The

Syncretism
ofEx
Significance fo r Lutheran Worship Today
Robert M

:s d : : d e d 0er the issue of

worship. One side of the debate fa0rs the use of contemporary, soft-rock music for worship; the other prefers classical hym nody and traditional instrum ents for the church's
music. The contemporary side claims that there should be no
problem w ith a change in style as long as the theology is faithfirl.
The liturgical party beliees that the doctrine of worship itself is
at stake, alongside other teachings such as original sin, the
means of grace, and een faith. There is a lot of tension regarding this current issue, and it has not yet been resoNed.
This is not the first time in church history that a dispute has
arisen 0er worship. As in times past, the current question should
be addressed theologically. Since this is not the first time that the
church's worship life has been called into question, something can
be learned from the struggles of the past. The Bible records
numerous d elatio n s from the right worship of God. One of these
delatio n s is found in the golden calf incident of Exodus 32. Can
this text help the church in her worship struggles?
Exodus 32 speaks about the issue of worshiping God, and so
should be used to help resofoe some issues in the current worship
debate. The Exodus narratNe shows the connection between the
identity of the true God and authentic worship, since it is only
through Gods dhdne and forghdng will that he reeals himself as
the gier of life. Gods self-revelation is always found in the means
of grace, where he gies everlasting life, and thus God chooses to
reeal himself in the worship life of the church as she gathers
around the means of grace. But whereer man mandates the place
or manner in which he beliees God should reeal himself, there
he limits Gods freedom and attempts to make his Maker bow to
his own mortal will. Since Moses account of the golden calf in cident connects the two themes of Gods identity as life-gier and
his self-appointed worship gien for us and our forgNeness,
Exodus 32 offers insights useful in todays worship wars. In the
dhdne serUce the Holy Trinity reeals himself through the forgNeness of sins, thereby offering insights as to how to respond
theologically to those who desire to adapt worship to the preferenees of the culture.
It is my contention that the account of Exodus 32 strongly supports theological guidelines for worship that is life-ghdng, including guidelines about the musical style. First, the nature of pagan
L u t h e r a n C h u r c h t o d a y

R o b e rt M ayes

Nebraska.

is pastor of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Fullerton,

ayes

idolatry in the Old Testament context mnst be examined. Second,

an exploration of the nse of mnsic in ancient pagan ritnals will
follow, together with a stndy of the natnre of the false worship in
Exodns 32. Finally, comparisons will be drawn to show how
Exodns 32 has significance for fire selection of music used in
Lutheran worship today.
IDOLATRY IN THE ANCIENT WORT.D
Modern m an iews idolatry as simply bowing to a cared image.
But the pagan gods of the ancient world were neer considered
to be confined only to where the idols statue was. Instead, idol
figures in paganism sered as means for establishing the gods
presence in a particular locale. Idols were considered focal points
for the deity to manifest h im se lf-a means for granting more
tangible access to the people. Dr. Keith Schordlle notes:
A temple was a m onumental building that functioned as the
dwelling place of the god, comparable to the palace of a king.
It was not used for religious gatherings; its courts, howeer,
might be used for festAal assemblies. Of course, the god did
not dwell in the earthly temple, but in the heaens, although
his presence was assumed to be established in the earthly
building. Proof of the deitys presence was the statue set up
in the building.1
Bill T. Arnold, a professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Asbury Theological Seminary, agrees: The deity was
actually thought to be present in its statue, which is borne out by
a ritual performed soon after its ]^nufacture.2 W hat was
belieed was that the pagan deity, while lhdng and located in the
heaens, had a strong link to people in and through the idol. This
seems to hae been a common assumption in the ancient Near
East. The idol was a means for granting a specific link to a locale
for the gods presence and acthdty. The cared statue was not
considered to be the deity itself, but a concentrated locus for the
deitys actions among men.
M USIC IN ANCIENT IDOL RITIIAT..S
What part did music play in ancient idol worship? Modern scholarship has reealed many surprising aspects about the use of
music in ancient pagan rituals.
The ancient world did not iew music in the same way the
m odern world does. Music in the ancient world was perceNed to
hae an effect upon hum an character and behaHor. Aristotle

L O G IA

belieed that music had this ability because it could arouse the
passions of man. By habitually listening to certain kinds of
music, emotions brought about by music were reinforced until
those emotions became reflexive and automatic. A m ans character, 0er time, was formed to fit the music.3 The New Oxford
History ofM usic notes the connection between music and spiritual culture:
Music is the seat of secret forces or spirits which can be
e0ked by song in order to gie m an a power which is either
higher than himself or which allows him to rediscover his
deepest self. This is true of religious and secular music
alike, for no distinction between the two kinds exists for
primitNe man, whose whole thinking is essentially religious and magicald
Different scales ofm usic elicited different but durable reactions
among people. In keeping with this, different scales (or modes)
were assigned to different occupations for the purpose of
strengthening the traits and qualities necessary for a particular
0cation. Eor example, some modes were thought useful in
spurring 01ent emotions and actions, so that commanding
officers would order their soldiers to listen to them in order to
arouse them to military action. Farmers had their own modes;
senators had theirs. Aristotle saw music in society in terms of
different notes for different folks.

