Deuteronomy 9:13-17 - The danger of idolatry

God made known to Moses how incorrigibly stubborn those children of Israel were as He hastened him to return to the people at the base of Mount Sinai. Knowing the man Moses, we guess that he must have begun to intercede for the people already. In telling Moses to leave Him alone, we conclude that God foresaw Moses would be interceding for the Israelites. But He was prepared to wipe out those stubborn Israelites and raise a new group of people mightier and greater for Moses. What a tempting offer? Any lesser person would have accepted the offer but not Moses. He knew the heart of God.

Deuteronomy 9:15 then said that without hesitation, Moses hastened down Mount Sinai with the two tablets of stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments, in his hands. Meanwhile, God’s fire was still raging on the Mountain. When he arrived at where the people were, he could see that the Lord was right. The Israelites had indeed sinned against the Lord. They had built for themselves a molten calf and had so quickly turned to do what they were commanded not to do. In anger, Moses threw the two tablets in his hands and smashed them before the people.  This was not just an indication of how angry Moses was, but also a public demonstration that they had broken the covenant with the Lord.

In fact the people could not tell the gravity of what they had done. They did not see how grievously they had offended the Lord. In Exodus 32:25, even as Moses was confronting Aaron, some of them were still engaging in the drunken and wild revelry. It took the Levites who stood with Moses to go about killing those participating in the carousing. The sin the people had committed was indeed grievous. They did not just forget God or disown Him but making Him into the likeness of a calf. They had broken the commandments of the LORD.  

For the Israelites their idolatry was in the form of a golden calf. For us today, let’s look at Colossians 3:5-6 for the kind of idolatry we could be guilty of indulging in. Take heed said Paul, “…consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience….” Know that when we value something above God, that something has become our idol. Be assured that God alone is sufficient. He is all we need and should be all that we want. Everything else we receive in life is His gift to us. Enjoy it but never worship it. Worship God alone!