1Mais le peuple, voyant que Moïse tardait à descendre de la montagne, s'assembla vers Aaron et lui dit: Viens, fais-nous des dieux qui marchent devant nous; car pour ce Moïse, cet homme qui nous a fait monter du pays d'Égypte, nous ne savons ce qui lui est arrivé. 2Et Aaron leur répondit: Mettez en pièces les anneaux d'or qui sont aux oreilles de vos femmes, de vos fils et de vos filles, et apportez-les-moi. 3Et tout le peuple mit en pièces les anneaux d'or qui étaient à leurs oreilles; et ils les apportèrent à Aaron, 4Qui les prit de leur main, travailla l'or au ciseau, et en fit un veau de fonte. Alors ils dirent: Voici tes dieux, ô Israël, qui t'ont fait monter du pays d'Égypte. 5Aaron, voyant cela, bâtit un autel devant lui. Puis, Aaron cria et dit: Demain il y aura fête en l'honneur de YEHOVAH! 6Ils se levèrent donc de bon matin, le lendemain, et ils offrirent des offrandes à brûler, et ils présentèrent des sacrifices de prospérité, et le peuple s'assit pour manger et boire; puis ils se levèrent pour se divertir. 7Alors YEHOVAH dit à Moïse: Va, descends, car ton peuple, que tu as fait monter du pays d'Égypte, s'est corrompu; 8Ils se sont bientôt détournés de la voie que je leur avais prescrite; ils se sont fait un veau de fonte, se sont prosternés devant lui, lui ont sacrifié, et ont dit: Voici tes dieux, ô Israël, qui t'ont fait monter du pays d'Égypte. 9YEHOVAH dit aussi à Moïse: J'ai regardé ce peuple, et voici, c'est un peuple au cou raide. 10Or maintenant, laisse-moi faire; que ma colère s'enflamme contre eux, et que je les consume; mais je ferai de toi une grande nation. 11Alors Moïse supplia YEHOVAH son Dieu, et dit: Pourquoi, ô YEHOVAH! ta colère s'enflammerait-elle contre ton peuple, que tu as fait sortir du pays d'Égypte avec une grande puissance et par une main forte? 12Pourquoi les Égyptiens diraient-ils: Il les a fait sortir pour leur malheur, pour les tuer dans les montagnes, et pour les consumer de dessus la terre? Reviens de l'ardeur de ta colère, et repens-toi du mal que tu veux faire à ton peuple. 13Souviens-toi d'Abraham, d'Isaac et d'Israël, tes serviteurs, auxquels tu as juré par toi-même, en leur disant: Je multiplierai votre postérité comme les étoiles des cieux, et je donnerai à votre postérité tout ce pays dont j'ai parlé, et ils le posséderont à jamais. 14Et YEHOVAH se repentit du mal qu'il avait dit qu'il ferait à son peuple. 15Alors Moïse retourna et descendit de la montagne, les deux tables du Témoignage en sa main, les tables écrites des deux côtés; elles étaient écrites sur l'une et l'autre face. 16Et les tables étaient l'ouvrage de Dieu; l'écriture aussi était l'écriture de Dieu, gravée sur les tables. 17Or Josué entendit la voix du peuple qui poussait des cris, et il dit à Moïse: Il y a un bruit de bataille dans le camp. 18Et Moïse dit: Ce n'est ni un bruit de cris de victoire, ni un bruit de cris de défaite; j'entends un bruit de chants. 19Et lorsqu'il fut près du camp, il vit le veau et les danses. Alors la colère de Moïse s'enflamma, et il jeta de ses mains les tables, et les brisa au pied de la montagne. 20Puis, il prit le veau qu'ils avaient fait, le brûla au feu, et le broya jusqu'à ce qu'il fût réduit en poudre, qu'il répandit sur l'eau, et il en fit boire aux enfants d'Israël. 21Et Moïse dit à Aaron: Que t'a fait ce peuple, que tu aies attiré sur lui un si grand péché? 22Et Aaron répondit: Que la colère de mon seigneur ne s'enflamme point; tu sais que ce peuple est porté au mal; 23Ils m'ont dit: Fais-nous des dieux qui marchent devant nous; car pour ce Moïse, cet homme qui nous a fait monter du pays d'Égypte, nous ne savons ce qui lui est arrivé. 24Alors je leur ai dit: Que ceux qui ont de l'or s'en dépouillent; et ils me l'ont donné, et je l'ai jeté au feu, et il en est sorti ce veau. 25Or, Moïse vit que le peuple était sans frein; car Aaron l'avait laissé sans frein, objet d'opprobre parmi leurs ennemis. 