On idols and freedoms... a study in Exodus 32

Introduction

I remember when Ronald Reagan died in 2004, on D-Day. His legacy is still being written, perhaps by contrast with current settings. This comment came from Charles Colson, who used to work on détente under President Richard Nixon and barely knew Reagan. He says that Reagan defined the 2^nd half of the 20^th Century. 

“He will define it because he had the boldness to make a sharp break with American foreign policy by calling evil by its right name. Whether it came from a well-formed Christian worldview or from his unfailing intuition, Reagan defined good and evil in a way that reflected Christian truth, and this is what changed the course of history.”

Reagan dared to challenge the Soviets on the basis of morality—good versus evil. Freedom and democracy were good, tyranny and communism evil. And so at the Berlin Wall, Reagan challenged Soviet tyranny with the unforgettable words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And it came down, and the Iron Curtain came down along with it.”

 

Today these thoughts are about good versus evil in our days. Not in light of some political scene like we’ve been watching in Ukraine or Gaza, but in terms of our own lives. And I want to talk about heroes and idols. And finally we will talk about freedom and Jewish law. All from our text in Exodus 32.

On idols and heroes

I’ve had heroes; people who have made an impact on my life and whom I admire. As we read about the Golden Calf, the question pops into my mind: is a hero the same as an idol? They say everyone should have an idol, but maybe that’s not right in light of today’s Bible portion and the complete teachings of Torah.

We read about trouble falling on idol worshippers. I remember going to Thailand with my wife and one daughter and everywhere there were statues and shrines dedicated to this god or that one, and one time our tour guide wanted me to kneel down and toss some sticks and say a prayer or something to a wise man. I wouldn’t do it.  I thought it was idolatry. My daughter thought I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

Here in Australia, we have our own version of an idol. I wonder what it is about music celebrities or movie stars that makes us want to idolize them? And why don’t we do the same with inventors or scientists? Why not our schoolteachers? Why not our parents?  I have my heroes. Are they the same as idols?

Let’s use this definition of ‘idol.’ The dictionary calls an idol, “an image used as an object of worship, or a false god.” It also says it is “One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.” Maybe that’s part of what we need to understand.   God always was warning my Jewish people against idolatry, which probably had to do with the false gods who were out there. They had names back then like Marduch and Baal and Asherah, but most modern people wouldn’t name those as their idols.  Worship was supposed to be only to God, and never given to others in his place.

So are heroes who are good for us, who model for us good things, like heroes in stories or in ancient fables or in modern movies… are they all bad? Are they all idols in the biblically bad sense?

The Greeks used stories to warn us of acting like gods. Consider the story of Arachne, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was turned into the first spider for her pains. 

Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of his father the sun god and was killed. 

Asclepius, a son of Apollo, was a physician so expert that he began cheating the underworld gods of their due--for he was saving people from death. Hades, king of the underworld, appealed to his brother Zeus, king of the realms above, and Zeus blasted Asclepius with a thunderbolt, burning him to a crisp. 

I think the difference is that heroes are human. They fail. We see them hitting 6s in the cricket pitch, but we also see them ending their careers with a duck. The best golfers sink 50-foot putts, but they also miss short ones to lose the Open. Idols never fail, but of course, they are not real. Heroes are like us; only they have gone on and done really great things. I can become like my hero; I could never be like an idol.

Back to the story of the Golden Calf.  Remember, idolatry didn’t help the Jewish people. Never does, never will.  Moses was called to go to the top of the Mountain, and to talk and meet with God. He tells the people to wait for him. And they do. And he climbs up Mt Sinai and is there for 40 days, nearly 6 weeks. That’s a long time to wait for an old man. Moses was in his eighties at the time. Some of the people probably thought he had died up there, or maybe he lost his way.  

So the people down at the bottom of Mt Sinai grew anxious.  What would they do now? No doubt, someone suggested making an idol and praying to it.   Unfortunately, Aaron and many of the people agreed and they rallied others to take the gold for the Tabernacle and make it into a calf. I don’t know how big it was, but I’ve seen pictures that show it to be the size of the Big Merino in Goulburn, and that’s really big.

The Bible says Aaron was responsible for making the Golden Calf and to be honest I wouldn’t want my name to go down in history connected with a bad situation like this one. I’d rather be like Elijah who challenged the prophets of Baal and made them realize that praying to an idol was a waste of time and that God is always going to win in the end.

This is classic Reagan-esque good vs. evil. Good is following God. Nothing else will do; it’s all summarized as evil.

So maybe you are wondering where Jesus fits into all this. 

My father used to tell me that believing in Jesus was like bowing to a tselem, that’s the Yiddish word for idol.  But what did Yeshua really say about idols and what did he do with worship?

Yeshua told everyone who was listening, that God was to be adored and worshiped. He wondered when people came and bowed themselves before him, what were they doing. Not that he refused worship, mind you, but he wondered if they knew what they were doing. Were they admitting that Jesus was God incarnate?

You see, the opposite of idolatry is the worship of the true God. And that’s what God always wanted. This makes sense personally too.

