Exodus 32
32
1When the people realized how long Moses was taking before he came back down the mountain, they went together to see Aaron. They told him, “Get up! Make some gods for us who can lead us because this man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt—we don't know what's happened to him!”
2“Bring to me the gold earrings that your wives, sons, and daughters are wearing,” Aaron replied.
3So everyone took off the gold earrings they were wearing and brought them to Aaron. 4He took what they gave him and using a molding tool cast an idol in the shape of a bull calf. They shouted out, “Israel, these are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the golden calf and shouted out, “Tomorrow will be a festival to honor the Lord!”
6Early the next day they sacrificed burnt offerings and presented peace offerings. Then they sat down to celebrate with eating and drinking. Then they got up to dance, and it became like an orgy.#32:6. The word used in this connection, sometimes translated “play,” was not some kind of party game. The sexual overtones are clear from its use in Genesis 26:8 where it refers to the “fondling” of intimacy between Isaac and his wife Rebekah. Such an end result to a festival that included indulgence in eating and drinking was usual in pagan ceremonies.
7Then the Lord told Moses, “Get back down, because your people that you brought out of Egypt are acting immorally. 8They have been so quick to abandon the way I ordered them to follow. They have made a metal bull calf idol for themselves, bowing before it in worship and offering sacrifices to it. They're saying, ‘These are the gods that brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
9“I know what these people are like,” the Lord continued saying to Moses. “They are so rebellious!#32:9. “Rebellious” or “perverse”: the image is of a horse being tugged by the reins in one direction but deliberately going in the opposite direction. This means more than simply being obstinate, but actually trying to do the opposite. 10Now leave me! I am angry with them—let me finish them off! I will make you into a great nation.”
11But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, saying, “Why are you angry with the people you brought out of the land of Egypt with tremendous power and great strength? 12Why should the Egyptians be able to say, ‘He brought them out with the evil purpose of killing them in the mountains, wiping them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger. Please change your mind over the threat against your people. 13Remember you swore a promise your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,#32:13. “Jacob”: literally, “Israel.” telling them, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, and give you all the land I promised to them, and they shall own it forever.’”
14The Lord changed his mind over the disaster he threatened to cause his people. 15Moses turned and went down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets of the Law written on both sides. 16God had made the tablets, and God had engraved the writing himself.
17When Joshua heard all the shouting from the camp, he said to Moses, “It sounds like fighting in the camp!”
18But Moses replied, “These are not the shouts of victory or of defeat. What I'm hearing is people partying!” 19As he approached the camp he saw the bull calf idol and the dancing. He got so angry that he threw down the stone tablets and smashed them there at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the bull calf and burned it, and ground it into powder. Then he mixed this with water and made the Israelites drink it.
21Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you made them sin so badly?”
22“Please don't get angry with me, my lord,” Aaron replied, “You yourself know how liable these people are to do evil. 23They told me, ‘Make some gods for us who can lead us because this man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt—we don't know what's happened to him!’ 24So I said to them, ‘Anybody who has gold jewelry, take it off and give it to me.’ I threw the gold into the furnace and out came this bull calf.”
25Moses saw the people going completely wild because Aaron had let them, and that this had brought ridicule on them from their enemies. 26So he went and stood at the entrance to the camp, and shouted out, “Whoever is on the Lord's side, come and join me!” All the Levites gathered around him.
27Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: Each of you strap on a sword. Then go all through the camp from one end to the other and kill your brothers, friends, and neighbors.”
28The Levites did what Moses had told them, and that day around 3,000 men were killed.
29Moses told the Levites, “Today you have dedicated yourselves to the Lord because you took action against your sons and brothers. Today you have gained a blessing for yourselves.”
30The following day Moses spoke to the people, saying, “You have sinned very badly. But now I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can get him to forgive your sin.”
31So Moses went back to the Lord. He said, “Please—the people have sinned very badly by making gods of gold for themselves. 32But now, if you will, forgive their sin. Otherwise just blot me out of the scroll in which you keep your records.”
33But the Lord replied to Moses, “It's those who sinned against me who will be blotted out of my scroll. 34Now go and lead the people to the place I told you about. Look, my angel will go before you, but at the time I decide to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
35The Lord brought a plague on the people because they made Aaron make the bull calf.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Exodus 32
32
1 WHEN THE people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, [they] gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
2 So Aaron replied, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and daughters, and bring them to me.
3 So all the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it a molten calf; and they said, These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
5 And when Aaron saw the molten calf, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.
6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
7 The Lord said to Moses, Go down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves;
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
9 And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people;
10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may destroy them; but I will make of you a great nation.
11 But Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why does Your wrath blaze hot against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians say, For evil He brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and change Your mind concerning this evil against Your people.
13 [Earnestly] 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 heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.
14 Then the Lord turned from the evil which He had thought to do to His people.
15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the Testimony in his hand, tables or tablets that were written on both sides.
16 The tables were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 But Moses said, It is not the sound of shouting for victory, neither is it the sound of the cry of the defeated, but the sound of singing that I hear.
19 And as soon as he came near to the camp he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses' anger blazed hot and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20 And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you, that you have brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord blaze hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil.
23 For they said to me, Make us gods which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
24 I said to them, Those who have any gold, let them take it off. So they gave it to me; then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were unruly and unrestrained (for Aaron had let them get out of control, so that they were a derision and object of shame among their enemies),
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the Levites [the priestly tribe] gathered together to him.
27 And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Every man put his sword on his side and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about 3000 men.
29 And Moses said [to the Levites, By your obedience to God's command] you have consecrated yourselves today [as priests] to the Lord, each man [at the cost of being] against his own son and his own brother, that the Lord may restore and bestow His blessing upon you this day.
30 The next day Moses said to the people, You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.
31 So Moses returned to the Lord, and said, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and have made themselves gods of gold!
32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin–and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written!
33 But the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him [not you] out of My book. [Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5.]
34 But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have told you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish I will visit their sin upon them! [Exod. 23:20; 33:2, 3.]
35 And the Lord sent a plague upon the people because they made the calf which Aaron fashioned for them.
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation