Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Leave me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned away from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. I took hold of the two tablets, and threw them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the brook that descended out of the mountain. At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to wrath. When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn’t believe him or listen to his voice. You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you. So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. I prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, don’t destroy your people and your inheritance that you have redeemed through your greatness, that you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin, lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’ Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27 Signifying that the prayers of the faithful are a…
Signifying that the prayers of the faithful are a bar to stay God’s anger that he consume not all.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 29 Deu 9:14 Let me alone, that I may destroy…
Deu 9:14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
Ver. 14. Let me alone.] {See Trapp on "Exo 32:10"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29 Let me alone; stop not the course of my…
Let me alone; stop not the course of my fury by thy intercession.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–27 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying,.... After he…
Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying,.... After he had given him the two tables, and before his departure from the mount:
I have seen this people; took notice of them, their ways, and their works:
Read full note →
and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people; unwilling to submit to, and bear the yoke of my commandments; see Exo 32:9.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 18, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29 Let me alone! - Stop me not by thy…
Let me alone! - Stop me not by thy intercession.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv21, 22, 27 Verse 21. I took your sin, the calf which…
Verse 21. I took your sin, the calf which ye had made] See this fully explained, Clarke "Ex 32:20".
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 21, 25, 26 Deu 9:14. Let me alone — Stop me not…
Deu 9:14. Let me alone — Stop me not by thy intercession: desist from all prayer and pleading in their behalf.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 22 I fell down before the Lord, as at the…
I fell down before the Lord, as at the first - Moses interceded for the people before he came down from the mountain the first time Exo 32:11-13. This intercession is only briefly alluded to in this verse. Afterward he spent another 40 days on the mountain in fasting and prayer to obtain a complete restitution of the covenant Exo 34:28. It is this second forty days, and the intercession of Moses made therein (compare Exo 34:9), that is more particularly brought forward here and in Deu 9:25-29.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Sinned, by idolatry, which comprises every sort of sin.…
Sinned, by idolatry, which comprises every sort of sin. Hence the Scripture only specifies that Jeroboam caused Israel to sin, when it means to assert that he engaged the people in the worship of idols. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20, 21, 25 I took the two tables, . . . and…
I took the two tables, . . . and broke them before your eyes--not in the heat of intemperate passion, but in righteous indignation, from zeal to vindicate the unsullied honor of God, and by the suggestion of His Spirit to intimate that the covenant had been broken, and the people excluded from the divine favor.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25 17. I took the two tables,… and brake them…
17. I took the two tables,… and brake them before your eyes — This was equivalent to declaring that the covenant which Jehovah had made with them was now broken by their apostasy. Comp. Exo_32:1-17.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26 13. stiffnecked] See on Deu_9:6.
13. stiffnecked] See on Deu_9:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 (15) So I turned . . .—This verse nearly…
(15) So I turned . . .—This verse nearly repeats Exo_32:15.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28 Vers. 13-21, 25-29. True greatness manifested in a great…
Vers. 13-21, 25-29. True greatness manifested in a great emergency, by self-sacrifice and intercession.
As were marked in the previous Homily, these incidents can only be rightly arranged by a preacher, for the purpose of preaching thereon, so far as the entire narrative is before his view. Hence a junction of this paragraph with Exodus 32, is imperative, and will here be taken for granted. There would seem to have been a compilation of several documents. It is not easy to gather therefrom, with exact precision, the order of events, though there is no difficulty in setting the whole with sufficient consecutiveness for all the purposes of practical teaching, Note
Read full note →
I HERE IS A GREAT CRISIS. Israel was making a feast unto Jehovah, letting the calf represent to them the God who had brought them out of Egypt. The people were observing the customs of the very nation from which they had been redeemed dancing before the idol, polluting themselves with unclean and unhallowed rites, and making the hills to reecho with their boisterous revelry and song! And all this beneath that very mount where they had sworn, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do!
1. In the first instance, the lamentable defection of the people was made known to Moses, either by a silent suggestion from the Great Invisible, with whom he was in adoring fellowship, or by one of the angel bands with whom he was surrounded. (Exo_32:7, Exo_32:8)
2. God bids Moses "go down not merely, as might at first seem, go down and see," but "Continue the fellowship no more; leave me alone; I will make of thee a great nation. Let my wrath wax hot against them, that I may consume them!" Awful words (vers. 13, 14) "Tis a terrible crisis in the great leader"s experience. With agonizing heart, he comes down to see not without pleading with God for Israel (see below) and he reachesJoshua, where, though even yet too far off to see, he is near enough to hear the shouts wildly ringing through the air.
3. At length Moses gets near enough to see (ver. 16). There they are the calf, the dancing, the impure orgies as of a heathen feast! Oh, how bitter must have been the anguish of Moses at such a sight!