There w as a close association

betw een m usic an d the gods /
a ncien t M esopotam ia and Canaan.

Aristotle did not hold this opinion alone, nor was it held solely
by the ancient Greeks. Johannes Quasten notes in Music and
Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity that this same iewwas
maintained by the Middle Eastern mystery cults of the second and
third centuries A.D. Quasten sees strong similarities in music and
worship between the Grecian cult of Dionysos and the
Mesopotamian cult of Cybele.3 For example, in both groups the
Phrygian mode was belieed to hae a deep spiritual effect upon
man. This mode was also used in the ecstatic rituals of the mystery cults. While singers and fosfrmnentalists played the Phrygian
mode, pagans were incited to sexual and 01ent frenzies. Music
induced orgies, self-mutilations, and screams. The main purpose
of these ecstatic orgies and religious rituals was
to induce such a heightening of consciousness in a m an that
he would be receptNe to the god who came to be united
with him. Such a person was then an entheos, an enthusiast.
Music was the most im portant element used to include this
condition. Preference in musical tonality was gien to the
Phrygian mode.6

Quasten further notes that music in ancient pagan rituals

sered not only to heighten the experience of the worshiper, but
also to pr0de an impetus for prophecy:
The religious ecstasy induced by music expressed itself either
in an outburst of the emotions, thus gAing rise to religious
catharsis, or in a transfer to tire state of prophecy. In this way
music became an important factor in dA ination.. . . Singing
sered as a means of inducing ecstatic prophecy. Thus the
essential relationship between music and prophecy can be
clearly seen. This relationship also explains why the expression for making music and prophesying was often identical
in ancient tongues.7 The cults typically used flutes, tambourines, cymbals, rattles, and horns in their ceremonies.
Flutes were especially pr00catie. In ancient Egypt where
flutes played in religious rituals dancing and extreme sexual
depraty followed.8 In the early Christian era the power of
pagan music led John Chrysostom to say, Where flutists are,
there Christ is not; but een if he should enter he first casts
them out and only then works wonders. What can be more
disagreeable than such Satanic pomp?
An appreciation of music and its power was understood early
in the ancient world. Joachim Braun in his study on the role of
music in ancient Israel and Palestine commented on the role of
music in Canaan during the Bronze Age ( 3 2 0 0 - 1 2 0 0 B .C .): What
we know about the insfruments used in Canaan during this period and about musical performance suggests that the resulting
music was extremely emotional and perhaps een orgiastic.!
There was a close association between music and the gods of
ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan.!! Instruments such as drums
and reed-pipes were assumed to resemble the sounds of the gods
so that music played on them was an im portant part in the worship of the ancient gods. Pagan priests taught their disciples
chanting and singing. !2
Ancient Egyptian religious music was similar to that of
ancient Mesopotamia. Erom the earliest times in Egyptian tempies priests chanted ceremonial songs to their gods accompanied
by instrum ents.!8 Not only were mens passions aroused, but
music was also belieed to cast enchantments on men. Music
was belieed to pr0de a constant reminder that the 0ice of
deity was eer present in their tones; it was not only ears in tonal
appreciation that listened, but rather minds in transcendental
anagogue that understood.!^
Against this backdrop, it is curious to note that the worship of
the golden calf in0led music (Exodus 32:17-19). loshua mistook
it for combat noises, but Moses corrected him: It is not the noise
of the shout of ictory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the
sound ofsinging I hear (Exodus 32:18). The erb used ( )bears
the connotation of chanting or singing responsAely.! The Exodus
account does not elaborate the matter. No one knows for certain
what kind ofmusic was sung, or een if insfruments accompanied
the Israelites worship in the way typical in the ancient world.!
Nevertheless, it can be said that the ancient world did not see
music in terms of styles as m odern people do, and that the
music used in Exodus 32 had connections with the music of the
ancient world. !7

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THE SYNCRETISM OF EXODUS 3 2

