3.8.26 – Golden Calf Sandwich

Did you notice in this past week's Torah portion, Ki Tisa, that there are two significant statements side by side? First, we were introduced to the commandment of keeping Shabbat (Ex. 31:13–18)—the final lesson after forty days of Moses being on the mountain. This is the conclusion the Lord wants Moses to tell the children of Israel: that the one binding sign, the everlasting sign for eternity between God and His people, is the commandment of the Sabbath. But why does this subject come right before the building of the golden calf (Ex. 32)? And why does it come right after the golden calf incident (Ex. 35:1–4)—making a golden calf sandwich?

There is absolutely a direct connection between the Sabbath and the sin of the golden calf. If we look at the sin of the golden calf not just as the sin itself, but the reason for the underlying cause, we will find that it comes from an illness of some sort. Huh? Yes, it is an illness that still remains with us to this day.

It is not about worshiping false gods. It is about the fact that when we have emptiness—when we experience emptiness—we are wired as human beings to fill empty space and empty time with something... anything, because the emptiness is unbearable. Oftentimes, when someone has emptiness inside of them, it is only natural to seek stimulation and gratification externally. Empty internally, we seek to fill the emptiness externally with whatever is available. And usually, if we are looking in the wrong places to fill that emptiness, that is when we build our golden calf—that is when we get into trouble.

"It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested (shabbat), and was refreshed (nephesh)."
(Ex. 31:17)

In Hebrew, Shabbat is related to the word le shevet—"to sit." Huh? On the seventh day, God actively sat and refreshed His soul (nephesh). Double huh? This means that on the seventh day God rested—sat down from His previous six days of activities—and He "re-souled." To re-soul means to recharge your soul battery :-).

Now if we really think about it, God did not need to rest. God does not get tired. It is just that He was modeling what He wants us to do in human terminology—in terminology that we can understand. If you look at the seventh day, it is all about recharging one's soul battery in a way of sitting, which implies non-doing. Why? So we can step into the first day of the week energized and ready to shine our light for the world to see :-).

It is about breathing. When God breathed into man His breath (ruach / spirit), man became a living soul (nephesh). Were you able to take a moment yesterday to breathe and recharge? Once the soul battery is charged, we do not need to depend on our external environment for gratification. Remember, it is only when you are empty inside that you look for things in your external environment to fill that emptiness. This is what I call the golden calf syndrome. The Israelites had forty days and forty nights of nothingness—emptiness in both time and space where there was no structure, no Moses to lead. And this led to panic-riddled fear. There were conspiracy theories and fighting between the different people in the Israelite camp.

The conspiracy theory was that Moses was dead. They were all wasting their time waiting. Why did they arrive at this conspiracy? Inquiring minds know why :-) Because in the entire time Moses was on the mountain, he never came down for food or water. Conspiracy theorists said, "Of course he is dead." It is humanly impossible, biologically impossible, to go that long without eating and drinking. Hence, they all concluded with the fighting in the camp that he was dead. They agreed that on the fortieth day they would see, because Moses said, "I will be back in forty days." What would you have thought? How would you interpret "in forty days"?

This golden calf sandwich is a wonderful and sober reminder that God wants us to take one day a week to unplug from the world—to re-soul, to sit, to do nothing in regard to what we normally do six days a week. That way, when the first day of the week comes, our battery is recharged.

Do you find it interesting that at the beginning of next week's Torah portion—Exodus 35:1–4—after the golden calf, Moses brings up the Sabbath again? This really is a golden calf–Sabbath sandwich :-) – Sabbath before and Sabbath after. Why the emphasis? Inquiring minds want to know. More next week :-).

Happy first day of the week! I hope you are able to enjoy the videos from yesterday.

Shalom!
Alan

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