The Golden Calf - Page 2

So long sad times Go long bad times We are rid of you at last	Exodus 32:23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. We are rid of Moses at last.
Howdy gay times Cloudy gray times You are now a thing of the past	Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. God's government is a thing of the past.
Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again So let's sing a song of cheer again Happy days are here again	Exodus 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Altogether shout it now There's no one Who can doubt it now So let's tell the world about it now Happy days are here again Your cares and troubles are gone There'll be no more from now on From now on . . . Happy days are here again The skies above are clear again So, Let's sing a song of cheer again Happy times Happy nights Happy days Are here again!	Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)  TV and movies. What do the foreign nations think of us when they see American movies and TV programming with its ever increasing nakedness? They conclude, God's law does not rule here.   The clergy lead the cheerful singing, "God loves you. God loves everyone. While God hates the sin, God loves the sinner." (Compare with Malachi 2:17)
Exodus 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: (Does God see what is happening in America? For example does He see what is on TV? The afternoon soaps, the humanistic morality play prime time programming and the late night porn?) Exodus 32:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them:

And third notice what Aaron does right after the announcement, "And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord."

Aaron did not say 'To morrow is a feast to the calf." Aaron still believed in the God of the Bible which truly brought them out of Egypt.

I want to remind you that King Jeroboam did not call the heifers God, or gods. The King also claimed to worship the Lord today as he did yesterday. The King did not look upon this activity as a change in worship or a change in the nation's God. It was presented as a solution to a problem.

So, likewise in Exodus, 'they' did not call the golden calf God, or gods. 'They' claimed to worship the Lord today as they did yesterday.

The public and 'they' did not look upon this activity as a change in worship or a change in religion. It was presented as a solution to a problem.

Not the Kingdom of heaven, but The New Deal, The Great Society, The New Frontier,  The New World Order.

Here in Exodus 32:1 we find the problem, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him." The problem was, "our leader Moses has disappeared and we do not know what is become of him. We need new leadership."

Moses was their leader who "brought us up out of the land of Egypt". The people said to Aaron, "we have no leader, Moses is gone, Up, make us gods, (A new administration) which shall go before us;"

Now the definition of the Hebrew word translated 'gods' in this verse includes, "civil leaders - magistrates". This word translated 'god' can refer to 'The God' or to 'the gods' meaning 'civil rulers'.

Now I point out that the word 'god' in Exodus 32; 1 is not capitalized. Therefore this 'gods' refers to 'civil rulers' not to 'The God'. So here is what the people said in Exodus 32:1, "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, they, (a group of leaders), gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us MAGISTRATES, (appoint a new governor, a new administration) which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. Make us a new president, a new administration."

'Make us' probably meant "make us the new rulers" rather than "appoint for us a new administration." 'They' would have been a group of people thinking that they were qualified to rule the nation.

Why a calf? Was the calf a sign or symbol for something else? Do you recognize this term, 'golden arches'? It is a symbol for McDonald's restaurants. If you are in a strange city, and if you are hungry you can easily find a McDonald's because 'the golden arches', can be seen from a long distance.

King Jeroboam said, "I have also made two golden heifers, (places of worship) dedicated to the same God; and one of them I have consecrated in the city Bethel, and the other in Dan, to the end that those of you that dwell nearest those cities, may go to them, and worship God there:"

Most Christian churches have a steeple. If you are in a strange city you can easily find the church buildings. They have steeples visible at a distance.

Perhaps the Golden Calves were a sign telling travelers where a temple could be found, just as today's steeples tell you where to find a church and the golden arches tell you where to find food.

If the king wanted more temples he may have said, "We will have a Golden Calf in every city".  A McDonald's executive might say, "we will have a golden arch in every city".

The tribes of Israel had tribal symbols and standards. Numbers 2:2 reads, "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house."

There were twelve tribes divided into four camps of three tribes each. When encamped they formed a hollow square with one Brigade (of three tribes) on each side facing inward. Each Brigade had a leading tribe. The Brigades took the symbol of its leading tribe. The tribe of Levi camped in the center of the square about the Tabernacle. (Numbers 2:3,10,18,25).

The leading tribe camping East of the Tabernacle was Judah. Therefore, This Brigade of three tribes collectively was represented by a lion because the Lion was the symbol of the tribe of Judah.

The leading tribe camping West of the Tabernacle was Ephraim represented by a calf. On the North was Dan (Eagle) and on the South Reuben (Man).

Click here for more information on these banners.

Revelation 4:8 says, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;"

Each beast represented three tribes. Each tribe had two wings. Therefore six wings total.

