In Exodus 19, everybody hears God telling about the covenant and they all agree. In Exodus 32 we read that when Moses is on the mountain (chapter 21-31) they let Aaron make a golden idol as in Egypt. How can they do that?<\/p>\n\t
I don’t know if you could have picked a better illustration passage for how men think.\u00a0 It is amazing how a nation could make a solemn vow to abide by a covenant and then toss it neatly away in a matter of days. Overall, the short answer is the concept of deception.<\/p>\n
The Bible has a lot to say about deception.\u00a0 Jesus said in Mark 13:5, “Watch out that no one deceives you<\/em>” and in Mark 13:22, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect – if that were possible.<\/em>”\u00a0 Paul says in Romans 16:18, “For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people<\/em>” and in Ephesians 5:6, “Let no one deceive you with empty words<\/em>,” and Colossians 2:4, “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.<\/em>” Then James adds in James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.<\/em>”\u00a0 And all of that is just a tiny portion of what the Bible says about deception.<\/p>\n A quick summary of the methods of deception is false signs and wonders, smooth talk, flattery, the wisdom of the world, empty words, fine-sounding arguments, and just listening and not putting into practice. Being deceived can come from both within a person and from outside. Outsiders can try to convince us that something that is false is true.\u00a0 However, we also can deceive ourselves if we turn a blind eye to the facts (maybe intentionally, maybe carelessly) because of what we want to be true.<\/p>\n Exodus 32:2 said that the people asked Aaron to make gods to go before them\u00a0because<\/strong>\u00a0they did not know what happened to Moses.\u00a0 Notice that they were not told all the details, and they felt uncomfortable not knowing everything.\u00a0 That is what started them on the path of rationalizing.\u00a0 They took it upon themselves to fill in the gap in their knowledge by guessing what would be pleasing to God. They used human reasoning to figure out what the next best steps would be.<\/p>\n What is important is not who was at fault for the deception, but why did the people fall for it.\u00a0 What should they have done?\u00a0 What was the right course of action?\u00a0 Well, we know that they were told not to make idols of gold (Exodus 20:23) and they were told to wait. They had all the instructions that they needed.\u00a0 Sometimes, though, men find ways to convince themselves that they are not really breaking the rules (part of the self-deception).\u00a0 Maybe they convinced themselves it wasn’t really idolatry or that God was actually powerless to protect Moses and something may have happened to him.\u00a0 Whatever they did, worked and we find them doing something obviously wrong.<\/p>\n We can easily have the same problem when it comes to currently worshipping God.\u00a0 It is easy to convince ourselves to believe in something that is not true, especially if we are not careful.\u00a0 People want the Bible to explain the answer to every question that they can think up – and when it doesn’t, they believe that they are free to make something up to fill the void.\u00a0 Maybe at first, it is just a detail in a story, but later it gets to adding commands that are not there.\u00a0 We will justify it on the basis that we want to be righteous, but this topic in the Bible can’t possibly mean what it obviously says and is inhibiting me from freely being righteous.\u00a0 Therefore, we start looking for ways to get around the Word or even just ignore the Word.\u00a0 Ultimately our arguments start to sound logical even when it is clear that our conclusion is the exact opposite of what is written.\u00a0 When they do – we have managed to deceive ourselves.<\/p>\n Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: In Exodus 19, everybody hears God telling about the covenant and they all agree. In Exodus 32 we read that when Moses is on the mountain (chapter 21-31) they let Aaron make a golden idol as in Egypt. How can they do that? Answer: I don’t know if you could have picked a better…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[304,557,392],"class_list":["post-52401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-idolatry","tag-israel","tag-lying"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34559,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-filing-for-a-501c3-exemption-making-a-covenant-with-the-people-of-the-land\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":0},"title":"Isn’t filing for a 501(c)(3) exemption making a covenant with the people of the land?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Exodus 34:12 reads in the NASB: \"Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it becomes a snare in your midst.\" Without expending too much on the passage in Exodus 34:12, I am trying to determine the extent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-the-commandments-mentioned-in-exodus-34-different-from-those-mentioned-in-exodus-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":1},"title":"Why are the commandments mentioned in Exodus 34 different from those mentioned in Exodus 20?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been reading the Old Testament and I am confused as to Exodus 20 and Exodus 34 where there are two sets of the ten commandments God gave Moses. The second set is different from the first set.\u00a0 In Exodus 34 God said to use the same words\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":76096,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-a-second-covenant-with-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":2},"title":"Was there a second covenant with Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How will you reconcile Deuteronomy 29:1, the additional covenant God made through Moses with Isreal at the land of Moab, and Exodus 19, the covenant on Mount Siani? Are they two different covenants? Answer: \"These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-ten-commandments-the-first-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":3},"title":"Are the Ten Commandments the first covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible directly states that the Ten Commandments are the first covenant. Do you disagree? Answer: If the Bible\u00a0directly\u00a0states that the Ten Commandments are the first covenant, you could cite where it is found, but you did not. You made an assertion without proof and challenged me to decide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-are-to-keep-all-the-commandments-shouldnt-this-include-exodus-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":4},"title":"If we are to keep all the commandments, shouldn’t this include Exodus 20?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You mention keeping all of the commandments. Does that mean all as listed in Exodus 20? Answer: Keeping all of God's commands include those that state: \"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when\u00a0I will make a new covenant\u00a0with the house of Israel and with the house of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/exodus\/","url_meta":{"origin":52401,"position":5},"title":"Exodus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Exodus is the story of the Israelites' exit from Egyptian bondage by the power of God and how they were supplied for their journey toward the promised land. The basic divisions of the book can be divided into three parts: The Redemption from Egypt - Chapters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}