These connections are seen in the aroused passions of Israel,

loshua would not hae assumed that the sound he heard from
the camp was due to warfare if the people were merely singing
pretty songs in a gentle and soothing way. He mistook the worship noises for battle, which suggests that the singing was loud
and raucous. Eurthermore, there was dancing, which, along with
the calf, infuriated Moses. Dancing itself was not the issue,
because Miriam and the Israelite women danced after the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex r5:20). But the dancing around the golden
calf was not morally neufral. W hen Moses saw what was going
on, he was outraged. Clearly to him, the liturgy around the
golden calf did not speak of God, but of pagan worship.
Quasten has obsered that dancing to the acom panim ent of
music was common in pagan religious rituals in the first few centnrips after Christ.18 Braun also obsered the ritual use of dance
combined with musical instruments in ancient Mesopotamian
religions from the Bronze Age (3200-1200 B .C .).19 This time frame
fits the conseratie dating of the Exodus (1446 B.C .), though
Braun attributes the eents to King DaUds era.2 It is possible that
the dancing around the golden calf was taken from the culture in
an attempt to create the ecstatic frenzies that were typical in pagan
worship.21 This iew fits with Brauns research, which noted the
sizable influence of Canaanite musical culture upon the surrounding people at this time.22 If Canaanite music spread heaUly
to her neighbors, then Canaanite dancing accompanied by music
probably also spread.
If the use of dancing belonged to the worship style of pagan
religions, it is also likely that the music accompanying it also
shared the same cultural connotations. This cannot be viewed
in the same way as m odern struggles 0er worship and music,
since the ancient world knew of no such thing as a style. The
dancing in Exodus 32 suggests a cultural influence upon Israels
worship. As Braun has obsered, the likely candidate for the
acculturation came from Canaan. Exodus 32 suggests that
Moses could not help but notice the religious influence of a
non-Israelite source.
Music in the ancient world was often seen as spiritual and
religious; een music played in a secular setting had a quasi-religious function. The religions of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
consistently used music and instruments in their religious rituals.
Music strongly affected the passions of the ancient hearers, sometimes inciting people to commit blatantly immoral acts. The false
worship in Exodus 32 used music and rituals associated with the
cultus of ancient worship.
EXODUS 32 AND TH E GOLDEN CALF
Exodus 32 proUdes a crucial foil for understanding the spirit and
truth of Old Testament worship, as well as for understanding
worship in the New Testament. Exodus 32 begins a new narratffe:
just prior to the eents of chapter 32 the L o r d gae the instructions for the establishment of the tabernacle. The golden calf incident follows right after the L ord had reealed the kind ofworship
he desired.
Israels rapid apostasy at Mt. Sinai after her miraculous delieranee raises significant questions. Delfferance from Egypt marked
the consciousness of the people of Israel from the earliest times.
Chemnitzs obseration in this regard remains alid:

It is most delightful to see in all the Prophets and the Psalms

how in the prayers they always look upon God as the God of
the time of the Exodus. For wheneer there was a of
calamities, they often described their prNations by using the
figures of speech in0ling the Red Sea, the waes, the depth
of the sea, the persecution and oppression of Pharoah, Is.
43:2; Ps. 130:1; 42:7-10. In this way, when they are se ein g
delNerance they are accustomed to look at Mt. Sinai and the
Red Sea. Ps. 144:3-7 [means to say:] You, 0 God, who
reealed Yourself in the Word gien at Sinai and manifested
Yourself by the sign of the exodus from Egypt, free me and
deliver me.23
The Exodus is the core eent of the Old Testament. Deliverance
from Egypt made so great an impression upon Israels deseendants that this eent was the foundation for her theology.
Generations of Israelites celebrated the Pass0er in remembrance
of Gods saUng act, and the eldest family member recounted the
story of the Exodus eeryyear.

Even m usic p la yed in a secular settin g had a quasi-religious function.

Certainly the Israelites alie during the exodus had been astonished by Gods mighty acts of rescue. After crossing through the
Red Sea, the Israelites feared God (Ex 14:31); all the women of
Israel joined with Miriam in singing and dancing after the eent
(Ex 13:20-21); the entire nationstill in their slaes clotheshad
been deeply m0ed by the eent. But this underscores the problem: If Israel clearly saw the power of the E o r d , and was so
impressed that countless generations retold these eents long after
they occurred, why would the Israelites who were present at the
Exodus set up a false image at all? It does not make sense in the
light of Gods miraculous rescue. Een if one takes into account
that Israels catechesis was poor in Egypt (if it existed at all), and
that most of the people could be considered conerts to the
Israelite religion, the construction of the golden calf does not do
justice to the normal psychological state of adult converts.24 Adult
conerts to other religions are generally bold. They are people
who hae gien up their entire way of liUng and thinking in order
to embrace a new way of life, sometimes at the cost of social
acceptance. The Israelite conerts had witnessed the destruction
of their fiercest enemies and former slae driers. They had seen
their God wage war against the gods of Egypt.23 These people also
knew that the E o r d had said, You shall not make for yoursefres a
cared image (Exodus 20:4).
With all this in mind, the rationale of building the golden calf (if
Israel willfully knew that it was a false god) seems irreconcilable to
the facts. Een allowing for the weakness of the sinfirl flesh, the ereation of the golden calf seems to fly in the face of plain sense. It is
difficult to imagine the Israelites as faithfirl people of God one day

