Deeper Commentary
Exo 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from
the mountain-
"Delayed" is more commonly translated 'to be ashamed'. They may have
gotten the impression that Moses was ashamed of them, and he and Yahweh
were now going to make a new people. The very opposite was to be the case.
This is what God proposed, and it was only the selfless pleading of Moses
which changed it.
The Lord's warnings about the unfaithful believers who misbehave because their Lord delays His coming is clearly based upon this (Mt. 24:48; 25:5). Moses' return from the mountain (cp. Heaven) is therefore understood by the Lord as a type of His second coming.
The people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said
to him, Come, make us gods, which shall go before us-
God had 'gone before' Israel through the Angel which was to lead them
through the desert (s.w. Ex. 23:23). But as with all religious but not
spiritual people, they wanted a visible leader. And so when Moses
apparently disappeared in the mountain, they demanded that gods be made to
"go before us". It was only by grace that God responded that despite their
apostacy, He would still "go before you" through the Angel (Ex. 32:34;
33:14). Even the Gentile world had more faith than Israel in this; they
believed that Yahweh "went before" His people in an Angel (Num. 14:14).
But Israel themselves at the time of the golden calf didn't believe that.
Moses in his final speech therefore urges the people to believe that
indeed the Angel was going before them (Dt. 1:30,33; 31:6,8).
For as for this
Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know
what has become of him-
This terrible apostacy was performed with the fire of God's glory and
judgment burning above them (Dt. 9:15). Clearly enough, visible manifestation of God
in miracles is not enough to inculcate faith. Pentecostalism has so
misunderstood this. The people likewise were getting manna daily at this
time. But still they wanted to make visible "gods" to lead them back to
where their hearts were, Egypt. We note they never formally abrogated
their connection to Yahweh, their apparent issue was with Moses. But he
was God's representative.
Stephen in Acts 7 stresses the way in which Moses was rejected by
Israel as a type of Christ. At age 40, Moses was "thrust away" by one of
the Hebrews; and on the wilderness journey the Jews “thrust him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt" (Acts 7:27,35,39). This
suggests that there was far more antagonism between Moses and Israel than
we gather from the Old Testament record- after the pattern of Israel's
treatment of Jesus. It would seem from Acts 7:39 that after the golden
calf incident, the majority of Israel cold shouldered Moses. Once the
point sank in that they were not going to enter the land, this feelings
must have turned into bitter resentment. They were probably unaware of how
Moses had been willing to offer his eternal destiny for their salvation;
they would not have entered into the intensity of Moses' prayers for their
salvation. The record seems to place Moses and "the people" in
juxtaposition around 100 times (e.g. Ex. 15:24; 17:2,3; 32:1 NIV; Num.
16:41 NIV; 20:2,3; 21:5). They accused Moses of being a cruel cult leader,
bent on leading them out into the desert to kill them and steal their
wealth from them (Num. 16:13,14)- when in fact Moses was delivering them
from the house of bondage, and was willing to lay down his own salvation
for theirs. The way Moses submerged his own pain is superb; both of their
rejection of him and of God's rejection of him from entering the Kingdom.
The style of Moses' writing in Num. 20:12-14 reveals this submerging of
his own pain. He speaks of himself in the third person, omitting any
personal reflection on his own feelings: "The Lord spake unto Moses...
Because you believed me not... you shall not bring the congregation into
the land... and Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the King of
Edom...". Likewise all the references to “the Lord spake unto Moses” (Lev.
1:1). Moses submerged his own personality in writing his books.
Exo 32:2 Aaron said to them, Take off the golden rings, which are in the
ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to
me-
When Gideon received the golden earrings of the Ishmaelites (Jud.
8:24-27), his mind should have flown back to how golden earrings were
turned into the golden calf (Ex. 32:2). He was potentially given the
strength to resist the temptation to turn them into an idol. But he must
have blanked out that Biblical precedent in his heart; he ignored his
spiritual potential.
Exo 32:3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their
ears, and brought them to Aaron-
Ps. 106:20 says that they changed or altered (Heb.) their glory into
a mere ox. The glory of God was visible to them on Sinai at the time.
God's glory was in His invisible leading of them through the Angel (:1).
But they changed that into the visible and secular. They were not totally
rejecting Yahweh, but making an ox / calf similar to one facet of the
cherubim. This is classic apostacy, mixing truth with error.
Exo 32:4 He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an
engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said-
The mention of the tool and fashioning it is in order to point up the
lie which Aaron later tells- that he put the gold in the fire, and out
popped a golden calf.
These are your
gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt-
The human desire to believe in a god rather than a man is demonstrated in
Exo 32:5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
a proclamation, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh-
As noted on :4, this was not a rejection of Yahweh in so many words,
but rather a justification of idolatry in the name of Yahweh worship. We
note the emphasis on what Aaron did. No wonder God wanted to slay him at
this time (Dt. 9:20), and he was only saved by grace thanks to Moses'
intercession.
Exo 32:6 They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings,
and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink,
and rose up to play-
It appears that Israel identified the golden calf with the Egyptian
goddess Hathor. “The Egyptian goddess Hathor came in the form of a cow, a
woman with a cow’s head, or a woman with cows horns and / or cows ears.
