Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
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And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
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And the LORD spoke unto Moses: 'Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have dealt corruptly;
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Exodus 32:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 32:11 Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
- Hosea 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.
- Genesis 6:11-12 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
- Exodus 19:24 Yahweh said to him, “Go down! You shall bring Aaron up with you, but don’t let the priests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh, lest he break out against them.”
- Deuteronomy 9:12 Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!”
- Judges 2:19 But when the judge was dead, they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They didn’t cease what they were doing, or give up their stubborn ways.
- Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
- Exodus 32:4 He received what they handed him, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molded calf. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
- Exodus 33:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’
- Deuteronomy 4:16 lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
- Deuteronomy 32:5 They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
- Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go,…
Exo 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted [themselves]:
Ver. 7. For thy people, which thou broughtest.] God will own them no longer; they are now discovenanted. The saints by gross sins may lose their ius aptitudinale, non ius haereditarium, their fitness for God’s kingdom; they may sin away all their comfortables.
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 No longer my people, as God had called them…
No longer my people, as God had called them hitherto, Exo 3:7; 5:1, &c.; they have forsaken me, and I do hereby renounce them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here, I. God acquaints Moses with what was doing…
Here, I. God acquaints Moses with what was doing in the camp while he was absent, Exo 32:7, Exo 32:8. He could have told him sooner, as soon as the first step was taken towards it, and have hastened him down to prevent it; but he suffered it to come to this height, for wise and holy ends, and then sent him down to punish it. Note, It is no reproach to the holiness of God that he suffers sin to be committed, since he knows, not only how to restrain it when he pleases, but how to make it serviceable to the designs of his own glory. Observe what God here says to Moses concerning this sin. 1. That they had corrupted themselves. Sin is the corruption or depravation of the sinner, and it is a self-corruption; every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust. 2. That they had turned aside out of the way. Sin is a deviation from the way of our duty into a by-path. When they promised to do all that God should command them, they set out as fair as could be; but now they missed their way, and turned aside. 3. That they had turned aside quickly, quickly after the law was given them and they had promised to obey it, quickly after God had done such great things for them and declared his kind intentions to do greater. They soon forgot his works. To fall into sin quickly after we have renewed our covenants with God, or received special mercy from him, is very provoking. 4. He tells him particularly what they had done: They have made a calf, and worshipped it. Note, Those sins which are concealed from our governors are naked and open before God. He sees that which they cannot discover, nor is any of the wickedness in the world hidden from him. We could not bear to see the thousandth part of that provocation which God sees every day and yet keeps silence. 5. He seems to disown them, in saying to Moses, They are thy people whom thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt; as if he had said, "I will not own any relation to them, or concern for them; let it never be said that they are my people, or that I brought them out of Egypt." Note, Those that corrupt themselves not only shame themselves, but even make God himself ashamed of them and of his kindness to them. 6. He sends him down to them with all speed: Go, get thee down. He must break off even his communion with God to go and do his duty as a magistrate among the people; so must Joshua, Jos 7:10. Every thing is beautiful in its season.
II. He expresses his displeasure against Israel for this sin, and the determination of his justice to cut them off, Exo 32:9, Exo 32:10. 1. He gives this people their true character: "It is a stiff-necked people, unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, and governed as it were by a spirit of contradiction, averse to all good and prone to evil, obstinate against the methods employed for their cure." Note, The righteous God sees, not only what we do, but what we are, not only the actions of our lives, but the dispositions of our spirits, and has an eye to them in all his proceedings. 2. He declares what was their just desert - that his wrath should wax hot against them, so as to consume them at once, and blot out their name from under heaven (Deu 9:14); not only cast them out of covenant, but chase them out of the world. Note, Sin exposes us to the wrath of God; and that wrath, if it be not allayed by divine mercy, will burn us up as stubble. It were just with God to let the law have its course against sinners, and to cut them off immediately in the very act of sin; and, if he should do so, it would be neither loss nor dishonour to him. 3. He holds out inducements to Moses not to intercede for them: Therefore, let me alone. What did Moses, or what could he do, to hinder God from consuming them? When God resolves to abandon a people, and the decree of ruin has gone forth, no intercession can prevent it, Eze 14:14; Jer 15:1. But God would thus express the greatness of his just displeasure against them, after the manner of men, who would have none to intercede for those they resolve to be severe with. Thus also he would put an honour upon prayer, intimating that nothing but the intercession of Moses could save them from ruin, that he might be a type of Christ, by whose mediation alone God would reconcile the world unto himself. That the intercession of Moses might appear the more illustrious, God fairly offers him that, if he would not interpose in this matter, he would make of him a great nation, that either, in process of time, he would raise up a people out of his loins, or that he would immediately, by some means or other, bring another great nation under his government and conduct, so that he should be no loser by their ruin. Had Moses been of a narrow selfish spirit, he would have closed with this offer; but he prefers the salvation of Israel before the advancement of his own family. Here was a man fit to be a governor.
