They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
Parallel Translations
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They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
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They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
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They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped a molten image.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 106:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 32:4-8 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.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh.” They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ ”
- Exodus 32:35 Yahweh struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
- Deuteronomy 9:8 Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you.
- Deuteronomy 9:12-16 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!” 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.
- Deuteronomy 9:21 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.
- Nehemiah 9:18 Yes, when they had made themselves a molded calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies;
- Acts 7:41 They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
- 1 Corinthians 10:7 Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. They made a calf. Here he represents their…
19. They made a calf. Here he represents their rebellion as exceedingly base, in that they abandoned the true worship of God, and made to themselves a calf. For although it was their intention to worship God in this manner, yet the prophet reprehends their brutal stupidity, because they worshipped before the molten image, and represented God by the figure of an ox which eateth grass From this the prophet infers, that God had been robbed of his honor, and that all his glory had been tarnished. And surely it is so; for although the idolaters feign to serve God with great zeal, yet when, at the same time, they represent to themselves a God visible, they abandon the true God, and impiously make for themselves an idol. But he reproaches them with being guilty of still greater impiety, when he says, after the likeness of an ox that eateth grass; and contrasts with it their honor or glory. For seeing that God had clothed them with his own glory, what madness was it to substitute in place of him not only an ox, but the inanimate form of an ox, as if there were any resemblance between God who createth all kinds of food, and that stupid animal which feeds upon grass?
It is necessary, however, to observe the design of the prophet, which is to point out the blindness of men as more base and abominable, because not contenting themselves with any common form of superstition, but casting off all sham they give themselves up to the most shocking forms of worshipping God. Had the people formed for themselves a likeness of God under the likeness of a man, even that would have been impiously robbing God of his due; how much more shameful was their conduct when they assimilated God to an ox? When men preserve their life by eating and drinking, they acknowledge how frail they are, because they derive from dead creatures the means of its continuation. How much greater is the dishonor done to God when he is compared to the brutal tribes? Moreover, the comparison referred to increases the enormity of their guilt. For what credit was it for a holy people to worship the inanimate likeness of an ox instead of the true God? But God had condescended to spread out the overshadowing wings of his glory upon the children of Abraham, that he might put on them the highest honor. Therefore, in denuding themselves of this honor, they had exposed their own baseness to the derision of all the nations of the earth. And hence Moses employs the phrase of nakedness, when he is showing that crime of idolatry:
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“And when Moses saw that the people were naked, (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies)” Exodus 32:25.
Should any one be disposed to say that the ark of the covenant was a representation of God, my answer is, That that symbol was given to the children of Israel, not to engross the whole of their attention, but only for the purpose of assisting and directing them in the spiritual worship of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb, and…
Psa 106:19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
Ver. 19. They made a calf in Horeb] i.e. In the country near to that mountain, where they at same time saw visible tokens of God’s dreadful presence. Well might Aaron say of this people, that they were wholly set upon wickedness, Exo 32:22. This piece of idolatry they had learned belike of the Egyptians, who worshipped Apis in such a shape, so catching is sin, and so dangerous is ill company (Lege Lacrant. and Aug. lib. 1, de Mirab. Script. cap. 15).
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 When they were but very lately brought out of…
When they were but very lately brought out of Egypt by such wonderful power and goodness of God, and had seen the dreadful plagues of God upon the Egyptian idolaters, and upon their idols too, as is noted, Num 33:4, and when the law of God was but newly delivered to them in such a solemn and tremendous manner, and the most high God was yet present, and delivering further precepts to Moses for their benefit upon the top of that very mount. This greatly aggravated their sin.
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 They made a calf in Horeb,.... A golden one,…
They made a calf in Horeb,.... A golden one, of the earrings of gold which were in the ears of their wives, sons, and daughters; these they took and melted down, and cast into the figure of a calf, or an ox, as it is afterwards said, in imitation of the Egyptians, who worshipped the ox; a people that had used them ill, from whose bondage they were just delivered; on whom they had seen the judgments of God inflicted, and who were notoriously wicked and an idolatrous people, and yet these they imitated; and, which was still a greater aggravation, this they did in Horeb, the mountain in which God appeared in so terrible a manner, with thunder and lightnings, and in fire, out of which he spoke to them; and when he gave them a body of laws, among which were one that forbid the worshipping of graven images; and yet they made and worshipped one in this very place, from whence they received this law; as follows.
And worshipped the molten image; when fashioned with a graving tool, and made a molten calf, they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of Egypt; and they brought their burnt offerings and peace offerings, and ate and drank before it, and danced about it; all which were acts of idolatrous worship, Exo 32:1. This was so heinous a sin, that the Jews say it is not expiated to this day, and that there is no punishment comes upon them but there is an ounce of the golden calf in it (q).
