_The Episode of the Golden Calf, and incidents arising out of it, or mentioned in connexion with it_. The narrative of these Chapter s, read from a purely religious point of view, is remarkably beautiful and impressive; a striking picture is given not only of Moses" affection and noble self-devotio... [ Continue Reading ]
_delayed_ Heb. _caused shame_(i.e. disappointment): the same idiom, Judges 5:28 (lit. -Why doth his chariot _put to shame_in coming?"). _to Aaron_ who had been left below by Moses (Exodus 24:14). _Up_, &c. Hitherto Moses has been Jehovah's representative: now that he seems to have deserted them, t... [ Continue Reading ]
_of your sons_ earrings are not elsewhere in the OT. described as worn by males (unless indeed, by implication, in Genesis 35:4).... [ Continue Reading ]
_fashioned it_, &c. the earrings having naturally been previously melted down, and cast approximately into the shape of a young bull. The image may either have been of solid gold, or, in spite of the term -molten" (see Isaiah 30:22; and cf. Deuteronomy 7:25; Isaiah 40:19), have consisted of a wooden... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing the impression which the image made upon Israel, Aaron at once builds an altar before it, and proclaims a feast to Jehovah. The calf is thus clearly regarded, not as exclusive of Jehovah, but as _representing_Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_burnt offerings and peace offerings_ Cf. on Exodus 20:24. _to eat and to drink_ i.e. to take part in the sacred meal accompanying the peace-offering; cf. on Exodus 18:12. _to play_ to amuse themselves, e.g. by singing and dancing, _vv._18, 19. Comp. the quotation in 1 Corinthians 10:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy people_ not _mine_; Jehovah dissociates Himself from His sinful nation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah makes known to Moses the people's sin. The verses are not necessarily by a different hand (R JE [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. [218] E See pp. xi, xii.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the way_, &c. See Exodus 20:4; Exodus 20:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
_stiffnecked_ so Exodus 33:3; Exodus 33:5; Exodus 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6; Deuteronomy 9:13 (repeated from here)†.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah declares that He will exterminate the people: but allows Himself to be diverted from His purpose by Moses" intercession.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and I will make_, &c. The promise given to Abraham (Genesis 12:2) is now restricted to Moses (cf. Numbers 14:12).... [ Continue Reading ]
_besought_ properly, as Arabic seems to shew, - _made sweet_the face of," fig. for, _entreated, sought to conciliate_: a frequent idiom, e.g. 1Sa 13:12, 1 Kings 13:6; Jeremiah 26:19; with a human object, Psalms 45:12; Proverbs 19:6; Job 11:19. In the prayer which follows, Moses urges _four_motives f... [ Continue Reading ]
_For evil_ i.e. with an evil purpose. Cf. Deuteronomy 9:28 b. _the mountains_ viz. of the Sinaitic Peninsula.... [ Continue Reading ]
_to whom_, &c. See Genesis 22:16 (the only place in Genesis where the covenant is confirmed with an _oath_). _I will multiply_, &c. Genesis 22:17; cf. also Exodus 15:5; Exodus 26:4. _and all this land_, &c. Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:7; Genesis 15:18;... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_ JEHOVAH _repented_, &c. so Genesis 6:7, Jdg 2:18, 1 Samuel 15:11; 1 Samuel 15:35; 2 Samuel 24:16 _al._Hebrew writers often express themselves -anthropopathically," i.e. attribute to God the feelings or emotions of a man. God is thus said to -repent," not because He really changes His purpose,... [ Continue Reading ]
_of the testimony_ The expression is P's (see on Exodus 25:16); and will have been introduced here by R P [219] on the basis of Exodus 31:18 a, Exodus 34:29. E would have written -the tables of _stone_" (Exodus 31:18 b). [219] See pp. xi, xii. _written on both their sides_, &c. This statement is m... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses" return to the camp. His punishment of the people for their sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the work of God_, &c. See Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18 b.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Joshua_ whom Moses had left on the lower part of the mountain (Exodus 24:13), and whom he must be supposed to have now rejoined.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lit. _It is not the sound of the answering of might, neither is it the sound of the answering of weakness; the sound of answering-in-song do I hear_; i.e. not the answering cries of victors and vanquished, but the answering voices of singers, are what Moses hears. The passage (Di.) -has a highly pec... [ Continue Reading ]