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III. Moses earnestly intercedes with God on their behalf (Exo 32:11-13): he besought the Lord his God. If God would not be called the God of Israel, yet he hoped he might address him as his own God. What interest we have at the throne of grace we should improve for the church of God, and for our friends. Now Moses is standing in the gap to turn away the wrath of God, Psa 106:23. He wisely took the hint which God gave him when he said, Let me alone, which, though it seemed to forbid his interceding, did really encourage it, by showing what power the prayer of faith has with God. In such a case, God wonders if there be no intercessor, Isa 59:16. Observe, 1. His prayer (Exo 32:12): Turn from thy fierce wrath; not as if he thought God was not justly angry, but he begs that he would not be so greatly angry as to consume them. "Let mercy rejoice against judgment; repent of this evil; change the sentence of destruction into that of correction." 2. His pleas. He fills his mouth with arguments, not to move God, but to express his own faith and to excite his own fervency in prayer. He urges, (1.) God's interest in them, the great things he had already done for them, and the vast expense of favours and miracles he had been at upon them, Exo 32:11. God had said to Moses (Exo 32:7), They are thy people, whom thou broughtest up out of Egypt; but Moses humbly turns them back upon God again: "They are thy people, thou art their Lord and owner; I am but their servant. Thou broughtest them forth out of Egypt; I was but the instrument in thy hand; that was done in order to their deliverance which thou only couldest do." Though their being his people was a reason why he should be angry with them for setting up another god, yet it was a reason why he should not be so angry with them as to consume them. Nothing is more natural than for a father to correct his son, but nothing more unnatural than for a father to slay his son. And as the relation is a good plea ("they are thy people"), so is the experience they had had of his kindness to them: "Thou broughtest them out of Egypt, though they were unworthy, and had there served the gods of the Egyptians, Jos 24:15. If thou didst that for them, notwithstanding their sins in Egypt, wilt thou undo it for their sins of the same nature in the wilderness?" (2.) He pleads the concern of God's glory (Exo 32:12): Wherefore should the Egyptians say, For mischief did he bring them out? Israel is dear to Moses as his kindred, as his charge; but it is the glory of God that he is most concerned for; this lies nearer his heart than any thing else. If Israel could perish without any reproach to God's name, Moses could persuade himself to sit down contented; but he cannot bear to hear God reflected on, and therefore this he insists upon, Lord, what will the Egyptians say? Their eyes, and the eyes of all the neighbouring nations, were now upon Israel; from the wondrous beginnings of that people, they raised their expectations of something great in their latter end; but, if a people so strangely saved should be suddenly ruined, what would the world say of it, especially the Egyptians, who have such an implacable hatred both to Israel and to the God of Israel? They would say, "God was either weak, and could not, or fickle, and would not, complete the salvation he began; he brought them forth to that mountain, not to sacrifice (as was pretended), but to be sacrificed." They will not consider the provocation given by Israel, to justify the proceeding, but will think it cause enough for triumph that God and his people could not agree, but that their God had done that which they (the Egyptians) wished to see done. Note, The glorifying of God's name, as it ought to be our first petition (it is so in the Lord's prayer), so it ought to be our great plea, Psa 79:9 Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory, Jer 14:21; and see Jer 33:8, Jer 33:9. And, if we would with comfort plead this with God as a reason why he should not destroy us, we ought to plead it with ourselves as a reason why we should not offend him: What will the Egyptians say? We ought always to be careful that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed through us. (3.) He pleads God's promise to the patriarchs that he would multiply their seed, and give them the land of Canaan for an inheritance, and this promise confirmed by an oath, an oath by himself, since he could swear by no greater, Exo 32:13. God's promises are to be our pleas in prayer; for what he has promised he is able to perform, and the honour of this truth is engaged for the performance of it. "Lord, if Israel be cut off, what will become of the promise? Shall their unbelief make that of no effect? God forbid." Thus we must take our encouragement in prayer from God only.
IV. God graciously abated the rigour of the sentence, and repented of the evil he thought to do (Exo 32:14); though he designed to punish them, yet he would not ruin them. See here, 1. The power of prayer; God suffers himself to be prevailed with by the humble believing importunity of intercessors. 2. The compassion of God towards poor sinners, and how ready he is to forgive. Thus he has given other proofs besides his own oath that he has no pleasure in the death of those that die; for he not only pardons upon the repentance of sinners, but spares and reprieves upon the intercession of others for them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee…
And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down,.... In Deu 9:12 it is added, "quickly", and so the Septuagint version here: this was said after the Lord had finished his discourse with him, and had given him the two tables of stone, and he was about to depart, but the above affair happening he hastens his departure; indeed the idolatry began the day before, and he could have acquainted him with it, if it had been his pleasure, but he suffered the people to go the greatest length before a stop was put to their impiety:
for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves; their works, as the Targum of Jonathan supplies it, their ways and their manners; their minds, the imaginations of their hearts, were first corrupted, and this led on to a corruption of actions, by which they corrupted and defiled themselves yet more and more, and made themselves abominable in the sight of God, as corrupt persons and things must needs be; and what can be a greater corruption and abomination than idolatry? the Lord calls these people not his people, being displeased with them, though they had been, and were, and still continued; for, notwithstanding this idolatry, he did not cast them off from being his people, or write a "Loammi" on them; but he calls them Moses's people, as having broken the law delivered to them by him, they had promised to obey, and so were liable to the condemnation and curse of it; and because they had been committed to his care and charge, and he had been the instrument of their deliverance, and therefore it was great ingratitude to him to act the part they had done, as well as impiety to God; wherefore, though it was the Lord that brought them out of Egypt, it is ascribed to Moses as the instrument, to make the evil appear the greater. Jarchi very wrongly makes these people to be the mixed multitude he supposes Moses had proselyted, and therefore called his people.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Thy people - have corrupted themselves] They…
Verse 7. Thy people - have corrupted themselves] They had not only got into the spirit of idolatry, but they had become abominable in their conduct, so that God disowns them to be his: THY people have broken the covenant, and are no longer entitled to my protection and love.
This is one pretence that the Roman Catholics have for the idolatry in their image worship. Their high priest, the pope, collects the ornaments of the people, and makes an image, a crucifix, a madonna, c. The people worship it but the pope says it is only to keep God in remembrance. But of the whole God says, Thy people have corrupted themselves; and thus as they continue in their idolatry, they have forfeited the blessings of the Lord's covenant. They are not God's people, they are the pope's people, and he is called "our holy father the pope."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had…
The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge; whether he would prefer that he should himself become the founder of a “great nation,” or that the Lord’s promise should be fulfilled in the whole people of Israel. This may have been especially needful for Moses, in consequence of his natural disposition. See Num 12:3; and compare Exo 3:11. With this trial of Moses repeated in a very similar manner Num 14:11-23, may be compared the trial of Abraham Gen. 22 and of our Saviour Mat 4:8-10.
Exo 32:8
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These be thy gods ... have brought - This is thy god, O Israel, who has brought ...
Exo 32:10
Let me alone - But Moses did not let the Lord alone; he wrestled, as Jacob had done, until, like Jacob, he obtained the blessing Gen 32:24-29.
Exo 32:14
This states a fact which was not revealed to Moses until after his second intercession when he had come down from the mountain and witnessed the sin of the people Exo 32:30-34. He was then assured that the Lord’s love to His ancient people would prevail God is said, in the language of Scripture, to “repent,” when His forgiving love is seen by man to blot out the letter of His judgments against sin (2Sa 24:16; Joe 2:13; Jon 3:10, etc.); or when the sin of man seems to human sight to have disappointed the purposes of grace (Gen 6:6; 1Sa 15:35, etc.). The awakened conscience is said to “repent,” when, having felt its sin, it feels also the divine forgiveness: it is at this crisis that God, according to the language of Scripture, repents toward the sinner. Thus, the repentance of God made known in and through the One true Mediator reciprocates the repentance of the returning sinner, and reveals to him atonement.
Exo 32:17-18
Moses does not tell Joshua of the divine communication that had been made to him respecting the apostasy of the people, but only corrects his impression by calling his attention to the kind of noise which they are making.
Exo 32:19
Though Moses had been prepared by the revelation on the Mount, his righteous indignation was stirred up beyond control when the abomination was before his eyes.
Exo 32:20
See Deu 9:21. What is related in this verse must have occupied some time and may have followed the rebuke of Aaron. The act was symbolic, of course. The idol was brought to nothing and the people were made to swallow their own sin (compare Mic 7:13-14).
Exo 32:22
Aaron’s reference to the character of the people, and his manner of stating what he had done Exo. 5:24, are very characteristic of the deprecating language of a weak mind.
Exo 32:23
Make us gods - Make us a god.
Exo 32:25
Naked - Rather unruly, or “licentious”.
Shame among their enemies - Compare Psa 44:13; Psa 79:4; Deu 28:37.
Exo 32:26-29
The tribe of Levi, Moses’ own tribe, now distinguished itself by immediately returning to its allegiance and obeying the call to fight on the side of Yahweh. We need not doubt that the 3,000 who were slain were those who persisted in resisting Moses. The spirit of the narrative forbids us to conceive that the act of the Levites was anything like an indiscriminate massacre. An amnesty had first been offered to all by the words: “Who is on the Lord’s side?” Those who were forward to draw the sword were directed not to spare their closest relations or friends; but this must plainly have been with an understood qualification as regards the conduct of those who were to be slain. Had it not been so, they who were on the Lord’s side would have had to destroy each other. We need not stumble at the bold, simple way in which the statement is made.
Exo 32:29
Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord ... - The margin contains the literal rendering. Our version gives the most probable meaning of the Hebrew, and is supported by the best authority. The Levites were to prove themselves in a special way the servants of Yahweh, in anticipation of their formal consecration as ministers of the sanctuary (compare Deu 10:8), by manifesting a self-sacrificing zeal in carrying out the divine command, even upon their nearest relatives.
Exo 32:31
Returned unto the Lord - i. e. again he ascended the mountain.
Gods of gold - a god of gold.
Exo 32:32
For a similar form of expression, in which the conclusion is left to be supplied by the mind of the reader, see Dan 3:15; Luk 13:9; Luk 19:42; Joh 6:62; Rom 9:22. For the same thought, see Rom 9:3. It is for such as Moses and Paul to realize, and to dare to utter, their readiness to be wholly sacrificed for the sake of those whom God has entrusted to their love. This expresses the perfected idea of the whole burnt-offering.
Thy book - The figure is taken from the enrolment of the names of citizens. This is its first occurrence in the Scriptures. See the marginal references. and Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Luk 10:20; Phi 4:3; Rev 3:5, etc.
Exo 32:33, Exo 32:34
Each offender was to suffer for his own sin. Compare Exo 20:5; Eze 18:4, Eze 18:20. Moses was not to be taken at his word. He was to fulfill his appointed mission of leading on the people toward the land of promise.
Exo 32:34
Mine Angel shall go before thee - See the marginal references and Gen 12:7.
In the day when I visit ... - Compare Num 14:22-24. But though the Lord chastized the individuals, He did not take His blessing from the nation.
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 Thy people. They are not worthy to be styled…
Thy people. They are not worthy to be styled my people; and thou didst ratify the covenant with me, in their name, and as their interpreter. They have sinned, giving way to idolatry in thought, word, and deed.
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 the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down--Intelligence…
the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down--Intelligence of the idolatrous scene enacted at the foot of the mount was communicated to Moses in language borrowed from human passions and feelings, and the judgment of a justly offended God was pronounced in terms of just indignation against the gross violation of the so recently promulgated laws.
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 INTERCESSION AND PUNISHMENT, Exo_32:7-35.
INTERCESSION AND PUNISHMENT, Exo_32:7-35.
7. Thy people, which thou broughtest out — Language of trial for Moses. He is made to feel that he is identified with Israel, and must bear the burden of them on his heart. He is informed of the calf worship to which they have so quickly turned aside, and corrupted themselves, and is made to see that this great sin deserves the consuming judgment of Jehovah. This opens the way for Moses’s first intercession, (Exo_32:11-13,) which is notably effectual. Then follows another trial, as Moses sees the extent of the people’s sin, (Exo_32:15-25,) which in turn leads both to punishment and further intercession, (Exo_32:26-32.) Compare the intercessions of Moses in Num_11:10-15; Num_14:11-24.
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 7. thy people] not mine; Jehovah dissociates Himself from…
7. thy people] not mine; Jehovah dissociates Himself from His sinful nation.
7, 8. Jehovah makes known to Moses the people’s sin. The verses are not necessarily by a different hand (RJE[218]) from v. 18 f. Moses’ anger may naturally have been kindled by the spectacle of the doings in the camp, the full character of which he did not before realize.
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[218] E See pp. xi, xii.
