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Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

Exodus 32:20

Burnt it] It was probably not solid, but consisted of a wooden core overlaid with gold: cp. Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 44:12. The total abolition of the idol is indicated in the threefold treatment of burning it, reducing it to powder, and casting it into the water: cp. Deuteronomy 9:21. This last action was more than a means of dispersing the very atoms of which it was composed. The people were made to drink the water, a grim symbol of retribution, with which may be compared the procedure in connexion with the 'water that causeth a curse' in Numbers 5:23 : see also 2 Kings 23:6.

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See also Exodus 32:20 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Exodus 32:20. _HE TOOK THE CALF-AND BURNT - AND GROUND IT TO POWDER,_ _ C._] How truly contemptible must the object of their idolatry appear when they were obliged to drink their god, reduced t...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who we...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    4. ISRAEL ‘S SIN AND REBELLION CHAPTER 32 _ 1. The people in rebellion (Exodus 32:1)_ 2. Jehovah threatens his wrath (Exodus 32:7) 3. Moses beseeches Jehovah (Exodus 32:11) 4. Moses descends and

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    EXODUS 32:1 E, EXODUS 32:7 Rje, EXODUS 32:15 E, EXODUS 32:25 J,...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    BURNT.. secret known to the Egyptians. WATER. Compare Deuteronomy 9:2.Deuteronomy 17:6. CHILDREN. sons....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Moses" return to the camp. His punishment of the people for their sin....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    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...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 105 MOSES’ INDIGNATION AGAINST THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE GOLDEN CALF Exodus 32:19. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing. And Moses’...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    HE TOOK THE CALF—AND BURNT IT, &C.— This perhaps might be rendered more properly _he melted it down, and afterwards reduced it to powder._ It is not probable that this calf was of any considerable siz...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 32 And when the people saw that Mo-ses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aar-on, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, whi...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SOON AS HE CAME NIGH UNTO THE CAMP, THAT HE SAW THE CALF, AND THE DANCING: AND MOSES' ANGER WAXED HOT, AND HE CAST THE TABLES OUT OF HIS HANDS, AND BRAKE THEM BENEATH THE MOUN...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    EXODUS: *ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO MOSES EXODUS CHAPTER S 19 TO 40 _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 32 THE YOUNG *BULL THAT THE *ISRAELITES *WORSHIPPED – VERSES 1-35 A...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HE TOOK THE CALF. — To suppress the idolatry, the first step was to destroy the idol. Moses, who must have rallied to his side at once a certain number of the people, laid hold of the calf, and ordere...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יִּקַּ֞ח אֶת ־הָ עֵ֨גֶל אֲשֶׁ֤ר עָשׂוּ֙

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER XXXII. _ THE GOLDEN CALF._ Exodus 32:1 While God was thus providing for Israel, what had Israel done with God? They had grown weary of waiting: had despaired of and slighted their heroic lea...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    MOSES BREAKS THE TABLES AND BURNS THE CALF Exodus 32:15 There was no weak compromise on the part of Moses. He cast the tables from his hands as though he felt that the covenant between God and the He...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Immediately following the account of this period of communion between Moses and God we have the record of the sin of the people. When they said, "Up, make us Gods," they were seeking something to repr...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt [it] in the fire, and ground [it] to powder, and strawed [it] upon the water, and made the children of Israel (i) drink [of it]. (i) Partly to desp...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Calf. Having manifested his disapprobation of the people's conduct, in the most signal manner, by breaking the two tables; Moses proceeds to convince them of their stupidity, in adoring what he, in a...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Perhaps this was done to convince the children of Israel, how contemptible must be such gods which could be so reduced to nothing. 1 Corinthians 8:4....

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." Up to this point all the dealings of God have been the...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    20._And he took the calf which they had made _It might seem to be a cruel and inhuman punishment that Moses should in a manner infect the bowels of the people with the corruption of the crime. They ha...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Whilst God was thus preparing the precious things connected with His relationship with His people [1], the people, only thinking of what they saw in the human instrument of their deliverance, complete...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND HE TOOK THE CALF WHICH THEY HAD MADE, AND BURNT IT IN THE FIRE,.... Melted it down into a mass of gold, whereby it lost its form, and had no more the appearance of a calf: AND GROUND IT TO POWDER...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt [it] in the fire, and ground [it] to powder, and strawed [it] upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink [of it]. Ver. 20. _And he took...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _He took the calf which they had made_ The people were evidently overawed by the presence of Moses, and therefore attempted no resistance while he took away their idol to destroy it. Here we see how m...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The people in the absence of Moses, cause Aaron to make a calfe. 7 God is angred thereby. 11 At the intreatie of Moses he is appeased. 15 Moses commeth downe with the Tables. 19 He breaketh them...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. So he not only demonstrated to...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE WRATH OF MOSES...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    THIRD DIVISION The legislation as modified by the lapse of the people, and the intensified distinction between Jehovah and Israel as expressed in the more hierarchical constitution of the theocracy...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    THE GOLDEN CALF (vs.1-6) Moses forty days in the mount (the number of testing) was too much for the impatient children of Israel. They gathered to Aaron in united determination to have some substitut...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    15-20 What a change it is, to come down from the mount of communion with God, to converse with a wicked world. In God we see nothing but what is pure and pleasing; in the world nothing but what is sin...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    GROUND IT TO POWDER; melted it either into one great mass, or rather into divers little fragments, which afterwards by a the or other instruments he, by the help of many others, might soon grind to po...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    We have now to contemplate something very different from that Which has hitherto engaged our attention. " The pattern of things in the heavens," has been before us Christ in His glorious Person, graci...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Exodus 32:20 took H3947 (H8799) calf H5695 made H6213 (H8804) burned H8313 (H8799) fire H784 ground...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    MOSES DESCENDS AND WITNESSES WHAT IS HAPPENING AND ACTS DECISIVELY TO BRING MATTERS UNDER CONTROL (EXODUS 32:15). a Moses turns and descends with the tablets of the Covenant in His hands, which were...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Exodus 32:1. _And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before u...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The broken law; Israel worships a golden calf. Intercession of Moses. CHARACTERS: God, Moses, Aaron, Joshua. CONCLUSION: It is a great sin to make gold, or anything else, a god, as those d...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Exodus 32:1. _Unto Aaron._ Some copies read, the people gathered themselves together _against_ Aaron. He sinned through fear of man; but as the Lord did not punish him with the revolters, the latter w...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EXODUS 32:1 Covenant Breach, Intercession, and Renewal. This section illustrates Israel’s need for sanctification from the Lord. ⇐ ⇔

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    EXODUS—NOTE ON EXODUS 32:20 The text does not explain why the people had to drink the WATER containing the powdered remains of the calf. It may represent (1) a further step in the destruction and dese...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 32:15_ THE TRUTH GIVEN AND LOST We contemplate— I. THE TRUTH GIVEN, EXODUS 31 : Exodus 32:18. 1. The highest truth was _given_ to man. That truth could n...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION MOSES DESTROYS THE GOLDEN CALF. The first vengeance which Moses took was upon the idol. It was probably hollow, and possibly of no great size. He might easily break it to pieces and subject...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now when the people saw that Moses had delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered to Aaron, and they said unto him, Get up, and make us gods, that shall go before us; for as for Moses, we do...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    took the calf. How truly contemptible must the object of their Deuteronomy 7:5 Deuteronomy 7:25 Deuteronomy 9:21 2 Kings 23:6...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    He burnt the calf — Melted it down, and then filed it to dust; and that the powder to which it was reduced might he taken notice of throughout the camp, he strawed it upon the water which they all dra...

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