When the cult doesn’t have a leader

Lessons from Moses and the golden calf.

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as we discover new insights and new perspectives from a very old book.

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Exodus 32

Moses, like Abraham, is like a cult leader. Abraham was able to get all his hired male servants and slaves circumcised. Moses was able to lead an entire nation out of their homes to another land. In other words, each was able to get others to make extraordinary sacrifices. And that seems to be a quality of a cult leader.

On the other hand, both Abraham and Moses are also able to talk sense to the LORD: Abraham about saving a city if even just a few righteous people live there; Moses about sparing the Israelites from God’s wrath.

It’s yet another time when this LORD character seems nuts. Here’s what I think is really happening.

As noted before, the Israelites are descendants of Shem, representing the higher or spiritual self, and are out to conquer and enslave the descendants of Ham, representing the base or materialistic self. In this story, Moses is God’s representative, so when Moses disappears, it’s as…