She bore several other titles including The Golden One and Mistress of
Music. She was the patron of love, motherhood, drunkenness, fun, dance and
music. The worship of Hathor degenerated into immorality and she is
depicted in some scenes and statues as a sensual young woman. Hathor was
the protector of travellers from Egypt to various areas including Sinai”.
So Israel so quickly forgot the lesson so artlessly taught them – that the
idols / demons of Egypt were of no power at all, seeing they had all been
targetted by the plagues.
The following references to Hathor provide further insight; supporting
references are to be found in my book "The Real Devil" section 4-2-3:
Hathor had several forms including, a cow, a women with a cow’s head, or a
woman with cows horns and or ears.
Hathor was also known as ‘The Golden One’
Hathor was the protector of travellers from Egypt to various areas
including Sinai
Patron of drunkenness
Hathor had the title ‘Mistress of Music’
The worship of Hathor included playing on all kinds of musical instruments
together with dancing
The worship of Hathor was for the joy and pleasure of those who took part
Hathor is also the goddess of love
The worship of Hathor degenerated into immorality.
Exo 32:7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, Go, get down; for your people, whom you
brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!-
"Themselves" is added to the text. They had "corrupted" not just
themselves, but their understanding of Yahweh. As explained on :4-6, they
were worshipping an idol in the name of Yahweh worship. They had corrupted
or turned the glory of God into the form of an ox which eats grass (Ps.
106:20). And this is the abiding temptation for us all. "Corrupted" is the
word used about the corruption of the people which resulted in the flood
(Gen. 6:11-13,17). We are therefore to expect a "flood" of destruction.
But thanks to grace and Moses' intercession, this didn't come. But it is
the same word used of the threatened destruction of everyone in Sodom,
which Abraham's intercession avoided (s.w. Gen. 18:28,31). That incident
surely motivated Moses to rise up to the same possibility of dialogue with
God in order to change His intended purpose. We too are to be motivated by
Biblical examples of intercession. There is a gap between God's statement
of judgment, and His carrying it out. And in that gap, we can ask God to
change His intended purpose of judgment; and He is willing to.
Understanding God this way gives such intensity and significance to our
prayers and intercession.
"Corrupted" is s.w. "'destroyed" or "perish". All judgment is finally self inflicted. Sin is its own judgment; hence the Hebrew word for "corruption" also means "destruction", for moral corruption is its own destruction. God Himself does judge, but always prefers men to judge themselves.
Exo 32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded
them-
As explained on Ex. 32:4-6, the people considered that their idolatry
was a form of Yahweh worship. But Yahweh makes it clear that it was in
fact a rejection of Him.
They have made themselves a molten calf-
"Molten" is literally 'covered'. They had presumably made the calf of
the common acacia wood, and covered it with gold- just as the tabernacle
furniture was to be constructed in a similar way. Again we see that they
were mixing Yahweh worship with idolatry.
And have worshiped it, and
have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which
brought you up out of the land of Egypt'-
The calf was likely an imitation of the Egyptian calf god Apis,
despite the fact the plagues had targetted the gods of Egypt and shown
them to be nothing. They mixed the worship of Yahweh with that of idols,
and this is the abiding temptation for God's people.
Exo 32:9 Yahweh said to Moses, I have seen these people, and behold, they
are a stiff-necked people-
Pharaoh was condemned and Egypt overthrown because of his hard heart- but
the very word is used to describe the hardness of Israel's heart at the time
(Ex. 32:9; 33:3-5; 34:9). Israel were really no better than Egypt- just as
Egypt was plagued "so that they could not drink the water" (Ex. 7:24), so we
find Israel in the same situation right after leaving Egypt (Ex. 15:23). As
the Egyptians were stripped of their jewellery, so Israel stripped
themselves of it before the golden calf (Ex. 12:36; 33:6). Although the
people were "stiff-necked", refusing to bow their necks in obedience, and
thereby liable to destruction if God was amongst them (Ex. 32:9; 33:3,15),
God was willing to give this stiff-necked people a place in God's Kingdom
(Dt. 9:6). And so although God had said that He would not go in the midst
of a stiff-necked people, yet Moses asks Him to do so (Ex. 34:9)- for He
senses God's desire to save them by grace despite their hardened
disobedience. We contrast this with the God who demands respect, the God
who slew Uzzah and insists upon loyalty to Him.
Exo 32:10 Now therefore leave Me alone-
This seems to suggest that God knew both Himself and Moses well
enough to know that Moses could well persuade Him to change His mind,
against His ideal intention. And Moses doesn't leave God alone, and does
persuade Him. We marvel at the humility and humanity of God, and His
extreme openness to human intercession.
Think of God's bitter disappointment with Israel when
He invites Moses into the mount as their representative, in order to enter
into further covenant with them. Down below, they started worshipping
other gods. When God says to Moses "Leave me alone..." (Ex. 32:10), He may
well refer to the desire for isolation / solitude which a person in
extreme grief desires. And of course we are aware of how Moses reasons
with God, and asks God to consider His own future and how it might turn
out, and how that can be avoided. And God takes Moses seriously, with
integrity, and appears to even acquiesce to his arguments. It's amazing.
