If we learn anything from this chapter, it’s simply this: if people don’t stay focused on God, they will fall into all kinds of ungodly practices. Moses’ forty days on the mountain have come to an end, Exodus 24:18, and the people fell into idolatry. We’re not told how long it took them to build this idol, but it appears that people were yearning for some kind of physical leadership.
They thought Moses had deserted them because he was away so long, Exodus 32:1, and so they turned to Aaron for leadership to build a golden calf, Exodus 32:1. They demanded that Aaron make them ‘gods’, Exodus 32:1; in other words, they wanted some kind of visual expression of their beliefs, Galatians 3:3.
We must remember they’ve been in Egypt surrounded by idolatry, and although they shouldn’t be demanding any gods to be built, Exodus 20:3 / Deuteronomy 5:6 / Exodus 20:4-6 / Deuteronomy 5:8-10, and so, to a degree, we can understand their yearning to worship something physical.
It’s possible that Aaron gave in to their request because he feared the people might have rebelled. It’s clear at this point that Aaron is not a leader because leaders must learn to stand up for God and not give in to the majority.
Notice it is Aaron who tells them to take off the gold earrings that their wives, sons and daughters are wearing, and bring them to him, Exodus 32:2, and they did so, Exodus 32:3.
Earlier, God gave Moses instructions for taking a free-will offering to be used in making a holy place for God, Exodus 25:1-7. Here, Aaron received a collection, an offering of gold to make an idol.
Esses, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As part of the idolatrous practices they had picked up in Egypt, even the sons were wearing ear-rings. Sounds like the 20th century, doesn’t it?’
There must have been a huge amount of gold because Aaron took all the gold jewellery and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, Exodus 32:4. Notice also that he himself fashioned it with a tool, Exodus 32:4.
The reason they built a calf was probably because a calf was representative of a god throughout Egypt, the bull represented strength and fertility. It was common practice in those days to make an idol out of wood, overlaid with gold.
After the idol was made, they say, ‘these are your gods’, Exodus 32:4, which tells us that they have now totally lost their focus on the One true God and started following the gods of their imagination. They have totally ignored the fact that it was God Himself who brought them out of Egypt, Psalms 106:21.
Notice the text says that Aaron built the idol, but he also built an altar to the Lord, Exodus 32:5. We can’t be sure what was going through Aaron’s mind at this point in time; it appears he wants to please the people and please God, Acts 5:29.
Notice also that the hypocrisy continues, after sacrificing and worshipping the One true God, they ‘sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry’, Exodus 32:6.
The word, ‘revelry’ implies sexual activity, that is, they were involved in an orgy, 1 Corinthians 10:7-8. Also, remember there were thousands upon thousands involved in this sinful behaviour.
God tells Moses what was happening before he left God’s presence in order to prepare Moses to deal with the spiritual heartache he’s about to witness. We can only imagine what was going through Moses’ mind when God informed him about what was happening down the mountain. He’s been on a spiritual high with God for the last forty days, and now he’s about to plunge into a spiritual low.
God’s people have now become corrupt, Exodus 32:7, and notice God tells Moses, they are ‘your people’ now, ‘whom you brought up out of Egypt’, Exodus 32:7. In other words, they were no longer God’s people; they are Moses’ people, Moses brought them out of Egypt.
God knows exactly what has been going on and what has been said, including the words, These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt, Exodus 32:8.
The word, ‘stiff-necked’, Exodus 32:9, originally referred to an ox that wouldn’t submit to the control of a yoke. The fact that Israel had so quickly turned away from God to follow the gods of their imagination reveals that they were a stiff-necked people. They haven’t learned what it means to submit to the Lord.
God speaks as if He had seen enough, and He made a remarkable offer to Moses: if Moses would only agree, God would consume Israel and start over again with Moses.
The wrath of God was so great that He would start another nation through Moses, Exodus 32:10. Maybe God planned to wait for possibly another several centuries and then call them to a covenant relationship.
God would have done this very thing if Moses hadn’t interceded on behalf of Israel. The clear impression here is that if Moses did nothing, then God would have made him into a great nation.
Moses realised that God would rain down judgment on the people, and so, he thus resisted the opportunity to exalt himself by pleading for Israel’s case. Obviously, God knew what was going to happen before it happened, but it’s clear that God allowed the rebellion to happen in order to reveal the mediatorship of Moses on their behalf.
Moses’ prayer of intercession presented three arguments against what God contemplated doing.
1. He appealed for God to remember all that he had already done for Israel, Exodus 32:11.
Moses appealed to God on the basis of grace. He knows that Israel didn’t deserve to be brought out of Egypt in the first place. He knows it was all down to the grace of God, and so Moses asks God to keep showing them grace.
