EXODUS 32: 1-4
Moses had been gone on the Mountain for a meeting with God.
Before he left, he put Aaron and Hur in charge (Exodus 24:14).
Nobody had any idea how long the meeting would take, but they waited for Moses for a few weeks. When their patience ran out, they summoned Aaron (who was in charge) and placed a DEMAND on him: “Make us gods to lead us, we have no idea what has happened to Moses!”
Now, Aaron was in charge, but he had no idea how to stand up for what he knew was RIGHT: he was INTIMIDATED by the crowd! So, he folded and yielded to their demand: he asked them to give him all their gold earrings and he made a golden calf from it and told them, “This is your god that brought you out of Egypt!”
Now, I imagine what was going on in Aaron’s mind as he said those words…
Aaron had seen the 10 Plagues in Egypt.
He was part of the processes that brought about the plagues!
He saw the Red Sea part in two and the Israelites walked across on dry land.
He saw the Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire leading them in the day and at night.
He saw Pharaoh and his army perish in the Red Sea when the waters returned, drowning them.
Aaron saw these things with his own eyes! Yet, same Aaron told the same people, “This Golden Calf I just made from the earrings you gave me is the god that delivered you from Slavery in Egypt!”
Seriously, what came over Aaron?
He was just overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility placed on him- it was too much for him to handle! The Office of Leadership was beyond him, so he was easily intimidated by the crowd when they placed a demand on him.
AARON WAS A WEAK MAN.
Leadership demands some degree of INNER STRENGTH, folks! It’s NOT for the weak-willed or lily-livered.
If you are easily intimidated and can be easily controlled by people, you are NOT cut out for Leadership. Apparently, Aaron was NOT.
Reading further, Aaron tried some Damage Control Mechanism: he built an Altar in front of the Golden Calf and said, “Tomorrow, there will be a Festival to the Lord!”
He KNEW what he had done, he just wanted to see how far he could limit the damage he allowed, so he brought in a Festival to try cover his goof in the Robe of Righteousness.
It didn’t work: God did NOT accept the Festival.
In a similar story, Prophet Samuel asked King Saul to wait for him at Gilgal for 7 days. The King waited as agreed. When he did not see Samuel, he folded to pressure: he decided to offer the sacrifice he was to offer WITH Samuel, the Prophet! He decided to do it alone. But no sooner he finished offering the sacrifice, Samuel arrived!
“What have you done?” Samuel asked.
“When you didn’t arrive at the agreed time and the people put me under pressure and the Philistines INTIMIDATED me, I felt compelled to offer the sacrifice!”
Another Weak Leader spotted!
Prophet Samuel then gave a very grave verdict: “you have done a FOOLISH thing: you have NOT kept the command the Lord your God gave you- if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel forever! But now, your kingdom will NOT last: God has found another man to be king in your place because you did not keep His command!”
Weakness cost him the throne and his life.
LEADERSHIP DEMANDS INNER STRENGTH, people!
You must not only be in charge, you must be seen to be in charge!
Those of you who are fans of football, you know a Weak Coach when you see one.
A Coach like David Moyes could be with a mid-Club like Everton and be relatively successful. Then he is given a bigger job to Coach Manchester United and all his weaknesses come out in the open! He is intimidated by the sheer size of the Club- the responsibility was just too much for him to handle.
Xabi Alonso also coached Bayer Leverkusen of Germany to some relative success. Then he was offered Real Madrid to coach and the wheels fell off: he failed woefully!
There is a Nigerian who was a Governor for 8 years who is now running for the Office of the President. Sometimes it is good to take David’s advice: “My heart is NOT haughty, O Lord! I do not concern myself in matters too great for me…”
-Psalm 131:1
A man should know his own Capacity and not go embarrass himself or even lose his life when he overrates himself.
King Amaziah found out the hard way. He had fought against the Edomites and he won, the victory entered his head and then he challenged King Jehoash of Israel.
King Jehoash warned him, “You have defeated Edom, now you are arrogant! Enjoy your victory and stay at home- there’s a difference between Light Weight and Heavy Weight!”
King Amaziah didn’t listen and he went to fight King Jehoash and was defeated soundly.
Know the LIMITS of your CAPACITY, people!
It will help you make informed decisions about your life.
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels