The children of God had fallen into a grave and terrible sin. Exodus 32 gives us an account of their sin of idolatry.

Step 1: Faithlessness of Sin (Exod 32:1)

The children of God complained that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain. Moses had not given them any indication of the time of his descent, yet they were impatient, and there was no reason for them to be impatient. With impatience, they doubted Moses and God. Their request to Aaron showed that their impatience was mainly against God. Their impatience turned to doubt and then to distrust of God. They requested Aaron to make them gods. Note that while the people had already physically left Egypt, their hearts were still filled with the things of Egypt. Sin comes from within the heart.

Step 2: Fashioning of Sin (Exod 32:2-4)

The golden earrings, etc, that were worn by the people were from God. The Lord provided for them through the favour of the Egyptians when they left Egypt. Sin is costly. The things that we have are all provisions from God. How then can we waste our lives in sin?

Aaron carefully crafted and designed the golden calf for the people. It is a sad thing for Aaron to use his God-given talent for the works of sin. What about us? Are we using our gifts and talents for things of sin?

Aaron’s crafting of an image of a golden calf might have been influenced by the Egyptian culture when they were still in Egypt. Thus, we must be aware of the influence of the world. It can affect our worship of God.

Step 3: Foolishness of Sin (Exod 32:5-6)

The children of God lost all their senses. They took the name of God in vain, and distorted the worship of God. They did what was right in their own eyes, and went wild in their sin, even to the extent of fornication. The deterioration of a person in sin will only lead to foolishness.

Aaron and the people could have just stopped their sin at any point, and come back to the Lord. Are we on our path of sin? We must immediately stop ourselves and get out of that path of sin before we become senseless and foolish in sin. Turn back to the Lord! He is always ready to forgive us of our sins.