2. He pointed out that the Egyptians would accuse God of leading the people out in order to destroy them Exodus 32:12.
Moses appealed to God on the basis of glory. Moses is aware of God’s reputation among the nations; he knows that if God wipes them off the face of the earth, this will discredit God, and he knows the Egyptians will think that He is a cruel God. Moses asks God not to let anyone think that way about Him.
3. He pleaded with God to remember the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel regarding their posterity being multiplied and regarding their entry into and possession of the land of Canaan, Exodus 32:13.
Moses appealed to God on the basis of His goodness. He knows that God keeps His promises, and He knows God is a good and faithful God. Moses asks God not to break His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
Notice that God ‘relented’, Exodus 32:14; some translations use the word ‘repented’. When people hear the word repent they usually think of it in relation to sin, Ezekiel 33:13-16; however, we know that God doesn’t sin and doesn’t need to repent of any sin, Numbers 23:19.
The word ‘repent’ itself means to think differently, and the phrase used here is called an anthropomorphism, which is a human expression used to refer to the action of God in reference to the behaviour of man. The meaning is simply that God changed His direction from destruction to preservation, Jonah 3:10.
Moses now heads down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, which were inscribed on both sides, front and back, Exodus 32:15. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets, Exodus 32:16 / Exodus 31:18.
Remember Joshua remained halfway up the mountain for forty days and forty nights alone while Moses was with God, Exodus 24:13. Joshua hears the noise of the people shouting, and believes it is the sound of war in the camp, Genesis 32:17. However, Moses knows it’s not the sound of victory or defeat, it is the sound of singing that he hears, Exodus 32:18.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Moses does not tell Joshua of the divine communication that had been made to him respecting the apostasy of the people, but only corrects his impression by calling his attention to the kind of noise which they are making.’
When Moses approaches the camp and sees the calf and the dancing, he is furious and, in his anger, he throws the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain, Exodus 32:19. Some commentators believe there is symbolism here in reference to Moses’ breaking the two tablets on which the ten commandments were written.
When Israel rebelled by going after other gods, they broke the covenant. In other words, because Moses broke the two tablets, that meant the covenant Israel made with God was also broken, which resulted in justice needing to be carried out.
When we think about Moses’ life, he appears to have an anger issue which he struggled with, here he breaks the tablets in anger, earlier he killed an Egyptian in anger, Exodus 2:11-12, and later, in anger, he struck the rock God commanded him to speak to, Numbers 20:10-11, which resulted in him not be allowed to enter the promised land.
Moses then took the calf and burned it, then he ground it to powder, Exodus 32:20. He then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it, Exodus 32:20.
There were three reasons why they were made to drink it.
1. To show that this ‘god’ was nothing and could be destroyed easily.
2. To completely destroy the idol.
3. To set forth in a visible manner both their sin and its consequences, Numbers 5:24.
Jones, in his commentary, says the following.
‘So it is with God’s judgment of false religion in every age, when people must drink water fouled by their own religious leaders!’
Moses then turns to Aaron and asks, what did these people do to him, that he led them into such great sin? Exodus 32:21. Moses charged him with having brought a great sin upon the people.
When we read Deuteronomy 9:20, we see that Aaron’s support of the people’s sin made God very angry with him, and if Moses didn’t intercede on his behalf, God would have killed him.
Notice that although Aaron quoted the people exactly, Exodus 32:22-24, he blatantly blames the people, and when it came to his own actions. He basically says, he threw everything into the fire and out popped this calf, Exodus 32:24, which we know was a total lie, Exodus 32:35.
He seems to imply that because this calf just ‘miraculously’ came out, then it must have been a miracle. However, when Moses and everyone else saw the human engraving marks on it, Exodus 32:4, this was evidence of his very own workmanship.
Moses sees the people running wild, and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies, Exodus 32:25. When Moses asks whoever is for the LORD, come to me, it’s only the Levites who rallied to him, Exodus 32:26. We can see just how serious their sin was in the punishment they received.
Every rebellious Israelite was to be killed, Exodus 32:27. This wasn’t the time for repentance; this was the time when God would get rid of the rebellious among His people, Judges 17:6 / Proverbs 14:12.
The Levites did as Moses commanded; they strapped swords to their sides and ran through the camp killing everyone, Exodus 32:27-28. That day, about three thousand of the people died, Exodus 32:28.
Do you notice anything interesting about the number three thousand?
After Peter preached the first Gospel message on the day of Pentecost, Luke tells us that ‘three thousand souls were added to their number that day,’ Acts 2:40-41. When the Old Testament law was introduced, it immediately brought death, and three thousand souls died on that day. But when the New Testament law was introduced, it brought grace, John 1:16-17, and three thousand souls were saved that day.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘There is very much about this incident that we cannot know. How is it that the sons of Levi encountered no resistance? Since only 3,000 men were slain out of all the host of Israel, how was the selection made? Did they cast lots to find the guilty? Were those slain actually slain in the sinful act of violating the Law? None of these are we able to answer. Yet the hand of God was clearly in this episode, else it could never have been resolved at all.’
