Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for the Daily Challenges. Yesterday we read the story of how Moses was given the Ten Commandments, only to discover that his people were already breaking two of them by worshipping a golden statue!

They had just spent 400 years in Egypt, in a land where people worshipped multiple gods, and idols were everywhere.

They’d just been asked to serve and follow a God who was invisible.  Sure, he’d led them there through visible signs like a pillar of cloud and fire, but now they were stuck at the bottom of a mountain while their leader was absent, on top of a mountain.  So, they went back to familiar patterns, demanding a visible god to worship.

To do this, Moses’ brother Aaron suggested they collect and use whatever gold they had.

They gave and sacrificed of themselves.  They gave to some made up god what rightfully belonged only to the God of Israel, Yahweh.  Maybe Aaron was hoping they’d balk at that suggestion, but they didn’t relent, they kept going with this awful plan.

Aaron said they’d have a festival to the Lord, Yahweh.  Again, maybe he knew better, and was trying to rescue the situation and have them worship the one true God through this statue.

But at the exact same time, God had laid out quite clearly to Moses that he never wanted them to worship any idol, or any other god.

The bottom line is that you can’t worship Yahweh through idols, and you can’t worship Yahweh unless you worship him alone.

Question: Why is it significant that God is one?  What difference does it make if one believes in many gods, or just one?