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 (7) The Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee…
GOD’S OFFER TO MOSES.
(7) The Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down.—Moses was, of course, wholly ignorant of all that had occurred in the camp. The thick cloud which covered the top of Sinai had prevented his seeing what occurred in the plain below (Exo_24:18). The phrase, “Go, get thee down,” is emphatic, and implies urgency.
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Thy people.—“Thine,” not any longer “mine,” since they have broken the covenant that united us; yet still “thine,” however much they sin. The tie of blood-relationship cannot be broken.
Have corrupted themselves.—The form of the verb used (shikhêth) is active. We must supply “their way,” or some similar phrase, after it. (Comp. Gen_6:12 : “All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”)
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 Vers. 7-14. THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES. Moses, in Sinai,…
Vers. 7-14. THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES. Moses, in Sinai, was so far removed from the camp, and the cloud so shut out his vision of it, that he had neither seen nor heard anything unusual, and was wholly ignorant of what had happened, until God declared it to him (ver. 7, 8). After declaring it, God announced his intention of destroying the people for their apostasy, and fulfilling his promise to Abraham by raising up a "great nation" out of the seed of Moses (ver. 10). No doubt this constituted a great trial of the prophet"s character. He might, without sin, have acquiesced in the punishment of the people as deserved, and have accepted the promise made to himself as a fresh instance of God"s goodness to him. There would have been nothing wrong in this; but it would have shown that he fell short of the heroic type, belonged to the ordinary run of mortals, was of the common "delf," not of "the precious porcelain of human clay." God"s trial of him gave him an opportunity of rising above this; and he responded to it. From the time that he reached full manhood. (Exo_2:11) he had cast in his lot with his nation; he had been appointed their leader; (Exo_3:10) they had accepted him as; (Exo_4:31) he had led them out of Egypt and brought them to Sinai; if he had looked coldly on them now, and readily separated his fate from theirs, he would have been false to his past, and wanting in tenderness towards those who were at once his wards and his countrymen. His own glory naturally drew him one way, his affection for Israel the other. It is to his eternal honour that he chose the better part; declined to be put in Abraham"s place, and generously interceded for his nation (vers. 11-13). He thereby placed himself among the heroes of humanity, and gave additional strength and dignity to his own character.
Go, descendi.e. , "make haste to descend do not tarry there is need of thy immediate presence." Thy people, which thou broughtest, etc. Words calculated to awaken the tenderness between which and self-love the coming struggle was to be.
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Vers. 7-10. The anger of God.
God may well be angry when his people apostatise; and having recently professed entire submission to his will, (Exo_19:8 Exo_24:3) rebel suddenly, and cast his words behind their backs. God"s anger against Israel was at this time intensified
I BY THEIR EXTREME INGRATITUDE. He had just delivered them by a series of stupendous miracles from a cruel bondage. He had brought them out of Egypt he had divided the Red Sea before them, and led them through it he had given them a complete victory over the Amalekites. He was supporting them day after day by a miraculous supply of food. He had condescended to enter into covenant with them, and to make them his "peculiar treasure kingdom of priests, and a holy nation". (Exo_19:5, Exo_19:6) He was further engaged in giving them a law which would place them tar in advance of other nations, and render them the main source of life and light in a world of moral darkness and deadness. There had been no moment in their history when they were more bound by every consideration of duty, honour, and thankfulness to cling to Jehovah yet, spite of all, they had rebelled and rushed into idolatry.
II BY THE SUDDENNESS OF THEIR APOSTASY. "They have turned aside quickly out of the way," said the Almighty to Moses (ver. 8). A few weeks only had gone by since they had declared themselves God"s willing servants had entered into covenant with him, and promised to keep all his commandments. What had caused the sudden and complete change? There was nothing to account for it but the absence of Moses. But surely it might have been expected that their convictions would have had sufficient root to outlive the disappearance of Moses for as long as six weeks. The fact, however, was otherwise. They were of those who had "no root in themselves and as soon as temptation came, they fell away. The remembrance of their old idolatries came upon them with a force that they had not strength to resist and it happened unto them according to the true proverb: "The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire". (2Pe_2:22)
III BY THEIR SINNING AGAINST ABUNDANT LIGHT. Until the delivery of the second commandment at Sinai, it might perhaps have been a doubtful point whether the worship of God under a material form was, or was not, offensive to him. But after that delivery, all doubt was removed. The bowing down to an image had been then and there declared an "iniquity," an offence to a "jealous God," which he would visit unto the third and fourth generation. Nor was this all. An express prohibition of the very act that Israel had now committed, had been put in the forefront of the "Book of the Covenant which opens thus have seen that I have talked with you from heaven ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold". (Exo_20:22, Exo_20:23) It was impossible therefore that they should plead ignorance. Knowingly and wilfully they had transgressed a plain command of the Great God, whose power and glory had so lately been revealed to them. They had sinned in the full light of day. Christians in their manifold idolatries of covetousness, lust, fashion-worship, etc. are more ungrateful than even the Israelites, since they sin against One who has died to redeem them, and they sin against a still clearer light the double light of a full revelation of God"s will, and of a conscience enlightened by the Holy Ghost. God"s wrath may well "wax hot against them, to consume them from the face of the earth.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 7-14. The wrath of Jehovah and the intercession of Moses.
