---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Exodus 32"
description: "CHAPTER 32   :-. 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"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/exodus/32"
---

CHAPTER 32

. 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 [], but of the SECOND
commandment [[Exodus 20:4-6](../../../kjv/exodus/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.

**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.

**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 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 [2 Kings 23:6](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/6);
[2 Kings 23:15](../../../kjv/2-kings/23/15); [2 Chronicles 15:16](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/15/16);
[2 Chronicles 34:7](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/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 [Deuteronomy 9:20](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/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 ().

**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.

**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.

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