Tyndale Open Study NotesExodus 32

Moses had been gone for many days. While waiting at the bottom of Mount Sinai, the people wanted protection, guidance, and a way to show their worship. God understood this and wanted to help them (see chapters 25–31). But the Israelites tried to meet their needs on their own. Fellowship with God requires relying on him (see John 15:5; 2 Corinthians 3:5).

The people were not willing to wait and see what God had been saying to Moses on the mountain for the 40 days while he was there (see 24:18).

The Israelites acted out of fear, disrespect for Moses, disbelief in God's leadership, and denial of responsibility. They did not want to wait for God to show his care for them. Not waiting for God often leads to sin (see 1 Samuel 13:7–13; Isaiah 30:15–18).

Aaron, who served as a priest (religious leader), asked the people to bring gold rings. After that, he did not allow them to take part in the work.

This was very different from what God commanded for building the tabernacle. In that case, the people were invited to bring many kinds of offerings as they were willing (25:1–9; 35:4–36:7).

They also shared in the work under the direction of a skilled worker whom God filled with his Spirit, not under a priest acting alone (31:1–6; 36:1–2).

• fashioned it into a molten calf: The idol might have been a bull, similar to the Egyptian god Amon-Re, which the people knew from Egypt. The bull represented power, domination, and fertility. The writer might have said calf to despise the idol. Or, Aaron might have made a calf, thinking this sin was less severe than making a full-sized bull.

• These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out: The people credited the idol with what they had just said Moses did (32:1). Idolatry shows the belief that the divine and visible worlds are continuous. This view suggests one can access divine power by manipulating the god through the idol.

  God insisted the opposite is true. God's creation cannot contain or limit him. No one can receive his blessing by manipulating creation, either in a ceremony or otherwise. God's blessings are for those who give up their own efforts to feel secure and come to him in the ways he has revealed.

• Aaron tried to manage the process, but he gave up leadership by simply doing what he thought people wanted.

• Although Aaron called the idol "your gods" (32:4), he also suggested it was a physical manifestation of the Lord.

The Hebrew term translated as indulge in revelry is traditionally translated as they got up to play. In Hebrew, like in English, the word play can imply sexual activities (see Genesis 26:8, “caressing”). This is likely the case here.

Worship of a fertility symbol, such as a bull, often included the worshipers engaging in sexual activities (see 1 Corinthians 10:7–8).

your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt: Here God attributes his own work to Moses. This suggests God was testing Moses, giving him a chance to avoid the same mistake the people made (32:1). God was not tempting Moses to do wrong (see James 1:13–14). But he placed Moses in a situation with a clear choice that could lead in different directions (compare 1 Kings 22:19–23).

God was apparently ready to reject his people. They had broken their covenant (their binding agreement) with him.

• Now leave me alone: This sounded like a command, but it was actually an invitation. God was giving Moses an opportunity to pray for the people. Moses was to stand before God as an intercessor (a person who speaks to God on behalf of others).

  The people deserved to be destroyed because of their sin. However, God was willing to spare them if Moses continued to pray for them.

• I will make you into a great nation: God told Moses that he could begin again with him alone. God could abandon the other descendants of Abraham and build a new nation from the children of Moses.

  This was likely a test. It showed whether Moses understood God’s character and his promises.

If there was a test, Moses passed it. He refused to take God's place (32:11). He knew God is just and faithful and would not save people just to destroy them (32:12). He declined the offer to become the father of a great nation because it would mean God violating promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (32:13). Moses understood who God truly is.

In response to the argument of Moses, the Lord changed his mind.

This does not show God as an angry ruler who must be forced to calm down. The Bible does not present him as a tyrant who is difficult to persuade.

Instead, the Lord is more willing to show mercy than to bring punishment. He invites those who are close to him, like Moses, to pray and speak on behalf of others.

Through faithful intercession (prayer on behalf of someone else), God gives an opportunity for mercy.

When Moses saw what was happening, he became much less calm than he was on the mountain. He smashed the two tablets (32:15–19). He destroyed the calf (32:20). He confronted Aaron (32:21–25). He ordered the death of the rebellious leaders (32:26–29).

The tablets were the work of God: The covenant was more than just a human agreement.

Moses might have shattered the tablets out of anger. It could also have been his way of saying the people shattered the covenant with God. Later, God reminded Moses that he was the one who broke the tablets (see 34:1).

Passing the gold powder of the image through the bodies of the people effectively rendered it unclean.

Aaron denied responsibility, even though he made the molds and poured the gold (32:4). Aaron wanted Moses to believe it all just happened (32:24). He implied he had no choice because the people were so evil (32:22).

Aaron did not fool Moses. Moses knew Aaron could have led the people, but instead, he allowed them to get completely out of control (32:25).

a laughingstock to their enemies: After the Israelites’ great show of worshiping the Lord as a different kind of God, their actions proclaimed that he was merely another of the idols that their enemies had been worshiping all along (see Ezekiel 36:19–20).

Moses had asked God to spare the people, but now he called on those who followed the Lord to kill those who had sinned. The Levites (32:26) were willing to confront the sin that Aaron had let loose. Although Moses commanded them to kill everyone (32:27), the number 3,000 (32:28) makes it clear that the words each of you had a restricted meaning.

The reference to his son and his brother suggests that as Aaron had led in the idolatry, many of the Levites had led in the worship of the idol, and they were the ones that the rest of the Levites killed. Aaron may have escaped because God had already designated him as high priest (28:1).

This further intercession for the people may have been needed because of the new recognition Moses had of how serious the sin really was.

Earlier, God had offered to make Moses into a great nation instead of the people. Moses had refused that offer.

Here, Moses again showed his loyalty to the people. He asked God to destroy him also if God chose not to forgive them.

God did not grant what Moses requested. Instead, God said he would judge only those who had sinned in that event.

• the place I described: This refers to Canaan, which God promised to give to Abraham’s descendants (see 3:17; 32:13; 33:1).

• on the day I settle accounts: Because of God’s mercy, judgment may not always come immediately. But in this instance, God soon sent a plague (32:35). Judgment will come for those who continue to sin (see Matthew 13:24–30).