I need to remind myself that God is number one in my life.  Lots of things want me to give up what I know to be true about Jesus and to become like so many others. A Jewish man named Anton told me when he sees “Jews for Jesus” on our signage, that he wants to vomit.  On the other side, in the church, some want me to quit being Jewish and go eat a ham sandwich with them. But today I want to identify with my people and with my Messiah. I am a Jew, and I am a believer in Yeshua. 

Jesus is no tselem. He is not the idol who is so other-worldly that he cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. He was God who took on humanity and suffered like we do. In His death on the Roman cross, He smashed all idols of human invention. He took the punishment for our sins and opened the way for people-- all people-- to know right living with God, what the Bible calls ‘righteousness.’

The two sides of the Law: Freedom

 One final thing. In the last chapter (chapter 31. verse 21) we saw that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God.  In today’s lesson we read

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. (15-16) The writing was done by God and are known as the 10 commandments, 

 

A couple things to note. The writing was done on both sides, but could be read by people on each side the same way. Like we could do with the letter “A” or “H”, but we could not do with “E”. Thus the mention of ‘one side and the other side.”

 

The writing was done by God, engraved the Bible says, on the tablets.

Harut is the Hebrew word for engraved. Herut is the Hebrew word for liberty or freedom. Allow me to change the voweling on the text and translate it thus, “And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, freedom on the tablets” In other words, the Word of God is what brings freedom.

During these troubled days of war and uncertainty, when freedoms continue to be major news each day, we turn our thoughts to freedom. And we rarely think that freedom comes with restrictions. Yet to the wise man, the truly free is one who is taught freedom and its guidelines. The truly free is one who is bound to the rules and joys of freedom. 

Yeshua said it this way, ““If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8.32)

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there…Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" 

I say that to remind us of the good vs evil comments about Ronald Reagan. I say that to commend right living or righteousness to us. I say that to remind us of Jesus, our only mediator and Lord, who gives us righteousness by faith. It’s not in the Law, and our obedience to a set of rules. Our relationship with God determines our freedom. It’s not how many rules you can break, although that sounds attractive to many. Freedom comes from knowing the living God, being taught by Him and His word, and having those words engraved on our hearts. It’s in the Word of God that true freedom comes. We shall know the truth and that’s the truth about God and the truth about ourselves not being God, and that we desperately need God, That truth will set us free.

Can the underdog win? NCAA and Easter.

It's that time of year in the US. They call it "March Madness" and it has to do with basketball. University basketball is thrilling, as thousands of young people stand and scream the full 60 minutes of action. This is finals b-ball, and the top 64 teams in the country vie for dominance, ending with the Final Four. Those teams will play in the finals on the first weekend of April in Houston, Texas. The tournament is a single-elimination affair with 16 teams in each of four divisions. The number one in each division plays the 16; 2 plays the 15; and so forth. Those rankings are decided by experts over the last few weeks of the regular season and finalised the Sunday before the tournament begins. It began this week.

Surprises are common as a team will get up over the predicted winner and the crowd will go wild. Such was the case yesterday and today as Yale beat Baylor, Stephen F Austin beat West Virginia, Hawaii beat California. And more are forthcoming.

Some outside the US may think of the Electoral process with primaries and caucuses as Madness. It certainly seems to be so titled.

And maybe a similarity is that underdogs may just win in one contest or another. I have an emotional investment in the basketball as my former uni, the University of Kansas, is ranked #1 and I hope for them to last through the Final Four and cut down the nets (gain the ultimate victory). I have nothing invested in the political process in the States, and it looks like the natural underdogs are long gone from the national contests.

But underdogs who win are great stories. In March Madness they are often titled the "Cinderella" team. That's a reference to the fairy tale of the hated step-sister who serves the others and has no chance in a million of gaining the prize, in her case, the prince. But as all good fairy tales, she does win the prince and they live happily ever after.

I think it's an American value, certainly a Jewish one, that we cheer for the underdog. We hope that little David beats the giant Goliath. We want the little Israel to dominate in the 1948 war against the entire Arab League. We want little Yale to beat big bad Baylor. There is a sense of hope for us, I suppose, when this happens. Not many of us are noble; fewer of great significance. We want hope for us to succeed in life and to at least have a good life. We may not want the ultimate victory of world dominance, but we want to be happy.

Maybe ours is the ultimate underdog story. When we see Hollywood celebrities who have everything end up with nothing, suiciding themselves, or leaving families destitute, what hope do we (really) have? When sports stars wind up with nothing, after having gained the world, what hope do we have?

The answer: The Ultimate Victor. Not in the NCAA men's basketball tournament (sometimes nicknamed "The Dance"). Not in the four golf majors. Not in the US presidential races. The Ultimate Victor was the ultimate underdog. Born in a little hamlet of a village on the back side of ancient Judea, Yeshua was a real nobody. Nothing of note about him. His parentage was from King David and before him the tribe of Judah, but that's about all he had as a claim to being a somebody. His adopting father was a carpenter, hardly a significant leader in the little community around the Sea of Galilee. Nazareth was another village, far from the political capital of Jerusalem, with little influence. This Yeshua was raised with little hope of being a somebody, and at 30 he entered into the public sphere, with little chance of gaining popularity. He taught a handful of men; they wandered from village to city to hamlet and had a little following. At times hundreds, even thousands gathered to listen, and on a Sunday before Passover he had crowds thronging to see him. But days later, those same crowds were counting him less-than-human, and hoping to toss him aside, yelling "Crucify him!" to the Roman leadership who eventually did just that.

