Exodus 32:10, commentary and pictures

God spoke to Moses on the mount to warn of Israel's apostasy with the calf and to declare that His wrath burned hot to consume them and make a great nation of Moses instead. By making and worshiping the calf they had corrupted themselves, broken covenant and forfeited His favor, so that He disowned them as a stiff-necked people under just sentence of destruction. The command to be left alone did not forbid pleading but invited it, giving hope that destruction would not proceed if Moses took hold of God's strength, while proving whether he would seek his own ease and greatness or remain faithful to his charge. Moses refused personal exaltation and a greater name, choosing to bear the burden of the people and standing between them and destruction with earnest appeal to God's mighty deliverance from Egypt, His name among the Egyptians, and His oath to Abraham, Isaac and Israel. His unselfish intercession prevailed so that God relented and spared the repentant and gave another opportunity, cutting off only the stubbornly rebellious, leaving the sin as a lasting testimony to the justice and long-suffering mercy required by His law and government.

Setting and Occasion

The word came to Moses in the mount as a warning that apostasy had broken out in the camp below, with direction to return without delay. At that time he was receiving the written law on tables of stone together with directions and the pattern for the sanctuary, during the forty days when the cloud of the Presence still stood before the people. What had happened was that after promising obedience he had gone up to receive the pattern of the ark and the sanctuary building, and when he did not come down the people's discontent and unbelief began to show itself in marked manner.

They had only recently heard God's law, pledged obedience, and been given a waiting time to meditate upon it and by clearer understanding and humbling to prepare their hearts to receive further revelation, which would have shielded them from temptation, yet they quickly broke covenant and turned out of the commanded way. With the cloud still before them they turned back in their hearts to Egypt and sought to represent the glory of the invisible God by the similitude of an ox. Their worship of the golden calf, expressly forbidden by God, kindled His anger against them as a stiff-necked people.

At the suggestion of those who had practiced ox or calf worship in Egypt, the mixed multitude first murmured in impatience to reach the land flowing with milk and honey promised only on condition of obedience, then demanded gods and led the apostasy. They had a calf made and worshiped to represent God and to go before them in the place of Moses, crediting it with bringing them out of Egypt, sacrificing to it and bowing in adoration before a golden image in open defiance of the commands they had pledged to obey. Aaron yielded to the people and made the molten calf, though as the one left in charge he bore the burden of guardianship with them. His claim with others to share the burden rested on having been chosen to aid Moses and on the Lord having spoken by them as well as by Moses, yet Moses alone felt his weakness and the greatness of the work committed to him.

This was done though God had given no manner of similitude of Himself and had prohibited any material representation. The mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea were designed to establish faith in Him as the invisible, all-powerful Helper, the only true God, and desire for visible manifestation had been granted in the pillar of cloud and of fire guiding them and in the revealing of His glory on Sinai. Aaron as guardian left in charge could have checked the evil by standing for the right irrespective of consequences, holding his own allegiance to God without wavering, citing the people to the perils of Sinai and reminding them of their solemn covenant to obey God's law. Instead his compliance with the desires of the people and the calm assurance with which he carried out their plans emboldened them to go to greater lengths in sin than had before entered their minds, bringing God's wrath upon them.

Their calf worship was idolatry accompanied by the gross license of heathen worship and its sensual practices. Though they professed to worship Jehovah, the image represented the Egyptian sun-god, so the real object of their adoration was not God. Their course was eating and drinking and leaping, singing and dancing around the calf, for which the Lord threatened to destroy Israel as a nation. Once Aaron allowed the people to begin wrongdoing, the departure from God's commands let idolatry take hold and the resulting course could not be stopped until stern and decisive measures were taken.

In that crisis of severe temptation to idolatry at Sinai, Aaron proved an unfaithful general who failed to carry the people through and united with them in carrying out their plans. He failed to lead them away from idolatry while Moses was on the mountain, leaving them unguarded and letting the evil grow unchecked. He was in such danger that the Lord would have destroyed him and he certainly would have been slain had Moses not interposed and interceded in his behalf.

Meaning of Threat

By making and worshiping the calf the people corrupted themselves, forfeited God's favor, and disannulled His covenant so that He disowned them as thy people rather than His own. As a stiff-necked people stubbornly refusing His law and rule they came under His wrath, and justice called for their destruction. God asks to be left alone so His wrath may burn hot and consume them, while proposing to destroy Israel and make Moses and his descendants the beginning of a great and mighty nation instead.

God allowed the movement to reach this height instead of checking it at the outset in order to teach all a lesson in His punishment of treason and apostasy. The words Let me alone do not forbid intercession but encourage it, giving ground for hope where there appeared only wrath. They mean the threatened punishment would not proceed if Moses' faith took hold of God's strength to make peace for Israel, implying that nothing but Moses' prayers could save them but that if entreated God would spare them.

