“Let them go out to the wilderness to praise God,” Moses begged of Pharaoh, way back at the beginning of the book of Exodus. Now, here they are, dancing and worshipping a Golden Calf in God’s and Moses’ absence. Back at the ranch, things are not going according to plan. The fact is, these newly freed Israelites don’t really seem to understand their relationship or fealty to this God character. Sure, they were recent witnesses and beneficiaries to arguably the greatest miracle of all time (the splitting of the Sea of Reeds), but Moses has been gone a while and they really don’t know him that well, either.
It makes sense that in times of difficulty, we would tend to lean on what we know, on what is comfortable. The Golden Calf is the literary representation of Egypt and Pharaoh’s lingering hold on the souls of the Israelites.
I can’t help but think of Bob Marley, quoting Marcus Garvey, saying, “Free yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.” While Marley and Garvey clearly had specific audiences in mind with their message, who were the grandchildren of enslaved people, the entire world benefits from being free mentally and to truly feel free in life.
I am not condoning Israel’s behavior with the Calf, but I am using it as a reminder of both how far we have come and how far we still need to go in pursuit of the feeling of freedom for all.