F V f 1. Request of the People.
g 2. Aaron's answer.
W h 3,4-. Idolatry purposed.
i -4. Yahaveh's rejection.
W h 5,6. Idolatry practiced.
i 7-10. Yahaveh's wrath.
V f 11-13. Request of Moses.
g 14. Yahaveh's answer.1491 B.C.
Exodus 32)
1 And when the People saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount (put them to shame by not coming down. Cp. Ps. 44:7; 53:5; 119:31), the People gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Get up, make us gods (The great sin of today. 1 Cor.10:7,11. Made by imagination; and worshiped by the senses), which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him."
2 And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me."
3 And the greater part of the People broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought it to Aaron.
4 And he received it (i.e the gold) at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf (the chief Egyptian god, with which they were familiar in Egypt):
and they said, "These be your gods (expounded in Neh. 9:18 as meaning :This is your god". Cp. Ps. 106:19-21), O Israel, which brought you 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, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord." (All done under cover of "religion".)
6 And they rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat (the sacrifices) and to drink (the libations), and rose up to play. (= to make sport. Cp. v.9. So 1 Cor. 10:7: to dance: i.e. lasciviously. This was part of idolatrous worship.)
7 And the Lord said to Moses (see 3:7; 6:10), "Go, get you down; for your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt (as though disowning them. Cp. Moses' grand faith, in his reply, v.11), 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 worshiped it, and have offered slain sacrifices thereunto, and said, 'These be your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.' "
9 And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked 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 you a great nation."
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God (Heb. "the face of Yahaveh": i.e. before, or in the presence of Yahaveh), and said, "Lord, why does Your wrath wax hot against Your people, which You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? (This is the reply of Moses. He knows they were not "Cast off" [Rom. 11:2], but only "cast aside" [Rom. 11:15], for a little moment. See Rom. 11:2,15)
12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'For mischief (or wrong doing) did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?' Turn from Your fierce wrath, and repent (Fig., ascribing to God what belongs to human) of this evil (= injury) against Your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (not Jacob, because this is the language of highest faith), Your servants, to whom You swore (Cp. Heb. 6:13,17. Gen. 22:16-18) by Your own Self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.' "
14 And the Lord repented fig. ascribing to God that which belongs to humans of the injury which He spoke of doing to His people.
Y4 X 14-24. The Sin of the People.
Z 25-30. The Judgment of the People.
X j 15,16. The Tables carried.
k l 17. Moses and Joshua.
m 18. Answer to Moses.
j 19,20. Tables broken.
k l 21. Moses and Aaron.
m 22-24. Answer of Aaron.23-24th July 1491 B.C.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount (Moses' 4th descent. See 19:3 [the 5th ascent was in 24:9]), and the two tables (see 31:18) 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. (The two figures together greatly emphasizing the verse as a whole; and, combined = another Fig. Anadiplosis, namely "tables", "writing"-;-"writings", "tables" = the solemn or important writings. See 17:14.)
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
18 And he (Moses) 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." (All the same word in Hebrew, anah.)
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing (cp. v.6, as in the worship of Asps): and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire (a secret known to the Egyptians), and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water (cp. Deut. 9:21. Ex. 17:6), and made the sons of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this People to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?"
22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: you know the People, that they are ready for mischief.
23 For they said to 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 know not what is become of him.'
24 And I said to them, 'Whosoever has any gold, let them break it off'. So they gave it to me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf."
Z n 25. Idolatry.
o p 26-. Call of Moses.
q -26. Levites' response.
o p 27. Command of Moses.
q 28. Levites' obedience.
n 29,30. Atonement.25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; {for Aaron had made them naked to 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 to me."
And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. (i.e. all who had not joined in the idolatry. Cp. Deut. 33:9)
27 And he said to them, "Thus says 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 neighbor.' "
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the People that day about three thousand men. (These 3,000 were the "men" slain by "the sons of Levi". The 23,000 of 1 Cor. 10:8 includes those who died of the "plague" which followed. See v.35.)
29 For Moses had said, "Install 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."
25-26th July
30 And it came to pass on the next day, that Moses said to the People, "You all have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I shall make an atonement for your sin."
X5 A¹ 32:31-33. The Sin and its consequences.
B r 32:34-. Command to depart.
s -34. Angel's guidance promised.
A² 32:35. The Sin and its consequences.
B r 33:1. Command to depart.
s 33:2,3-. Angel's guidance promised.
A³ 33:-3. The Sin and its consequences.26-27th July, a Sabbath
31 And Moses returned to the Lord (Moses' 5th ascent, see 19:3), and said, "Oh, this People have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin -- (Fig. Aposiopesis, Sudden Silence, some great promise, To emphasis the unspeakableness of the sin); and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book (cp. Ps.69:2. Isa.4:3) which You have written."
33 And the Lord said to Moses, "Whosoever has sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. (Under the Law, the sinner blotted out: under grace, sin blotted out. See Ps. 69:21)
34 Therefore now go, lead the People to the place of which I have spoken to you:
behold, My angel (probably an inferior angel, not that of Ex. 23:20,21) shall go before you: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them." (See Gen. 26:28; 50:24,25. This is to emphasize the fact that there is such a thing as postponed judgment. Cp. 34:7. Num. 14:33. Ezek. 18:1-3. Matt. 23:32-36.)
35 And the Lord plagued the People (see v.28), because they made the calf, which Aaron made.