12

L O G IA

and then wiEful idolaters tire next. Perhaps they neer were faithfiti,
as their complaining about Gods gifts of manna and the quail suggests (Exodus 16). But perhaps there is a cultural explanation that
better helps account for Israels rapid re-conersion to paganism.
Idols in the ancient world came in all shapes and aE sizes. What
kind of idol was the golden calf? It is difficult to see the calf haing Egyptian origins, since the Egyptians worshiped live animals.
M0re0er, it is hard to imagine the Israelites intentionally borrowing from Egyptian reigion at all. Why would a group of newly
liberated slaes 01untarily erect an idol belonging to the country
that had enslaved them? If the golden calf was not Egyptian, to
what nationality did it belong? A plausible alternatAe is that the
calf was Canaanite in origin. Instead of looking back to the gods
of slaery, Israel looked forward to the gods of the Promised
Land.26 Still, this does not answer the psychological question of
why adult conerts, dedicated enough to teach their children the
saAific history of the Exodus, would erect a pagan god when they
knew that their God hated it.

Aarons words make sense ifth e calfwas

not seen as a god but as a Canaanite
cultural symbola god-pedestal
for the Lord 0 stand upon.

Professor Emeritus Nahum Sarna of Brandis UnAersity offers

a theory in answer. He says,
Most attractAe is the suggestion that the calf made by Aaron
was not at all intended to represent the Deity, but was to
function as the pedestal of the inHsible God of Israel. Here
again, we can adduce any num ber of examples from the art
of the ancient Near East wherein gods stand upon animals,
mostly bulls and lions. The pedestal eleated the god ab0e
the hum an leel, and the particular animal might be suggestAe of the gods atfributes. Aarons calf would then be
one more example of this practice, in which case Aaron
would hae followed accepted artistic conention, except
that since the God oflsrael may not be represented in materialform, His Presence on the calfwould be left human imagination . . . . In the popular mind, the image-pedestal could
not but be endowed with dAinity. God was put back into
nature. The fundamental, distinctAe idea of the religion of
Israel was thereby Holated and nullified.22
Professor Sarnas insights correlate well with the incident. In
Exodus 32:5, Aaron saw the calf that he had fashioned, built an
altar before it, and proclaimed to the people, Tomorrow is a feast
the L o r d . Clearly, if anyone knew the difference between an
idol and the true God, it was Aaron. Howeer, Aarons words make
sense ifth e calfwas not seen as a god but as a Canaanite cultural
symbola god-pedestalfor the L o r d to stand upon. Aaron

dedicated the feast the L o r d because he thought that he was

worshiping God. There was no idol standing on the calf]
Isaiah 46:1 also corroberates this pedestal theory. Discussing the
pagan deities of Bel and Nebo, Isaiah writes, Their idols were on
the beasts and on the cattle (46:1), suggesting that the Edomite
deities stood upon the backs of the animals, just as the Canaanite
gods did at the time of the Exodus. The pedestal theory of the golden calf thus suggests that Israel committed an act of syncretism,
instead of a blatant rejection of the Lord in fa0r of paganism.
Israel tried to borrow a culturally recognized and common symbol
without borrowing the god who stood on the back of the calf The
rebellious Israelites in Exodus 32belieed that they were worshiping
the God of Israel and not the gods of the nations. The use of
Canaanite religious symbols, rituals, and culturally associated
music made the worship of the L o r d impossible, howeer. Israel
could not worship the true God in a manner similar to or accepted
by the pagan Canaanites without sacrificing her own confession.
There is another issue to consider regarding Israels worship
in Exodus 32. Verse 4 records a liturgical response that is surprising in that it is almost identical to the words of God in
Exodus 2 0 :2 . Exodus 2 0 :2 reads, I am the L o r d your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage () .
Compare these words to the response gien to the god standing
on the golden calf in Exodus 32:4: This is your god, 0 Israel, that
brought you out of the land of Egypt ( ^
) The Israelites seemed to hae thought that as
long as they had the words right, their style of worship was free
to change. And how could anyone argue with the text that they
chose? It came from the m outh of God! They simply chose to
worship God in a contem porary style, that is, by means of a
Canaanite cared bull as Gods pedestal, just as the culture of
their day was accustomed to do.
As noted earlier, music accompanied the ritual dancing around
the golden calf (Ex 32:6), a feature of worship used in ancient pagan
ceremonies. As was noted ab0e, this music Ekely had contemporary features, and more importantly, automatic associatAe Enks to
pagan culture. John L Davis of Grace Theological Seminary notes:
The people were so enthusiastic about this new enture that
they rose up early in tire morning to offer burnt offerings
and peace offerings to the L o r d (. 6 ) . The expression rose
up to play is a reference to aE those practices common to
idolatrous worship. The erb translated to play suggests
illicit and immoral sexual actAity that normally accompanied fertility rites found among the Canaanites who worshiped the god Baal.28
Das goes on to explain how the worship probably included
many of the same rituals and practices that were found in ancient
pagan ceremonies. Israels syncretism manifested itself in a new
form of worship, which in0Aed actAities such as dancing that
were neither commanded nor forbidden by God as such. Some
might claim that their dancing was an adiaphoron, proVding a
theological defense of Israels new worship. But such elements
were clearly borrowed from Canaanite culture and were inextricably bound up with it. After all, Moses exploded not only at the

