 40 days (Ex. 25:1S), al
most seven weeks, if the week with
the leaders in the lower parts of the
mountain is to be added (Ex. 24:9, 16).
The absence of Moses was a time of
testing both the leaders and the peo-
pie. They had just taken the oath of
allegiance to God, and unanimously
promised to obey him
vi. up, maize us gods" or a god.
which shall go before u.s. and be our
leader. They could not see God, and
they wanted some visible expression
of God. They had several manifesto
lions of God,-the pillar of cloud and
fire, the glory on the mountain, and
the daily mamma; but even these be-
came so common that they did not
make them realize the presence of
God. They had just come from the
land Of idols, heather gods every
where. All these gods could be seen.
The attractions of idolatry were of
no mean power. They were familiar
with the way in which the idols of the
heather were wOrshiped, with feasting
and rioting and unrestrained licen-
tiousness, IN marked contrast with the
purity and self-control required by
Jehovah.
V. 5. "And when Aaron saw It
(this)." Saw in what light the peo-
pie viewed the image. He built an
altar before 1t . and said, to-mor.
row is a feast to the Lord" God was
still to be ~worshiped, but under the
form of a calf. Probably Aaron
thought he was very shrewd in thus
saving for God what he could of honor
and reverence.
So Jehu boosted of his zeal for the
Lord of hosts while he was worship.
ing the golden calves of Jeroboam e
Kings 1916, 29).
v. Z. THE Lord said unto Moses.
Go, get thee down" Moses in the
thick cloud which covered the top of
Sinai could not see or hear what was
going on below. But it was no time
for him to remain apart, even in com.
munion with God; there was work to
do below, which his mountain-top ex-
perience fitted him to do. So the three
disciples who viewed the Transfigura-
tion weer not allowed to remain on
the Mount, but were sent down to
their daily work where the others were
in vain trying to cure a demon-con.
trolled boy.
To test him, God offered to destroy
| the nation and make Moses the second
| Abraham of a new and greater people.
Moses stood the test, rejected the
tempting offer, and urged pom God
three pleas for mercy. Moses hasten
ed down the mountainside, with
Joshua, who had been waiting for him
| Soon they came in sight of the abom-
Unable idol, and the frenzied worship
ers dancing, half naked, around 1t.
Probably there was a power not only
in his soul, but in his appearance
some CLEANS of that glory described
in Elk. 34:35.
The breaking of the tables of the
covenant was enough to cause the
stoutest heart to fear.
Moses then burned the golden calf
and ground it to powder. ct is almost
impossible to pulverize pure gold, but
the act was made easily possible. prob
ably, by alloys present in the jewelry
from which the idol had been made"
Patterson Du Bots.
Then Moses put the question, who
is on the Lords side?" Who will
stand for the right, whatever their
past mistakes, whoever else may re-
fuse?
Practical Points.
The consequences of loving anything
more than we love God are deadly.
The character deteriorates; the con-
science destroys peace; the allure
ments and attractions fade into hor-
rors; plaques come; we fail of Gods
| guidance. the idol is DESTROYED and