I JEHOVAH DESCRIBES TO MOSES THE APOSTASY OF ISRAEL. Jehovah is omniscient; even while spreading before Moses, with all elaboration, the patterns in the mount, his all-observant eye is equally on the doings of the people below. And now, just when Moses is expecting to be dismissed with his instructions for the people, he is fated to learn that they have proved themselves utterly unworthy of Jehovah"s great designs. The thing described is an utter, shameless, and precipitate apostasy from Jehovah. Previous outbreaks of the sinful heart were as nothing compared to this. If it had only been the sin of a few, some half-secret departure from Jehovah confined to a corner of the camp; if there had been a prompt repudiation of it and punishment of it on the part of the great majority: then, indeed, Jehovah might have found cause even for rejoicing that the apostasy of the few had been occasion to prove the fidelity of the many. But alas! the transgression is general; there is a public adoption of the golden calf with worship and sacrifice. The idolatrous spirit has been shown in the completest and most demonstrative way. Idolatry, with its awful degradations and its fatal influences, must always be an abomination to God; but how peculiarly abominable when it rose in the midst of a people with whom God had been dealing with the tenderest compassion and the sublimest power! It is to be noticed that God calls special attention to the quickness of this apostasy. "They have turned aside quickly, out of the way." The fact of course was that they had also been turned quickly into that way, and kept in it by a kind of external force. They might promise, and while they promised mean to keep the promise, but nature was too much for them; and as soon as the Divine constraint was in any way relaxed they returned to the old path. The impression Jehovah would make on the mind of his servant is that nothing can be expected from them.
II Jehovah indicates to Moses THE RIGHTEOUS SEVERITY WITH WHICH HE PROPOSES TO TREAT ISRAEL (vers. 9, 10). We have to think here not only of the words of Jehovah, but also of the attitude of Moses, which seems to be indicated by these words. Even before Moses puts in his earnest intercession, we have a hint of what is in his heart. Jehovah says, "Let me alone;" as one man, about to strike another, might speak to some third person stepping between to intercept the blow In the speaking of Jehovah"s words there must have been an indication of wrath, such as of course cannot be conveyed by the mere words themselves. And what, indeed, could Jehovah do, but give an unmistakable expression of his wrath with such an outbreak of human unrighteousness as is found in idolatry? No doubt there is great difficulty in understanding such expressions as those of Jehovah here. When we remember the low estate of the Israelites spiritually, and the infecting circumstances in which they had grown up, it seems hardly just to reproach them for their lapse into idolatry. But then we must bear in mind that the great object of the narrative here is to show how Jehovah cannot bear sin. The thing to be considered first of all is, not how these Israelites became idolaters, but the sad and stubborn fact that they seemed inveterate idolaters. Such a decided manifestation of idolatry as the one here revealed, when it came to the knowledge of Jehovah, was like a spark falling into the midst of gunpowder. It matters not how such a spark may be kindled; it produces an explosion the moment it touches the powder. The wrath of God must be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Yet doubt not that the God who spoke here in such wrath and threatening loved these Israelites in the midst of their apostasy. But it was not possible in one and the same moment, and from one and the same voice, to make equally evident love for the benighted apostate himself, and wrath because of the evil that was so intimately mixed with his nature. On such an occasion it became God to give a direct and emphatic expression of wrath from his own lips, leaving his love and pity to be known indirectly through the intercession of his servant Moses. When Jehovah is angry, it is then we need most of all to remember that love is the great power in his nature.
III Jehovah further indicates A CERTAIN TEMPTING POSSIBILITY TO MOSES. "I will make of thee a great nation." Thus we see how the word of Jehovah is made to serve two purposes. It both expresses the fulness of wrath with an apostate people, and at the same time puts a cherished servant upon a most effectual trial of his magnanimity and mediatorial unselfishness. Thus this proposition of Jehovah comes in most beautifully to emphasise the simplicity and purity of the feeling of Moses in his subsequent mediation. And though Moses makes no reference to this proposition, it is well to be enabled to see how little hold any self-seeking thoughts took of his mind.
IV THE REPLY OF MOSES HAS NOW TO BE CONSIDERED. Not that we need stay to investigate the merits of the considerations which Moses here puts forward. He could only speak of things according as they appeared to him. We know, looking at these same things in the light of the New Testament, that even if God had destroyed these People as at first he hinted, his promises would not therefore have been nullified. The temporal destruction of a single generation of men, however perplexing it might have seemed at the time, would afterwards have been seen as neither any hindrance in the fulfilment of God"s purposes, nor any dimming of the brightness of his glory. Be it remembered that these same people whom God brought out with great power and a mighty hand, yet nevertheless perished in the wilderness. Spared this time, they were in due season cut down as cumberers of the ground. And as to any scornful words the Egyptians might speak, God"s glow was not at the mercy of their tongues; for it had been manifested beyond all cavil in a sufficiently terrible chapter of their own history. Then as to the words spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even if all but Moses had been swept away, yet in him the seed of Abraham would have been continued, just as in the days of the flood. God did not utterly destroy the human race, but narrowed it down to one family. And more than all we should bear in mind that the true fulfilment of God"s promises was to Abraham"s spiritual seed; they who being of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Hence we must not too readily conclude that what Moses said was the thing which here influenced Jehovah in what is called his repentance. The influential power was, that here was a man to say something, to act as a mediator, one deeply concerned to secure escape for these people, even while they, revelling in the plain below, are all unconscious of their danger. Notice that Moses says nothing by way of excuse for the people. Indeed, the full magnitude of their offence had not yet been comprehended by him; and it is interesting to contrast his pleadings here with an angry God, and his own wrath when he came actually in sight of the golden calf. The one thing Moses fixes on, in his appeal to God, is the great Divine purpose for Israel. He recaps how great that purpose is; he is profoundly concerned that it should not be interfered with; and so we are led to think of Jesus the true Mediator, with a knowledge of Divine purposes and human needs, such as it was not for Moses to attain. Consider how Jesus dwells and caused his apostles to dwell on God"s great purposes for the children of men. Thus both from Moses the type, and Jesus the antitype, we should learn to think of men not as they are only, but as they ought to be, and as God proposes they should be. Evidently Moses kept constantly in mind God"s purposes for Israel, even though he knew not how profound and comprehensive those purposes were. So let us, knowing more than Moses of God"s purposes for men in Christ Jesus, keep constantly in mind that which will come to all who by a deep patient, and abiding faith approve themselves true children of Abraham. Y.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
Vers. 7-15. The first intercessions.