4. And what an alarming possibility he had to face even that of the entire rupture of the whole covenant between the people and Jehovah! Hear how the Voice on the mount spake, "Thy people have broken the covenant; let me alone," etc. In what stronger way, ah! in what other way, could the people at such a time have been taught that, as they were now actually breaking the very covenant God was confirming with Moses for them, if God now dealt with them after their sins, he would have cast them off completely? They were not necessary to the fulfillment of the covenant made with their fathers. Moses was of Abraham"s seed, and God might have begun afresh with him, and have made of him a nation greater, mightier, more loyal than they! Was there ever such a crisis? With all the responsibility Moses had resting on him, he must have been crushed had he not been divinely sustained. But great crises bring out the greatness of great men. Moses was a man "slow of speech," and probably slow to act, but he had strong convictions of truth and duty, and when wrought up to a white heat, he would show the true nobility of his character.
II THE GREATNESS OF THE CRISIS OCCASIONS A REMARKABLE SERIES OF ACTS ON THE PART OF MOSES.
1. He is angry. (Exo_32:19) This was a holy anger; the sight roused the meekest of men, and well it might. It would have been wicked in Moses if he had not been angry! There is a wide difference between a passionate feeling of personal resentment, and indignation at witnessing an outrage on right. The holier a man is, the more will he suppress the one, the more will he develop the other!
2. He breaks the tables (ver. 18). This is a symbolic act, reminding the people that by their apostasy they had violated their covenant vows.
3. He grinds the calf to powder, etc. (ver. 21). Another symbolic act, meaning, "This sin will come back to them again; it will mar their joy for long to come.
4. He calls Aaron to account. (Exo_32:21-24) "There came out this calf." Aaron! you, the eloquent man, making a silly speech like that! Oh, the wonderful touches of nature in the Old Book! Moses, the truly brave man, though slow of speech, can speak to purpose at such a time as this; but Aaron, eloquent as he is, when his conscience is ill at ease, makes the lamest and tamest excuse.
5. He ascertains how far the contagion has spread. (Exo_32:25-29) Was it a revolt of all the people, or had many been drawn away at suggestion of the few? "Who is on the Lord"s side?" "Tis not enough for people to be on the Lord"s side, specially in days of abounding iniquity; they must say on which side they are. The sons of Levi come forward, and are entrusted with the awful task of stamping out the evil. Better for 3000 to die than for 2, 000, 000 to be infected with a mortal poison! That was a holy defensive war. And it speaks volumes for the grandeur of the moral power of Moses, that he could so inspire the men of his own tribe to chastise the revolt and save the people.
6. But the most striking feature of the spiritual heroism of Israel"s leader is, that he pleads with God. In this he reveals a force of character and an unselfishness of spirit which are far too rare even in these "advanced" times. Let us watch this pleader.
(1) He acknowledges the greatness of the sin. At first, before he was near enough to see, he asks, "Lord, why doth thy wrath?" etc. But afterwards, he puts no such question. "Oh! this people have sinned a great sin." He cannot palliate it.
(2) He entreats the Lord not to consume them, but to turn from his fierce wrath, and to bring them yet into the Promised Land.
(3) He uses arguments in prayer.
(a) The honor of God"s Name among the nations. Joshua, David, Jeremiah, did the same.
(b) He pleads the Divine acts already put forth on behalf of the people, as if he would say, "Didst thou not know from the first what they were?
(c) He pleads the Divine promises; "remember Abraham," etc.
(4) Moses prays for Aaron (ver. 20)! Aaron "can speak well," but he acted ill. He broke down when put in charge. Though appointed by God as special helper to Moses, he proved himself unreliable. Yet not. a word of complaint appears to have been uttered to him, only a prayer offered for him by the very brother who had relied on him in vain!
(5) There is a more wonderful feature still in his prayer, viz. this: a conception which to self-seekers would have been most captivating, has for him no charm whatever will make of thee a great nation;" "let me alone, that I may destroy them," and I will begin afresh with you, and make you the head of a less unworthy race! Would not that have fired his ambition, if he had had any? But no! see the lot which he preferred: (Exo_32:32, Exo_32:33) "No! I cannot accept any position, however elevated, if they perish! Oh, forgive them! If not, let us all perish together." Noble captain he! if the ship sinks, he will go down with it. He would rather not live if vessel and passengers are beneath the waves! (cf. Rom_9:2, Rom_9:3, with which passionate fervor the prayer of Moses may well be compared.)
(6) This intercession was long continued (ver. 25): "forty days and forty nights!" All this while the cry was ever and anon going up from his heart? "Forgive them! Forgive! Forgive!