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(q) T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 80. 4.
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 A calf - When they were but just brought…
A calf - When they were but just brought out of Egypt by such wonders, and had seen the plagues of God upon the Egyptian idolaters, and when the law of God was but newly delivered to them in such a tremendous manner.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 106:19-23. They made a calf in Horeb —…
Psa 106:19-23. They made a calf in Horeb — When they were but very lately brought out of Egypt, by such wonderful power and goodness of God, and had seen the dreadful plagues of God upon the Egyptian idolaters, and upon their idols too, as is observed Num 33:4; and when the law of God was but newly delivered to them, in such a solemn and tremendous manner; and the most high God was yet present, and delivering further precepts to Moses for their benefit upon the top of that very mount. This greatly aggravated their sin. Thus they changed — As far as in them lay, and in respect of their worship; their glory — Their God, who was indeed their glory, for they had this just occasion of triumphing and glorying over all nations of the world, that, whereas all other nations worshipped images made of stocks and stones, or the heavenly bodies, or dead men, they only worshipped the living and true God, who was present, and in covenant with them, and with them only; into the similitude of an ox — Into the golden image of an ox or calf; that eateth grass — Which is so far from feeding its worshippers, as the true God did the Israelites, that it must be fed by them. And yet the image of such a creature was preferred by them before the all-sufficient and ever-blessed God, which was an evidence of their horrid contempt of God, and also of their prodigious folly and stupidity. Therefore he said that he would destroy them — He declared his intention to do this in express words, as Exo 32:10, and elsewhere. Had not Moses stood in the breach — God had made a wall about them; but they had made a breach in it by their sins, at which the Lord, who was now justly become their enemy, might enter to destroy them; which he certainly would have done, if Moses, by his prevailing intercession, had not hindered him.
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 They made a calf in Horeb - Exo 32:4.…
They made a calf in Horeb - Exo 32:4. Probably in resemblance of the Egyptian god “Apis.” The image was made by Aaron out of materials furnished by the people, and at their request Exo 32:1-3, so that it might be said to be the act of the people.
And worshipped the molten image - The word rendered “molten” is from a verb נסך nâsak - to pour, to pour out; hence, to cast, to found; and it means anything that is made by fusion or casting. This image was cast Exo 32:4, and hence, this name is given to it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. They made a calf—In imitation of the sacred…
19. They made a calf—In imitation of the sacred bulls of the Egyptians— Apis, at Memphis, and Mnevis, at Heliopolis. But they called it Eloheem, God. It was not intended as a revolt from God, but as an image, or rather symbol, of God, and the feast in honour of it was called “a feast to Jehovah.” Exo_32:4-5. They might have viewed it in the light of a cherubic symbol, of which the Egyptian worship had many. But it was a gross violation of the second commandment, and was thus considered.
Exo_32:8; comp. Act_7:40-41. The whole affair shows the debased condition of the people, from their long residence in Egypt. In returning from Korah’s conspiracy to the calf at Horeb, the author reverses the historical order of events.
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Horeb—According to Robinson, this was the generic name for the whole range of mountains, and Sinai the specific name of that portion where the law was given. But Ritter thinks Horeb also applies to that particular section where the rock was smitten. Exo_17:6. The names evidently are here used interchangeably. In passing from the plain er-Rahah into the Wady Shu’eib, or Convent Valley, the traveller still sees upon his left, at the mouth of the wady and on the edge of the plain, at the foot of the awful mount, the notable eminence called the “Hill of Aaron,” or “Hill of the Golden Calf,” a spot which tradition has well identified. Coincident with this is the fact that when Moses descended from the mount, before he came in sight of the people, he heard a noise of voices in the camp. Exo_32:15-19. Palmer says: “Often in descending the Wady Shu’eib, while the precipitous sides of the ravine hid the tents from our gaze, have I heard the sound of voices from below, and thought of Joshua and Moses,” etc., as in the passage above quoted. It seems certain that Moses must have ascended and descended through this wady, the only feasible path to and from the great plains of er-Rahah and Wady Sheikh.
Molten image—The calf might have been made of massive gold, but from the fact that Moses “burnt it and ground it to powder,” (Exo_32:20,) it would seem to have been made of wood and plated with gold.