If Israel has been forgetting God, God has not been forgetting Israel. His eye has been on all their doings. There has not been a thought in their heart, or a word on their tongue, but, lo! it has altogether been well known to him. (Psa_139:4) It is God"s way, however, to permit matters to reach a crisis before he interposes. For a time he keeps silence. During the inception and early stages of the movement in Israel, he makes no discovery of it to Moses. He allows it to ripen to its full proportions. Then he tells his servant all that has happened, and orders him to repair at once to the scene of the apostasy (vers. 7-11). Mark the expression:Thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves indicating that they are no longer God"s, that the covenant is broken. Moses intercedes for Israel, urging various pleas why God should not destroy them (vers. 11-14). Consider
I THE DIVINE WRATH. "Let me alone," says God, "that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them" (ver. 10). This wrath of God against the sin of Israel was
1. Real. What we have in these verses is no mere drama, acted between God and Moses, but a most real wrath, averted by most real and earnest intercession. But for Moses" intercession, Israel would actually have been destroyed.
2. Holy. Wrath against sin is a necessary part of God"s character. Not that we are to conceive of the thrice Holy One as swayed by human passions, or as needing to be soothed by human entreaty. But sin does awaken God"s displeasure. He would not be God if it did not. "Resentment against sin is an element in the very life of God. It can no more be separated from God than heat from fire God is merciful. What does this mean? It means a willingness to lay aside resentment against those who have sinned. But it follows that the greater the resentment, the greater is the mercy; if there is very little resentment, there can be very little mercy; if there is no resentment at all, mercy is impossible. The difference between our religion, and the religion of other times, is this that we do not believe that God has any very strong resentment against sin, or against those who are guilty of sin; and since his resentment has gone, his mercy has gone with it. We have not a God who is more merciful than the God of our fathers, but a God who is less righteous; and a God who is not righteous, a God who does not glow with fiery indignation against sin is no God at all." Put otherwise, a God who cannot be angry with my sin, is one from whom it would be meaningless in me to sue for pardon. His pardon, could I obtain it, would have no moral value. Yet,
3. Restrained. The expression is peculiar therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot," etc.. The meaning is, that God is self-determined in his wrath, even as in his love (cf. Exo_33:19) He determines himself in the exercise of it. It does not carry him away. In the present instance he restrained it, that room might be left for intercession. The words were a direct encouragement to Moses to entreat for his erring charge.
II MOSES" INTERCESSION (vers. 11-15). The last occasion on which we met with Moses as an intercessor was at the court of Egypt. We have now to listen to him in his pleadings for his own people. Four separate acts of intercession are recorded in three chapters. (cf. vers. 31-35; Exo_33:12-18 Exo_34:9) Taken together, they constitute a Herculean effort of prayer. Each intercession gains a point not granted to the previous one. First, the reversal of the sentence of destruction (ver. 14); next, the consent of God to the people going up to Canaan, only, however, under the conduct of an angel; (Exo_33:1-4) third, the promise that his own presence would go with them; (Exo_33:14) finally, the perfect reestablishment of friendly relations, in the renewal of the covenant. (Exo_34:10) Like Jacob, Moses, as a prince, had power with God, and prevailed. (Gen_32:28) It is to be noted, also, that this advance in Power of prayer is connected with an advance in Moses" own experience. In the first intercession, the thought which chiefly fills his mind is the thought of the people"s danger. He does not attempt to excuse or palliate their sin, but neither does he make direct confession of it. He sees only the nation"s impending destruction, and is agonisingly earnest in his efforts to avert it. At this stage in his entreaty, Moses might almost seem to us more merciful than God. A higher stage is reached when Moses, having actually witnessed the transgression of the people, is brought to take sides with God in his wrath against it. His second intercession, accordingly, is pervaded by a much deeper realisation of the enormity of the sin for which forgiveness is sought. His sense of this is so awful, that it is now a moot question with him whether God possibly can forgive it (ver. 32). The third intercession, in like manner, is connected with a special mark of Jehovah"s condescending favour to himself, (Exo_33:9) emboldening him to ask that God will restore his presence to the nation (ver. 15); while the fourth follows on the sight which is given him of Jehovah"s glory, and on the revelation of the name. (Exo_34:5-8) Observe more particularly in regard to the intercession in the text
1. The boon sought. It is that God will spare the people, that he will turn aside his fierce anger from them, and not consume them (ver. 12). Thus far, as above hinted, it might almost seem as if Moses were more merciful than God. God seeks to destroy; Moses pleads with him to spare. The wrath is in God; the pity in his servant. (Contrast with this the counter scene in Jon 4) The affinity of spirit between Jehovah and Moses, however, is evinced later, in the hot anger which Moses feels on actually witnessing the sin. God"s mercy, on the other hand, is shown in giving Moses the opportunity to intercede. It was he who put the pity into his servant"s heart, and there was that in his own heart which responded to it.
2. The spirit of the supplication.
(1) How absolutely disinterested. Moses sets aside, without even taking notice of it, the most glorious offer ever made to mortal man will make of thee a great nation" (ver. 10). This was Moses trial. It tested "whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge." He endured it nobly.
(2) How intensely earnest. He seems to clasp the feet of God as one who could not, would not, leave, tilt he had obtained what he sought.
(3) How supremely concerned about God"s glory. That is with Moses the consideration above all others.
3. The pleas urged. Moses in these pleas appeals to three principles in the Divine character, which really govern the Divine action
(1) To God"s regard for his own work (ver. 11). The finishing of work he has begun. (Php_1:6)
(2) To God"s regard for his own honour (ver. 12). Moses cannot bear to think of God"s action being compromised.
(3) To God"s regard for his own servants (ver. 13). The love he bears to the fathers. (of Deu_4:31 Deu_10:15) These are points in God"s heart on which all intercession may lay hold.
