Exodus 32 – Let’s Get This Party Started!

When the people saw that Moses was gone for a long time up the mountain, they gathered together and said to Aaron, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Moses was up on the mountain from Exodus 24:15 getting all of God’s instructions through Exodus 31, so far. The people were getting antsy. The way they referred to Moses as “this Moses” seems to reflect a negative connotation. Aaron told the people to break off the golden earrings in the ears of their wives, sons, and daughters and bring them to him. So, the people did as Aaron said and he fashioned the gold with an engraving tool and made a molded calf. They said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” These people attributed all that the One True God did to bring them out of Egypt to a god Aaron just made by hand from their golden earrings. Have you ever given credit for something God has done to someone or something else? Have you ever taken the credit yourself rather than giving God the glory? When Aaron saw what he had made, he built an altar before it. Then Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” Keep in mind, God has instructed Moses to consecrate Aaron as priest. God, being the sovereign Lord that He is, already knew that Aaron would do this and yet, He didn’t change His plans to make Aaron the chief priest. Thank God for His mercy and His willingness to still use us for His service even after we mess up. With Aaron’s proclamation, it looks like he was the one who said, “Let’s get this party started!” The next day, the people rose early and offered burnt offerings, and peace offerings. They sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. I notice that they didn’t offer any sin offerings.

The Lord told Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.” Notice how God called the people Moses’ people that he brought out of Egypt. Looks like God is “disowning” them. We should be careful that sin doesn’t cause God to “disown” us. He told Moses that the people have turned aside quickly out of the way He commanded them and made themselves a molded calf to which they worshiped and made sacrifices. God even told Moses what they said about the calf being the god that brought them out of Egypt. God called the people stiff-necked (haughty and stubborn). God told Moses to leave Him alone so that His wrath could burn hot against the people so that He may consume them. He then offered to make Moses a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with God saying, “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” I notice that Moses disowned the people as well telling God they are His people that He brought out of Egypt. Moses asked God why should the Egyptians be able to say that God brought them out to harm and kill them in the mountains; to consume them from the face of the earth. Sounds like Moses is asking God, “Why give the Egyptians a reason to gloat?” Then Moses told God to turn from His fierce wrath and relent from the harm He was planning to do to them. Moses told God to remember His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob) to whom He swore by His own self (because there is no one greater by whom God can swear – Hebrews 6:13). The promise was that He would multiply their descendants as the stars of heaven and He would give them all the land He promised so that their descendants would inherit it forever. Moses put God in remembrance of His word (Isaiah 43:26). God relented from the harm that He said He was going to do to people because of Moses’ plea.

Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. The writing of God was engraved on both sides of the tablets. The tablets were truly the work of God.

Joshua was at a lower part of the mountain while Moses was getting all of the instructions God gave him. So as Moses and Joshua continued down the mountain, Joshua told Moses that he was hearing a noise of war in the camp. Moses said it wasn’t the shout of victory or the cry of defeat, but he was hearing singing. As Moses got near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing and he became very angry. He was so angry that he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. That party was on and poppin! Moses took the calf they made and burned it in the fire and ground it to powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. Moses asked Aaron what did the people do to him that he brought such a great sin upon them. So Aaron tells Moses not to let his anger be so hot. He knows that the people are set on evil. He said that the people told him to make them gods to go before them, because they didn’t know what had become of Moses. Now Aaron tries to down play his role in the matter by saying that he told the people that whoever had any gold for them to break it off and when they gave it to him, he cast it into the fire and the calf came out of it. Well, earlier in the chapter, we are told that he fashioned it himself with an engraving tool. Now magically, the calf came out of the fire all by itself. When Moses saw that the people were unrestrained, because Aaron did not restrain them, he stood in the entrance of the camp and said whoever is on the Lord’s side to come to him. The Bible also says Aaron’s inability to restrain the people was to their shame among their enemies. This goes to show that others are always watching God’s people. All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to Moses. Moses instructed the Levites that the Lord said for them to put their swords on their sides and go from entrance to entrance throughout the camp and every man should kill his brother, his companion, and his neighbor. So the Levites did as they were told and about three thousand men among the people were killed that day. Moses told the Levites to consecrate themselves to the Lord that day, so that the Lord could bestow blessings on them because every man opposed his son and his brother. The next day, Moses told the people that they had committed a great sin. He was going up to the Lord and see if he can make atonement for their sin. So Moses returned to the Lord and said that the people had committed a great sin and made for themselves a god of gold. He asked God to forgive their sin, but if He didn’t, Moses told God to blot him out of His book which He had written. The Lord told Moses that whoever had sinned against Him, He would blot out of His book. According to faithalone.org, this book is not the book of life referred to in Revelation, but this is the book of living (physical death, not eternal condemnation). How many of us would be willing to face physical death due to someone else’s sins? God told Moses to go and lead the people to the place where He told him. God said that His Angel would go before them. God said that in the day when He would visit for punishment, He would punish them for their sin. The Lord plagued the people because of their sin with the calf made by Aaron. Thank God that He relented from doing the harm to the people that He had originally planned.

Next week, it’s Exodus 33.

To God Be The Glory!

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