Replacement Gods - Sermon for Pentecost 20A (Exodus 32:1-14)
Long road trips can be challenging for children, who easily get impatient. From the back seat, parents hear a plaintive cry: “Are we there yet?” The people of Israel may have had similar feelings as they wandered in the Wilderness of Sinai. Why did it take so long? Then, when they reached Mt. Sinai, Moses disappeared during a supposed visit with God on the mountaintop. So, when he didn’t return in a timely manner, they panicked and asked Aaron to create gods who might lead them out of the wilderness.
Because they grew impatient, fearing they had been abandoned by Moses and his God, the people set aside their covenant with God, which included the command not to have other gods besides Yahweh or to make idols for themselves (Ex. 20:1-4). Instead, they decided to adopt replacement gods who might be more responsive to their concerns. This is a temptation that is common to humanity.
When the people asked Aaron for new replacement gods, they asked for new leadership. Since Moses had disappeared, someone needed to step into his place. Might Aaron be the right person to replace Moses? After all, that’s the way things work in the world. When a leader falls short of expectations, organizations will instigate a change. We see this with sports teams, which regularly change the coaches. Businesses change CEOs when the company doesn’t perform as expected. Sometimes we even change the politicians who represent us. The same is true of churches and their pastors. I should know as it happened to me.
Aaron was more than willing to take over for his brother. Despite the command that Moses delivered to the people about not making idols, Aaron went along with the people’s desire to have gods they could see and touch and perhaps manipulate. Even though Aaron knew that Yahweh had delivered Israel from slavery, he was ready to go in a different direction if that’s what the people wanted.
Frederick Buechner suggested that Aaron might have been a bit like many older brothers who get lost in the shadow of a more charismatic younger brother. According to Buechner:
Aaron went quietly off into the ministry where in the long run he didn’t do so badly either except that the only people who knew about it were the ones who turned to the religion section on the back pages. Moses, on the other hand, was forever making the cover. The pay-off came around the time Moses hit eighty and out of a burning bush God himself voted him Man of the Year. As usual, Aaron had to be content with playing second fiddle, which he did well enough until he got the break he’d been waiting for at last, and he blew it.
Despite his theological training and leadership position, Aaron gave in to the people’s demands and provided them with a new god who would lead them to safety. Buechner concludes with these words:
Nobody knows whether this was Aaron’s way of getting even with his kid brother for all those years of eating humble pie, or whether he actually believed with the rest of mankind that a God in the hand is worth two in the bush. [Peculiar Treasures, pp. 1-2]
With Moses out of the picture, Aaron made the most of his opportunity to take charge. He knew just what to do. So, he directed the people to bring their gold jewelry to him so he could melt it down and create an image of the god who would lead them out of the wilderness. When he presented the golden calf to the people, they said: “These are our gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the Land of Egypt.” Aaron then built an altar so the people could worship the replacement god he had created.
On the day of the festival, the people brought offerings and sacrifices to the altar, and they “sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!” (Exod. 32:6 MSG). The people were excited because they believed they now had a god, as represented by the golden calf, they could control. So, they danced around the golden calf, while engaging in all forms of debauchery. Now, doesn’t that sound like a fun kind of church service?
Even though the people seemed happy with their new god, Yahweh was not happy with their decision. You can understand how God might feel after seeing this rebellion take place on the desert floor. Yahweh began to wonder whether it had been a mistake to liberate from slavery these “stiff-necked people” who embraced a golden idol. God considered disowning them and letting Moses take care of these problematic people who disregarded God’s commands. Fortunately for Israel, Moses intervened and tried to restore the relationship.
The way the author of this story tells things, the conversation between the LORD and Moses sounds a bit like what happens between parents when a child acts up. You know, one parent says to the other: “That child of yours sure messed up.” Maybe it’s “your child smashed up the car”; or “your child wrote on the wall”; or “your child flunked the semester in school.”
God is so frustrated with the people that a more drastic idea emerges. Why not wipe out these stubborn people who won’t follow directions and start over with Moses? After all, since Moses was a descendant of Abraham and Sarah, God could start over with him and still fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham and Sarah. That way God wouldn’t have to continue putting up with this group of malcontents who “exchanged the glory of God for an image of an ox that eats grass” (Psalm 106:20).
Fortunately for Israel, Moses reminded God that it wouldn’t look very good if God liberated the people from slavery in Egypt and then led them out into the desert only to kill them. In other words, what would the neighbors think? What kind of reputation would Yahweh have in Egypt after doing something like that?
I realize this isn’t a very flattering picture of God. We might want to distinguish the God Jesus reveals from the God whom Moses argued with, but that would be a mistake. Scripture pictures God experiencing wrath but also compassion and mercy. It’s the mercy that prevails, but what this conversation between Moses and Yahweh points out is that God does care, like a parent cares when the child goes astray. There is frustration, but as Moses reminds God, there is a bigger picture that needs to be considered. So God has a change of mind and spares Israel. Though if you continue reading, Moses will let the people have it when he returns from the mountain.
Standing at the center of this story is the problem of idolatry. When the people got impatient with God because it was taking too long to cross the desert, then perhaps they could find other gods who would get them to the desired endpoint. In other words, they thought they would do better with gods they could control than the God whom they could not control. So, Aaron created a god they could see and touch. By doing this, they rejected the LORD who had made a covenant with them that included the command not to create idols.
Since the problem of idolatry stands at the center of this story, we might want to consider whether we create idols as replacement gods. If so, what kinds of idols do we create? Could it be fame or fortune? What about allegiance to the nation, political party, or a particular leader? Does our allegiance to America replace our allegiance to the God of every nation? There’s a difference between patriotism and nationalism, because it’s one thing to love the country you belong to; it’s quite another thing to put one’s nation above everything else, including following Jesus. One antidote to nationalism is to embrace the Lord’s Prayer as our pledge of allegiance to the kingdom of God, which stands above every other realm.
We face strong temptations to create and embrace gods we can control and manipulate, especially when life gets difficult. It’s one of the reasons people embrace authoritarian leaders who promise to solve every problem, even at the cost of freedom for themselves and for others. Back in the days of Rome, the emperors controlled the people with promises of bread and circuses. That offer continues to this day.
Theologian Miguel de la Torre asks a good question: “Would we not be more secure if we were to rely on a god made of gold, or in reality, in gold alone?” That is, have we numbered ourselves among the stiff-necked people who choose “mammon over God” and “risk being consumed by their own greed?” [Preaching God’s Prophetic Justice, p. 431].
Here is the good news: Despite the temptation to create gods we can control and manipulate for our own benefit, gods that include nationalism and greed, God is patient and long-suffering, merciful and loving. Like children who test their parents’ patience, we also test God’s patience. While God might have a change of mind from time to time, ultimately God remains faithful to the covenant, even when we’re not. But if we’re going to get to the Promised Land, we need to heed the words of God while pledging our allegiance to God and God’s kingdom. The journey may not be any shorter, but we will get to the Promised Land!
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
Tyrone Community Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Tyrone Township, MI
Pentecost 20A
October 11, 2026
Image Attribution: Poussin, Nicolas, 1594?-1665. Adoration of the Golden Calf, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/58476 [retrieved October 10, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicolas_Poussin_-_L%27Adoration_du_Veau_d%27or.jpg.
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