Exodus 32 Summary

in Exodus chapter 32, we mainly see two events happening, which do worth our attention. first, Israel people were worshipping the golden calf made by Aaron; second, the tribe of Levites killed their relatives and became the tribe with priesthood. 

the background of this chapter was that Moses went up to the mountain of God to be with Jehovah for 40 days and night, during which time, God revealed to Moses all the details of the tabernacle, including the Ark, the incense altar, and other furnishings in the tabernacle. then the Israel people were waiting at the foot of the mountain. then they became impatient and asked Aaron to make a god for them beause they did not know what had happened to Moses. and Aaron asked them to give their golden earrings. and Aaron took all the golden rings and made a golden calf, and told Israel people to worship this golden calf. 

Exodus 32:3 And all the people tore off the golden rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

Exodus 32:4 And he took the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!

Here we need to have a look at the spiritual significance behind this portion of the word. first, where did they have the gold from? on the night when Israel people got out of Egypy, Jehovah asked them to ask for articles of gold and silver, etc. from all their neighbors, the Egyptians, which was definitly not robbery, but the righteous wages they should have had for their hard labor for Pharoah. but the purpose of God's giving them material riches through the hands of Egyptians, was not for them to wear as adornament, but for the building up of the tabernacle. However, they used the golad as rings or earrings, which was a misuse of God's blessing, and which eventually was offered to make the golden calf. so from this we can see two points:

1. Israel people abused the material riches God blessed them with, for their own beautification, instead of building up the tabernacle, God's habitation. 

2. self beautification eventually brought in idolatry, worshipping the golden calf.

what can this have to do with us today?

1. as God's people, our heavenly Father does care for all our daily needs. but we need to be careful not to follow the pattern of Israel people in Exodus 32. on one hand, we should be grateful for each blessing we receive from God. we should thank Him and praise Him. on the other hand, we need to be governed with the view that, God's blessing us is ultimately for the building up of His church, His Body. we cannot receive all the blessings from God and just use them for our own pleasure or entertainment. of crouse, it is normal that we do have basic human needs or necessary needs, which is reasonable. but the blessings are not for us to adorn ourselves with excessary ornaments. we are living on the earth not for beautifying ourselves or to enjoy a luxiour life, but for God's heart desire, for God's purpose, for the building up of God's dwelling place. everything we take from our Father's hands need to be used with God's building up in view. 

2. if we get indulged in self beautification, we will eventually be led astray to idolatry, further away from God. 

Exodus 32:26 Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, Whoever is for Jehovah, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him.

when Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt, He said "let My people go, that they may serve Me." God's original intention was that the whole nation of Israel should be priests serving Him. Peter also mentioned in his epistles that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. so in God's eyes, every believer is a priest to serve Him. but by that time, because of worshipping golden calf, Israel people became corrupted, and lost the qualification to serve as holy priests to God. Moses sounded out a call for a remnant. at that time, only the sons of Levi stood out and answered Moses' call, so they became the tribe of priesthood. 

for us today, the situation is the same. the whole Christianity has become degraded and corrupted. the Lord is still sounding out the call for overcomers, who will keep them from defilement, who will fully consecrate themselves to the Lord, to purify them from any idolatry or mixture in worshipping. what shall our attitude be today? we should be like the sons of Levi, to love the Lord Jesus above everyone else and everything else, even to deny the closet natural affection and relationship. the Lord said in the gospels, that those who love their fathers and mothers more than Him, are not worthy to be His disciples. this does not mean that we must not love our parents, our families. this just means that we should give the Lord the first place, the preeminence. in our daily life and our personal universe, the Lord should always be the first. also, we have to keep coming to the Lord, allow His divine light to expose within us, if there is any mixture in our worshipping, in our serving the Lord, so that we can maitain the qualification of our priesthood.