321 Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain , the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come , make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses , the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt , we do not know what has become of him." 2 Aaron said to them, " Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives , your sons , and your daughters , and bring them to me." 3 Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron . 4 He took this from their hand , and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf ; and they said , "This is your god , O Israel , who brought you up from the land of Egypt ." 5 Now 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 So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings , and brought peace offerings ; and the people sat down to eat and to drink , and rose up to play .
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses , "Go down e at once , for your people , whom you brought up from the land of Egypt , have corrupted themselves. 8 "They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf , and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said , ' This is your god , O Israel , who brought you up from the land of Egypt !' " 9 The Lord said to Moses , "I have seen this people , and behold , they are an obstinate e people . 10 "Now then let Me alone , that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation ." 11 Then Moses entreated the Lord his God , and said , "O Lord , why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand ? 12 "Why should the Egyptians speak , saying , 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth '? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people . 13 "Remember Abraham , Isaac , and Israel , Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens , and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants , and they shall inherit it forever .' " 14 So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people .
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand , tablets which were written on both sides ; they were written on one side and the other . 16 The tablets were God's work , and the writing was God's writing engraved on the tablets . 17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted , he said to Moses , "There is a sound of war in the camp ." 18 But he said , "It is not the sound of the cry of triumph , Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat ; But the sound of singing I hear ." 19 It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp , that he saw the calf and the dancing ; and Moses' anger burned , and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain . 20 He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire , and ground it to powder e , and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21 Then Moses said to Aaron , "What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?" 22 Aaron said , "Do not let the anger of my lord burn ; you know the people yourself , that they are prone to evil . 23 "For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses , the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt , we do not know what has become of him.' 24 "I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold , let them tear it off .' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire , and out came this calf ."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 32:1-24
Commentary on Exodus 32:1-6
(Read Exodus 32:1-6)
While Moses was in the mount, receiving the law from God, the people made a tumultuous address to Aaron. This giddy multitude were weary of waiting for the return of Moses. Weariness in waiting betrays to many temptations. The Lord must be waited for till he comes, and waited for though he tarry. Let their readiness to part with their ear-rings to make an idol, shame our niggardliness in the service of the true God. They did not draw back on account of the cost of their idolatry; and shall we grudge the expenses of religion? Aaron produced the shape of an ox or calf, giving it some finish with a graving tool. They offered sacrifice to this idol. Having set up an image before them, and so changed the truth of God into a lie, their sacrifices were abomination. Had they not, only a few days before, in this very place, heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image? Had they not themselves solemnly entered into covenant with God, that they would do all he had said to them, and would be obedient? 7. Yet before they stirred from the place where this covenant had been solemnly made, they brake an express command, in defiance of an express threatening. It plainly shows, that the law was no more able to make holy, than it was to justify; by it is the knowledge of sin, but not the cure of sin. Aaron was set apart by the Divine appointment to the office of the priesthood; but he, who had once shamed himself so far as to build an altar to a golden calf, must own himself unworthy of the honour of attending at the altar of God, and indebted to free grace alone for it. Thus pride and boasting were silenced.
Commentary on Exodus 32:7-14
(Read Exodus 32:7-14)
God says to Moses, that the Israelites had corrupted themselves. Sin is the corruption of the sinner, and it is a self-corruption; every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust. They had turned aside out of the way. Sin is a departing from the way of duty into a by-path. They soon forgot God's works. He sees what they cannot discover, nor is any wickedness of the world hid from him. We could not bear to see the thousandth part of that evil which God sees every day. God expresses the greatness of his just displeasure, after the manner of men who would have prayer of Moses could save them from ruin; thus he was a type of Christ, by whose mediation alone, God would reconcile the world to himself. Moses pleads God's glory. The glorifying God's name, as it ought to be our first petition, and it is so in the Lord's prayer, so it ought to be our great plea. And God's promises are to be our pleas in prayer; for what he has promised he is able to perform. See the power of prayer. In answer to the prayers of Moses, God showed his purpose of sparing the people, as he had before seemed determined on their destruction; which change of the outward discovery of his purpose, is called repenting of the evil.
Commentary on Exodus 32:15-20
(Read Exodus 32:15-20)
What a change it is, to come down from the mount of communion with God, to converse with a wicked world. In God we see nothing but what is pure and pleasing; in the world nothing but what is sinful and provoking. That it might appear an idol is nothing in the world, Moses ground the calf to dust. Mixing this powder with their drink, signified that the backslider in heart should be filled with his own ways.
Commentary on Exodus 32:21-29
(Read Exodus 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.