THE SYN C RET:SM HF EXHDUS 3 2

calf but also at the dancing and play the Israelites practiced
around the calf.
Some could easily claim that everything involved in Israels
worship style was just as valid and acceptable as the traditional
style that Moses had handed down from God: God himself had
given the words for this worship, and he had not forbidden the use
of dancing or musical accompaniment. Both Moses and God,
however, looked upon Israels worship as syncretism. A death sentence (v. 28) was handed to the three thousand Israelites who were
unrestrained in tbeir worship (v. 25), and Exodus 32 ends with a
somber notice that the E o r d sent plagues to the people because of
their false worship. The judgments that came against the gods of
Egypt were now directed against Israel for the same crime: Israel
had worshiped a false god by her syncretism.
A comment by social critic Neil Postman deserves to be heard
here. In his book Amusing Ourselves Death, Postman analyzes
the relationship between forms of media om m unication and the
quality of content that is carried by tirse forms of media.
Significantly, Postman turns his attention away from the concerns
of current society and focuses on Moses and the Bible. He says:
hr studying the Bible as a young man, I found intimations of
the idea that forms of media favor particular kinds of content and therefore are capable of taking command of a culture. I refer specifically to the Decalogue, the Second
^ rm n a n d m e n t of which prohibits the Israelites from making concrete images of anything. . . . I wondered then, as so
many others have, as to why the God of these people would
have included instructions on how they were to symbolize,
or not symbolize, their experience. It is a strange injunction
to include as part of an ethical system unless its ?
assumed connection between forms o f human communica and the quality / culture.29
While Postman is not a theologian, his experience with the effects
of different types of media om m unication provides a unique
insight into idolatry and the golden calf of Exodus 32.
Confessional Eutheranism will reject Postmans opinion that
the keeping the Law merely symbolized Israels experience, or that
the only thing to be transmitted through forms is the quality of a
culture. Nevertheless, his view of idolatry from the perspective of
a om m unication theorist is valuable. He rightly sees how the
golden calf distorted and changed the content of Israelite religion.
Though not intended as idolatrous, the Canaanite cultural symbol of the calf changed the worship of the true God into a selfserving religious rite to a man-made god. The true God does not
tolerate the worlds injection of its symbols or rituals into his holy
place, hr Exodus 32, Israels infusion of Canaanite culture overshadowed Gods ?; and overthrew it. The world invaded the
church. God answered such syncretism with death.
THE SIGNIFICANCE EOR M USIC IN LUTHERAN
W O RSH IP SERVICES TODAY
Significant connections can be made between the idolatry of the
golden calf and certain aspects of contemporary worship today.
First, many contemporary churches select the music that is used
in their services with the tastes of unbelievers in mind. It is

claimed that the church must he friendly and appear as sumething

familiar, benign, and welcuming to the godless. Whichever informal style of music arouses the passions and emotions of those
outside the church (as well as those inside) is the preferred style.
The aroused passions are not immoral passions per se, as though
contemporary Christian soft-rock forced people to become sexually immoral. The preferred emotions are feelings of warmth,
happiness, and a general feekng of spirituality and sentimentality.
But even though these passions in themselves are not offensive,
the spring from which they flow is that of all hum an passion,
namely, original sin: A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a
bad tree bear good fruit (Mt 7:18). The problem is not that contemporary church music seeks to arouse different passions from
tirse aroused by liturgical music, but that contemporary music
does not seek to serve the word. Contemporary Christian music
intends primarily to arouse a set of predetermined emotions for
the purpose of making the gospel somehow more relevant, more
acceptable, and more appealing to the godless.

