Introduction
What do Adam, Eve, Aaron and King Saul all have in common?
They all blamed someone else for their sin and never took personal responsibility for their action.
‘Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ Genesis 3:8-13
When sin made its entrance into the world and God confronted Adam and Eve, notice who Adam and Eve blamed.
Which two people did Adam blame?
Who did Eve blame?
Adam blamed God for putting the women there in the first place and then he blamed Eve, Eve went on to blame the serpent. It appears the fall of mankind was everyone else’s fault.
‘When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?’ ‘Do not be angry, my lord,’ Aaron answered. ‘You know how prone these people are to evil. 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.’ So, I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewellery, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’ Exodus 32:19-24
The same line of denial continued in later generations. Israel grew impatient waiting for Moses to arrive, so they made their own plans and constructed a golden calf to worship. When confronted by Moses, Aaron defended himself.
Who did Aaron blame?
At no point did Aaron accept personal responsibility for his actions, instead, he blamed the people by saying, ‘these people are prone to evil’.
He further attempted to distance himself from the event by saying that he put the gold into the furnace ‘and out came the calf’. Aaron was saying, it’s not his fault, others are to blame.
‘Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ 1 Samuel 15:3
Saul received clear instructions from God to destroy everything possessed by the Amalekites.
‘But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed’. 1 Samuel 15:9
When the prophet Samuel confronted him, he defended himself.
‘But I did obey the LORD,’ Saul said. ‘I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal. The soldiers took the sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to the God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord our God at Gilgal.’ 1 Samuel 15:20-21
Who did Saul blame?
Saul was in denial, refusing to take personal responsibility for this act of disobedience. It was the soldier’s fault, they’re to blame. And, in an attempt to gain some credibility, he said that they intended to offer the animals as sacrifices to God.
Adam, Eve, Aaron and Saul all made bad choices and then blamed others.
Why did Adam, Eve, Arron and Saul blame others for their sinful actions?
Why do people blame others for their mistakes?
Can you think of any other examples where people blame those around them?
Example
For example, if a person makes a commitment to the Lord and is baptised, they become part of the local church. Later telltale signs begin appearing, irregular attendance to worship, conversation with them indicates a disinterest in spiritual growth and behaviour inappropriate for a Christian.
And if you listen carefully you will hear excuses being offered to justify that unfaithfulness. Pressure from peers, the pressure of work, the many demands on their time and their overcrowded schedule. They appear to put the blame anywhere except where it belongs.
The God who is revealed in the Bible is a God capable of sustaining His people, helping them remain faithful irrespective of how severe their difficulties or how pressured their lives are.
‘No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.’ 1 Corinthians 10:13
What can we learn about God from this verse?
The text tells us three things about God.
1. Our God is a faithful God.
2. Our God won’t allow a temptation to come our way that is stronger than we are able to endure.
3. Our God will always provide a way of escape, in other words, He will help us through those times of temptations.
Conclusion
Our culture has little respect for the ways of God and, as a result, sin is all around us. But so is God’s divine power and strength, none of us needs to become another spiritual casualty.
It’s not a requirement that young Christians ‘sow their wild oats’ or that older Christians have ‘a mid-life crisis’. Every day we are faced with making a choice to live for God and we must choose to obey or disobey.
And when we are disobedient, we have only ourselves to blame, no one else. And should we try to justify our behaviour, we place our name alongside Adam, Eve, Aaron and Saul.
