Exodus 32:4

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 core, overlaid with gold: v.24b though the terms used can hardly be pressed would suggest the former view, v.20 would favour the latter.

a graving tool a pointed metal instrument: the word rendered -pen" (i.e. a sharp metal stylus) in Isaiah 8:1.

calf The Heb. -çgelmeans a young bull, just as the fem. -eglâh(EVV. usually -heifer") means a young cow; but it does not mean necessarily an animal as young as a -calf": the -eglâhfor instance might be three years old (Genesis 15:9), and give milk (Isaiah 7:21), or plough (Judges 14:18).

These be thy gods Cf. almost the same words in 1 Kings 12:28: in the allusion, Nehemiah 9:18, the sing. -This" is used. -These" must refer to an actual plural, and is of course quite suitable in speaking of Jeroboam's two calves; here it seems as if the narrator had used the plural for the purpose of introducing a covert polemic against the calf-worship of the N. kingdom. So v.8.

which brought thee, &c. They recognize in the calf, not only the god who should in the future (v.1) go before them, but also the god who had already led them forth out of Egypt.