When this narrative begins, it is about as lacking in optimism and hope as the story my brother, B. J., tells about a farmer in southern Missouri who hired a man to split some post oak for his farm. Post oak is notoriously hard to work with, but it makes excellent fence posts and rail fences. It is so tough, that it's like trying to split rock. The farmer hired a man who was not too fast at thinking, and told him he'd pay him three dollars a dozen for the posts. After two or three days the farmer came to the hired hand and found him hard at work. He asked him how he was getting along. The man replied, "Well, pretty good! When I finish this one, and then one more, I'll have two done!"

The people of Israel just can't seem to get it all together either. The making of the golden calf caused a…