Old Testament Commentary - Exodus 32

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 32 Aaron makes a golden calf, which Israel worships—Moses serves as a mediator between God and rebellious Israel—Moses breaks the tablets of stone—Levites slay about 3000 rebels—Moses pleads and intercedes for the people.
1 AND when the people saw that Moses ^adelayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us ^bgods, which shall ^cgo before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we ^dwot not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the ^agolden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a ^amolten calf^a: and they said, ^bThese be thy ^cgods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 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. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought ^apeace offerings; and the ^bpeople sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.	4^a he had made it a molten calf Now in such discussions which defend the integrity of Aaron, it has been presented that the molten or gold calf was not a direct representation of God, but that it was but that 'throne' upon which God would sit. That is, God would sit upon or be raised up upon the 'calf' or 'oxen'. In this there is one tribe of Israel whose image was that of the 'calf' or 'ox' and that was Ephraim. Later Jeroboam would also use the symbol of the calf or ox to center Israel's worship upon, Jeroboam being an Ehrathite or Ephraimite using the symbol of Ephraim upon which God would sit, be raised and be worshiped. In either case the view of the people were turned to the calf itself as the item of worship. And that took the imagery of the Calf or Ox to be representative of God himself. The appropriateness of Aaron selecting the symbol of the tribe of Ephraim as being that upon which God is sit comes back to the issue of the promised Messiah being heir of the Firstborn of Israel, Ephraim as Messiah ben Ephraim (see: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph).	3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
7 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have ^acorrupted themselves: 8 They have ^aturned aside ^bquickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a ^cmolten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a ^astiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my ^awrath may wax hot against them, and that I may ^bconsume them: and I will make of thee a great ^cnation^a.	10^a I will make of thee a great nation One may consider, was the Lord merely preparing Moses to come down to the people in a state of representing them before the Lord, or was the Lord serious about destroying the people and making of Moses a great nation. If so, how then would the 'covenants' of Abraham, Israel and particularly Joseph have been fulfilled in Moses only, a Levite by birth? The fact is that Moses can be shown to be of the House of Joseph according to what has been revealed in the JST of Genesis 50. In JST Genesis 50:29 where the Lord is prophesying unto Joseph concerning Joseph's seed, it states concerning Moses: " . . . a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called Moses. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house; for he shall be nursed by the king's daughter, and shall be called her son." Now this speaks much concerning Moses. It is an understood law in Israel that by a process of 'adoption' one of one tribe may actually be seen before the Lord as being of another tribe. One such case is that in which the child is brought up in one's house unto the age of full manhood to be the son of that household. Here Moses is of the House Hold of the 'daughter of the king' and that of whoever her husband is. This would seem to imply a 'royal marriage' between the family of Joseph, particularly Ephraim's seed, and the house of the Egyptian King, in the which the King's daughter is 'Hebrew', along with her husband, he being of the tribe of Ephraim. Therefore Moses would '*know that he is of the house of Joseph' by adoption into the family of the house of the daughter of the King. Just how deep this 'perhaps string' of inter-marriages between the Hyksos Kings of Egypt and the House of Joseph, the 'Ruler of Egypt' under the King, is not scripturally detailed, only here inferred and confirmed by the Lord's offer to make Moses the 'son of the covenant' by destroying all the rest of Israel. How the Lord can do this is because the Lord's covenants are conditional to an extent of worthiness in their fulfillment, and at that point it would seem that many others may in part be 'cut-off' from their covenant blessings. This in another sense is added evidence that Jesus WAS NOT* neededfully to be a 'Jew' of the House of David, but of the covenant House of Joseph, as that would have been the only legally recognized House of Covenant Israel remaining before the Lord in that instance; and particularly the covenant promise to King David as being the ancestor of the Messiah had not yet been made. (See: Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph)	3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
11 And Moses ^abesought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the ^aEgyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, ^band ^crepent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember ^aAbraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou ^bswarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will ^cmultiply your ^dseed as the stars of heaven, and all this ^eland that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 ^aAnd the LORD ^brepented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
15 ¶ And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two ^atables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the ^atables were the work of God, and the ^bwriting was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when ^aJoshua heard the noise of the people as they ^bshouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that ^ashout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 ¶ And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he ^asaw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' ^banger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and ^cbrake them beneath the mount. 20 And he took the ^acalf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and ^bstrawed it upon the ^cwater, and made the children of Israel drink of it.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the ^aanger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are ^bset on ^cmischief.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
23 For they said unto me, ^aMake us ^bgods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 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.		3^a Lev. 1:1; Moses 1:17 ^b Ex. 3:12; Moses 1:1-3 4^a Deut. 327:11; D&C 124:18 (18,99) 5^a TG Obedience ^b TG Abrahamic Covenant TG Covenants ^c TG Israel, Twelve Tribes TG Peculiar People ^d TG Israel, Blessing of TG Treasure 6^a TG Election ^b TG Israel, Mission of; TG; Priesthood; TG Priesthood, History of ^c Ex. 22:31; 1 Pet. 2:9 (5-9); TG Holiness ^d TG Separation
25 ¶ And when Moses saw that the people were ^anaked; (for Aaron had made them ^bnaked unto their shame among their enemies:) 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, *Who is on the LORD's side? let him come* unto me^a*. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and* go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and ^aslay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. The Command to Slay Moses' commandment to slay the people was not an indiscreminant order or murder. It was the enactment of the penalty for turning from God. And it was exacted only on those who would not turn from the newly instegated idol worship. Aaron's participation would seem to have occurred more under forced duress for the people 'wot' upon him, indicating that he was forced into so doing against his own mind and will.	*26^a Who is on the LORD's side? let him come* unto me Who on the LORD's side unto me!** This was a dividing determination among the people. They were to choose between the golden calf and the LORD. They who continued their rebellion would suffer the consequence of their rebellion against God even unto death if they would not so turn themselves from their idol worship.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29 For Moses had said, ^aConsecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his ^bson, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a ^cblessing this day.
30 ¶ And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have ^asinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; ^bperadventure I shall make an ^catonement for your sin. 31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them ^agods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt ^aforgive their sin�; and if not, ^bblot me, I pray thee, out of thy ^cbook which thou hast ^dwritten.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, ^aWhosoever hath ^bsinned against me, him will I ^cblot out of my book. 34 Therefore now go, ^alead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine ^bAngel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.