This God is our God.
That My wrath may burn hot against
them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation-
Note how God’s anger “burned hot” and so did that of Moses. But Moses
asks God not to wax hot in anger (Ex. 32:10,11,19). What are we to make of
this? Surely, positively, Moses was totally in tune with the feelings of
God. And yet he does himself what he asks God not to do.
There is almost a pattern with God- to devise His purpose, and then in the 'gap' until its fulfillment, be open to the persuasion of His covenant people to change or ammend those plans. This could be what Am. 3:7 is speaking of: "Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets". It's as if He reveals His plans to them so that they can then comment upon them in prayer. And maybe this is why God tells Jeremiah not to pray to Him to change His stated plans against Israel (Jer. 7:16 cp. Jer. 11:14; 14:11; 15:1), and why He asks Moses to 'leave Me alone' and not try to persuade Him to change His mind (Ex. 32:10). He didn't want, in these cases, His stated plans to be interrupted by the appeals of His people to change them. Interestingly, in both these examples, Moses and Jeremiah know God well enough, the relationship is intimate enough, for them to still speak with Him- and change His mind. Those who've prayed to God in cases of terminal illness [and countless other situations] will have sensed this 'battle', this 'struggle' almost, between God and His friends, His covenant people, and the element of 'persuasion' which there is going on both ways in the dialogue between God and ourselves. The simple fact that God really can change- there are over 40 references to His 'repentance' in Scripture- is vital to understand- for this is the basis of the prayer that changes things, that as it were wrestles with God.
Exo 32:11 Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, why does your
wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land
of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?-
See on Ex. 34:9; 33:1. If God's wrath burns hot against people, it
means death for them (s.w. Ex. 22:24; Num. 11:1,33; 22:22; 25:3; Dt. 6:15;
31:17). But Moses averted this at the time of Ex. 32:10 by his
intercession. He does so because God's wrath had burned hot against him
personally (Ex. 4:14 s.w.), but he had been saved from death by grace. And
so he reflects this in appealing for he salvation of others, against whom
God's wrath burned hot (Ex. 32:10.11). But Moses at the end of his life
warns them not to make God's wrath burn hot against them again- because he
will not be around to intercede for them (Dt. 6:15; 7:4; 11:17).
When God told Moses to leave Him alone to destroy them, and go back down to the people immediately (Dt. 9:12), Moses stayed on to plead with God not to destroy them. And God listened (Ex. 32:7-14). He repented of the evil He had thought to do. He changed His mind, because Moses stayed on. There is an element of striving with God in prayer, knowing that His mind is open to change (Rom. 15:30). This is what stimulates me to what intensity in prayer I can muster. That God is open to hearing and even changing His holy mind about something. Such is His sensitivity to us. Such is His love, that God changing His mind becomes really feasible as a concept. And such is the scary implication of the total freewill which the Father has afforded us. This is why God could reason with Moses as a man speaks to his friend and vice versa. It was a dynamic, two way relationship in thought and prayer and being. Jacob likewise changed God's intentions with him in his night of wrestling in prayer with the Angel; and Jacob is a symbol of us all. He became Israel, he who struggles with God. And this is a key feature of all those who comprise the true Israel.
The manifestation of God in a person leads to a mutuality between them. There’s a nice example of the mutuality between God and Moses in Ex. 33:1, where God says that Moses brought up Israel out of Egypt; but in Ex. 32:11, Moses says [as frequently] that God brought Israel out of Egypt. And we too can experience this mutuality in relationship with the Father. Through Moses allowing himself to become part of God manifestation, he found a confidence to achieve that which felt impossible to him. He asks God: "Who am I...?" to do the great things God required... and the answer was "I will be who I will be" (Ex. 3:11-13). Moses' sense of inadequacy was met by the principle of God's manifestation in him; and so will ours be, if we participate in it.
Exo 32:12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying-
Moses seems to have shared the primitive idea that a god rose or fell
according to the fortunes of his worshippers, when he asks God to not cut
off Israel in case the nations mock Yahweh. Yahweh could have responded that
this was far too primitive and limited a view. But no, He apparently
listens to Moses and goes along with his request!
‘He brought them forth
for evil, to kill them in the mountains-
The mountains around Sinai.
And to consume them from the
surface of the earth?’ Turn from Your fierce wrath, and repent of this
evil against Your people-
This turning of Yahweh from His wrath was inspirational even
generations later, for the Ninevites repeat this phrase and cling onto it
in hope (Jonah 3:9 s.w.). David and the restoration Psalmists likewise
allude to it, and ask for it to be repeated in their context (s.w. Ps.
85:3,4), and so can we be likewise inspired.
Exo 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You
swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as
the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give
to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever’-
God could have given legitimate answers to each of Moses' objections;
for there were indeed times when He did not turn from the fierceness of
His wrath (:12)- such as Jer. 4:8; 2 Kings 23:26. He intended to fulfil
the promises to Abraham, but through Moses. But such is His sensitivity
and pure pity that He accepted Moses' pleas.
