Moses has been on the mountain forty days, and the people give up on him. They pressure Aaron, who collects their gold and makes a calf, and the crowd shouts, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Aaron builds an altar in front of it and calls a feast. Up on the mountain God tells Moses to go down. Moses does — and throws the tables of the law down at the foot of the mountain, grinds the calf to powder, and calls the camp to choose a side.
A study in Exodus 32 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 10 min read
As For This Moses, We Wot Not What Is Become Of Him
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses… we wot not what is become of him.”
Exodus 32:1
Forty days is not long. The cloud of God’s glory is still visible on the peak. But the people have learned to lean on Moses instead of on God, and with him gone they feel abandoned. They do not ask for a different god; they ask for something they can see to represent the God who brought them out — which is exactly what the second commandment, spoken by God’s own voice six weeks ago, forbids.
“But with the cloud of the Presence still before them, they turned back in their hearts to the idolatry of Egypt, and represented the glory of the invisible God by the similitude of an ox!”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 315
There Came Out This Calf
“And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.”
Exodus 32:4-5
Aaron — who watched God shatter the gods of Egypt, who is at this moment being appointed high priest — takes the gold, shapes it, and lets the crowd credit a statue with the Exodus. Then he tries to make it respectable: an altar, a “feast to the LORD.” Idolatry wearing worship’s clothes. Later, confronted, he claims the calf just walked out of the fire — the excuse of a man who will not own what his hands made.
“A religion that permits men, while observing the rites of worship, to devote themselves to selfish or sensual gratification, is as pleasing to the multitudes now as in the days of Israel. And there are still pliant Aarons, who, while holding positions of authority in the church, will yield to the desires of the unconsecrated, and thus encourage them in sin.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 317
Let Me Alone… That I May Consume Them
“Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. And Moses besought the LORD his God… Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants… And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Exodus 32:10-14
“Let me alone” is almost an invitation — it tells Moses that his prayer is the one thing that could hold God’s hand. And Moses, offered the deal Abraham was offered (become a great nation), turns it down flat. He pleads God’s reputation among the Egyptians and God’s oath to the patriarchs — not one word about himself. It is the clearest picture in the Old Testament of Christ standing between a guilty people and judgment.
“The words of God, ‘Let Me alone,’ he understood not to forbid but to encourage intercession, implying that nothing but the prayers of Moses could save Israel, but that if thus entreated, God would spare His people.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 318
He Cast The Tables Out Of His Hands
“And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.”
Exodus 32:19
Moses interceded for them on the mountain; he does not excuse them in the camp. Breaking the stone tables in full view is a statement — the covenant those words sealed has already been shattered by the people dancing in front of him. He burns the calf, grinds it, scatters the powder on the water, and makes them drink their god.
“To show his abhorrence of their crime, he threw down the tables of stone, and they were broken in the sight of all the people, thus signifying that as they had broken their covenant with God, so God had broken His covenant with them.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 320
Who Is On The LORD’s Side
“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’s side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.”
Exodus 32:26
There is no neutral ground. The tribe of Levi — Moses’ and Aaron’s own tribe — steps forward, and is sent through the camp with swords; about three thousand of the ringleaders fall. It is a hard passage, and Scripture does not soften it: open, defiant rebellion in a nation that had just sworn a blood covenant could not be left to spread. Those who refused to repent were cut off; everyone who humbled themselves was spared.
Blot Me, I Pray Thee, Out Of Thy Book
“And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin… Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”
Exodus 32:31-32
Moses offers to be erased from God’s book if it would save Israel — the sentence breaks off, unfinished, because he cannot finish it. Paul says the same of his own people (Romans 9:3). But God will not accept a substitute who has not sinned in the sinner’s place: “whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” That door stays shut until Christ, who could bear the guilt, walks through it.
“The intercession of Moses in behalf of Israel illustrates the mediation of Christ for sinful men. But the Lord did not permit Moses to bear, as did Christ, the guilt of the transgressor.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 326