Both Moses and God looked upon

Israels w orship as syncretism .

This feature of contemporary churches comes dangerously

close to the practice of the ancient pagans, who selected music to
arouse mans passions and emotions in order to prepare him for
an encounter with the deity and to induce prophecy. While contem porary churches do not break out into acts of sexual
immorality during their rituals, it is somewhat disftrrbing that
their favorite musical style (soft rock) is connected primarily by
the secular world with romance, as is evidenced by movie soundtracks, school dances, and the like. One could argue that this
musical style cannot preach Christ alone, since the music itself
conjures up a whole conten devoted to hum an love (the summ ary of the law) every time it is heard. Just as the golden calf
could not be used to preach Yahweh alone, so contemporary worship cannot be used to preach Christ alone without invasion by
this all-too-pervasive cultural understanding. The style is not
separate from the substance, but preaches the substance and conveys it to the people. Even the musical instruments used in contem porary churches can be compared to tirse used by the
ancient pagans in that both groups primarily use(d) instruments
to evoke a predetermined emotional response.
Moreover, apart from the text, contemporary music itself
intentionally seeks to make people feel spiritual. People say that
they feel more spiritual, more worshipfirl, and overall, more
conscious of Gods loving presence after a (well-done) contemporary service. While such feelings are not in and of themselves
wrong or bad, the sinful flesh of man has distorted what is truly
spiritual. Rather than seeing the spiritual as the good gifts of God
proceeding through Christ (such as holy baptism or private abso

L O G IA

14

lution), our m odern age equates spirituality with a particular kind

of emotion. A truly cross-centered, biblical theology sees the
crucifixion as the greatest eent in spiritual history, but the modern age and its theology of glory limits spirituality to the realm of
the experiential. Only if one feels spiritual can one really be spiritual. But the Bible does not speak this way. No matter how one
feels, Christ has died for the sins of all. Yet because sin still dings
to the flesh, we are always at war with ourselves. Our feelings can
and do deceAe us. Thus we do not trust in how spiritual we feel:
such an object for our faifli is just as deadly as a golden calf.

Like ancient idolatry, contemporary

music promises the contemporary
worshiper, via thefeelings itproduces,
a powerful access 0 God.

Taken apart from its lyrics, contemporary Christian music purposefully intends to coney security through a spirituality found
inside man. The adherents of m odern contemporary worship
connect this spirituality with the presence of God. Unfortunately,
this aspect of contemporary worship is similar to another aspect
of ancient idolatry. Idols were a means by which the deify could
manifest himself or herself in a specific manner. Today, the music
of contemporary serfyces fills the same role. Contemporary music
as such is seen as a means by which God manifests himself to the
spiritual emotions of the people, apart from any words spoken.
A simple test supports this. Try playing contem porary
Christian music alone without the text, and later try reading the
text alone without the music. The text will not have the same value
without the music, but the music will carry its alue without the
text. While the text remains flat no matter how well it is read, the
music arouses and perks up the people who hear it apart from the
word. In some cases, the text een gets in the way of the music.
Does the word of God need gimmicks to make it more effectAe
and releant, or will Gods word do what he wills apart from the
works of m an (Is 55:11)? The use o fy o m e m ^ ra ry Christian music
confesses that the word of God is dead and inert, and that only
m an has the abilify and power to make Gods word lAing and releant. This mindset makes m an actAe and God passAe. M0re0er,
mans actions give a false sense of security and comfort to the listener by suggesting that God must be present due to the spiritual
feelings induced by the music. This comfort, howeer, easily eaporates when trouble strikes.
Like ancient idolatry, contemporary music promises the contemporary worshiper, ia the feelings it produces, a powerfrrl
access to God. But our Safyor has not reealed that his grace and
saAation are be found in my music. Sad to say, the music in contemporary church serfyces shares a deep connection to ancient
idolatry when it sees music as a means of insuring the dAine presence apart from the word of God.

