Oh my. The Golden Calf incident. You know, this is infamous for a reason. Those of us who can sometimes be a little flippant or sardonic about it (and yes, I mean me), tend to say something like, "Hello! God just rescued you from the Egyptians, the Red Sea, starvation, thirst, and the Amalekites. Could you wait a little longer before going off to prostitute yourself to an inanimate cow!?" Indeed. Truly, though, it goes to show how quickly and easily we can go off the deep-end if we allow ourselves to become to estranged from the Lord.
If you think about it, you can see a bit of a progression here. They know Moses has gone up on the mountain to speak to God; they have seen God consume the top of the mountain in fire (so cool, I would have loved to have seen it). They know that they would be put to death if they touch the mountain; they also know they are content to let Moses be the go-between for themselves to the Lord. You can almost hear the thoughts forming: What if Moses displeased the Lord? What if Moses died? Who's going to speak on our behalf? We can't go up to the Mountain. How's this going to work? Finger- and foot-tapping ensues. How long is he going to be up there? Is he going to come down? Maybe he's not coming down. He's not coming down? What now?
And so the people turn to a form of worship they know best: something more worldly like the nations around them than what God had in mind. And so, voila: they build the Golden Calf. And they say to this thing they've made: You are our god. I don't know about you, but that seems so strange. And foolish. And stupid. You know the idol didn't create itself, you did. So when did it become God? Or a god? That's all I'm saying.
But do you see how easily we fall into similar traps? It begins with an idea, which leads to a thought. Then we begin to rationalize why we should or should never do the thing we're thinking of. And eventually, we start seriously considering doing it just to get rid of the doubt and worry; we rationalize. We do it. Maybe we're not bowing down before a big golden calf the brother of our prophet just made, but isn't it the same process. With different types of sin. So then, he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
(Aside: do you ever think of that scene in The Ten Commandments with Charleton Heston where they're having the big party, shall we say, around the calf? Did you ever think they were really having a great time filming that scene? I highly doubt it. I've learned a few things about movie-making since seeing it. First, party-scenes are almost completely quiet while filmed. All you hear is the shuffling of feet as people pretend to dance to non-existent music. They have to be quiet so whatever dialogue is taking place between whatever actors are on scene. So these are people silently laughing, screaming, singing, partying with hardly a sound in the room except people delivering their lines and feet scuffing the floor. And filming a scene can get incredibly repetitive if a line or a movement isn't done just right. More takes, anyone? Those are real actors.)
Tomorrow's Reading: Exodus 33:7-34:28
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