Exodus 32 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Exodus 32

The Golden Calf

32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden¹ calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who 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 burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 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 But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” 33 But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

35 Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Footnotes

[1] 32:4 Hebrew cast metal; also verse 8

Commentary

v1: Moses had been on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights (24.18), and Aaron and Hur had been left in charge (24.14). The people grew impatient in waiting for Moses, "who brought us up out of Egypt". Yet this misunderstanding led them not into a greater honour for Moses, but into idolatry; "make us gods" they asked Aaron. A "god" who is the work of men's hands is hardly worthy of the name!

v2-4: Aaron gave instructions to the people, and he made the golden calf. He did not ask Bezalel, the gifted artisan, to do the work. We presume, therefore, that the calf was comparatively basic in design. It seems ludicrous to say that this thing brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt.

v5-6: There was a feast with burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, "a festival to the Lord", claimed Aaron. Perhaps there was a genuine desire in him to worship the true God. The idolatry led quickly to licentiousness. There is no doubt that wrong worship leads to ungodly living.

v7-8: Nothing escapes the Lord, for He sees all things. He gave Moses the responsibility of dealing with the situation. The Lord describes the people as "your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt", as if He didn't want anything to do with them, see v10 where He threatens to destroy them.

v9-10: The people deserved to be destroyed. The Lord, who can do anything, would make a great nation of Moses. This God could raise up children of Abraham from stones (Matt 3.9), and turn dry bones into a vast army (Ezek 37.1,10).

v11-13: Moses prayed for the people, to avert judgment. This prayer was unseen by the people; many prayers of great power and effect are secret.

v11: Moses prayed with great urgency. He asked "why?", for this was God's people; why should He destroy them?

v12: The testimony of God was wrapped up with the nation of Israel. If God were to destroy the people, then the purpose for their deliverance from Exodus would be lost. Therefore, he prayed, do not destroy them.

v13: Moses also pleads God's own character, that He remain faithful to His promises made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

v14: God did not bring the disaster that He had threatened.

v15-16: Moses returned from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of stone, on which the Ten Commandments were written. This was the work of the finger of God, was "inscribed on both sides", leaving room for no more (Deut 12.32).

v17-18: Joshua, the young man, had been with Moses, see 24.13. He had only heard the noise of the people, but unlike Moses, did not know what was happening (v7).

v19-20: Moses was extremely angry, but it seems that his anger was much less than the Lord's. Even here, therefore, the Lord's mercy is manifest, in that Moses was sent to deal with the people.

v21: Moses asked Aaron what had happened, for he had been left in charge./p>

v22-24: Aaron blamed the people; they were set on evil, and put pressure on Aaron to "make us gods". But Aaron's claim that the calf simply came out of the fire was not true (contrast v4).

v25: The people had continued to run wild, to "indulge in revelry" (v6).

v26: Moses needed support, and called for it; the sons of Levi (22,273; Num 2.32) sided with him; there were few in comparison to 603,550 in the other tribes (a ratio of more than 25 to 1).

v27-28: The command to kill the people, even brothers and friends and neighbours, such was the seriousness of their crime. (See also Deut 13.6-8 about exercising judgment against someone close.) As a result of the action, about 3,000 people were killed. Even this was a small proportion, but was intended to be a deterrent as well as a punishment.

v29: The sons of Levi were thus set apart from the other tribes, and was blessed by God. See 1 Cor 11.19, about the necessity of separation and division, so that those approved might be manifest.

v30: Moses now knew the seriousness of the people's offence. He returned to the Lord to pray again for the people. Moses' anger (v19-20) was not inconsistent with his compassion.

v31-32: Moses made no sacrifice, had no altar. He just prayed. The sin was "great", and people were guilty. Moses simply asked for God's atonement (or covering) for them, that He might forgive them. If not, Moses pleaded, he would take the blame. (Compare Rom 9.3) Moses asked God to forgive, for only God can forgive sins (Mark 2.7).

v33: The Lord explained that no man could be blotted out for another; hence Ezek 3.18; contrast John 11.50-51, where Caiaphas prophesied Jesus' death for the whole nation. Jesus Christ thus did what could not otherwise be done. He was cursed for us (Gal 3.13).

v34-35: God would still punish the people for their rebellion. And, yes, it was Aaron who made the golden calf.