4. The effect produced. God repented him of the evil he thought to do to Israel (ver. 14). Repented, i.e. , turned back from a course which his displeasure moved him to pursue, and which, but for Moses" intercession, he would have pursued. It does not appear, however, that Moses was at this time informed of the acceptance of his intercession. Notice, also, that the actual remission was bestowed gradually. In this first act of intercession God sees, as it were, the point to which the whole series of intercessions tends, and in anticipation thereof, lays aside his anger. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_32:7-15
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_32:7-15
INTERCESSION
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Consider—
I. The sin and peril of Israel. Their sin was the more grievous because it came after such wonderful manifestations of God’s power and love. “Thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves,” Exo_32:7. Here was the sting. After they had seen all the wonders that God had showed them.
2. Their sin was the darker because it was committed so early. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way,” Exo_32:8. So little patience and faith had they.
3. Their sin was in itself a capital offence. “They have made a molten calf,” &c., Exo_32:8. We reckon a lack of belief in God as a mere speculative error; we reckon a godless life as far more innocent than a life of passion; but to lose sight of God—to cease to love Him—is regarded in the Word of God as the cardinal, all-comprehending sin. And this sin on the part of Israel provoked the anger of God. “God’s wrath waxed hot against them,” Exo_32:11. In these modern days a certain school chose to represent God as looking down coldly and calmly on sin, and dealing with it in quite an unimpassioned manner, but Revelation does not thus reveal God. He hates sin; He waxes hot against sinners; He is grieved at His heart. Is not this whole picture of the apostasy of Israel suggestive of our own age and nation? God has not dealt with any nation as He has with us, and yet the spirit and philosophy of our day is strangely godless. The golden calf is in the marketplace and in the schools.
II. The intercession by which the impending calamity was averted. Moses entirely forgets himself in the welfare of the people, Exo_32:10. His own glory and the glory of his house are ignored.
1. He pleads with God for Israel on the ground of God’s past mercies, Exo_32:11. Thou hast been good and gracious—be gracious still.
2. He pleads with God on the grounds of sympathy with the divine glory, Exo_32:12. He was jealous for God’s character in the eyes of the world.
3. He pleads with God on the ground of the divine promise, Exo_32:13.
Thus let us plead with God when we behold the unrighteousness of the age. Men often plead with God for man’s sake—for the sake of human sufferings, &c.—let us plead for God’s sake. Let us plead for man out of sympathy with God. And if we thus plead, God will hear and bless, Exo_32:14.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Idol-Idiosyncrasy. Exo_32:1-35.
(1.) Material idolatry has passed away among civilised nations in its literal import. As Macmillan says, the old worship of stocks and stones is now impossible among a professedly Christian people. But although the outward mode has passed away, the essence of the temptation remains the same. Human society is changed, but human nature is unchanged. The impulse which led Israel to seek the golden calf is as strong as ever, and images are set up and worshipped now as fantastic as any pagan fetish or joss. For what is idolatry! Is it not in its essence the lowering of the idea of God and of God’s nature, and the exaltation of a dead image above a man’s own living spirit! Is not an idol whatever is loved more than God, whatever is depended upon for happiness and help independent of God?
(2.) Sooner or later, as Moses pounded the calf and gave the Israelites the dust to drink in punishment of their idolatry, will all such moral idolaters have to drink the dust of their idols. Our sin will become our punishment, our idols our scourges. God is a jealous God, and every soul that turns aside from His love to the lying vanities of the world must drink the bitter water of jealousy, filled with the dust of the bruised and mutilated idols of spiritual idolatry: “This shall ye have at My hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow.”
“Thou art the man within whose heart’s deep cell
All evil sleeping lies;
Lust, in a dark hour waking, breaks the spell,
And straightway there arise
Monsters of evil thoughts and base desire.”
—Greok.
Divine Omniscience! Exo_32:7-8. Israel lost sight of the fact that though Moses could not see, God could. Creeping down stairs at night towards the orchard, the little boy forgot that while his father’s eyes were locked in slumbers deep, yet there was One whose eye neither slumbers nor sleeps. But when he stood beneath the favourite apple-tree—when he stretched forth his hand to the branch—when he lifted up his eye to the tempting, coveted, rosy-cheeked fruit; lo! a star twinkled its ray upon him, and seemed to say, “God sees.” And the little fellow shrank back—retreated from the garden—betook himself upstairs, repeating to himself the Scripture words “Thou God seest.” Ah! had Israel only remembered this, the sin had not been committed, and the dire mischief had not been wrought.
“Though all the doors are sure, and all our servants
As sure bound with their sleeps, yet there is ONE
That wakes above, whose eye no sleep can blind;
He sees through doors, and darkness, and our thoughts.”
—Chapman.
Idol Illustrations! Exo_32:8. It was a curious feature of the ancient Egyptian worship that each large city bad its own triad or assemblage of three gods, whom it more particularly adored. The triad of Memphis were Ptah, Buhastis, Apis. The ruins of the temple at Memphis sacred to calf-worship were discovered in 1850. Close at hand stood the Apeum, or sanctuary of the sacred bull, where he was carefully tended, as well as the cow from which he had sprung. As each bull died his mummy was stored away in one of the corridors extending underground for a considerable distance, and known as the “Mummy-pita of Apis.” No fewer than 1200 of these tombstone-tablets have been traced, and the most important of them were removed to the Louvre at Paris.
“Ideal images in sculptured forms,
Thoughts hewn in columns, or in caverned hill,
In honour of their deities and their dead.”
—Montgomery.
Sin-Steps! Exo_32:8.
(1.) Facilis decensus Averni. The first step in the primæval world was to worship God under natural symbols. The second step was to worship the creature along with or beside Jehovah. The third step was to worship the objects of nature more than the Being who made them. The fourth step was to worship these works of nature to the exclusion of God. Lower was the surging sea of all ungodliness, whose end is DEATH.
(2.) Goulburn well says that idolatry—i.e., the surrounding the creature with the attributes of the Creator—is the original, fundamental sin of man, the point of departure from which man started on the downward course, until he reached the lowest depths of wickedness.
“Polluted most, yet wallowing in the mire;
Most mad, yet drinking frenzy’s giddy cup;
Depth ever deepening, darkness darkening still.”