Contemporary Christian mnsic in worship defends itself by

hiding behind the word adiaphora. Considered in the abstract, the
nse of dance and music in Exodus 32 that accompanied the
Israelites syncretistic worship were also adiaphora. They were neither commanded nor forbidden by God for use in his worship.
But like the golden calf itself, in real life these culturally-bound
worship actions coneyed cultural meanings to the Israelites. They
could not be di0rced from their elture-of-origin, but preached
Canaanite culture with all its trappings. In Exodus style was not
separated from substance. Instead, Canaanite worship style was
the theological fruit of its substance and preached a different
gospel than the truth, een though connected with the worship of
the E o r d .
Ought Exodus 32 influence thinking in our m odern worship
wars? Yes, by pr0ding a biblical concrete example for clarifying
what is and is not an adiaphoron. Something may not be explicitfy commanded or forbidden in the scriptures (such as dancing
and music), but the test is whether its use in worship clearly seres
the proclamation of the gospel. An adiaphoron ceases to be such
when it brings a message that denies or confuses the message of
the word. Todays soft-rock music fits into this category. It may
pretend to om m unicate the Christ, but it does so while preaching itself and its age at the same time. This is syncretism, not an
adiaphoron.
Exodus 32 furthermore reminds that idolatry can be ery subtie. I hae argued that the Israelites who worshiped around the
golden calf in Exodus 32 belieed that they were worshiping the
true God, but God called it idolatry. What Exodus 32 reeals is that
een if the word of God is used, as Exodus 20:2 was used as part
of Israels the worship around the golden calf, the : of its use
determines whether God or an idol is worshiped. The entire Bible
could be read in a syncretistic serce, yet if it is proclaimed in a
way that disturbs the ordo salutis, a false gospel has been preached
and the serce is accursed (Gal r:8). Eery heresy is supported by
scripture texts. But in the worship of the true God, Christ is at the
center and is always the gier. In syncretistic worship the good
works of the people (such as the praise and worship of contem^ r a r y Christian serces) or mans positAe feelings about himself
are found sharing the center with a man-made Christ. This god is
made in mans image and 0erthrows the whole system of saAation. Here m an is the giver, while God must receAe what we
choose to gAe him.
Like the ancient pagans who used music in their rituals to
arouse their passions, contemporary worship does the same thing
in principle. By embracing popular culture, contemporary worship shifts the focus from the forgAeness of sins to what is liked by
the sinful flesh and the godless world. And what both the sinfrrl
flesh and the godless world like is neer the forgiveness of sins.
The ancient pagans belieed that idols gae deities a presence in
the worshiping community. Todays contemporary serce attendees beliee that they feel Gods presence during these serces
primarily due to the worshipful music.
Such seductAe styles of the world should not be used in the
music of Lutheran church serces. Rather than succumbing to
the preferences of the world, the church should reject the world
and bow to the word. If the sinful flesh is gAen the power to
choose how Lutheran worship should be conducted, or een

THE SYN C RET:SM OT EXODUS 3 2

15

what music is appropriate to carry the word, what will eentually happen is that the church will lose the means of grace. If the
Church loses the means of grace, she will also lose grace itself. If
the sinful flesh is given the choice of anything in worship, it will
not choose what is holy but what is profane. If m an can and does
choose what is holy on his own, as the proponents of contemporary worship seem to say, he has rejected the gospel and fallen into the trap of the Pelagians.

Just Israel could not worship the true God In a style fa0rable
to the wider culture, neither can the church today. The true
church militant, fighting unto the end, must steadfastly resist the
inasion of all the influences of the world into her worship
including ^ tu ra lly -b o u n d musical influences. Let us pray that
this church neer loses sight of the place of honor gien to the forgieness of sins, nor forsakes her L o r d through worship that compromises with the world or the flesh. M W

