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

Moses was on Mt. Sinai for a long time talking with God and receiving God’s commands for the Israelite people.  This led the people to become discontent with sitting there at the base of Mt. Sinai and start to complain about why they weren’t travelling towards the “land of milk and honey” they had been promised.  Some of the people around Aaron told him that he needed to do something to maintain control, and probably suggested that he needed to make an idol to be the god of the Israelites.  So, that is what Aaron did.  It would also explain why Aaron did not lose his position as high priest for this affair.  After Aaron made the idol for the Israelites to follow as their god, they held a festival with sacrifices and other activities to celebrate their new god.  When Moses came down from the mountain the party was still going on, and the people, or, at least some of them, refused to stop partying.  So, Moses rallied the Levites to his side in order to restore order in the camp.  They had to kill 3,000 of the people in the camp before order was restored.

All of this happened because Aaron was not a strong leader.  He was in his position because he was a good public speaker (and Moses’ brother).  While there is much more to be learned from this passage, it illustrates the danger of selecting leadership because they are great orators.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.