Exo 32:14 Yahweh changed His mind of the evil which He said He would do to
His people-
Due
to Moses’ prayer, “the Lord repented of the evil which he had said he
would do unto his people” (Ex. 32:14 RV). Yet these are the very words of
Jer. 18:8- if a
nation repents, then God will
repent. But in this case, God accepted the singular prayer of Moses. This
opens up the question of the degree to which our spiritual effort can
affect the eternal outcomes for third parties (see on Mk. 2:5).
The LXX uses the word translated “propitiation” in the NT with
reference to how God forgave / propitiated for Israel’s sins for His
Name’s sake (Ex. 32:14; Ps. 79:9). That propitiation was only for the sake
of the Lord’s future death, which would be the propitiation God ultimately
accepted. Having no past or future with Him, Yahweh could act as if His
Son’s death had already occurred. But that death and forgiveness for “His
name’s sake” were one and the same thing. The Son’s death was the
expression of the Father’s Name.
We are told that God "hearkened" to Moses' prayers for them (Dt. 9:19; 10:10). He prayed for them with an intensity they didn't appreciate, he prayed for and gained their forgiveness before they had even repented, he pleaded successfully for God to relent from His plans to punish them, even before they knew that God had conceived such plans (Ex. 32:10,14; 33:17 etc.). The fact we will, at the end, be forgiven of some sins without specifically repenting of them (as David was in Ps. 19:12) ought to instill a true humility in us. This kind of thing is in some ways a contradiction of God's principles that personal repentance is required for forgiveness, and that our own effort is required if we are to find acceptability with Him. Of course ultimately these things are still true, and were true with respect to Israel.
Exo 32:15 Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two
tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both
their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written-
Dt. 9:15 says that Moses carried one in each hand. They were likely
very small, which is why they were written on both sides. There is double
emphasis upon this, perhaps because this was unheard of on Egyptian
tablets.
Exo 32:16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the
writing of God, engraved on the tables-
This seems to lead up to the tragedy of Moses breaking them. They
were the most exquisite artwork, God's own handwriting. This was how
intimately He was engaged with the covenant He offered Israel, and the
tragedy of it being broken. The Hebrew for "engraved" is
haruth, the same consonants as heruth, freedom / liberty.
This connection between law and freedom is played on in James 1:25; 2:12.
The law, therefore, is not a leash, a chore to be performed, but as David
often observes, God's law is the way to run free. Divine law is the way to
help man find his true identity and spiritually blosssom. This of
course is the opposite to human law, which seeks to constrain and 'keep
the loonies on the path'. A comparison of God's law with other legal codes
of the time, such as the laws of Hammurabi, reveals how God seeks to value
the human person. His law was the same for all, unlike the contemporary
human laws which excused the higher classes from obedience. Human life
always trumped material issues; the death penalty was used very sparingly
in God's laws. And above all, the Divine laws are always positioned in
relation to the fact that "I am Yahweh your God". Obedience was part of a
personal covenant relationship with God, and an act of gratitude for His
personal salvation. There is constant connection between law and covenant
relationship; hence Hos. 8:1 "they have broken My covenant, and rebelled
against My law". Related to this is the constant repetition that the law
was given by God, and "You shall be holy, for I am holy"- and not arrived
at from human consultation and development of legal tradition. This is why
God's law begins with the statement "I am the Yahweh your God" (Ex. 20:2).
Thus the Sabbath rest was because God had rested on the seventh day; and
the ten "He said..." statements of the Genesis creation can be connected
with the ten commandments, which were aimed at a new spiritual creation of
people.
Exo 32:17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he
said to Moses, There is the noise of war in the camp-
It has been noted that the people must have been camped in the plain
near Sinai known as Er-Raheh, which was not visible from the peak of Sinai
known as Jebel Musa. The path up the mountain to that point would have
gone around the mountain, rather than straight up from the plain. This
explains why they first heard rather than saw what was going on, and is
another internal evidence for Biblical inspiration.
This incident could be read as an example of Joshua’s genuine naivety- thinking that Israel were far stronger than they were. He mistook the sound of their idolatrous partying for the sound of a battle; and Moses almost rebukes him for his naivety. He allowed the leaders of Israel to lead him into wrong decisions about the initial attack on Ai, and also into being deceived by the Gibeonites. And yet as a younger man, he had boldly stood up to the peer pressure of the princes of Israel in faithfully declaring that Israel could and should go up into Canaan; when the other princes must have put huge pressure upon him to agree with them. He is described as maintaining “another spirit” to theirs (Num. 14:24). The resolution of youth seems to have been somewhat lost as he grew older. The character presentation of Joshua is absolutely psychologically credible.
Exo 32:18 He said, It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory,
neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome-
The Lord alludes to this: "You shall weep and lament, but the (Jewish)
world shall rejoice" (Jn. 16:20). Israel rejoiced in the works of their
own hands (Acts 7:41), the golden calf, while Moses was absent- cp.
