And out came this calf

Have you ever had anyone tell you what you knew was an obvious lie? My favorite example of this takes place in Exodus. To set the stage, the Israelites are in the desert after being delivered from bondage in Egypt. As part of that process they've seen the 10 plagues (Chapters 7-11) , experienced the Passover (Chapter 12), crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, and immediately after that watched Pharoah's army drown in that same body of water (both in Chapter 14). They've eaten quail and manna by miraculous provision (Chapter 16), and their thirst has been quenched by water from a rock (Chapter 17). Some of the leaders even got to see God (Chapter 24). It's been a amazing journey.

At this point in our story, Moses has been on a mountain for 40 day and nights. He's been spending time with God, receiving the 10 commandments, instructions for the tabernacle, and laws to guide society. So all is good with Moses. However, down in the camp, it's rapidly running off the rails as seen in Chapter 32:1-8 (NIV):

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b]Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

Poor Moses. He's communing directly with God, and while he's doing so to lead his people, they have already broken faith. Moses is a true leader though. God says He's going to destroy the people but make Moses into a great nation (verses 9-10). Rather than take up this amazing offer for himself, he begs God for the lives of his people, and God grants his request (verses 11-14).  He goes down from the mountain and takes care of business with the people (verses 19-20). Then he talks to Aaron (who is his brother, by the way, and served as his spokesman to Pharaoh while they were in Egypt).

 21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”

His response-"I messed up. Please forgive me." Right? Not exactly.

22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

First he blames the people, then he lies about how the calf came to be. Moses knew Aaron's story was a lie. As you may recall, God told Moses that they "made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf" (verse 8). Nowhere in this story does Aaron ever own up to his own part in this disgraceful scenario.

I tell people when you've messed up, you need to own it. If not, you're doing another wrong by lying. As the saying goes, "if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."