D. Scott Meadows
And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? (Exodus 32:21).
Having just fled enslavement in Egypt, the nascent nation of Israel was gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, awaiting Moses’ return from his meeting with God on high. When Moses had been up there nearly a month and a half, the people grew extremely impatient. They wondered if he would ever return. They were eager to get on with their journey, and they knew they needed supernatural help. So they proposed to Moses’ stand-in, his older brother Aaron, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Exod 32.1).
This critical moment called for courageous spiritual leadership. Though he may have stood completely alone, Aaron should have expressed his absolute horror at this suggestion, warned the people it was a disastrous proposal, and stood in their way as far as humanly possible. But he opted for the easier course when he helped them to accomplish their objective. Given his excuse later, in which he blamed the people and implied that the golden calf made itself, it is shocking to read of Aaron’s aggressive leadership in this public idolatry. He directed them to gather their gold for the raw materials. He fashioned that gold into an idol. He stood by while they said that this image was to be worshipped as the God who led them from Egypt. Aaron also built an altar in front of the idol. Then he proclaimed a religious, celebratory feast in the idol’s honor and stood by while they drank themselves drunk and committed lewd acts (Exod 32.2–6)! The original idea may have come from the people, but Aaron behaved with great zeal to put their wicked plan into immediate action.
When Moses came down and saw what had happened, he was righteously furious! He smashed the tablets with the Ten Commandments, symbolizing how egregiously the people had broken those holy laws. He burned the idol of gold, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the people of Israel drink it to their shame. And he publicly rebuked Aaron in the words of our text above.
The exact wording of Moses’ rebuke is richly instructive. “What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?” To paraphrase and expand it a little, “What harm have they done to you that you would retaliate with such malicious treatment, leading them to commit such a great sin? From this we gather that there is such a thing as “malicious cooperation,” and even “malicious spiritual leadership.”
By saying this, Moses is not for a moment justifying malicious retaliation against those who harm us. Biblical morality in both testaments consistently requires us to love our neighbors, even when they hate and victimize us (Psa 35.11–14; Matt 5.38, 39). Rather, Moses assumes Aaron’s benevolence under ordinary circumstances and suggests that only under the most severe provocation would he ever stoop to such hateful treatment of his neighbors.
Further, Moses characterizes Aaron’s malicious actions as having “brought so great a sin upon them.” They committed the idolatry, but Aaron was an instrument greatly facilitating it. Scripture emphasizes each person’s responsibility for the sins he or she commits (Ezek 18.20), as well as the responsibility others have for tempting them to sin. Those who are complicit in sin bear much blame for what they encourage others to do. Of the immoral woman that seduced a naïve young man, Scripture says, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him” (Prov 7.21). Yes, he consented, but she is blameworthy for her part in it, and even bears the greater burden of guilt. Proverbs portrays the young man as a hapless victim of her wiles, not wholly innocent but most pitiable.
All this should bring us to serious reflection concerning our relationships with others who are proposing wrong or doing wrong. We are called to love them graciously. Consistency with that call demands that we refuse to lead them into sin, or even cooperate with them in it, lest we ourselves incur guilt. Cautioning gospel ministers against hastily ordaining unqualified men, Paul wrote, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure” (1 Tim 5.22). Should we aid and abet anyone in their violations of the biblical standard of righteousness, we behave maliciously toward them, whether that is our intention or not. We become instruments of Satan and even resemble him, man’s archenemy and murderer from the beginning (Jn 8.44).
The only policy of purity and innocence is to live uprightly ourselves and to stand with prophetic courage against sinning, whatever it may cost us personally. Yes, calling out sinners and warning them of dire consequences will often provoke their hostility, but it is the only way to live with integrity. Paul testified publicly, “I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. . . . by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (Acts 20.26, 27, 31). And in rebuking one church, he mournfully complained that “the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved” (2 Cor 12.15 NKJV). Still, it is the best policy to be faithful to men’s souls in telling them the truth. We also have a proverb to encourage us. “He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue” (Prov 28.23). The temporary rift between the rebuker Moses and guilty Aaron was healed, and even between Moses and the nation of Israel. May God help each of us be as faithful to Him and our neighbors. Ω