Worshipped—From the formality of “building an altar and proclaiming a feast to Jehovah,” it would appear that sacrifices to Jehovah were first offered, as on the great feast days, (Leviticus 23,) followed by a festival. The whole affair was a strange mixture of Mosaism and heathenism. The word “play,” (Exo_32:6,) which was part of the festive ceremony, must be taken technically of lewdness and debauch, added to singing, dancing, and shouting. It is translated “mock,” Gen_39:14; Gen_39:17. Compare also the worship of Baal-peor. Numbers 25
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 19. in Horeb] The name always given to Sinai…
19. in Horeb] The name always given to Sinai in Deuteronomy (except Deu_33:2). The use of it seems to indicate that the narrative of Deu_9:8 ff. was in the Psalmist’s mind. Cp. notes on Psa_106:23; Psa_106:25; Psa_106:29. In Horeb, “the mount of God” (Exo_3:1), when Jehovah was revealing Himself to them (Deu_4:10 ff), they limited and materialised and degraded the idea of Deity, in defiance of the express commandment which He had given them.
19–23. A fourth sin; the worship of the calf (Exodus 32; Deu_9:8 ff.).
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 (19) In Horeb.—This expression, which is Deuteronomic (see Deu_4:15;…
(19) In Horeb.—This expression, which is Deuteronomic (see Deu_4:15; Deu_5:2, &c), shows that Deu_9:8-12, as well as Exodus 32, was before the poet.
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 They made a calf in Horeb. (comp. Exo_32:4 Deu_9:8-16)…
They made a calf in Horeb. (comp. Exo_32:4 Deu_9:8-16) And worshipped the molten image; rather, a molten image. (comp. Exo_32:4, 24 Deu_9:12, Deu_9:16) The sin was not only against the light of nature, but was expressly forbidden by the second commandment. (Exo_20:4, Exo_20:5)
Vers. 19, 20. The sin of the golden calf.
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"They changed their glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth grass" (Revised Version). "Into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay" (Prayer book Version). The idea is that the revelation of God as an unseen spiritual Being, requiring the service of righteousness, was the distinguishing glory of Israel. But this revelation they did not rightly value, but, at the first opportunity, bartered it away for a material god, of sensual character, who was served by the licence of self-indulgence. In this they were not merely disobedient; they showed their incapacity for high things, their unfitness to become the agents of God"s most gracious designs for the human race. The sin was a fourfold one.
I IT WAS THE SIN OF DISOBEDIENCE TO COMMAND. It should be clearly shown that Israel was bound to obedience to Jehovah before the Decalogue was given. The scene of Sinai is improperly called the giving of the Law; it is properly the formulating of the Law. The people owned allegiance to the God of their fathers, to the God who had delivered them from Egypt; and their willingness to obey was actually pledged afresh before Moses ascended the mount. (see Exo_19:7, Exo_19:8) They were bidden wait to receive a communication from God; they disobeyed, and acted without direction. Disobedience is often due to the restlessness that cannot wait.
II IT WAS THE SIN OF UNFAITHFULNESS TO TRUST. The spirituality of God was the supreme national trust. Neither Abraham, Isaac, nor Jacob ever saw God, but he was a real Power in their lives. In Egypt God was never seen, but he did mighty deeds. Put fully, the unity, spirituality, and holiness of Jehovah were committed to the care of the Abrahamic race, and that race was to preserve these truths while the rest of the world freely experimented on constructing religions and deities for itself. To make idolatrous images of God, the spiritual Being, was unfaithful to trust.
III IT WAS THE SIN OF "FOLLOWING THE DEVICES OF THEIR OWN HEARTS." Or self-willedness. They asked what they liked, as if they were independent; not what God liked, as if they were dependent on him. The essence of sin for a creature is self-will. Triumph over self-will is the supreme aim of religion. That golden calf was a self-willed thing; as such there could be no religion in it. Through, and by means of, that golden calf the people did but worship themselves; what they personified was their own will, not God. Men deceive themselves when they fashion their own gods; they can only rightly take God as revealed to them.
IV IT WAS THE SIN OF DISHONOURING GOD. The symbol they chose was an insult. True, their associations in Egypt suggested no other; and perhaps the ox was in some sense their national symbol. So their god was the personified nation. The spiritual Jehovah is degraded in men"s minds when associated with a mere beast. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 19. They made a calf in Horeb. In…
Ver. 19. They made a calf in Horeb. In the very place where they had solemnly pledged themselves to obey the Lord they broke the second, if not the first, of his commandments, and set up the Egyptian symbol of the ox, and bowed before it. The ox image is here sarcastically called "a calf"; idols are worthy of no respect, scorn is never more legitimately used than when it is poured upon all attempts to set forth the Invisible God. The Israelites were foolish indeed when they thought they saw the slightest divine glory in a bull, nay, in the mere image of a bull. To believe that the image of a bull could be the image of God must need great credulity.
