Today’s Readings – Thursday of Week 4 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Exodus 32:7-14

While Moses was up on the mountain conversing with God and receiving the law from him, the people below became impatient. “That Moses, the man who brought us here from Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron, the brother of Moses, then collected all the gold that the women and children wore and melted it down to make a ’golden calf’.

The word ‘calf’ is somewhat derisive because it was in fact the statue of a bull, a common symbol of divinity in the ancient East. It seems that a group in competition with Moses’ followers (or perhaps a dissident faction within Moses’ group) wished to have the figure of a bull symbolise the presence of God. However, the God being worshipped was still Yahweh, who had … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Wednesday of Week 4 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Isaiah 49:8-15

The reading is part of a celebration of the people’s joyful return from their exile in Babylon to their home in Jerusalem. It comes from Second Isaiah, a book full of hope and consolation which looks forward to the end of the exile and the people&rsquo … Continue