Exodus 32:23

32:21-29 Never did any wise man make a more frivolous and foolish excuse than that of Aaron. We must never be drawn into sin by any thing man can say or do to us; for men can but tempt us to sin, they cannot force us. The approach of Moses turned the dancing into trembling. They were exposed to shame by their sin. The course Moses took to roll away this reproach, was, not by concealing the sin, or putting any false colour upon it, but by punishing it. The Levites were to slay the ringleaders in this wickedness; yet none were executed but those who openly stood forth. Those are marked for ruin who persist in sin: those who in the morning were shouting and dancing, before night were dying. Such sudden changes do the judgments of the Lord sometimes make with sinners that are secure and jovial in their sin.

For they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before us,.... Which was true, Exodus 32:1 but then he should have told them, that gods were not to be made; that what were made with hands were no gods, and could not go before them; that the making of any image, similitude, or representation of God, was forbidden by him, as they had lately heard from his own mouth; he should have dissuaded from such idolatry, by showing them the evil nature of the sin, and the ruin they exposed themselves to by it: 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; their words he truly recites, and perhaps might choose the rather to mention them, because they carried in them some reflection on Moses for staying so long in the mount; and as if that contributed much to this affair, and which put the people on forming such a scheme, they concluding he must be dead through famine; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, be burnt with flaming fire from the Lord.

Exodus 32:23 . They said, Make us gods — It is natural to us to endeavour thus to transfer our guilt. He likewise extenuates his own share in the sin, as if he had only bid them break off their gold, intending but to make a hasty essay for the present, and childishly insinuates that when he cast the gold into the fire, it came out either by accident, or by the magic art of some of the mixed multitude, (as the Jewish writers dream,) in this shape. This was all Aaron had to say for himself, and he had better have said nothing, for his defence did but aggravate his offence; and yet, as sin did abound, grace did much more abound.

After the calf had been destroyed, Moses called Aaron to account. "What has this people done to thee ("done" in a bad sense, as in Genesis 27:45 ; Exodus 13:11 ), that thou hast brought a great sin upon it?" Even if Aaron had merely acted from weakness in carrying out the will of the people, he was the most to blame, for not having resisted the urgent entreaty of the people firmly and with strong faith, and even at the cost of his life. Consequently he could think of nothing better than the pitiful subterfuge, "Be not angry, my lord (he addresses Moses in this way on account of his office, and because of his anger, cf. Numbers 12:11 ): thou knowest the people, that it is in wickedness" (cf. 1 John 5:19 ), and the admission that he had been overcome by the urgency of the people, and had thrown the gold they handed him into the fire, and that this calf had come out ( Exodus 32:22-24 ), as if the image had come out of its own accord, without his intention or will. This excuse was so contemptible that Moses did not think it worthy of a reply, at the same time, as he told the people afterwards ( Deuteronomy 9:20 ), he averted the great wrath of the Lord from him through his intercession.

[Reformed Biblical] Moses hearing and seeing their idolatry, breaks the two tables, Exo_32:19; and turns the calf into powder, Exo_32:20. Aaron’s excuse, Exo_32:21-24. Moses seeing their nakedness, Exo_32:25, commands them to be slain, Exo_32:26,27. He bids them consecrate themselves, Exo_32:29. Moses charging them with sin, Exo_32:30, prayeth for them, Exo_32:31,32. God spareth them, Exo_32:34; but afterward plagueth them, Exo_32:35. Moses had now been in the mount for near forty days. ##

[Reformed Biblical] them; when I shall punish them for their other sins, which I foresee they will commit, I will remember and punish this also. Exodus 32:35 This relates either to the destruction of three thousand of them by the Levites, or rather to the future plagues, in which God also reckoned with them for this sin. ## Because they made the calf ; they made it because they urged ## Aaron to make it, as Judas is said to purchase the field, Act_1:18, which was purchased by his money; and Aaron made it, by giving command to make it. The Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and Samaritan render the words thus, ## they worshipped or sacrificed to the calf which Aaron made . And the word which signifies to make, is oft used for worshipping or sacrificing, as Exo_10:25 Jud_13:15 1Ki_18:26. ## Exodus 33:1 EXODUS CHAPTER 33 God refuseth to go with the people as formerly, Exo_33:1-3. The people mourn, Exo_33:4. God’s command what to say to the children of Israel, Exo_33:5. They mourn, and lay by their ornaments, Exo_33:6. Moses pitcheth the tabernacle without the camp, Exo_33:7; and going in, God speaks to him, Exo_33:8,9. A cloudy pillar descendeth on it, Exo_33:10. God speaks to Moses face to face, Exo_33:11. He prays for his guidance and presence, Exo_33:12-16. God promises him, Exo_33:14,17; proclaims his name, Exo_33:19. His face can be seen by no man, Exo_33:20-23. Exodus 33:2 Exodus 33:3 ## I will not go up in the midst of thee by my own special

[Bible] 32:9. And again the Lord said to Moses: I see that this people is stiffnecked: 32:10. Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them, and I will make of thee a great nation. 32:11. But Moses besought the Lord his God, saying: Why, O Lord, is thy indignation enkindled against thy people, whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand? 32:12. Let not the Egyptians say, I beseech thee: He craftily brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains, and destroy them from the earth: let thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of thy people. 32:13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou sworest by thy own self, saying: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven: and this whole land that I have spoken of, I will give to your seed, and you shall possess it for ever: 32:14. And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which he had spoken against his people. 32:15. And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides, 32:16. And made by the work of God; the writing also of God was graven in the tables. 32:17. And Josue hearing the noise of the people shouting, said to Moses: The noise of battle is heard in the camp. 32:18. But he answered: It is not the cry of men encouraging to fight, nor the shout of men compelling to flee: but I hear the voice of singers. 32:19. And when he came nigh to the camp, he saw the calf, and the dances: and being very angry, he threw the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mount: 32:20. And laying hold of the calf which they had made, he burnt it, and beat it to powder, which he strewed into water, and gave thereof to the children of Israel to drink. 32:21. And he said to Aaron: What has this people done to thee, that thou shouldst bring upon them a most heinous sin?