In Exodus Chapter Thirty-Two, we are told about the Israelites turning from God. Moses has been on Mount Sinai speaking with God for a long period of time. The Israelites begin to think he is not coming down. So, they go to Aaron and ask him to make them some gods to worship.
Aaron takes gold earrings from the Israelites and makes a golden calf. The Israelites cry out that this is the god that brought them out of Egypt. The next morning, they have a great celebration and offer sacrifices to the golden calf.
God tells Moses that the Israelites have done a terrible thing. He sends Moses back down the mountain. When Moses sees what the Israelites are doing, he gets very angry. He throws the tables of stone containing the 10 Commandments down and breaks them.
Moses takes the golden calf and burns it. He then grinds it down into a fine powder and throws this powder on the water coming from the Rock (Deuteronomy 9:21). This action may have been a special symbol of condemnation to the Israelites and the Egyptian gods that they were worshipping. It was a practice in Egypt to throw statues of gods into the Nile River at certain times of the year. This was so that the gods would give them good harvests, good health and prosperity.
Moses was demonstrating that these false gods were nothing. In fact, he makes the Israelites drink the water with gold in it. Some commentators believe this made those who had worshipped the false gods sick (Exodus 32:35). This may have been a way for everyone to see exactly who were the idolaters.
God was very displeased with the Israelites and their worship of false gods. He wants obedience from those he has created. He wants obedience from you.
Read your Bible. Study your Bible. Make sure you know what to do to obey God. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