26Alors Moïse se tint à la porte du camp, et dit: À moi quiconque est pour YEHOVAH! Et tous les enfants de Lévi s'assemblèrent vers lui. 27Et il leur dit: Ainsi a dit YEHOVAH, le Dieu d'Israël: Que chacun de vous mette son épée au côté. Passez et repassez, de porte en porte, dans le camp; et tuez chacun son frère, chacun son ami, et chacun son voisin. 28Et les enfants de Lévi firent selon la parole de Moïse; et il y eut en ce jour-là environ trois mille hommes du peuple qui périrent. 29Or Moïse avait dit: Consacrez aujourd'hui vos mains à YEHOVAH, chacun de vous, même au prix de son fils ou de son frère, pour attirer aujourd'hui sur vous la bénédiction. 30Et le lendemain Moïse dit au peuple: Vous avez commis un grand péché; mais maintenant je monterai vers YEHOVAH; peut-être obtiendrai-je le pardon de votre péché. 31Moïse retourna donc vers YEHOVAH, et dit: Hélas! ce peuple a commis un grand péché, en se faisant des dieux d'or; 32Mais maintenant, pardonne leur péché! Sinon, efface-moi de ton livre que tu as écrit. 33Et YEHOVAH répondit à Moïse: Celui qui aura péché contre moi, je l'effacerai de mon livre. 34Et maintenant, va, conduis le peuple où je t'ai dit. Voici, mon ange ira devant toi; mais, au jour où j'exercerai la punition, je punirai sur eux leur péché. 35Ainsi YEHOVAH frappa le peuple, parce qu'il avait été l'auteur du veau qu'avait fait Aaron.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE GOLDEN CALF. (Exo. 32:1-35)
when the people saw that Moses delayed--They supposed that he had lost his way in the darkness or perished in the fire.
the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron--rather, "against" Aaron in a tumultuous manner, to compel him to do what they wished. The incidents related in this chapter disclose a state of popular sentiment and feeling among the Israelites that stands in singular contrast to the tone of profound and humble reverence they displayed at the giving of the law. Within a space of little more than thirty days, their impressions were dissipated. Although they were still encamped upon ground which they had every reason to regard as holy; although the cloud of glory that capped the summit of Sinai was still before their eyes, affording a visible demonstration of their being in close contact, or rather in the immediate presence, of God, they acted as if they had entirely forgotten the impressive scenes of which they had been so recently the witnesses.
said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us--The Hebrew word rendered "gods" is simply the name of God in its plural form. The image made was single, and therefore it would be imputing to the Israelites a greater sin than they were guilty of, to charge them with renouncing the worship of the true God for idols. The fact is, that they required, like children, to have something to strike their senses, and as the Shekinah, "the glory of God," of which they had hitherto enjoyed the sight, was now veiled, they wished for some visible material object as the symbol of the divine presence, which should go before them as the pillar of fire had done.
2 Aaron said, . . . Break off . . . earrings--It was not an Egyptian custom for young men to wear earrings, and the circumstance, therefore, seems to point out "the mixed rabble," who were chiefly foreign slaves, as the ringleaders in this insurrection. In giving direction to break their earrings, Aaron probably calculated on gaining time; or, perhaps, on their covetousness and love of finery proving stronger than their idolatrous propensity. If such were his expectations, they were doomed to signal disappointment. Better to have calmly and earnestly remonstrated with them, or to have preferred duty to expediency, leaving the issue in the hands of Providence.
3 all the people brake off the golden earrings--The Egyptian rings, as seen on the monuments, were round massy plates of metal; and as they were rings of this sort the Israelites wore, their size and number must, in the general collection, have produced a large store of the precious metal.
