I was reading in Exodus this morning (chapters 27-35), and frankly, most of the section I was reading was fairly boring to my spiritually dull heart, until I got to the last verse in the chapter. “. . . which Aaron had made.”
35 Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.
Go back to chapter 32:21 where we are told what Moses said to Aaron when he saw what had happened while he was up on the mountain receiving the Law of God. Twice Aaron gives a lame excuse for his part in the Golden Calf incident. First he shifts all of the blame to the people and tries to absolve himself. And then he tells a real doozy of a lie in verse 24,
“Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are prone to evil. For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ “I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Aaron, older brother of Moses, member of the tribe of Levi, about to be ordained as a priest of Israel, shifts all the blame on to the people and says that he observed a miracle when he threw the gold into the fire and out came a golden calf! In other words, he throws the people under the bus and tries to sneak away from any responsibility for the debacle that took place while Moses was on the mountain. The result of Aaron’s lack of leadership is that 3,000 men lost their lives in the immediate judgment of God on the nations drift into idolatry.
For the next forty years, as the nation wandered in the wilderness Aaron would have to live with the weight of having failed to lead and being the cause of those men’s deaths. He would have to make the daily sacrifices in the tabernacle for the sins of the people, while experiencing the mercy, not getting what he deserved, and grace, getting what he didn’t deserve. Daily, twice a day, morning and evening, Aaron had to make the sacrifices for the sins of the nation knowing that his sin was the cause of 3,000 men losing their lives, 3,000 women becoming sudden widows, and untold number of children becoming fatherless.
He got to live when others died.
I think that is what my soul needs—a daily reminder that I am completely unworthy of the privilege that I have to preach and teach the word of God and care for the people of God. Maybe that is what all of us need.
ChosenRebel's Blog 
I have always marveled at the story of Aaron, a man that was used in a powerful way by God in delivering Israel from Egypt. That he could then make the golden calf, lie about it and try to justify himself. It’s hard to believe he could do that after all he had seen and lived through. It seems like the worst sin he could commit and yet he lives and becomes High Priest. The fact is Aaron’s story is every Christian’s story. We are guilty of breaking the whole law, James 2:10. All the miracles in the Bible are powerful and meaningful. The miracle of the Cross which is the atonement for my sin. The miracle of resurrection with which without we would be without hope, 1st Corinthians 15: 13-14 , but I would expect the God of creation to be able to do that. Then there is 1st John 1:9 , If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. and Romans 8:1-2, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. To me the miracle of miracles is that God with whom nothing is impossible can remove my guilt through the work of Christ and make me able to stand before him faultless. That truth is incomprehensible and I will have an eternity where the wonder of it all will never diminish and I will get to worship Him forever.
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