One of the strangest incidents recounted in the Bible, at least to my modern ears, is when Aaron, brother of Moses, made for the stubborn Israelites a new god to worship—after God had freed the Israelites from Egypt. Even if you are still an atheist and don’t believe any of this, stay with me here, because this is going to turn out to have a very modern sequel you are going to want to know about.
Indeed, I visited what once was the splendid National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich - and by God, what a maritime history we have - some 20 years ago, by which time it had already morphed into the National Slavery Museum, with concomitant handwringing exhibits everywhere No mention of the fact that it was us Brits who put and end to the maritime slave trade, not only across the Atlantic but all over the world. At huge cost to ourselves - thousands of sailors lost (reparation? Huh). Indeed, we only recently paid off the huge debt we incurred doing this.
Exodus 32:5-6 ins the ESV says, “ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
The Hebrew verb for play here, “sahaq,” essentially means “sex-play.” One Hebrew dictionary uses the phrase “conjugal caresses,” as found in Genesis 26:8, 39:14 and 39:17. Essentially it refers to drunken immoral orgies and sexual play.
The Israelites had audible heard God speak the 10 Commandments only about 2 months before, but in the delay of waiting for Moses and in frustration for not knowing what happened to him, they turned to sin and idolatry.
This small detail of sexual immorality seem especially relevant given that you said it was the Mermaids organizations that commissioned the idol, I mean statue. This the same Mermaids organization who has leading members who promoting so-call minor attraction, yes?
Oh, it's gonna get ugly. "Without God, all is permissible."--Dostoevsky. Yes, indeed.
That skinny Harari sodomite was filmed correctly stating that the notion of human rights is a fiction. An atheist, he is absolutely correct in noting that--human rights does indeed stem from the Christianity he despises.
Lincoln saw the bloody Civil War as God's punishment for slavery. I imagine that the punishment for apostasy will be many times worse.
My Bible commentary noted that Moses likely made the Israelites drink the ground-up golden calf for several reasons:
(1) To show the so-called god was nothing and could be destroyed easily.
(2) To completely obliterate this idol.
(3) To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin.
(4) To make the gold of the idol absolutely unusable, being corrupted with bodily waste.
Cole, another Bible commenter, also mentions that “The gold dust sprinkled on the water of the wady, flowing down from the mountain, the water that Israel must drink, reminds us of the ‘water of bitterness’ to be drunk by the wife suspected of unfaithfulness (Numbers 5:18-22).” In essence, this punishment was a means of declaring the Israelites to be unfaithful to their God.
Mermaids. As poisonous as Stonewall, and, as with Stonewall, our "conservative" government refuse to eject them from the public service arena. Their toxin is spread everywhere with NO consent from us fools, John & Jane taxpayer.
And folks, if you haven't read the Old Testament, do. Preferably the KJ version which is a work of literary delight as well as being the ... OT. In Exodus, God is present among his people (as a pillar of smoke in the day, and a pillar of fire by night). And vengeful when necessary. Observe, as you read through, that God disappears into the background... and ponder that.
From atheist parents (the mid war generation had many such) I was regardless schooled at Christian schools, and brought up to regard the Judaeo-Christian moral and ethical code as right and proper. Still do. I am a Christian, without a church (The C of E is fallen, though I am essentially Anglican). Knew most of the bible stories.
Reading the Bible (went on to the Gospels, and Acts, now on the Apocrypha) was eye opening. Reading learned commentaries at the same time (checkout Northrop Frye) was hugely illuminating, and made me realise that once my reading was complete, I would have no choice but to start again...
Very nice piece Briggs on a very filthy piece of contemporary paganism. I essentially agree with your connecting the drinking of the idol to communion. It is intended, I think, to force the people to internalize, literally, their sin. To stop blaming it on circumstances and recognize that it is forever a part of them. They must have noticed in the following years that no amount of ceremonial washing would ever remove the gold from where it had accumulated in their bodies and that what would be needed was One who washes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
I get the parallels. I was brought up in a Christian ethos although I have always been an atheist. Being of the spectrum I always found the words in the various scriptures unfathomable I guess because it’s all emotion and no logic. With that said, I have no issue with religious folks provided it stays personal to the. At a group level religion is apt to spin out of control and become dangerous.
I'm not sure that Aaron made a new god for the Israelites. Instead, I believe he was allowing the Israelites to worship Yahweh in the form of a graven image. The first of The Ten Commandments is not to worship other gods. But the second commandment is to not make a graven image. Rather than breaking the first commandment, I think Aaron and the Israelites were primarily breaking the second commandment. This is why Aaron says, "These are your gods which brought you out of the land of Egypt." The royal use of the plural here can make the calf seem like a different god. But notice that Aaron made one golden calf. Aaron made a calf and then said to the Israelites, here is Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt. They didn't think they were worshipping a different god, they thought they were worshipping the one true God, but in a way that they could understand and made them comfortable. They wanted an image to bow down to, not the terrible force of lightning and terror on the mountain. They wanted to make the one true God into something small and visible. In a sense, they were worshipping a different god, of course. However, the fact that God cares enough about this distinction to make two separate commandments means that we should also be careful to specify which of the two commandments the Israelites were primarily breaking.
This is an important distinction for those who claim the name of Christ. It is not just the people worshipping different gods of different names who go wrong. Those who claim to worship the one true God through His Son Jesus must make sure they do not substitute a tamer or bite-size token version in His place--one who is smaller, easy to comprehend, earthly, maybe even cute.
