Exodus 32:20: “And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt [it] in the fire, and ground [it] to powder, and strawed [it] upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink [of it].”
Exodus 32:26: “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who [is] on the LORD’S side? [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
Why did Moses make the people drink of the water that was sprinkled with the gold from the golden calf?
Let’s first look at this calf. The word in Hebrew is ‘egel which is really a young bull of about one year old. This would fit the description of the Egyptian god Apis. So the people were turning back to the religion that they knew. The god Apis was the god of strength and fertility. Apis was linked to the pharaoh and the symbol of pharaoh embodying the qualities of kingship. The spirit of Apis was said to be present in the body of a real bull that was kept and raised by pharaoh’s priest. When the bull reached the age of one year it was sacrificed and the flesh was eaten by the pharaoh taking on the spirit of Apis.
Basically in ancient times there were four key metals, gold, silver, iron and copper or bronze. Ancient science found it hard to distinguish between the various metals. Few other metals exist naturally in nature other than gold, silver and copper. It was also very difficult to extract the other metals and many were not really discovered until the modern age. The only metals that were known in those days were basically iron, bronze or copper, silver and gold. So why did gold stand out above the other metals? To be sure it is rare. Silver is more common in nature than gold and copper is even more common that silver and gold, but that is not the only reason it was valued. All the other metals are silvery colored except copper or bronze. In ancient times copper and bronze were considered the same metal. Copper and bronze, however, corrodes and turns green when exposed to moist air. Silver will tarnish to dull colors. Gold does not. Gold remains shiny, highly reflective, it will never corrode nor tarnish. All the other metals will respond to your touch and turn warm, but gold will not. Gold will remain cool to your touch, aloof like the gods. In fact the ancient Egyptians believed that gold was the skin of the gods. There is no word in the ancient Egyptian language for silver it is known only as white metal. In fact during the time of the Exodus, silver or the white metal was considered more valuable than gold because it was rarer. But gold remained the choice of kings and gods because of its ability to shine and not tarnish or corrode.
The golden calf was really made of wood and covered with a golden wrap like skin. For gold was the skin of the gods and when Moses forced the people to drink the water laced with the gold he was really forcing them to eat the skin of the god Apis.
Actually, Moses did not force the children of Israel to drink the water laced with gold. The word used in Hebrew is yasheqe which is in a Hipal or causative form. They were caused to drink the water. The syntax is a little difficult to understand, was it Moses who caused them to drink of the water or was it the people themselves who was motivated to drink of the water. There are two possible roots to yasheqe. One is shaqah which means to drink but the root word could also be nashaq which means to join together, to put the mouth to mouth or to kiss. In light of what Archeology has discovered about his god Apis, I would be inclined to say both root words apply here. The people joined themselves to their god, they kissed their god and ingested their god to receive its spirit.
After Moses consulted with Aaron he went to the gate of the camp and called out “Who is on the Lord’s side.” This may be when the people realized they were in big trouble, but now having kissed their god and ingested their god, it was a little late to declare where their hearts lay. Perhaps they knew there would be trouble and rather than flee from their god they embraced him, ingested him hoping their god would protect them from any retribution that was to come.
I will tell you what I think and this is just my opinion on this issue, there are other explanations for drinking of the water laced with the gold, but I tend to think that Moses did this deliberately to test the people to determine who the true followers of Apis were. By drinking the water they showed where their hearts really laid. Those who did drink the water knew they could not fool old Moses. They fell into his trap. By drinking the water with the gold powder, they declared where their allegiance and it was not with God Jehovah but with Pharaoh and his gods.
I think there is a lesson in this for us. “Who is on the Lord’s side? And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” The word for gathered is ‘asaph which means in its Semitic root to assemble or gather together to stand against something. In other words Moses was asking, “Who is for Jehovah and the Levites assembled themselves to stand against these pagan gods. How often do we come together to stand against the gods of this world. How often do we come together to worship God but like the ones who drank the water sprinkled with gold we come together bringing our other gods with us. Those who drank the water could not join Moses for they would be bringing their god with them. They showed where their heart was when they drank the water and there was no fooling Moses or the Levites who stood with him. Unfortunately, no one can see you drinking the water of your god when you enter a church. Yeah, once you know you are getting your heads loped off, it is very easy to repent, but your heart is not in that repentance, it is just a defensive measure to save your own gizzard, not out of any desire for a relationship with God Jehovah. It is pretty easy to repent when confronted with hell and other horrible things. Far too many people come to God only to get the goodies He has to offer while clinging to the fancied advantages of their other gods. Jesus said it best, “No man can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24).
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