And worshipped the molten image. Before it they paid divine honours, and said, "These be thy gods, O Israel." This was sheer madness. After the same fashion the Ritualists must needs set up their symbols and multiply them exceedingly. Spiritual worship they seem unable to apprehend; their worship is sensuous to the highest degree, and appeals to eye, and ear, and nose. O the folly of men to block up their own way to acceptable worship, and to make the path of spiritual religion, which is hard to our nature, harder still through the stumblingblocks which they cast into it. We have heard the richness of Popish paraphernalia much extolled, but an idolatrous image when made of gold is not one jot the less abominable than it would have been had it been made of dross and dung: the beauty of art cannot conceal the deformity of sin. We are told also of the suggestiveness of their symbols, but what of that, when God forbids the use of them? Vain also is it to plead that such worship is hearty. So much the worse. Heartiness in forbidden actions is only an increase of transgression.
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Ver. 19. They made a calf. And why a calf? Could they find no fitter resemblance of God amongst all the creatures? Why not rather the lordly lion, to show the sovereignty; vast elephant, the immensity; subtle serpent, the wisdom; long-lived hart, the eternity; swift eagle, the ubiquity of God, rather than the silly senseless calf, that eateth hay? But the shape matters not much, for if God be made like anything, he may be made like anything, it being as unlawful to fashion him an angel as a worm, seeing the commandment forbids as well the likeness of things in heaven above as ill earth beneath (Ex 20:4). But probably a calf was preferred before other forms because they had learned it from the Egyptians' worshipping their ox Apis. Thus the Israelites borrowed (Ex 12:35) not all gold and silver but some dross from the Egyptians, whence they fetch the idolatrous forms of their worship.
Ver. 19. The modern Jews are of opinion that all the afflictions which ever since have, do, or shall befall their nation, are still the just punishments on them for this their first act of idolatry. And the rabbins have a saying that God never inflicts any judgment upon them, but there is an ounce of his anger on them for their ancestors' making the golden calf. A reverend friend of mine, conversing at Amsterdam with a Jewish youth (very capable and ingenious for one of that nation) endeavoured to make him sensible of God's anger upon them for rejecting and crucifying of Christ, for which foul act he showed how the Jews have lived many hundred years in miserable banishment. But the youth would in no wise acknowledge in their sufferings any effect or punishment of their murdering of Christ, but taking his Bible turned to God's threatening immediately after their making of the calf (Ex 33:34); "Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them", so interpreting and applying all the numerous calamities which since have befallen them to relate to no other cause than that their first idolatry. Whereas, indeed, the arrears of their idolatry long ago were satisfied, and this is a new debt of later date contracted on themselves by their infidelity. Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661, in "A Pisgah Sight of Palestine."
Ver. 19. They made a calf, etc. This people had seen this idolatrous service in Egypt; and now they did not more long after Egyptian food, than after this Egyptian god...It is an easy matter for men to be drawn to the practice of that idolatry that they have been accustomed to see practised in those places that they have a long time lived in. He that would take heed of idolatry, let him take heed of Egypt; the very air of Egypt (as I may so say) is infectious in this kind. See here, they had seen the worship of a young bullock in Egypt, and they must have a bullock...
The local seat of Antichrist (and what seat can that be but Rome?) is called in the Revelation by three names: it is called Egypt, Re 2:8. It is called Sodom in the same verse. It is called Babylon in many places of the Revelation. It is called Babylon, in regard of her cruelty. It is called Sodom, in regard to her filthiness; and Egypt, in regard of her idolatry.
It is a hard matter for a man to live in Egypt, and not to taste and savour somewhat of the idolatry of Egypt. We had sometime, in England, a proverb about going to Rome. They said, a man that went the first time to Rome, he went to see a wicked man there; he that went the second rime to Rome, went to be acquainted with that wicked man there; he that went the third time, brought him home with him. How many have we seen (and it is pity to see so many) of our nobility and gentry go to those Egyptian, parts, and return home again; but few of them bring home the same manners, the same religion, nor the same souls they carried out with them. Thomas Westfield, Bishop of Brigtow, in "England's Face in Israel's Glasse", 1658.
Ver. 19. In Horeb. There is a peculiar stress on the words "in Horeb", as denoting the very place where the great manifestation of God's power and presence has been made, and where the law had been given, whose very first words were a prohibition of the sin of idolatry. Agellius, in Neale and Littledale.
