Exoduschapter 32

Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

A.The Golden Calfvv. 1-6

1 Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!” 2 So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 6 So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.

B.Moses Stands in the Breachvv. 7-14

7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’” 9 The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. 13 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’” 14 So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

C.Tablets Broken at the Mountain's Footvv. 15-24

15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.” 18 But Moses replied: “It is neither the cry of victory nor the cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing!” 19 As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain. 20 Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it. 21 “What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?” 22 “Do not be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil. 23 They told me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let him take it off,’ and they gave it to me. And when I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!”

D.Who Is on the Lord's Side?vv. 25-35

25 Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. 27 He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell dead. 29 Afterward, Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for service to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother; so the LORD has bestowed a blessing on you this day.” 30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. 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, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves. 32 Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.” 33 The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I described. Behold, My angel shall go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

The golden calf.

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The golden calf. Moses delays on the mount; the people rise against Aaron: ‘make us gods, which shall go before us’. Aaron yields; a calf of molten gold; ‘these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’. The LORD would consume them; Moses intercedes, pleading covenant and name: ‘wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out …?’ Moses descends; the tables are broken at the foot of the mount; the calf is burned, ground, cast on the water, and drunk. The Levites slay three thousand. Moses returns to the LORD: ‘yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin. And if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book’.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · Moses — Exodus overview

A. 1–6 The Golden Calf
B. 7–14 Moses Stands in the Breach
C. 15–24 Tablets Broken at the Mountain's Foot
D. 25–35 Who Is on the Lord's Side?

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Deuteronomy 911 verses
- Deuteronomy 9:9When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
- Deuteronomy 9:13The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.
- Deuteronomy 9:14Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
- Deuteronomy 9:15So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.
- Deuteronomy 9:16And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.
- Deuteronomy 9:18Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
- Read Deuteronomy 9: 5 more there →
Numbers 254 verses
- Numbers 25:2who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.
- Numbers 25:5So Moses told the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
- Numbers 25:11“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.
- Numbers 25:13It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
- Read Numbers 25 →
Exodus 324 verses
- Exodus 32:1Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
- Exodus 32:4He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- Exodus 32:11But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
- Exodus 32:14So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.
- Read Exodus 32 →
Acts 73 verses
- Acts 7:40They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
- Acts 7:41At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.
- Acts 7:51You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Read Acts 7 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Exodus 202 verses
- Exodus 20:3You shall have no other gods before Me.
- Exodus 20:23You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.
- Read Exodus 20 →
Leviticus 232 verses
- Leviticus 23:2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
- Leviticus 23:37These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated day.
- Read Leviticus 23 →
Numbers 142 verses
- Numbers 14:12I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”
- Numbers 14:13But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them.
- Read Numbers 14 →
Psalms 1062 verses
- Psalms 106:23So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.
- Psalms 106:45And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
- Read Psalms 106 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.