On another note, Aaron's claim that he threw the gold in the fire and OUT POPPED THIS CALF might be one of the most hilarious lines in scripture. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Indeed, I visited what once was the splendid National Maritime Museum, in Greenwich - and by God, what a maritime history we have - some 20 years ago, by which time it had already morphed into the National Slavery Museum, with concomitant handwringing exhibits everywhere No mention of the fact that it was us Brits who put and end to the maritime slave trade, not only across the Atlantic but all over the world. At huge cost to ourselves - thousands of sailors lost (reparation? Huh). Indeed, we only recently paid off the huge debt we incurred doing this.
Also telling in this parallel:
Exodus 32:5-6 ins the ESV says, “ So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
The Hebrew verb for play here, “sahaq,” essentially means “sex-play.” One Hebrew dictionary uses the phrase “conjugal caresses,” as found in Genesis 26:8, 39:14 and 39:17. Essentially it refers to drunken immoral orgies and sexual play.
The Israelites had audible heard God speak the 10 Commandments only about 2 months before, but in the delay of waiting for Moses and in frustration for not knowing what happened to him, they turned to sin and idolatry.
This small detail of sexual immorality seem especially relevant given that you said it was the Mermaids organizations that commissioned the idol, I mean statue. This the same Mermaids organization who has leading members who promoting so-call minor attraction, yes?
Oh, it's gonna get ugly. "Without God, all is permissible."--Dostoevsky. Yes, indeed.
That skinny Harari sodomite was filmed correctly stating that the notion of human rights is a fiction. An atheist, he is absolutely correct in noting that--human rights does indeed stem from the Christianity he despises.
Lincoln saw the bloody Civil War as God's punishment for slavery. I imagine that the punishment for apostasy will be many times worse.
We are living the “punishment” right now -- the logical consequence of Godlessness and moral decay.
Another thing of interest to some.
My Bible commentary noted that Moses likely made the Israelites drink the ground-up golden calf for several reasons:
(1) To show the so-called god was nothing and could be destroyed easily.
(2) To completely obliterate this idol.
(3) To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin.
(4) To make the gold of the idol absolutely unusable, being corrupted with bodily waste.
Cole, another Bible commenter, also mentions that “The gold dust sprinkled on the water of the wady, flowing down from the mountain, the water that Israel must drink, reminds us of the ‘water of bitterness’ to be drunk by the wife suspected of unfaithfulness (Numbers 5:18-22).” In essence, this punishment was a means of declaring the Israelites to be unfaithful to their God.
Mermaids. As poisonous as Stonewall, and, as with Stonewall, our "conservative" government refuse to eject them from the public service arena. Their toxin is spread everywhere with NO consent from us fools, John & Jane taxpayer.
And folks, if you haven't read the Old Testament, do. Preferably the KJ version which is a work of literary delight as well as being the ... OT. In Exodus, God is present among his people (as a pillar of smoke in the day, and a pillar of fire by night). And vengeful when necessary. Observe, as you read through, that God disappears into the background... and ponder that.
From atheist parents (the mid war generation had many such) I was regardless schooled at Christian schools, and brought up to regard the Judaeo-Christian moral and ethical code as right and proper. Still do. I am a Christian, without a church (The C of E is fallen, though I am essentially Anglican). Knew most of the bible stories.
Reading the Bible (went on to the Gospels, and Acts, now on the Apocrypha) was eye opening. Reading learned commentaries at the same time (checkout Northrop Frye) was hugely illuminating, and made me realise that once my reading was complete, I would have no choice but to start again...
Woke art is so bad, so ugly.
Looks like a black Medusa to me. Doesn’t look like a god that would care for protect anybody.
May we all get exactly what we deserve.
Very nice piece Briggs on a very filthy piece of contemporary paganism. I essentially agree with your connecting the drinking of the idol to communion. It is intended, I think, to force the people to internalize, literally, their sin. To stop blaming it on circumstances and recognize that it is forever a part of them. They must have noticed in the following years that no amount of ceremonial washing would ever remove the gold from where it had accumulated in their bodies and that what would be needed was One who washes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
I get the parallels. I was brought up in a Christian ethos although I have always been an atheist. Being of the spectrum I always found the words in the various scriptures unfathomable I guess because it’s all emotion and no logic. With that said, I have no issue with religious folks provided it stays personal to the. At a group level religion is apt to spin out of control and become dangerous.
I'm not sure that Aaron made a new god for the Israelites. Instead, I believe he was allowing the Israelites to worship Yahweh in the form of a graven image. The first of The Ten Commandments is not to worship other gods. But the second commandment is to not make a graven image. Rather than breaking the first commandment, I think Aaron and the Israelites were primarily breaking the second commandment. This is why Aaron says, "These are your gods which brought you out of the land of Egypt." The royal use of the plural here can make the calf seem like a different god. But notice that Aaron made one golden calf. Aaron made a calf and then said to the Israelites, here is Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt. They didn't think they were worshipping a different god, they thought they were worshipping the one true God, but in a way that they could understand and made them comfortable. They wanted an image to bow down to, not the terrible force of lightning and terror on the mountain. They wanted to make the one true God into something small and visible. In a sense, they were worshipping a different god, of course. However, the fact that God cares enough about this distinction to make two separate commandments means that we should also be careful to specify which of the two commandments the Israelites were primarily breaking.
This is an important distinction for those who claim the name of Christ. It is not just the people worshipping different gods of different names who go wrong. Those who claim to worship the one true God through His Son Jesus must make sure they do not substitute a tamer or bite-size token version in His place--one who is smaller, easy to comprehend, earthly, maybe even cute.
On another note, Aaron's claim that he threw the gold in the fire and OUT POPPED THIS CALF might be one of the most hilarious lines in scripture. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Familiar with “NOAHIDE LAW”?
This will make your head spin…
https://ronchapman.substack.com/p/the-case-against-noahide-law?
cast it and them back into the sea
If the Christians in America had one grain of the Muslim’s sand, this would not have happened.
But it did.
Awesome post, professor. Thank you.