“Don’t be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil. They said to me, ‘Make gods for us who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off,’ and they gave it to me. When I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!” Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them get out of control, making them a laughingstock to their enemies. 32:22-25
There is a price to be paid when leadership fails. Of course, in this story, many are to blame; like the people themselves who are accountable for their own actions. They were unable to wait for the weeks that Moses was up on the mountain, and to them, it appeared he had been consumed by the glory of God. Their lack of contentment and their lack of commitment moved them to go to the number two, Aaron, and ask for another god to replace the one they feared. In reality, they had always looked more towards man than towards God… that was their fatal flaw. To them God was a distant, unknowable presence that they feared; Moses, on the other hand, was someone they could see and touch. In short, they had no relationship with God like Moses did.
Yet, the primary person to blame for this debacle of the golden calf was Aaron. He was a spiritual leader in his own right, but this story shows his weakest moments. First, instead of owning up to his own failings when Moses returned he tried to blame the people. “After all,” he said, “you know how evil these people are.” Then, on the part where he does admit complicity, he tries to sidestep his level of involvement. “I took the gold from them,” he said, “and I threw it in the fire and out popped this idol.” It’s like he is saying, “I have no idea how this happened!” Verse 32:4 makes it clear that he fashioned it himself and shaped it into a calf and presented it to them as an idol to worship. This is what poor leaders do; they blame others, they sidestep their responsibilities and they fear the opinions of people more than they fear God.
The result of Aaron’s poor leadership is monumental. First, the people are led into sin and they begin to drink, dance, and descend into revelry just like pagans. Then, Moses is put in a position where he has to intercede for the people and even offers his own life to keep punishment from falling on them. Then the wrath of God descends on the Israelites and many die because of their debauchery. Aaron is humiliated, Moses is enraged and embarrassed and nothing good comes from this event. Yet the final cost of his failure is that the “people are made a laughingstock to their enemies.” This still happens today. When church leaders fail to lead well, they suffer, the church suffers and the Kingdom of God suffers; the church becomes a laughingstock to the world and we are all viewed as mere hypocrites. As you lead, lead well and stay faithful; the world is watching and we are all depending on you.
