Exodus 32

Ex 32:1-35.

THE

GOLDEN

CALF.

1. when the people saw that Moses delayed--They supposed that he

had lost his way in the darkness or perished in the fire.

the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron--rather,

"against" Aaron in a tumultuous manner, to compel him to do what they

wished. The incidents related in this chapter disclose a state of

popular sentiment and feeling among the Israelites that stands in

singular contrast to the tone of profound and humble reverence they

displayed at the giving of the law. Within a space of little more than

thirty days, their impressions were dissipated. Although they were

still encamped upon ground which they had every reason to regard as

holy; although the cloud of glory that capped the summit of Sinai was

still before their eyes, affording a visible demonstration of their

being in close contact, or rather in the immediate presence, of God,

they acted as if they had entirely forgotten the impressive scenes of

which they had been so recently the witnesses.

said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us--The

Hebrew word rendered "gods" is simply the name of God in its

plural form. The image made was single, and therefore it would be

imputing to the Israelites a greater sin than they were guilty of, to

charge them with renouncing the worship of the true God for idols. The

fact is, that they required, like children, to have something to strike

their senses, and as the Shekinah, "the glory of God," of which they

had hitherto enjoyed the sight, was now veiled, they wished for some

visible material object as the symbol of the divine presence, which

should go before them as the pillar of fire had done.

2. Aaron said, . . . Break off . . .

earrings--It was not an Egyptian custom for young men to wear

earrings, and the circumstance, therefore, seems to point out "the

mixed rabble," who were chiefly foreign slaves, as the

ringleaders in this insurrection. In giving direction to break their

earrings, Aaron probably calculated on gaining time; or, perhaps, on

their covetousness and love of finery proving stronger than their

idolatrous propensity. If such were his expectations, they were doomed

to signal disappointment. Better to have calmly and earnestly

remonstrated with them, or to have preferred duty to expediency,

leaving the issue in the hands of Providence.

3. all the people brake off the golden earrings--The Egyptian

rings, as seen on the monuments, were round massy plates of metal; and

as they were rings of this sort the Israelites wore, their size and

number must, in the general collection, have produced a large store of

the precious metal.

4. fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten

calf--The words are transposed, and the rendering should be, "he

framed with a graving tool the image to be made, and having poured the

liquid gold into the mould, he made it a molten calf." It is not said

whether it was of life size, whether it was of solid gold or merely a

wooden frame covered with plates of gold. This idol seems to have been

the god Apis, the chief deity of the Egyptians, worshipped at Memphis

under the form of a live ox, three years old. It was distinguished by a

triangular white spot on its forehead and other peculiar marks. Images

of it in the form of a whole ox, or of a calf's head on the end of a

pole, were very common; and it makes a great figure on the monuments

where it is represented in the van of all processions, as borne aloft

on men's shoulders.

they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of

the land of Egypt--It is inconceivable that they, who but a few

weeks before had witnessed such amazing demonstrations of the true God,

could have suddenly sunk to such a pitch of infatuation and brutish

stupidity, as to imagine that human art or hands could make a god that

should go before them. But it must be borne in mind, that though by

election and in name they were the people of God, they were as yet, in

feelings and associations, in habits and tastes, little, if at all

different, from Egyptians. They meant the calf to be an image, a

visible sign or symbol of Jehovah, so that their sin consisted not in a

breach of the FIRST

[Ex 20:3],

but of the SECOND commandment

[Ex 20:4-6].

5, 6. Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the

Lord--a remarkable circumstance, strongly confirmatory of the view

that they had not renounced the worship of Jehovah, but in accordance

with Egyptian notions, had formed an image with which they had been

familiar, to be the visible symbol of the divine presence. But there

seems to have been much of the revelry that marked the feasts of the

heathen.

7-14. the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down--Intelligence

of the idolatrous scene enacted at the foot of the mount was

communicated to Moses in language borrowed from human passions and

feelings, and the judgment of a justly offended God was pronounced in

terms of just indignation against the gross violation of the so

recently promulgated laws.

10. make of thee a great nation--Care must be taken not to

suppose this language as betokening any change or vacillation in the

divine purpose. The covenant made with the patriarchs had been

ratified in the most solemn manner; it could not and never was

intended that it should be broken. But the manner in which God

spoke to Moses served two important purposes--it tended to develop the

faith and intercessory patriotism of the Hebrew leader, and to excite

the serious alarm of the people, that God would reject them and deprive

them of the privileges they had fondly fancied were so secure.

15-18. Moses turned, and went down from the mount--The plain,

Er-Raheh, is not visible from the top of Jebel Musa, nor can the mount

be descended on the side towards that valley; hence Moses and his

companion, who on duty had patiently waited his return in the hollow of

the mountain's brow, heard the shouting some time before they actually

saw the camp.

19. Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his

hands--The arrival of the leader, like the appearance of a specter,

arrested the revellers in the midst of their carnival, and his act of

righteous indignation when he dashed on the ground the tables of the

law, in token that as they had so soon departed from their covenant

relation, so God could withdraw the peculiar privileges that He had

promised them--that act, together with the rigorous measures that

followed, forms one of the most striking scenes recorded in sacred

history.

20. he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the

fire, &c.--It has been supposed that the gold was dissolved by

natron or some chemical substance. But there is no mention of

solubility here, or in

De 9:21;

it was "burned in the fire," to cast it into ingots of suitable size

for the operations which follow--"grounded to powder"; the powder of

malleable metals can be ground so fine as to resemble dust from the

wings of a moth or butterfly; and these dust particles will float in

water for hours, and in a running stream for days. These operations of

grinding were intended to show contempt for such worthless gods, and

the Israelites would be made to remember the humiliating lesson by the

state of the water they had drunk for a time [NAPIER]. Others think that as the idolatrous festivals

were usually ended with great use of sweet wine, the nauseous draught

of the gold dust would be a severe punishment (compare

2Ki 23:6, 15;

2Ch 15:16; 34:7).

22. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot--Aaron

cuts a poor figure, making a shuffling excuse and betraying more dread

of the anger of Moses than of the Lord (compare

De 9:20).

25. naked--either unarmed and defenseless, or ashamed from a

sense of guilt. Some think they were literally naked, as the Egyptians

performed some of their rites in that indecent manner.

26-28. Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said--The camp

is supposed to have been protected by a rampart after the attack of the

Amalekites.

Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me--The zeal and

courage of Moses was astonishing, considering he opposed an intoxicated

mob. The people were separated into two divisions, and those who were

the boldest and most obstinate in vindicating their idolatry were put

to death, while the rest, who withdrew in shame or sorrow, were

spared.

29. Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord--or, "Ye have

consecrated yourselves to-day." The Levites, notwithstanding the

dejection of Aaron, distinguished themselves by their zeal for the

honor of God and their conduct in doing the office of executioners on

this occasion; and this was one reason that they were appointed to a

high and honorable office in the service of the sanctuary.

30-33. Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great

sin--Moses labored to show the people the heinous nature of their

sin, and to bring them to repentance. But not content with that, he

hastened more earnestly to intercede for them.

32. blot me . . . out of thy book--an allusion to the

registering of the living, and erasing the names of those who die. What

warmth of affection did he evince for his brethren! How fully was he

animated with the true spirit of a patriot, when he professed his

willingness to die for them. But Christ actually died for His

people

(Ro 5:8).

35. the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf--No

immediate judgments were inflicted, but this early lapse into idolatry

was always mentioned as an aggravation of their subsequent

apostasies.