The offer was a proving and testing of Moses, not an arbitrary purpose to destroy, giving Israel a chance to return. For God saw that Israel, especially the mixed multitude, was continually disposed to rebel and provoke Him. He knew their future murmuring in difficulty and continual rebellion would grieve Moses and make leading such an erring, ungrateful people through to the promised land a laborious and soul-trying work.

Testing of Moses

The proposal to consume Israel and make a great nation of Moses instead put Moses to the test whether he would seek his own greatness or remain faithful to the people he was charged to lead. It offered him release from toil and murmuring for a life of ease and honor, while God knew how the people, especially the mixed multitude continually disposed to rebel, would grieve him by future murmuring in difficulty. The same proposal was made several times, and Moses would not consent to it but chose to continue bearing the burden of leading them.

The offer tested him with the prospect of great personal honor and exaltation, a great name for himself, and becoming father and head of a greater and better nation than Israel. He refused to grasp personal advancement and honor, and continued to plead for Israel's salvation and for God's glory. He would not receive the choice proffered him but pleaded for Israel instead, refusing to give the people up to destruction.

By his intercession he showed that he valued the prosperity and survival of God's chosen people more highly than a great name for himself or being called father of a greater nation. His concern for the erring people outweighed personal advancement, and his love for them led him to risk everything for them. In this he proved faithful under the test of perseverance, faithfulness, and love for the laborious and soul-trying work of leading such an erring and ungrateful people through to the promised land.

God was pleased with his unselfish faithfulness, simplicity of heart, and integrity, listened to his unselfish pleading, and committed to him as a faithful shepherd the charge of leading Israel to the promised land.

Intercession and Sparing

Moses did not abandon the people entrusted to his care but stood between them and destruction, carrying their burden and pleading earnestly for their forgiveness and survival. He feared what would follow if God left them to hardness and impenitence, and his concern for their downfall included the dishonor it would bring to God before other nations. His intercession arose in the setting of God's threatened judgment after the golden-calf transgression, when the people's demand for a calf and Aaron's failure as their guardian had brought them into terrible danger.

He pleaded on the ground that they were the people God had brought out of Egypt with great power, urging that their destruction would damage God's name and glory because the Egyptians would reproach Him for it. He appealed also to God's oath and sworn promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, also named as Jacob, to multiply their seed and give them the land forever. He asked God to turn from anger and forgive their transgression, even asking to be blotted out of God's book if they could not be forgiven.

His compassion and earnest, unselfish prayer prevailed and moved God, who listened to him and relented from the evil and destruction He had threatened. God granted his request not to blot out the people, promised to spare Israel, and graciously gave them another opportunity to turn from idolatry. He refused personal honor if it meant Israel's destruction, valuing their welfare above his own name.

He also interposed for Aaron, who had failed to lead the people away from idolatry and had proved an unfaithful guardian in the crisis while Moses was on the mount to receive the tables of stone. Aaron was in such danger that the Lord would have destroyed him had Moses not interceded, and he certainly would have been slain in that crisis of severe temptation without that intercession. Yet judgment still distinguished between responses, for only those who stubbornly persisted in rebellion and ranged themselves against God and on Satan's side were cut off, while the humbled and repentant were mercifully pardoned. Prompt punishment thus restrained the spread of evil and protected Israel from greater ruin, while mercy gave freedom to choose and opportunity to repent.

Justice Mercy Warning

The threatened destruction belongs to Israel's apostasy at Sinai, when the people rebelled against the authority they had pledged to obey. God's law and government required justice for such persistent rebellion, while His mercy still gave them freedom to choose and opportunity to repent. Only those who persisted in rebellion were cut off, and prompt punishment restrained the spread of evil and protected Israel from greater ruin.

Satan had led Israel to this daring insult and blasphemy at the very foot of Sinai, while Moses was in the mount forty days receiving the written law. They had denied loyalty to Jehovah, demanded gods of gold, and bowed in adoration before a golden image in open defiance of the commands they had pledged to obey, hoping their utter degradation would move God to destroy them. By that destruction Satan planned to secure the extinction of the seed of Abraham that was to preserve the knowledge of the living God and through whom Christ the true seed was to come and conquer him, and thus to thwart the purposes of God. God did not destroy Israel; those who stubbornly ranged themselves on Satan's side were cut off, while the humbled and repentant were mercifully pardoned. This sin was left as a perpetual testimony to the guilt and punishment of idolatry and to the justice and long-suffering mercy of God.

That rebellion brought God's displeasure, seen in broken ranks and missing people, and the experience should have taught Israel a lasting lesson, but they failed to learn from it. God now looks in the same way upon His professed church, which has had great blessings and the living oracles opened to its understanding yet cherishes idols that separate from God. A great work is called for to wean members from their idols so they show the converting power of truth and are purified and made white and tried with their names found written in the book.