I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 30-32.

    God gave Moses a recipe for anointing oil and for incense to be used in the Tabernacle. The people were forbidden from using a similarly scented oil or incense for anything else. Studies have shown that we remember scents on a much more basic level than anything else. Because these scents came from the oil used to consecrate things and people in the Tabernacle and from the incense used to worship God, the children of Israel would associate them with worship. If these scents were used elsewhere they would be likely to trigger a subconscious response on the part of those who smelled them. This subconscious response might lead people to worship something other than God, or it might be used by the unscrupulous to cause people to trust those that they would otherwise distrust. Therefore the people were forbidden from using this oil and this incense in any other setting.

    While Moses was on the mountain getting God’s instructions for the people, the people got impatient. I cannot say that I blame them. Moses was up on the mountain for forty days. However, rather than demand Aaron find out what was taking so long, they demanded that he come up with some other god(s) for them to follow. Aaron for his part did not attempt to dissuade them. He promptly gathered their gold and made them a calf. When Aaron saw how excited this made the people, he declared that they would have a festival to the Lord. So, we have two sides sinning here. The people for giving up on God and Moses and Aaron for having a plan as to what to do when they did. However, one of the things that struck me about this passage is that the primary sin committed was not the worshiping of the golden calf in place of God. Reading between the lines it seems to me that the biggest sin they committed was giving credit to an idol they watched being made for the mighty works which God performed to bring them out of Egypt.