_the dancing_ For dancing at a religious ceremony, see on Exodus 15:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
The people are made to drink their own sin. _burnt it with fire_ i.e. either (cf. on _v._4) burnt the wooden core, and ground the gold plating to powder by rolling large stones to and fro over it; or, if it were wholly of gold, reduced it by fire to shapeless lumps of metal, which were then ground... [ Continue Reading ]
Aaron, taken to task by Moses for what has occurred, makes excuses.... [ Continue Reading ]
Aaron first excuses himself by casting the blame upon the people: they are set on evil, and he merely (_v._33) responded to their request. _my lord_ as Numbers 11:28; Numbers 12:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
He next excuses himself by declaring that he merely threw the gold which they gave him into the fire, and the calf came out as it were spontaneously, without any cooperation on his part. Jehovah's anger with Aaron individually, His threat to destroy him, and Moses" intercession for him, narrated in... [ Continue Reading ]
_broken loose_… _let them loose_ viz. from their allegiance to Jehovah, under Aaron's leadership: cf. for the word Exodus 5:4. _for a_ WHISPERING (i.e. _a derision_: LXX. ἐπίχαρμα) _among_ THEM THAT ROSE UP AGAINST THEM] The expression is poetical, and may have been taken from an ancient song (so E... [ Continue Reading ]
The people being in rebellion, the Levites, responding in a body to Moses" appeal for help, seize their swords, and slay 3000 of them. For the zeal thus displayed on Jehovah's behalf, they are rewarded with the priesthood. It is noticeable that, though Aaron is a -Levite" (Exodus 4:17: see note), th... [ Continue Reading ]
The zeal of the sons of Levi for Jehovah. At Moses" summons, they seize their swords, and slay 3000 of the rebels.... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses decides quickly that prompt measures must be taken.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who_, &c. In the Heb., more tersely and forcibly, WHO IS FOR YAHWEH? TO ME!... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith_, &c. as Exodus 5:1; Joshua 7:13; 1 Samuel 10:18 _al._Moses speaks as a prophet. Cf. on Exodus 4:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Levites are invited to qualify themselves to receive the priesthood as a reward for their zeal. FILL YOUR HAND _to-day to_ JEHOVAH] i.e. (see on Exodus 28:41), Provide yourselves with sacrifices, that you may be installed into the priesthood. for _every man_(is) _against_, &c. That is the spir... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye_ the pron. is emphatic. _make_ PROPITIATION] viz. by intercession. The word (_kipper_) is used, not in the technical sense which it has in P (see on Exodus 30:10), but in that of _propitiating_or _appeasing_here by intercession, Genesis 32:20 by a present, Proverbs 16:14 by conciliatory behavio... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses, with noble disinterestedness, offers his own life, if he can thereby secure his people's pardon: Jehovah replies that He cannot on these terms take the life of the innocent; but He yields so far as to permit Moses to lead the people on to Canaan, though without His own personal presence. The... [ Continue Reading ]
_returned_ viz. to the mountain. _Oh_ Heb. _"ânnâ_, a particle of entreaty: Genesis 50:17 - _Oh_, forgive, we pray"; Isaiah 38:3 - _Oh_, Lord"; Nehemiah 1:5 (EVV. -I beseech thee").... [ Continue Reading ]
The sin of the Golden Calf, _vv._1 6; Jehovah, having told Moses that it is His intention to destroy the people in consequence, is diverted from His purpose by Moses" intercession, _vv._7 14; Moses, coming down from the mount, and seeing the calf and the dancing, breaks the tables of stone, and then... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah replies that He will blot out of His book not the righteous, but those only who have sinned against Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
He yields, however, so far to Moses" entreaty as to put off the punishment of the people to an indefinite future, and to bid Moses lead Israel on to Canaan, under the guidance not indeed of Himself personally, but of His angel. It is true, the angel usually (see on Exodus 3:1; Exodus 23:20) represen... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse seems here out of place (so Di.): perhaps it originally formed the sequel to _v._20 (We., Bä.). It does not read like a description of the punishment threatened at the end of _v._34. _which Aaron made_ The words read like a scribe's correction of the less exact -they made" just before.... [ Continue Reading ]