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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 32:15 - 32:24
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The Wrath of Moses
v. 15. And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written, engraved, or chiseled, in the stone by the finger of God.
v. 16. And the tables were the work of God, hewn or fashioned by God Himself, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
v. 17. And when. Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. It was characteristic of the soldier that his thoughts were engaged with matters of war.
v. 18. And he (Moses) said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, it was neither the triumphant shout of the victors nor the answering moans of the conquered, but the noise of them that sing do I hear, the sound of antiphonal songs which the people shouted as they frolicked in their idolatrous dance.
v. 19. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, so that he could distinguish things clearly, that he saw the calf and the dancing, for the riotous celebration was now at its height; and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount, at its foot, where it merged into the plain. His action symbolized the fact that Israel had broken the covenant of the Lord.
v. 20. And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. So he not only demonstrated to them the nothingness of their god, but even had them drink down, devour, the idol, thus humbling them and putting them to shame openly for some time.
v. 21. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, what kind of sorcery, what means of persuasion did they employ, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? It was a sharp question, a direct accusation. making Aaron the moral author of the sin and the seducer of the people.
v. 22. And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot. Thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. It is always the sinner's convenient excuse to blame the transgression on some one else's wickedness.
v. 23. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this man Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
v. 24. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me; then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. He speaks of the calf as almost an accidental image produced by the fire without his design, without his knowledge and will. Thus Aaron added to his first sin the second of attempting to evade the accusation and casting the blame on others, whose spiritual knowledge did not equal his own. True repentance will not make use of such schemes. Cf Deu_9:20.