His crucifixion was insignificant as so many were already being killed in that same way, even a couple other criminals next to this Yeshua on that Friday morning. The sky turned dark, as if even heaven didn't notice, nor want to notice the scene. The Sabbath was coming, and most left as the ultimate underdog was laid to rest in a new grave.

Tears, sadness, weeping, malaise, disappointment abounded, as their hoped-for messiah lay dead, behind a sealed Roman grave.

Friday night. Saturday. Saturday night. Sunday morning.

As if out of nothing, the stone in front of the tomb was rolled back, the grave emptied and the underdog was risen. RISEN! He appeared to some ladies, then the 12, then to 500 after that death. What? This cannot be. But it was. #16 had beaten #1. Yeshua was risen from the dead. The Ultimate Victor had conquered death. Hosea the Jewish prophet said, "O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?" (13.14) That triumph over the last great enemy, death, was accomplished by God's noble Son, Yeshua, whom many call Jesus. That's the ultimate victory. Death could not hold him; He rose from the dead. And He lives forever to make intercession for us. He died and lives to bring us into relationship with the Father. To bring YOU into relationship with the Father. Say "Yes" to Him now. Believe in Yeshua and you will have eternal life. Your existence will end one day, but your life will live forever if you do.

John the apostle and friend of Yeshua said, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith." (1 John 5.4) He's the Ultimate Victor who brings us the ultimate victory. Eternal life with God. "but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah." (1 Cor 15.57)

Morals and sports

When Pete Rose, known as Charlie Hustle, was discovered as having gambled on professional sports games, he lost his place in American baseball history. Look who he was and then consider how he fell. Rose played from 1963 to 1986, and managed from 1984 to 1989.

Rose is the all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215), and outs (10,328). His teams won the World Series three times, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of the Year Award, and also made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B, and 1B).

In August 1989, three years after he retired as an active player, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing for and managing the Reds, including claims that he bet on his own team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the "permanently ineligible" list from induction, after previously excluding such players by informal agreement among voters. In 2004, after years of public denial, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and on, but not against, the Reds.

Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje was a South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. He died in a plane crash in 2002. He was voted the 11th greatest South African in 2004 despite having been banned from cricket for life due to his role in a match-fixing scandal.

In cycling, Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He previously won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of those victories in 2012 after a protracted doping scandal.

I get it, gambling and fixing games is illegal and immoral and very much out of bounds for a sportsman, whether in baseball, cricket, boxing and the like. Here in Australia,, according to Channel 9, after crisis meetings with the National Rugby League were scaling back the use of Tom Waterhouse within its coverage after conceding his role between bookmaker and commentator had been ‘blurred’. And using illegal substances to assist in victory, that's clearly wrong. Last year five Gold Coast Titans rugby league players and Queensland Reds rugby union player Karmichael Hunt were stood down after they were charged over allegations related to drug supply offences. But lately a new type of morality is being required of sportsmen which seems of a different category.

This time it's related to drinking alcohol, taking drugs (not for doping, but for pleasure), and being sexual outside of traditional marriage. Somehow, all of these are wrong for role models like professional sports people, although they are glorified on our television and movie screens every day. Helen Razer writes a weekly column for Daily Review, and were her language PG instead of R-rated, I would offer her actual website to read. Instead, I'll simply quote from her article from last August, "DON’T LOOK FOR MORAL GUIDANCE FROM SPORT STARS – OR SPORT WRITERS". She said after Nick Kyrgios acted unbecoming for a sportsman, "We must also say that people who are good at sport carry with them not only exceptional statistics but the moral responsibility for an entire nation. And this is why an unremarkable citizen can become the “greatest Australian ever” [she references Sir Donald Bradman] and why Kyrgios can make local headlines for a week for saying just what many overpaid 19-year-olds with risky haircuts are bound to say until they grow up and out of fashion."

Kirk O. Hanson and Matt Savage wrote about this in their 2012 article, "What Role Does Ethics Play in Sports?" published in Santa Clara (Calif) University. "Some argue for a "bracketed morality" within sports. This approach holds that sport and competition are set apart from real life, and occupy a realm where ethics and moral codes do not apply. Instead, some argue, sports serves as an outlet for our primal aggression and a selfish need for recognition and respect gained through the conquering of an opponent. In this view, aggression and victory are the only virtues. For example, a football player may be described as mean and nasty on the field, but kind and gentle in everyday life. His violent disposition on the field is not wrong because when he is playing the game he is part of an amoral reality that is dictated only by the principle of winning.

An ethical approach to sport rejects this bracketed morality and honors the game and one's opponent through tough but fair play. This means understanding the rules and their importance in encouraging respect for your opponent, which pushes you to be your best."

So who decides on the morality and ethical standard to which all professional sports people should comply?