4 fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf--The words are transposed, and the rendering should be, "he framed with a graving tool the image to be made, and having poured the liquid gold into the mould, he made it a molten calf." It is not said whether it was of life size, whether it was of solid gold or merely a wooden frame covered with plates of gold. This idol seems to have been the god Apis, the chief deity of the Egyptians, worshipped at Memphis under the form of a live ox, three years old. It was distinguished by a triangular white spot on its forehead and other peculiar marks. Images of it in the form of a whole ox, or of a calf's head on the end of a pole, were very common; and it makes a great figure on the monuments where it is represented in the van of all processions, as borne aloft on men's shoulders.
they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt--It is inconceivable that they, who but a few weeks before had witnessed such amazing demonstrations of the true God, could have suddenly sunk to such a pitch of infatuation and brutish stupidity, as to imagine that human art or hands could make a god that should go before them. But it must be borne in mind, that though by election and in name they were the people of God, they were as yet, in feelings and associations, in habits and tastes, little, if at all different, from Egyptians. They meant the calf to be an image, a visible sign or symbol of Jehovah, so that their sin consisted not in a breach of the FIRST [
Exod 20:3], but of the SECOND commandment [
Exod 20:4-
Exod 20:6].
5 Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord--a remarkable circumstance, strongly confirmatory of the view that they had not renounced the worship of Jehovah, but in accordance with Egyptian notions, had formed an image with which they had been familiar, to be the visible symbol of the divine presence. But there seems to have been much of the revelry that marked the feasts of the heathen.
7 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.
10 make of thee a great nation--Care must be taken not to suppose this language as betokening any change or vacillation in the divine purpose. The covenant made with the patriarchs had been ratified in the most solemn manner; it could not and never was intended that it should be broken. But the manner in which God spoke to Moses served two important purposes--it tended to develop the faith and intercessory patriotism of the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious alarm of the people, that God would reject them and deprive them of the privileges they had fondly fancied were so secure.
15 Moses turned, and went down from the mount--The plain, Er-Raheh, is not visible from the top of Jebel Musa, nor can the mount be descended on the side towards that valley; hence Moses and his companion, who on duty had patiently waited his return in the hollow of the mountain's brow, heard the shouting some time before they actually saw the camp.
19 Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands--The arrival of the leader, like the appearance of a specter, arrested the revellers in the midst of their carnival, and his act of righteous indignation when he dashed on the ground the tables of the law, in token that as they had so soon departed from their covenant relation, so God could withdraw the peculiar privileges that He had promised them--that act, together with the rigorous measures that followed, forms one of the most striking scenes recorded in sacred history.
20 he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, &c.--It has been supposed that the gold was dissolved by natron or some chemical substance. But there is no mention of solubility here, or in
Deut 9:21; it was "burned in the fire," to cast it into ingots of suitable size for the operations which follow--"grounded to powder"; the powder of malleable metals can be ground so fine as to resemble dust from the wings of a moth or butterfly; and these dust particles will float in water for hours, and in a running stream for days. These operations of grinding were intended to show contempt for such worthless gods, and the Israelites would be made to remember the humiliating lesson by the state of the water they had drunk for a time [NAPIER]. Others think that as the idolatrous festivals were usually ended with great use of sweet wine, the nauseous draught of the gold dust would be a severe punishment (compare
2Kgs 23:6,
2Kgs 23:15;
2Chr 15:16;
2Chr 34:7).
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot--Aaron cuts a poor figure, making a shuffling excuse and betraying more dread of the anger of Moses than of the Lord (compare
Deut 9:20).
25 naked--either unarmed and defenseless, or ashamed from a sense of guilt. Some think they were literally naked, as the Egyptians performed some of their rites in that indecent manner.
26 Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said--The camp is supposed to have been protected by a rampart after the attack of the Amalekites.
Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me--The zeal and courage of Moses was astonishing, considering he opposed an intoxicated mob. The people were separated into two divisions, and those who were the boldest and most obstinate in vindicating their idolatry were put to death, while the rest, who withdrew in shame or sorrow, were spared.
29 Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord--or, "Ye have consecrated yourselves to-day." The Levites, notwithstanding the dejection of Aaron, distinguished themselves by their zeal for the honor of God and their conduct in doing the office of executioners on this occasion; and this was one reason that they were appointed to a high and honorable office in the service of the sanctuary.
30 Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin--Moses labored to show the people the heinous nature of their sin, and to bring them to repentance. But not content with that, he hastened more earnestly to intercede for them.
32 blot me . . . out of thy book--an allusion to the registering of the living, and erasing the names of those who die. What warmth of affection did he evince for his brethren! How fully was he animated with the true spirit of a patriot, when he professed his willingness to die for them. But Christ actually died for His people (
Rom 5:8).
35 the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf--No immediate judgments were inflicted, but this early lapse into idolatry was always mentioned as an aggravation of their subsequent apostasies.