—Pollck.
Wrath and Mercy! Exo_32:10-14.
(1.) If we look with the naked eye, says Macmillan, at the star Rigel, which forms the right foot of the constellation of Orion, we observe a star of first beauty and brightness. But the telescope shows us that it is a double star. This is a binary arrangement which prevails to a great extent throughout the heavens. These binary stars revolve round each other, or round a common centre. They thus exhibit the extraordinary spectacle, not of planet revolving round sun, but of sun moving round sun. Their lights blend before they reach us, so that they present to the naked eye the appearance of one star.
(2.) Kurtz says that wrath and mercy were both united in the eternal counsel of salvation, which was the combined product of the two; for in that counsel wrath was appeased by mercy, and mercy sanctified by wrath. Wrath and mercy were made one in the counsel of salvation, but they were not extinguished. Their lights blended together in this incident on Horeb—Jehovah saying, “Let Me alone;” Moses, prompted by the Spirit, saying, “Spare Thy people, O Lord.”
“Had not the milder hand of Mercy broke
The furious violence of that fatal stroke
Offended Justice struck, we had been quite
Lost in the shadows of eternal night.”
—Quarles.
Mosaic Meditation! Exo_32:12. We find the law of intervention in every department of human life—each and all of its phases serving to indicate more or less clearly the spiritual law. As Ragg remarks, is not that man a mediator who, in the hour of danger, interposes with his strong arm for the protection of the weak? Is not that woman a mediator who, with noiseless step, paces the sick room where the once stalwart man is laid prostrate, anticipating his every want and desire as she stands between him and the fell disease with which he is grappling? Is not that mother a mediator who, with simple and eloquent words, and tears more eloquent, pleads with the father for the child whose wrongdoing has incurred parental censure and rebuke? Is not that nobleman a mediator who, with earnest words, undertakes to induce his sovereign to pardon the rebel-peer, and restore him to his confiscated title and possessions? Is not the Jewish maiden a mediator who, with consciousness of the great risk she runs, ventures into the royal presence to implore the revocation of the imperial decree dooming a whole exiled race to death?
“Praying for His children
In that blessed place,
Calling them to glory,
Sending them His grace;
His bright home preparing,
Faithful ones, for you;
Jesus ever liveth,
Ever prayeth too.”
—Havergal.
Retribution! Exo_32:2-8.
(1.) Yes, they were rebels taken red-handed in revolt against their king. Not only had they taken up arms against their liege lord, and entered into negotiations with his relentless foe, but they had endeavoured to induce many of their fellow-countrymen to join them in their rebellious and lawless course. To spare them from punishment would be to leave them opportunity of bringing wider ruin upon all and sundry. For the sake of the people, and especially the weak, it was necessary that retribution should overtake these red-handed communistic leaders.
(2.) Daniel Defoe, in his far-famed “Life of Robinson Crusoe,” and John Bunyan, in his widely-known allegory of the Holy War, have shown how this apparently severe treatment was in reality true charity and compassion. And is it not from the same cause that the lost angels and men are to be “for ever” shut up in darkness, and precluded from entering amongst the redeemed? It is often the greatest mercy to exercise strictest justice. Severity to one may save the many from temptation, nay, from ultimate destruction. Pity!
“I share it most of all when I share justice,
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall?
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another.”
—Shakespeare.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Moses Intercedes for the People
Moses Intercedes for the People
v. 7. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. The omniscient, omnipresent God saw the transgression of the people and stated this fact to Moses as the representative and the mediator of Israel.
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v. 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them, their guilt was increased by the great hurry which they displayed in choosing the ways of idolatry; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. With the children of Israel engaged in wilful idolatry, it was impossible for the work on the mountain to continue, and the indignation of the Lord breaks forth like a flood.
v. 9. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, have observed it very closely, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people, as rigid of neck as an unwilling draught-animal, Exo 33:3-5; Exo 34:9; Deu 9:6.
v. 10. Now, therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them in revenge and punishment; and I will make of thee a great nation; of the entire people only Moses and his family were to remain, as the stock, or nucleus, of a new nation. It was an expression of just anger, a threat of righteous punishment.
v. 11. And Moses besought the Lord, his God, he showed himself the real priestly advocate of the people. The prospect of being the progenitor of a great nation held no allurements for him, as he began to plead for his people, 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? Note how skilfully Moses parries the Lord’s statement in v. 7. as he reminds Him that it was His, Jehovah’s, great power, His mighty hand, that had effected the deliverance out of the land of Egypt.
v. 12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did He bring them out, that is, for misfortune, for their destruction, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? This was an appeal to the honor of the Lord. Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
v. 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit; it forever. This was a reminder of the faithfulness and truth, the trust in which had sustained the patriarchs during the long years when they were strangers in the land of Canaan. Note also that Moses omits all reference to himself; he does not think of urging his own work as a consideration to influence the Lord.
v. 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people, although, as it seems, He did make known His change of mind at this time, as Exo 32:30-34 indicate. As Moses here acted in the capacity of advocate for the sinful people, so Jesus, at once the propitiation for our sins and our Advocate with God, pleads for us with His heavenly Father.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 left the way that I commanded them
left the way that I commanded them
Here God speaks of the people disobeying what he commanded them as if he had told them to walk on a certain road and they left that road. AT: "stopped doing what I commanded them to do" or "have stopped obeying what I commanded them to do" (See: Metaphor)
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They have molded for themselves a calf
"They have made a gold statue for themselves shaped like a calf"
translationWords
Yahweh
people group
corrupt
command
worship
sacrifice
God
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 32:7 Your people whom you brought from the land…
32:7 Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt: God here attributes his own work to Moses, which suggests that he was testing Moses, giving him an opportunity to make the same mistake the people had made (32:1). God was not “tempting” Moses in the sense of “seducing him to do evil” (see Jas 1:13-14), but he was putting Moses into a situation where he was faced with a clear choice that could take him in opposing directions (cp. 1 Kgs 22:19-23).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.