Christ's absence in the grave, with the Jews rejoicing and the disciples
lamenting. In another sense, the return of Moses from the mountain may
look ahead to Christ's return from Heaven- to find the majority of the new
Israel apostate, although thinking they are being especially obedient to
Yahweh (Ex. 32:5). The peak of selfless love for Israel which Moses showed
at this time therefore points forward to the zeal of Christ for our
forgiveness and salvation at his return (Ex. 32:32). Moses at his finest
hour of intercession and willing self sacrifice thus typifies Christ at his return. And after the golden calf
incident, Israel are encouraged to enter the Kingdom (Ex. 33:1)- as at the
second coming.
But the noise
of those who sing that I hear-
The Hebrew implies "antiphonal singing", of the kind in Ex. 15:21,
and s.w. Ps. 88:1. This is a classic case of mixing the flesh and the
spirit; for they were worshipping the golden calf as a form of Yahweh
worship, praising the golden calf for their deliverance from Egypt just as
they had praised Yahweh for this in Ex. 15:21.
Exo 32:19 It happened, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he
saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the
tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain-
His anger growing hot was exactly the feeling of God. But unlike God,
he immediately broke the symbols of the covenant with Israel. Again, God
is revealed as more gracious and patient than man. As Moses had pleaded
with Yahweh not to be so angry, so Aaron was to do so with the furiously
angry Moses. Aaron in all his weakness therefore becomes as Moses, who was
also weak before God's presence.
Exo 32:20 He took the calf which they had made-
This is emphasized. Aaron's claim it just popped out of the fire was
a lie (:24).
And burnt it with fire,
ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children
of Israel drink of it-
They were forced to drink / eat dust, just as Adam had to; for he was
dust and had to eat the fruit of the dust in punishment. His sin was the
essence of every man's sin, including Israel's at this time. The reference
to their being made naked (:25) is another allusion to Adam. Israel had
been an unfaithful wife to Yahweh, and so they were punished as the woman
tested for adultery was (Num. 5:24). Dt. 9:21 says that "grinding it very
small until it was as fine as dust". As gold is so heavy, this would be
necessary for it to float on the surface on the water.
Exo 32:21 Moses said to Aaron, What did these people do to you, that you
have brought a great sin on them?-
Aaron's excuse was pathetic and untruthful, and Moses doesn't even
engage with it. There are times when we too are wise not to engage with
evident untruth and self justification, but to cut to the essence of the
situation. It was only thanks to Moses' intercession for Aaron that
Aaron's life was spared at this point (Dt. 9:20). We see here how
intercession even for the impenitent can be effective (for Aaron in Ex.
32:24 was impenitent, claiming the calf had jumped out of the fire ready
made). This has huge pastoral implications for our ministry and prayer
life, recalling how for the sake of the faith of the friends, the Lord
pronounced the paralyzed man forgiven (Mk. 2:5; also James 5:20).
"A great sin" is the phrase used of Jeroboam's golden calf, which was based upon this calf (2 Kings 17:21). Again, people can be made to sin by others- a sober reminder to watch our behaviour.
Exo 32:22 Aaron said, Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know
the people, that they are set on evil-
Aaron reasons with Moses, surely unconsciously, just as Moses had
reasoned with God. And we have these situations in our lives too- where
others beg us for mercy and understanding (even if not in so many words),
just as we have asked God to show us. But the man who is so arrogant and
insensitive to his own sins that he has never done this before God... will
not be inclined to be merciful and understanding to those whose situations
beg him to do likewise.
Dt. 9:20 must be given its full weight: "Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time". Aaron comes over in Ex. 32:22 as more worried about the wrath of Moses his brother than that of God: "Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot". And so it can easily be with us. We can forget God's feelings and worry only about our image with our family and brethren.
Exo 32:23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us;
for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we don’t know what has become of him’-
Aaron quotes their words of :1 absolutely verbatim, careful to be
truthful. But then in :24 he tells a pathetic lie. This is totally
psychologically credible; that a man prefaces a point blank lie with a
careful and strict statement of truth. The Biblical records, unlike the
histories of other nations at the time, have total credibility.
Exo 32:24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off;’ so
they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf-
The mention of the tool and fashioning of it in :4 is in order to point
up the lie which Aaron later tells- that he put the gold in the fire, and
out popped a golden calf.
The Jewish interpreters go to great lengths to rework the narrative here in order to justify Aaron and Israel, blaming the event on "Satan" rather than Israel. The targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel asks us to read Aaron's words as: "I cast it into the fire, and Satan entered into it, and it came out in the form of this calf!". But the Biblical record is clear that the sin was Aaron's fault, and Israel's (:21,22,31,35); he engraved the calf with a tool. There is no mention of any" Satan" figure. We see again how humans prefer to wriggle out of responsibility for sin by blaming their failure upon a cosmic "Satan" figure, of which the Bible says nothing- and indeed, deconstructs by placing the blame for sin squarely upon human beings and their hearts (:22).
Exo 32:25 When Moses saw that the people were naked, (for Aaron had made
them naked, for a shame among their enemies)-
The Assyrians led Israel away into captivity [s.w. to make naked],
"they discovered her nakedness" (Ez. 23:10), and yet in their sin Israel
made themselves naked (2 Chron. 28:19 cp. Ex. 32:25; Gen. 3:10). The day
of Yahweh's judgment upon them through their invaders was only a
reflection of their own self-condemnation. Eli's sons made themselves
accursed, and were only therefore [and thereby] judged by God (1 Sam. 3:13
AVmg.).
