In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent
Thus Moses returned to his people full of wrath and sorrow: “My people,” he said, “Did not your Lord hold out a goodly promise to you? Did, then, (the fulfillment of) this promise seem to you too long in coming? Or are you determined to see your Lord’s condemnation fall upon you, and so you broke your promise to me?”
They answered: “We did not break our promise to you of our own free will, but we were loaded with the burdens of the (Egyptian) people’s ornaments, and so we threw them (into the fire).” Likewise this Samiri threw, and produced for them the effigy of a calf, which made a lowing sound. “This,” they said, “is your deity and the deity of Moses; but he has forgotten.” Why! Did they not see that it could not give them any response, and that it could neither harm nor benefit them?
And, indeed, Aaron had said to them earlier: “My people! You are but being tempted to evil by this calf. Your only Lord is the Most Gracious! Follow me, then, and do as I bid you.” But they had replied: “By no means shall we cease worshipping it until Moses comes back to us.”
(Moses) said: “Aaron, what has prevented you, when you saw that they had gone astray, from following me? Why have you disobeyed me?” (Ta Ha: 20: 86-93)
We mentioned last week how Moses reacted when God told him on the second occasion of his direct address to him that his people were led to temptation and went willfully into error. That was when the Samiri produced for them the golden calf that makes a lowing sound. They immediately considered the calf as a deity and started worshipping it. Moses returned hastily to find them in this state, saying to each other that the calf was their deity, and the deity of Moses, whom he went to meet on the Mountain, forgetting that the deity was there with them.
Enraged and full of sorrow, Moses asked his people: “Did not your Lord hold out a goodly promise to you?” God had promised them victory and to enter the Holy Land as a community believing in God’s oneness. Only very recently did they witness the initial steps toward the complete fulfillment of this promise. Hence, he remonstrates with them: “Did, then, (the fulfillment of) this promise seem to you too long in coming? Or are you determined to see your Lord’s condemnation fall upon you?” What you have done is the sort of action perpetrated by one who wants to bring God’s condemnation on his head, so he willfully and deliberately does what incurs it. Moses asks them if that was the reason for their breaking of their promises to him to maintain until his return the path he showed them.
They give him a singular excuse which exposes the effects on their mentality of the long time they lived in subservience. Theirs is a ludicrous excuse: “We did not break our promise to you of our own free will. It was something beyond our ability and control. But we were loaded with the burdens of the (Egyptian) people’s ornaments, and so we threw them into the fire.”
They had carried with them loads of the jewelry they had borrowed from Egyptian women. Now they say that they wanted to get rid of those loads because they were taken unlawfully. The Samiri took these gold articles and made of them the golden calf. The Samiri was either a man from Samaria accompanying them or one of them known by this appellation. When he made the calf, he purposely placed some holes in it, so that when the wind blew it produced a lowing sound, despite the fact that it had no life or soul. It was merely an inanimate object.
But no sooner did they see such a golden calf making that noise than they forgot their true Lord who saved them from their humiliation. Most stupidly and inexcusably they started to worship the calf, repeating the ludicrous statement that Moses had been misled when he went to the mountain looking for his deity, while the deity was there with them, as they claimed. “This,” they said, “is your deity and the deity of Moses; but he has forgotten.”
Their stupid remarks also detract from the position of their Prophet Moses, who was the one to accomplish their savior under God’s guidance. What they say about the calf constitutes an allegation that Moses has no guiding relationship with his Lord. Hence, he does not know how to find Him, taking the wrong way and looking for him in the wrong place.
Yet they were fooled by a simple trick, which they should have easily recognized for what it was. “Why! Did they not see that it could not give them any response, and that it could neither harm nor benefit them?” It was not even a living calf that hears them and responds in the way cows and calves respond. It could not aspire to the status of an ordinary animal. It could not bring them the least harm or benefit, not even fighting with its horns or drawing water from a stream.
Moreover, Aaron, their other prophet who deputized for his brother Moses, their savior, gave them honest and sincere advice, pointing out to them that it was all a test: “And, indeed, Aaron had said to them earlier: My people! You are but being tempted to evil by this calf. Your only Lord is the Most Gracious! Follow me, then, and do as I bid you.” He assured them that the proper course for them to take was to follow him as they had promised Moses. He told them that Moses was certain to come back when his Lord has finished His business with him. Rather than follow his advice, they evaded their responsibility and abandoned their commitment to obey their prophets, saying: “By no means shall we cease worshipping it until Moses comes back to us.”
Thus Moses returned, sorrowful and angry. He listened to his people’s excuses which reveal the extent of their twisted logic. In his anger, he turned to his brother dragging him by his head and beard, crying in his anger: “Aaron, what has prevented you, when you saw that they had gone astray, from following me? Why have you disobeyed me?” He scolds him for leaving them to worship the calf without taking effective action to prevent them. But Aaron was merely obeying his brother’s orders when he told him not to do any thing serious until he has come back. Was Aaron, then, disobeying his brother by doing so?
We will look for an answer next week, God willing.