Have we not here, in Moses, a model of intercessory prayer? Men who can thus plead with God are the greatest heroes of the Church. We can imagine that some may object, and may seek to turn the edge of the truth, so that it makes no impression, by saving, "Ah! but see what a great occasion that was! give us an occasion like that, and maybe we should pray like that! It is folly to bring the acts of a man at a period of such intense excitement, and tell us that we ought to pray like that. We are told that we cannot live at boiling point; then, why adduce Moses, on such an occasion, as a sample of what we should do on ordinary occasions?" No, we do not always want boiling water, but what sort of water would that be which no amount of heat ever could get to boil? We do not and cannot expect to be always in the midst of violent crises. But who are the men who are to be relied on when the crises come? Where was Aaron now? What of him? There is no indication that he ever caught a glimpse of the tremendous crisis he had helped to bring about! There came out this calf!" How Moses could restrain himself at such words, we cannot imagine. But even if Aaron had not shown such utter inability to perceive the seriousness of the moment, how could he now take any active part in vindicating the injured rights of God before the people, or in craving mercy for the people from God? Complicity with evil means paralysis of power in speeding the right. If Aaron had not had a brother to plead for him with God, he would have been swept away with the besom of destruction! He can talk well rather than stand firm. There is a similar contrast here between Moses and Aaron, to that between Abraham and Lot. Abraham pleaded for the doomed city. Lot"s aims in life had been too selfish for him to be a pleader. And we fear there are some who, if their own dear land were brought to a mighty crisis, would just read the daily papers to gratify curiosity, or to give them something to talk about, but as for taking the case of a nation on their hearts before God, they could do nothing of the kind! If they are succumbing to the evils of the day, they can have no strength in intercessory prayer, nor can they be of any use in national struggles. The Moses of Exodus 32, is the same self-forgetful Moses of Exodus 2. If men want to be the heroes of their age, let them try the power of intercessory prayer. Such heroism is of a kind the world cannot appreciate, but is recorded in God"s book of remembrance; "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv22, 24, 26, 29 And at Taberah . . . ye provoked the…
Deu_9:22
And at Taberah . . . ye provoked the Lord to wrath.
Read full note →
Warning examples
In the histories here referred to we have examples of some of the methods of the Divine government of the world which reappear in all ages.
I. God does not always lead peoples and individuals to repentance by visitations of his goodness. He sometimes uses the rod.
1. The more a people has been blessed, etc., so much the more certainly will God visit their sins with judgment.
2. But He does not overthrow at once and without warning. Signal fires which tell of coming danger are lighted afar, showing what is coming.
3. When the people repent, then His wrath against sin passes them by. This is seen in all the incidents mentioned here.
II. Such warning examples are seen in all the history of the Church and the world.
1. The Reformation was a time of blessing. The light of knowledge and of Divine truth shone throughout Christendom. The Gospel was set on its candlestick. A reformation in social, political, and domestic life occurred in conjunction with the religious movement.
2. But Gods ways are ways of earnest effort and quiet waiting through endurance and self-sacrifice. Many would not wait. Progress was too slow for them. They would reform the world at one stroke. Discontent and murmuring broke out among some sections of the people. Then came the peasant war. Like a terrible conflagration, the flames of sedition burst out and threatened to destroy the stays of political and religious existence. Yet God had mercy, as on Israel in the wilderness. He permitted only the outermost defences to be destroyed; and there was left behind a fire-swept ruin to remind Christendom whither impatience, murmuring, discontent, and self-will lead.
3. See a hundred years later. Had the people realised with thankfulness the great blessings of freedom and the Gospel divinely given them? The prophets of the Reformation had warned men what the result of such ingratitude would be. What had been the result of a hundred years preaching of the Gospel among the peoples and their rulers? The judgment came. The Thirty Years War, with its blind passions, sent a warning column of flame heavenward. But God again had mercy, although for years Germany was like a burnt-up house. Still, the holiest was preserved, and a new time began.
4. Look a hundred years later. Through the whole of Europe a spirit of apostasy had spread. It swept through England as Deism; as scoffing in France, with accompanying libertinage. In Germany, and indeed in all Europe, the bonds of Christian life and morality were unloosed. Like a shallow but broad stream, the spiritual revolution overflowed all lands. With it came the outer overturning. Uneasiness and discontent were over all. The flame of revolt broke out in France, and Europe was enveloped. But God again, in His mercy, gave space for repentance.
III. The lessons to our time of these incidents.
1. We should have eyes to see what the signs of our time mean. If the spirit of discontent, rebellion, etc., be not repressed, whither shall it lead? Already the flames begin to appear--political incendiarism, audacity in speech, universal agitation. Men who look for no hereafter storm fully grasp at material good. How shall it be when the Divine patience ends?
2. At the beginning of Israels history those warning fire columns were seen. Fifteen hundred years later the impenitent descendants of Israel saw the temple in flames, Jerusalem destroyed, the nation a ruin.
3. Will the New Testament Zion not understand those warnings? A people remained to God even after Jerusalem fell. So will it be although the present form of Christendom passes; and the New Testament foretells such perilous times.
4. Let the individual learn the need of watchfulness. Was not that dangerous sickness a warning signal? But in mercy He spared, and life and health are yours. Let those signs be like beacon lights on your lifes voyage. Murmur not, cultivate contentment, learn to say: I shall go as God leads me, without seeking to choose for myself. (W. Grashoff.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v26 (See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
redeemed
(See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25, 27 blot out their name from under heaven
blot out their name from under heaven
"make their name disappear completely" or "kill them all so no one will ever remember them." See how you translated a similar phrase in Deuteronomy 7:24.
Read full note →
translationWords
stiff-necked
blot out
name
nation
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 16, 22, 23, 26, 27 9:14 erase their name: The Lord threatened to destroy…
9:14 erase their name: The Lord threatened to destroy Israel’s identity and existence (see study note on 7:24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.