Ver. 19-20. Apis, or Serapis, was a true living black bull, with a white list or streak along the back, a white mark in fashion of an half moon on his right shoulder, only two hairs growing on his tail (why just so many and no more, the devil knows), with a fair square blaze on his forehead, and a great bunch called cantharus under his tongue. What art their priests did use to keep up the breed and preserve succession of cattle with such gwrismata, or privy marks, I list not to inquire...Besides this natural and living bull, kept in one place, they also worshipped boun diacruson, a golden or gilded ox, the image or portraiture of the former. Some conceive this Apis to have been the symbol and emblem of Joseph the patriarch, so called from ba, ab, a father, seeing he is said to be made by God a father to Pharaoh (Ge 45:8), that is, preserver of him and his country; and therefore the Egyptians, in after ages, gratified his memory with statues of an ox, a creature so useful in ploughing, sowing, bringing home, and treading out of corn, to perpetuate that gift of grain he had conferred upon them. They strengthen their conjecture because Serapis (which one will have to be nothing else but Apis with addition of rv, sar, that is, a prince, whence perchance our English Sir) was pictured with a bushel over his head, and Joseph (we know) was corn meter general in Egypt. Though others, on good ground, conceive ox worship in Egypt of far greater antiquity.
However, hence Aaron (Ex 32:4), and hence afterwards Jeroboam (who flying from Solomon, lived some years with Shishak, king of Egypt, 1Ki 11:40) had the pattern of their calves, which they made for the children of Israel to worship. If any object the Egyptians' idols were bulls or oxen, the Israelites' but calves, the difference is not considerable; for (besides the objector never looked into the mouths of the latter to know their age) gradus non variat speciem, a less character is not another letter. Yea, Herodotus calls Apis himself moscov, a calf, and Vitulus is of as large acceptation among the Latins. Such an old calf the poet describes
Ego hanc vitalam (ne forte recuses
Bis venit ad mulctram binos alit ubere faetus)
Depono.
My calf I lay (lest you mistake both tides
She comes to the pail and suckles twain besides).
But to put all out of doubt, what in Exodus is termed a calf, the psalmist calleth an ox (Ps 106:20). Thomas Fuller.
Ver. 19-22. It is to be hoped, we shall never live to see a time, when the miracles of our redemption shall be forgotten; when the return of Jesus Christ from heaven shall be despaired of; and when the people shall solicit their teachers to fabricate a new philosophical deity, for them to worship, instead of the God of their ancestors, to whom glory hath been ascribed from generation to generation. George Horne.
Ver. 19. The sinner as an inventor.
Ver. 19-22.
1. The Sin remembered.
(a) Idolatry: not forgetting God merely, or disowning
him, but setting up an idol in his place.
(b) Idolatry of the worst kind: changing be glory of God
into the similitude of an ox, etc.
(c) The idolatry of Egypt under which they had suffered,
and from which they had been delivered.
(d) Idolatry after many wonderful interpositions of the
true God in their behalf.
2. The Remembrance of Sin.
(a) For Humiliation. It was the sin of their fathers.
(b) For self condemnation. "We have sinned with our
fathers." It was our nature in them, and it is their
nature in us that has committed this great sin.
Psalms 106:20*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the…
Psa_106:19-23
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
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The idolatry of man and the indignation of Heaven
I. The idolatry of man (verses 19, 20).
1. The strength of the religious instinct. Man must have a God. If he loses the true one, he will create a false one.
2. An unrighteous compliance with a popular demand. The preacher who ministers to the prejudices and tastes of his people, commits the same sin as Aaron did when he made the golden calf.
3. The force of early habit. Before his figure they had been wont to bow in Egypt, and by the instinct of habit they cried out for his figure now in the wilderness. To see God everywhere is one thing; to make everything God, is another. The one is right, binding, and useful; and the other is wrong, sinful, and pernicious.
II. The indignation of heaven (verse 23). All this idolatry and forgetfulness were offensive to Him, and lie determined on their destruction. Why did He not strike the fatal blow at once? Moses His chosen stood before Him, etc. See here the marvellous efficacy of prayer. The Bible teaches that The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and gives us many instances of this; but how it affects God I know not. Let us grasp the fact and live accordingly. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a…
They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast metal figure
This information can be reordered so that it is clear that the calf was the cast metal figure. AT: "At Horeb, they made a cast metal figure of a calf and worshiped it" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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They traded the glory of God for the image of a bull
This means that instead of worshiping God they worshiped the image of the bull. AT: "They traded worshiping the glory of God to worship the image of a bull" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the glory of God
Here God is referred to by his glory. AT: "their glorious God" or "God who is glorious" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
cow
Horeb
worship
image
glory
Savior
works
Egypt
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 4.0 106:19-23 they bowed before an image: The people forgot…
106:19-23 they bowed before an image: The people forgot their Savior and committed the sin of idolatry (see Exod 32:1-6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.