It’s at this point that Moses tells the Levites that they have been set apart to the LORD, for they were against their own sons and brothers, and God has blessed them, Exodus 32:29.
After the children of Israel had left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, God called Moses up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and the pattern of the Tabernacle from God. Whilst Moses was away, a critical problem of idolatry arose among the children of Israel, who remained down on the Plain.
The tribe of Levi showed itself to be definitely on the Lord’s side at that time. Levi was the tribe to which both Moses and Aaron belonged. As a result of their taking sides with the Lord, the tribe of Levi, ‘the Levites’, were selected to take care of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, Exodus 38:21.
As a whole, the Levites became responsible for ‘the service of the work of the Tent of Meeting’, the tabernacle, Numbers 4:3. The Hebrew word translated service also means ‘warfare’. Therefore, their ‘service’ in the tabernacle was a figure of spiritual warfare, as at the golden calf incident, the Levites were on the Lord’s side.
Levi had had three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari. The Levites’ work was partitioned according to their families. The family of Gershon were responsible for carrying and setting up the curtains of the outer court, Exodus 26:7-14, the coverings of the tabernacle, Exodus 26:1-6.
The curtain door to the sanctuary, Exodus 26:36-37, the curtain door to the outer court, Exodus 27:16-19, together with all the ropes and fixings required for securing these curtains, Numbers 3:25-26.
The family of Merari were responsible for carrying and setting up the boards, the bars and the pillars and sockets of the outer court, Exodus 26:15-30 / Numbers 3:36-37.
The family of Kohath were responsible for carrying and placing the Ark of the Covenant, Exodus 25:10-16, the veil, Exodus 26:31-35, the golden incense altar, Exodus 30:1-10, the lampstand, Exodus 25:31-40.
The showbread table, Exodus 25:23-30, the laver, Exodus 30:17-21, and the burnt offering altar, Exodus 27:1-8, together with all the utensils these required, Numbers 3:31.
The children of Israel knew when it was time to move on in their journey through the wilderness, because the pillar of cloud, by day or fire, by night, would move as a signal leading them.
The Levites would dismantle the tabernacle, carry it to the destination, determined by the pillar of cloud and fire and then reassemble it at the new location.
When the tabernacle was reared up at a new location, God commanded that the tribes settled around it in a specific order, Numbers 2:1-34. On the East side, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. On the South side, Reuben, Simeon and Gad.
On the West side are Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, and Benjamin. On the North side, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. The Levites were to encamp all the way around the tabernacle, Numbers 1:53.
Although the breaking of the stone tablets symbolised the breaking of the covenant with the nation, God continued in the covenant that He had made with Abraham, Genesis 12:1-4.
At this time, after Moses had interceded for the nation, they were spared from destruction by God. After telling them they have committed a great sin, Moses went up the mountain again before God to mediate on their behalf for atonement. Exodus 32:30.
Moses worked as a true mediator; he confessed their sin before God, sought God’s forgiveness on behalf of the people, Exodus 32:31, and then offered himself as a sacrifice for the people.
Moses asks God to ‘blot me out of the book you have written’, Exodus 32:32. If God wouldn’t forgive them, then he asked if he could be cut off from fellowship with God for the sake of the nation, Exodus 22:20 / 1 Peter 3:18 / 2 Corinthians 5:21 / Romans 9:1-3.
God’s answer to him was that accountability for sin rested with individuals, Exodus 32:33. God now tells Moses to go and lead the people to the place He spoke of, and His angel will go before you, Exodus 32:34.
Notice God doesn’t say He is going to send ‘an angel’ but My angel to go before Moses, Who is this angel? This is a Christophany, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ, Genesis 12:7. Remember the word ‘angel’ in Hebrew is ‘malak’, and it simply means messenger.
Haynes Jr, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A study of these passages reveals that the Angel of the Lord appeared in human form, Genesis 18:2 / Genesis 22:1-18 / Hebrews 13:2, and performed normal human functions, Genesis 32:24 / Numbers 22:23 / Numbers 22:31, yet he was an awe-inspiring figure, Genesis 32:30 / Judges 6:22 / Judges 13:22, exhibiting divine attributes and prerogatives including predicting the future, Genesis 16:10-12, forgiving sin, Exodus 23:21, and receiving worship, Exodus 3:5 / Judges 13:9-20.’
God does tell Moses that when the time comes for Him to punish, He will punish them for their sin, Exodus 32:24. Although God’s people deserved death, they received mercy, and their sins were forgiven, but they still had to pay the consequences for their sin, which came in the form of a plague, Exodus 32:35.