Exo 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp-
They appeared to have made a fence around themselves with gates in it
(:27 "from gate to gate").
And said, Whoever is
on Yahweh’s side, come to me!-
Literally, "Who unto Yahweh?". The phrase is only used in Jer. 30:21,
where we read that under the new covenant, this will be true of all God's
people.
All the sons of Levi gathered themselves
together to him-
This doesn't have to mean that the Levites hadn't sinned in this,
because these loyal Levites were asked to kill their own brothers and
neighbours in their tribal encampment area (:27). But their motive may
have been that they were loyal to Moses because he was of their tribe, and
they could foresee that there was a rebellion against Moses as the people
didn't want him as their leader. All human motivation is so sadly mixed.
Exo 32:27 He said to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Every man
put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate
throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his
companion, and every man his neighbour’-
These loyal Levites were asked to kill their own brothers and
neighbours in their tribal encampment area. So we are wrong to
think that all the Levites were loyal to Moses and spurned the golden
calf. Indeed it could be that those slain were the unfaithful amongst the
tribe of Levi.
Exo 32:28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there
fell of the people that day about three thousand men-
I suggested on :27 that these 3000 may have been the apostate amongst
the tribe of Levi (Dt. 33:9).
There is “a remarkable correlation between the signs recorded in John,
and the plagues Moses brought upon Egypt. There cannot be a complete match
as the numbers are unequal, but the differing types of miraculous signs
all find their counterpart in the plagues”. The purpose of all these
allusions to the time of Moses' return from Sinai was surely to make the
following point: As Moses disappeared into Sinai to attain the old
covenant, so Christ died for three days to attain the new covenant. The
majority of Israel, egged on by their high priest, turned to apostacy. On
Moses' return, only some of the Levites were faithful; they sacrificed all their
natural relationships in order to defend the Faith (Dt. 33:9). Likewise,
the majority of Israel turned to apostacy in the first century, mixing the
desires of the flesh with their keeping of the Law of Moses, just as they
did with the golden calf. The 'little of both' syndrome is one of our most
common enemies. Moses' return was like Christ's resurrection. The Levites
represent the disciples who went on to become the teachers of Israel, a
new priesthood. Those Levites represent us (1 Pet. 2:5), a minority who
stand alone, both in the world and perhaps also among the covenant people,
motivated by the word, yet like the disciples at the time of Christ's
resurrection- rather unsure, struggling within their own faith, yet going
on to be the teachers of the world.
Exo 32:29 Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every
man against his son, and against his brother; that He may bestow on you a
blessing this day-
This could as well be: "You have consecrated yourselves today". They
had slain their own Levitical relatives, even their own sons and brothers;
encouraging us to see the 3000 they slew as actually a purge of the tribe
of Levi. By this they had demonstrated their loyalty to Yahweh as being
greater than what they felt towards their own families. And this was
highly significant, in an age when family meant absolutely everything. And
so having purged their tribe, they had consecrated themselves to Yahweh,
and He therefore consecrated them to Himself as His special servants.
Previously, the intention had been that all Israel would be a nation of
priests. But now that had been adjusted, so that only a self-cleansed
tribe would do that work.
Exo 32:30 It happened on the next day, that Moses said to the people, You
have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make
atonement for your sin-
See on Rom. 9:3; Dt. 1:37.
Moses is called up into Sinai and speaks with God. While there, Israel turn away from God, and God wants to make Moses' family His people and reject Israel. But Moses argues with God against this, again showing his humility and his appreciation of God manifestation in Israel, and his earnest desire that God would save Israel. "He said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath". This was only months after his weak faith and reluctance to lead Israel out of Egypt. He says that he will "go up (and) make an atonement" (Ex. 32:30). And yet he knew the principle that atonement was impossible without shedding blood. Yet he goes further than that: "Blot me, I pray thee (he really wanted to do this) out of thy book" (Ex. 32:32)
AV- i.e. the book of salvation (Ez. 13:9; Dan. 12:2; Lk. 10:20; Rev. 20:12). Moses is willing to give his physical life and also his eternal salvation so that Israel can enter the land. Surely he reached matchless heights of selflessness. And he begged Yahweh to accept this for 40 days and nights, fasting without food or water (Dt. 9:17; 10:10). It wasn’t just a once off, emotional outburst of a moment.
