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Exodus 32

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The Golden Calf is Made 1–6

1
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. ​
2
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3
And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ​
5
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. ​
6
And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. ​

The LORD Threatens to Destroy Israel 7–14

7
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: ​
8
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9
And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10
Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. ​
11
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. ​
13
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14
And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. ​

Moses Descends and Executes Judgment 15–20

15
And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16
And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. ​
17
And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18
And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. ​
20
And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. ​

Moses Confronts Aaron and Judges the Sin 21–29

21
And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? ​
22
And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23
For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
24
And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. ​
25
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) ​
26
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. ​
27
And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28
And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29
For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. ​

Moses Intercedes for Israel 30–35

30
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. ​
31
And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. ​
33
And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. ​
34
Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. ​
35
And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Exodus 32

Verse 1

Up, make us gods, which shall go before us — ‘Delayed’ is bosh, a verb usually meaning to be ashamed; the forty days are those of Ex 24:18. The request is for ‘gods’ (elohim) that ‘shall go before us’. Earlier the LORD himself ‘went before them… in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way’ (Ex 13:21). Stephen quotes the people’s words in Acts 7:40.

Verse 4

These be thy gods, O Israel — The calf (egel, a young bull) is a molten image (massekah) fashioned with a graving tool (cheret). The cry ‘which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’ is used again by Jeroboam of his two golden calves (1 Kgs 12:28). The psalm says they ‘changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass’ (Ps 106:20).

Verse 5

To morrow is a feast to the LORD — The altar is built ‘before it’, the calf, yet the feast is called a chag to the LORD, the word Moses had used to Pharaoh, ‘we must hold a feast unto the LORD’ (Ex 10:9). Aaron ‘made proclamation’ (qara), the verb used of the LORD’s feasts, ‘which ye shall proclaim’ (Lev 23:37).

Verse 6

rose up to play — The people offer ‘burnt offerings’ and ‘peace offerings’, the two kinds offered when the covenant was made (Ex 24:5). Tsachaq, to play, is to laugh or sport; it is the verb of Isaac’s name and of Ishmael ‘mocking’ (Gen 21:9). Paul quotes the verse as a warning against idolatry: ‘Neither be ye idolaters’ (1 Cor 10:7).

Verse 7

thy people, which thou broughtest out — The LORD speaks of ‘thy people’, and Moses answers in v.11 with the same phrase, saying it was the LORD who brought the people forth ‘out of the land of Egypt with great power’. ‘Corrupted’ is shachath, to ruin, the verb of Gen 6:12, ‘it was corrupt’. Moses repeats the charge in Deut 9:12.

Verse 10

let me alone — Yanach is to leave or let rest. The LORD says his wrath will ‘wax hot’ (charah) and promises Moses ‘a great nation’ (goy gadol), the words of the promise to Abraham (Gen 12:2). The words invite the pleading that follows, in which Moses asks him to ‘remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel’ (v.13). Moses later says he fell down forty days (Deut 9:25).

Verse 12

repent of this evil against thy people — Moses’ plea quotes the Egyptians’ speech: ‘For mischief did he bring them out’. The same argument is made in Num 14:13–16. ‘Turn’ (shub) and ‘repent’ (nacham) are paired imperatives; nacham is to sigh or be moved, and the LORD’s answer in v.14 uses the same verb.

Verse 14

the LORD repented of the evil — Nacham is the verb Moses asked for in v.12, and ‘evil’ (ra) is the harm ‘which he thought to do’. The LORD states the principle in Jer 18:8, ‘I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them’, and Jonah 3:10 shows it at Nineveh. The psalm says he ‘repented according to the multitude of his mercies’ (Ps 106:45).

Verse 16

the writing of God, graven upon the tables — Charath, graven, occurs only here; the tables are the maaseh, work, of God and the miktab, writing, of God. Ex 31:18 says they were ‘written with the finger of God’, and Ex 32:15 that they were written ‘on both their sides’. Paul sets ‘not with ink’ against them (2 Cor 3:3).

Verse 19

he cast the tables out of his hands — Mecholah, dancing, is the word of Miriam’s dances at the sea (Ex 15:20). ‘Moses’ anger waxed hot’ uses the same words as the LORD’s ‘wrath wax hot’ (v.10). He ‘cast’ (shalak) and ‘brake’ (shabar) the tables ‘beneath the mount’; in Deut 9:17 he says it was ‘before your eyes’.

Verse 20

ground it to powder — The calf is burned (saraph), ground (tachan), and ‘strawed’ (zarah, scattered) upon the water that the people are made to drink (shaqah). Moses recalls it in Deut 9:21: ‘I took your sin, the calf… and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust’.

Verse 21

so great a sin — Aaron, left with Hur in charge (Ex 24:14), is asked what the people did to him. Chataah gedolah, a great sin, is Abimelech’s phrase to Abraham in Gen 20:9. Moses repeats it twice more in this chapter (vv.30–31). In Deut 9:20 the LORD ‘was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him’, and Moses ‘prayed for Aaron also’.

Verse 24

there came out this calf — Aaron asked for the gold earrings (v.2), and Aaron reports that he cast the gold into the fire, ‘and there came out this calf’. Ex 32:4 records that he ‘fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf’. ‘Break it off’ is paraq, the verb of v.3, ‘all the people brake off the golden earrings’.

Verse 25

the people were naked — The verb is para, to let loose, to be without restraint, as in Ex 5:4 (‘let the people from their works’) and Prov 29:18 (‘the people perish’). ‘Shame’ is shimtsah, scornful whispering: the camp had become a reproach ‘among their enemies’.

Verse 26

Who is on the LORD’S side? — Moses stands ‘in the gate’ (shaar) of the camp and calls them to himself, and ‘all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him’ (asaph). Moses’ blessing of Levi says of the tribe, ‘they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant’ (Deut 33:9).

Verse 29

Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD — The Hebrew is ‘fill your hand’ (male yad), the idiom of the priests’ consecration (Ex 29:9). They act ‘every man upon his son, and upon his brother’, and the promise is ‘a blessing’ (berakah). Deut 33:9 says of Levi, ‘who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him’.

Verse 30

peradventure I shall make an atonement — Ulay, perhaps: Moses does not presume the outcome. Kaphar, to atone, is the verb of Ex 29:33, 36. He went up again and fell down ‘forty days and forty nights’ (Deut 9:18, 25). Samuel later says he would not sin ‘in ceasing to pray’ for the people (1 Sam 12:23).

Verse 32

blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book — Nasa, to lift or bear, is rendered ‘forgive’; the sentence breaks off before its end. Machah is to wipe out, and sepher is the book. Paul wishes ‘myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren’ (Rom 9:3); the psalm asks that the wicked be ‘blotted out of the book of the living’ (Ps 69:28).

Verse 33

Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out — The LORD takes up Moses’ verb, machah, to wipe out, and answers in terms of each person’s own sin: ‘him will I blot out of my book’. Ezek 18:4 states, ‘the soul that sinneth, it shall die’. Christ promises the one who overcomes, ‘I will not blot out his name out of the book of life’ (Rev 3:5).

Verse 34

mine Angel shall go before thee — Malak, messenger, as in Ex 23:20, ‘Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way’. ‘Lead’ is nachah, to guide, the verb of Ex 13:21. The warning follows: ‘in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them’ (paqad, twice), and v.35 records that ‘the LORD plagued the people’.