NOTES
Schoville, Canaanites and Amorites, in /
/ the old
Testament World, Alfred j. Hoerfo, Gerald L. Mattingly, and Edwin M.
Yamauchi eds. (Grand Rapids, ML Baker Books, 1994), 174.
2. Bill T. Arnold, Babylonians, in /
/ the o ld Testament
World, 73.
3. Donald j. Grout and Claude . Palisca, A History o f Western Music,
5th ed. (New York: .. Norton and Co., 1996), 6.
4. Marius Schneider, Primitive Music, in The New Oxford History
/
Music: Ancient and Oriental Music, Egon Wellesz, ed. (Orford: 0
University Press, 1986), 1:42.
3. Johannes Quasten, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian
Antiquity, trans. Bonifo Ramsey, o . p. (Washington, D.C.: The National
Association o f Pastoral M usicians. 1983), 36.
6. Ibid., 36.
7. Ibid., 39.
8. Henry George Farmer, The Music of Ancient Egypt, in The New
Oxford History ofMusic: Ancient and Oriental Music, 1: 262.
9. Quasten, 132.
10. Joachim Braun, Music in Ancient /
'
. Archaeological
Written, and Comparative trans. Douglas w Stott (Grand Rapids,
ML William B. Eerdmans, 2002), 71.
11. Henry George Farmer, The Music of Ancient Mesopotamia, in
The New Oxford History ofMusic, 1: 231.
12. Farmer, Mesopotamia, 232.
13. Farmer, Egypt, 239.
14. Farmer, Egypt, 238.
15. Francis Brown, s . R. Driver, Charles A . B ri^s, The BrownDriver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Boston: Houghton, Miflin, and
Co., 1 0 9 6 ; reprint Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1 9 9 9 ) , 777.
16. Schneider, 4 9 -6 0 .
17. Homer Ulrich Paul A. Pisk, A History ofM usic and Musical
Style (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1963). Ulrich and Pisk state:
The stylistic unity that had been the principal characteristic o f earlier
periods of music history now, after about 1600, became impossible. Earlier
musicians took style for granted, whereas it became a problem for
baroque composers. The baroque era is the era of style-consciousness.
This attitude toward form in style was shared hy the ancient world, as well.
Schneider, 39, says, In primitive cultures it is very difficult to distinguish
musically the various kinds o f song since there is still so little
differentiation of form.
18. Quasten, 33, 34,36, 61.
19. Braun, 71-80.
20. Ibid., 69.
21. Brevard Childs, The Book
/ '
: A Critical, ! '
Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974), 366: The first scene
[Ex. 32:1-6] closes wiffi a burst of frenzied activity, the effect of which is
achieved hy a skillfiil piling up of verbs. The people themselves assume control. They rise early, offer the sacrifices, eat and drink , rise to play. The
final verb in Hebrew carries both a positive and negative connotation. But
from what has been said regarding the writers persptive, it seems clear
enough that he 1 it in a negative sense. A religious orgy has begun.
1.

^ rta in ly . 25 confirms this impression.

22. Brann, 67-69. Braun says: Scholars have ofien asserted that the
musical culture in Canaan or ancient Israel/Palestine was only a receptive
one, situated propitiously at the crossroads of the ancient Near East but
possessing no civilization of its own. R ^ en t research, however, has taken a
harder look at comparative archaeological materials found that this
musical culture in its own turn exerted considerable influence on its surroundings.
23. Martin Chemnitz, Loci Theologie, trans. j. A. 0 . Preus (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1989),
.
24. Umberto Cassuto, late professor of Bible at the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, in his hook A Commentary the Book /(' Jernsalem:
Magnes Press, 1967), 16, writes: Apparentiy the Torah intended to intimate
thereby that since they were in a foreign land, the children of Israel were
unable to preserve their spiritual attachment to YHWH [renderedL0RD],
the God of their fathers, or their knowledge of Him, to which their aneestors had attained in the land of Canaan. Alfoough there remained with
them the knowledge o f God, that is, the general belief in the Godhead,
which is shared also hy enlightened people among the Gentiles, yet it was
not the concept of the Deity that belongs spifically to Israel and finds
expression in the name Y ^ H . Moses was the first to succeed in rising
again to the plane o f knowledge ofthe L o r d , and he it was who once more
raised his people to these heights of spiritual understanding.
2. Exodus 12:12, Numbers 33:4. Davis has su ^ested that the plagues
were divine )
1 against the gods ofpolytheist Egypt. All the plagues
confronted Egyptian gods. The plague ofthe Nile turning to blood attacked
the Egyptian gods ^ ( ( the guardian o fth e Nile), Hapi (the spirit of
the Nile and its dynamic essence ), Osiris (the god o fth e underworld of
whom the Egyptians believed the Nile to he his bloodstream), and also of
Sepek (who manifested himself in the form o f a 0 ) . AT the plagues
similarly confronted Egyptian deities (102-103). Likewise, John D. Currid,
Ancient Egypt and the o ld Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 108-113,
N ahum Sarna, Exploring '
: The Origins of Biblical ( New
York: Schocken Books, 1996), 78-80, agree that the plagues should he
viewed as a polemic against Egyptian deities, though Currid (113-120 ) also
obseives that the plagues act as an undoing of creation an assault
against Egyptian cosmologies sense of order in the world.
26. Daniel I. Block of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has sum the findings of many scholars of religious syncretism in the o ld
Testament. His hook The Gods
/ the Radons: '
in Ancient Near
Eastern National Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000 ) analyzes the relationship between the nation-state and the deities worshiped in
a given area. He states: The writers ofthe o ld Testament create the impression that Yahwehs demand for exclusive allegiance was constantiy threatened hy the seductive attractions of alien gods, especially the Canaanite
divinities. problem surfaces already at Sinai (Exodus 32) (64-63).
27. Sarna, 218-219. Emphasis added.
28. John j. Davis, Moses and the Gods ofEgypt: Studies in 2 ,'nd
ed. (Grand Rapids, ML Baker, 1986), 293.
29. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves
Death: Public in the
Age of Show Business (New York: Penguin Books, 1986), 9.


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