To be blotted out of the book God had written may have been understood by Moses as asking for him to be excluded from an inheritance in the promised land; for later, a ‘book’ was written describing the various portions (Josh. 18:9). The connection is made explicit in Ez. 13:9: “…neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel”. To be blotted out of the book meant to not enter the land (surely Ezekiel is alluding to Moses’ experience). If Israel were to be blotted out there and then in the wilderness, then Moses wanted to share this experience. God had just spoken of ‘blotting out’ Israel from before Him (Dt. 9:14), and making a nation of Moses; but now Moses is asking to share in their condemnation rather than experience salvation without them. This was the extent of his devotion. On the last day of his life, Moses reeled off the great speech of Deuteronomy, knowing full well that he was to die without entering the land. In Dt. 9:18 he says that his prayer of Ex. 32:32 was heard- in that he was not going to enter the land, but they would. Hence his urging of them to go ahead and enter the land- to experience what his self-sacrifice had enabled. In this we see the economy of God, and how He works even through sin. On account of Moses’ temporary rashness of speech, he was excluded; Moses didn't enter the land. And yet by this, his prayer was heard. He was temporarily blotted out of the book, so that they might enter the land. Moses’ fleeting requests to enter the land must be read as a flagging from the height of devotion he reached, rather like the Lord’s request to escape the cross in Gethsemane. But ultimately he did what he intended- he gave his place in the Kingdom / land so that they might enter [although of course he will be in the future Kingdom]. This is why Moses stresses on the last day of his life that he wouldn’t enter the land for Israel’s sake (Dt. 1:37; 3:26; 4:21). He saw that his sin had been worked through, and the essential reason for him not entering was because of the offer he had made. It “went ill with him for their sakes”
(Ps. 106:32). In all this, Moses was typifying the death of
the Lord. Is. 53:8 describes His cross as being “cut off [Strong:
‘excluded’] from the land of the living” (s.w. ‘the congregation’- of
Israel), for the transgression of His people. This is undoubtedly
reference to the self-sacrificial exclusion of Moses from the land, that
Israel might enter. The Lord died the death of a sinner, He chose like
Moses to suffer affliction with us, that we might be saved. The intense
prayer of Moses for Israel’s salvation inspired David in prayer (Ps. 25:11
= Ex. 32:30,31).
Paul in 2 Tim. 2:24,25 makes a series of allusions to Moses, which
climax in an invitation to pray like Moses for the salvation of others:
“The servant of the Lord [A very common title of Moses] must not strive
[As Israel did with him (Num. 26:9)] but be gentle unto all [The spirit of
Moses] apt to teach [As was Moses (Ex. 18:20; 24:12; Dt. 4:1,5,14; 6:1;
31:22)], patient [As was Moses], in meekness [Moses was the meekest man
(Num. 12:3)] instructing those that oppose themselves [at the time of
Aaron and Miriam’s self-opposing rebellion] if God peradventure will give
them repentance [i.e. forgiveness] [“Peradventure I shall make an
atonement for your sin” (Ex. 32:30)]"- and he prayed 40 days and nights
for it. And note too: 2 Tim. 2:19 = Num. 16:5,26; 2 Tim. 2:20 = Num. 12:7;
2:21 = Num. 16:37; 2 Tim. 2:22 = Num. 12:2; 16:3; 2 Tim. 2:26 = Num.
16:33. This is quite something. The height of Moses’ devotion for His
people, the passion of his praying, shadowing as it did the matchless
intercession and self-giving of the Lord, really is our example. It isn’t
just a height to be admired. It means that we will not half-heartedly ask
our God to ‘be with’ brother x and sister y and the brethren in country z,
as we lie half asleep in bed. This is a call to sustained, on our knees
prayer and devotion to the salvation of others. For the Judaists, an
appeal to be like Moses, to emulate him in teaching, was blasphemous; for
they considered Moses at such a level that he could never be imitated. Yet
Paul urges timid Timothy and all teachers to realistically be Moses to our
audience.
Exo 32:31 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, Oh, this people have sinned
a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold-
Moses was willing to give his physical life and also his eternal
salvation so that Israel can enter the land. Surely he reached matchless
heights of selflessness. And he begged Yahweh to accept this for 40 days
and nights, fasting without food or water (Dt. 9:17; 10:10). It wasn’t
just a once off, emotional outburst of a moment.
Exo 32:32 Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin- and if not, please blot
me out of Your book which You have written-
It is simply fantastic that Moses could love those people so
intensely, despite their aggression and indifference towards him. He was
prepared to give his place in the Kingdom so that they might enter; he prayed God to accept his offer. He knew that atonement could only be by sacrifice of blood (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22; and see the similarity with Phinehas making an atonement for Israel’s forgiveness through the slaying of Zimri and Cozbi in Num. 25:8,13); and yet he climbed the Mount with the intent of making atonement himself for Israel's sin (Ex. 32:30); he intended to give his life for them. And he didn't make such a promise in hot blood, as some men might. He made the statement, and then made the long climb to the top of the mount.
He climbed that mountain (nearly a day's work), and at the top he made an
even finer and altogether higher offer to the Angel: "If thou wilt forgive
their sin... blot me, I pray thee (notice the earnestness of his desire)
out of thy book" (Ex. 32:32 AV). And he begged Yahweh to accept this for 40
days and nights, fasting without food or water (Dt. 9:17; 10:10). It
wasn’t just a once off, emotional outburst of a moment. And during that climb, it seems he came to an even higher spiritual level; he was prepared not only to offer his physical life, but also his place in the Kingdom (Ex. 32:32 cp. Ez. 13:9; Dan. 12:2; Lk. 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 20:12).
