Idol Hands

Idol Hands

Deuteronomy 4:15-31

Moses continues his pity party.  I won't be going with you to the promised land.  I'll be stuck here while you get all the Honey Nut cheerios and lactose you can tolerate.

In this section, Moses harps on the need to remember to stop graven-ing those images.  First off, when the burning bush appeared, no image.  So don't try to create one of God that looks like a man, or a woman, or a calf, or a beaver.  Also, you should really avoid the whole worshiping the sun, or moon, or satellite.  God's not much of a fan of that.  

And once you've settled in, you've made some children, you're thinking, this is a great time to start some idol worship. It isn't.  God is jealous.  It will not go well.

For me, the heart of this passage seems to come in the middle.  Moses says- if it wasn't for you, I could be enjoying the prosperity of the land.  But no, you had to go and build that calf. As you get ready to enjoy the greatest reward of your life, let me throw some guilt on it for you.  I can't go and it's your fault.

This feels a lot like Moses saving face.  Saying that the idol building is why Moses gets left behind is a bit of a stretch.  I've always felt like Moses got a raw deal in this whole process, but passages like this one seem to suggest that this account is pretty biased.  I was up on the mountain minding my own business when they built this calf.  I didn't strike the rock, someone threw it at my staff.  I was slipping, it's gravity's fault, not mine.

Even Moses strives to save face when things don't go his way.  It's not pretty for him.  It's not pretty for us either.