Scripture records a highly instructive account of divine judgment on an ancient Asian people who had recently been delivered from slavery at the hands of an ancient African people who had been guilty of partiality (Exod. 32). The account also has hotly contested information about certain sinful worship and entertainment that these formerly enslaved Asian people indulged themselves in after they had been delivered from their slavery (Exod. 32:6, 19, 25).
Deliverance from Slavery and Partiality
The ancient Hebrews were an Asian people who were the descendants of Shem (Gen. 11:10-28), but the ancient Egyptians were an African people who were the descendants of Ham (Ps. 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22). The ancient Egyptians horrifically afflicted, oppressed, and enslaved the ancient Hebrews for 400 years (Gen. 15:13; Acts 7:6).
It is widely held that people who enslave other people who are of a different people group than they themselves are do so because they are guilty of sinful partiality against the people whom they afflict, oppress, and enslave. Based on this understanding of slavery and partiality, the ancient African Egyptians who enslaved the ancient Asian Hebrews did so because they were guilty of sinful partiality against them.
Through the exertion of His mighty power in His fierce judgment on the ancient Egyptians (Acts 7:7), God miraculously delivered the ancient Hebrews from their sinful bondage at the hands of the ancient Egyptians who had enslaved them because of their partiality against them (Exod. 12-15). How God then dealt with these Asian people who had been delivered from being sinfully enslaved because of partiality against them provides us with vital biblical understanding about issues concerning a right understanding of how God wants us to think about at least certain activities of people who formerly have been victims of slavery and partiality.
Divine Judgment of the Sinful Worship and Entertainment of Formerly Enslaved People
The ancient Hebrews whom God delivered from Egypt were a formerly enslaved people who had been victimized by sinful people (the ancient Egyptians) who had wrongly treated them (the ancient Hebrews) out of partiality against them. In spite of the ancient Hebrews being people who had suffered greatly at the hands of their oppressors, God did not excuse these formerly enslaved people when they indulged themselves in sinful worship and entertainment (Exod. 32:6; cf. 1 Cor. 10:7) when they turned back in their hearts (cf. Acts 7:39-43) to their old ways that they had engaged in while they were enslaved in Egypt:
Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Exodus 32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies.
1 Corinthians 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Instead, God fiercely judged these formerly enslaved Asian people for their sinful worship and entertainment (Exod. 32:27-28; 35).
Application
God’s dealing in this manner with His own people teaches us that confronting even people who have suffered under slavery is biblical when people who have engaged in sinful activities during their times of bondage revert to or continue to engage in those same sinful activities after they have been freed from their slavery. Similarly, if their descendants engage in the same sinful activities that their ancestors engaged in during their bondage, such confrontation of the descendants is biblical.
For more information about the sinful worship and entertainment in this biblical account, see What Does “Play” Mean in Exodus 32:6? and What Does “Play” Mean in 1 Corinthians 10:7? See also “What Does Exodus 32:17-19 Have to Do with Christian Music?” and “A Noise of War.”
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