The calf of Revelation 4:6 represents the Brigade of Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh.

The lion represents the Brigade of Issachar, Judah and Zebulon.

Likewise with the man and the eagle. Revelation 4:6-7 symbolized all Israel in four Brigades camped about God's throne.

Click here to see how the camp was laid out.

King Jeroboam was of the tribe of Ephraim.

The Ephrathite's were of the tribe of Ephraim. The symbol for the tribe of Ephriam was the ox/calf.

Perhaps the Calf represented the king's tribe and his government. Had Jeroboam been of the tribe of Judah he may have built a Golden Lion. If of the tribe of Dan, a Golden Eagle. The Golden Calf would come to represent The Government of Man.

Today animals are still used to represent the governments of man. The Russian Bear. The British Lion. The American Eagle. The Republican Elephant and the Democratic Donkey.

The calves before God's Temple in Jerusalem

The theory is that the calf in front of the temple was a sign or symbol just as the Golden Arches at McDonald's, the steeple on a modern church or the signboard in front of a Holiday Inn. The question is, were there statues of animals in front of God's temple at Jerusalem? The answer is 'Yes', in fact there were twelve of them. They were part of The Molten Sea;

It may have been that each ox represented a tribe, therefore twelve oxen to represent all twelve tribes. As in Numbers and Revelation the twelve tribes were divided into four Brigades. Three tribes/oxen north. Three east, three west and three south.

But, someone might object, "these are oxen not calves." Well, here are the three Hebrew words translated Calf, Ox and Oxen;

Does it make any difference that one temple had a statue of a calf and another temple a statue of an ox. I don't think there is any significant difference since all three words can be translated 'cow'.

Behold thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt

The Bible summarized, King Jeroboam's speech, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt".

In Exodus 'they' said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

In early America King George of England was compared to Pharaoh. His taxation without representation was compared to the bondage in Egypt. The Atlantic Ocean was compared to the Red Sea that Israel crossed to gain freedom from Egypt.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence it could have been said of the signers, 'They' (the signers) are the gods, (magistrates) who brought you out of Egypt (out from under King George).

In King Jeroboam's time they had just separated themselves from the oppressive government of King Rehoboam. The revolution was over taxes just as the American revolution was over taxes. When King Jeroboam said, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" he could have meant, "We have declared our independence and we are now independent of Jerusalem and we are also independent of that 'pharaoh' King Rehoboam, behold these (the magistrates in my government who were leaders in the revolution) behold these thy gods, (leaders) O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt (Jerusalem and King Rehoboam).

And what was the symbol of the new government? The symbol was a Golden Calf! And since there was no 'separation of church and state', The Golden Calf represented both church and state as a ruling body. A symbol just as sports teams call themselves Cardinals, Bears, Indians, etc. Perhaps just as modern day government symbolizes itself as 'the Russian Bear' or Uncle Sam. In the prophecy of Daniel, The Ram was a symbol for Media/Persia and the Goat a symbol for Greece.

So, what we had in Exodus and Kings was not as much a change in worship or a change in religion as it was a change in government. A change in leadership from Moses to 'they'. (From the government of God to the government of man.) And in Kings from Rehoboam to Jeroboam. In both situations we have the leaders and the public still claiming to worship 'the Lord'.

In America we have a periodic change in government. We have the Democrats vs. the Republicans. The Golden Elephant vs. the Golden Donkey. One political party vs. another political party. Each promising the be the goose that lays the golden eggs. Each party presenting a new 'savior' and a new 'kingdom of heaven'. The names of these new kingdoms, The New Deal, The Great Society, The New Frontier, A Kinder Gentler Nation and A New World Order.

There are no political parties in the government as laid out in the Bible. It is not a two party system. It is a no party system. Each unit of the people elect one leader. Each larger elected group elects from itself its own leader. It is laid out in Exodus 18. The political process of man is not looked upon with favor in the Bible.

Absalom The Politician

In a Biblical system God elects his representative and the people elect their representatives according to Exodus 18.  Everyone has an elected representative. God selects his representative and the people select theirs. These are examples of leaders appointed by God: Moses, Joshua, King Saul and King David.

The rebellion of Koreh was a group putting forth their own candidate for God's office. They wanted to appoint God's representative. Koreh's party wanted their candidate in an office that belonged to God.

In the Biblical system there are no parties representing a candidate and no group seeking political power. So what were the Israelites singing as they danced about the Golden Calf, after the new government was appointed, Well how about the traditional political victory song, "Happy days are hear again ...... "