When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
It didn’t take long for Israel to lose faith. I wonder how they thought that gods made from their own hands would be any better after all they had been through together?
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Aaron was there when it happened. How could he just cave so easily to their stupid demands?
Aaron also succumbed to the temptation along with the people. Instead of courageously and decidedly opposing their proposal, and raising the despondency of the people into the strength of living faith, by pointing them to the great deeds through which Jehovah had proved Himself to be the faithful covenant God, he hoped to be able to divert them from their design by means of human craftiness. “Tear off the golden ornaments in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me:” this he said in the hope that, by a demand which pressed so heavily upon the vanity of the female sex and its love of display, he might arouse such opposition as would lead the people to desist from their desire. But his cleverness was put to shame. “All the people” tore off their golden ornaments and brought them to him (Exodus 32:3); for their object was not merely “to accomplish an act of pure self-will, in which case there is no sacrifice that the human heart is not ready to make,” but to secure a pledge of the protection of God through a visible image of the Deity. The weak-minded Aaron had no other course left than to make (i.e., to cause to be made) an image of God for the people.
And then there’s this.
—Earrings are worn in the East almost as much by men as by women.
More information here…where I found the two quotes in the first place.
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
These seem like things they wouldn’t have done if they would let God be in charge.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
God knows about all of it. He’s been there the whole time. They just couldn’t or didn’t want to see Him. Nothing surprises the Lord. Now He’s going to do something about it. He’s going to use Moses to do it.
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Israel knew how God wanted them to live. It was no secret kept from them. They chose to do something else. Something sinful. They had been warned. There are consequences to sin as always. Now the whole communithy must put up with the consequences of their actions.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Nice save. God’s first choice was to be among His people anyway.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
That’s neat. I always imaged them as one sided.
16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
That would have been special to see.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
Remember, Joshua was assisting Moses this whole time.
18 Moses replied:
“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
Is it good singing or bad singing?
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
I can see how Moses would be that angry, but how are the people going to know what God wrote on them now? Stay tuned for the answer to that question later.
20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
That’s incredibly angry for one human. Justified. Incredibly angry.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
Seriously though. Aaron was a priest. He could go into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. He definitely knew better.
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered.
Why would Moses not be angry. So much progress wasted in one moment.
“You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Aaron conveniently left out the part where he made it himself with a tool. He had an opportunity to do the right thing and not be a coward.
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
Just one tribe out of the twelve.
27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’”
This is the consequence for the sin. Not because God loves violence or anything like that.
28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
Being on God’s side is better than anything else.
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
Never hurts to ask.
31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
God is being patient here…
35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
…and here’s the punishment.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
The angel is clearly a second rate option compared to having God for a full on guide. This is another consequence of the sin. If you look at it another way, it’s also an example of mercy. Mercy is…
Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
“the boy was screaming and begging for mercy”
4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.
You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. God isn’t actually gone at this point. He’s just not following as closely, because Israel has turned away from Him.
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.
It’s good that He’s honest.
Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
More consequences? We’ll have to wait and see.
Scripture Discussed: Exodus 32 – Exodus 33:6
IIWAC: You Idiots!
It didn’t take long for Israel to lose faith. I wonder how they thought that gods made from their own hands would be any better after all they had been through together?
2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Aaron was there when it happened. How could he just cave so easily to their stupid demands?
And then there’s this.
More information here…where I found the two quotes in the first place.
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
These seem like things they wouldn’t have done if they would let God be in charge.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
God knows about all of it. He’s been there the whole time. They just couldn’t or didn’t want to see Him. Nothing surprises the Lord. Now He’s going to do something about it. He’s going to use Moses to do it.
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Israel knew how God wanted them to live. It was no secret kept from them. They chose to do something else. Something sinful. They had been warned. There are consequences to sin as always. Now the whole communithy must put up with the consequences of their actions.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Nice save. God’s first choice was to be among His people anyway.
15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
That’s neat. I always imaged them as one sided.
16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
That would have been special to see.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”
Remember, Joshua was assisting Moses this whole time.
18 Moses replied:
“It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
Is it good singing or bad singing?
19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
I can see how Moses would be that angry, but how are the people going to know what God wrote on them now? Stay tuned for the answer to that question later.
20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
That’s incredibly angry for one human. Justified. Incredibly angry.
21 He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
Seriously though. Aaron was a priest. He could go into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. He definitely knew better.
22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered.
Why would Moses not be angry. So much progress wasted in one moment.
“You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
Aaron conveniently left out the part where he made it himself with a tool. He had an opportunity to do the right thing and not be a coward.
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
Just one tribe out of the twelve.
27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’”
This is the consequence for the sin. Not because God loves violence or anything like that.
28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
Being on God’s side is better than anything else.
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
Never hurts to ask.
31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
33 The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
God is being patient here…
35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
…and here’s the punishment.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
The angel is clearly a second rate option compared to having God for a full on guide. This is another consequence of the sin. If you look at it another way, it’s also an example of mercy. Mercy is…
4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.
You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. God isn’t actually gone at this point. He’s just not following as closely, because Israel has turned away from Him.
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.
It’s good that He’s honest.
Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
More consequences? We’ll have to wait and see.
Scripture Discussed: Exodus 32 – Exodus 33:6