Now although hopefully we are not rejecting Christ as they did, the fact still stands that the love of Moses for Israel typifies the love of Christ towards us. The degree, the extent of Moses' love, is but a dim foretaste of the degree of the love of Christ for us. Now in this is something wonderful, something we really need to go away and meditate about. And the wonder of it all is that Israel did not realize the extent of Moses love at the time. At the end of his life he recounts how God has threatened to destroy the people, and then “I turned and came down from the mount” (Dt. 9:15). He doesn’t record his 40 days of pleading with the Father, and how he turned down the offer of having himself made into a great nation. In this we see tremendous spiritual culture, pointing forward to the Lord’s own self-perception of His sacrifice.
We'll all be like Moses was at the end, in essence; we'll share his finest hours. Our names will not be blotted out of the book of life (Rev. 3:5), as Moses' wasn't (Ex. 32:32).
Moses was willing to sacrifice his place in the Kingdom for the sake of
Israel, and this impressed Paul deeply. For he alludes to it often.
"Neither count I my life dear unto myself" (Acts 20:24). "I could wish
that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh" (Rom. 9:3). Paul is here rising up to imitate
Moses at perhaps his finest hour- willing, at least in principle, to give
up his eternal life for the sake of Israel's salvation. The extent of
Paul's love for natural Israel does not come out that strongly in the Acts
and epistles; but this allusion to Moses says it all. The RVmg. renders
Rom. 9:3: “I could pray…”, more clearly alluding to Moses’ prayer that the
people might enter and he be rejected. Yet Paul perceived that God would
not accept a substitute offering like that; and hence he says he
could
pray like this. In essence, he had risen to the same level. Likewise
he wrote in 1 Thess. 2:8 RV that he was “well pleased [i.e. theoretically
willing] to impart unto, you not the gospel of God only, but our own
souls, because ye were dear unto us”. He perceived the difference between
mere imparting of the Gospel in preaching, and being willing to give ones’
soul, ones salvation, because of a heart that bleeds for others. No wonder
Paul was such a convincing preacher, with such love behind his words.
Exo 32:33 Yahweh said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, him will I
blot out of My book-
All substitutionary models of the atonement are here declared null
and void. Moses saved the people by being their representative, and
offering to not enter the land for their sakes, so that they might enter.
And in a way this was accepted by God. God didn’t accept Moses’ offer to
die as a substitute for Israel,
for each must be judged for their own sins. But He did accept Moses as a
representative of Israel and
accepted his mediation for their salvation on this basis; just as He
accepted the work of Christ on the same basis. Paul learnt the lesson when
he says that he could wish
himself condemned and Israel saved (Rom. 9:1-3); but he recognized God
didn’t accept Moses’ offer of dying for them as a substitute.
Exo 32:34 Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to
you. Behold, My angel shall go before you-
As explained on :1, they had disbelieved this. They wanted visible
gods to "go before" them. They are again being bidden accept invisible
Divine leadership rather than visible secular leadership. It is the
struggle between religion and spirituality.
Ex. 33:11,12 show Moses talking to the LORD "face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend"- i.e. in a relaxed, friendly way. Thus the
identity of the 'LORD' is clearly an Angel. This Angel says in Ex. 33:20 that
His face cannot be seen by any man, but His back parts may be seen by
Moses. The fact He could be seen at all shows He was not God Himself.
Perhaps we are hearing another Angel speak, more mighty than the one with
whom Moses spoke face to face. Or the Angel with whom Moses spoke started
to manifest God to a different degree. The 'LORD'- the Angel- then says,
Ex. 33:14, "My presence shall go with you". This "presence" was another
Angel, as Ex. 32:34 makes clear.
This would suggest there were two Angels involved.
Nevertheless in the day when I
punish, I will punish them for their sin-
That God 'visits' or punishes sin is a fundamental part of God's Name
(Ex. 34:7 s.w.). The question is when and how. Israel's sin of rejecting
Yahweh for an idol (Ex. 32:34 s.w.) need not have been 'visited' or
'punished'- had they repented. But there is no evidence that they did,
neither in that immediate generation nor in subsequent ones. And so
finally, God 'visited' His people's sins in the destructions at the hands
of the Babylonians and Assyrians (s.w. Jer. 14:10; Hos. 8:13; 9:9).
Exo 32:35 Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which
Aaron made-
The Biblical record highlights the sin of Aaron and the people; the
Jewish literature excuses it by blaming it on Satan / "mastema".
Time and again, the Jewish apocryphal literature wrongly sought to
distance God from doing anything negative in human life. Gen. 22:1 clearly
states that it was God who put Abraham to the test by asking him
to kill his son Isaac; Jubilees retells the story with "Prince Mastema",
the Satan figure, telling Abraham to do this (Jub. 17:15-18). Likewise Ex.
4:24 recounts how "the Lord", presumably as an Angel, met Moses and tried
to kill him for not circumcising his son; but Jubilees again claims that
Mastema / Satan did this (Jub. 48:1-3). Indeed, several times the Hebrew
word mastema ['hostility, enmity'] occurs, it is in the context
of urging Israel to see that they and their internal desires to
sin are the true mastema. Hos. 9:7 is an example: "Because your
sins are so many and your hostility [mastema] so great".
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