[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. Commentary from AST/ArtScroll Tanach and P&H/Pentateuch and Haftorah, ed. Dr. H.J. Hertz, added as well. Reformatting and highlights ours.—ADMIN1.]
This chapter is probably one of the most disturbing to read because of so much strange behavior on the part of all characters except perhaps for Yehushuwa [Joshua] and the Ma’lak [angel/messenger]:
1. The Mixed Multitude — What should we really expect from a mass of newly-freed slaves who have not had time to adjust
- from slavery to freedom;
- from confinement in Egypt to journeying through the unrestrained space in the wilderness;
- from Egypt taskmasters/Pharaoh, to a new Master they cannot see,
- from having secure food supply in Egypt to being totally dependent on the Provider of daily manna and water from a rock;
- Who speaks through an appointed leader most of the time;
- until they finally hear His voice during the ratification of the Covenant;
- from no choice in Egypt to freedom to refuse or accept laws from a new Master;
- from polytheism and idolatry in Egypt, to believing, trusting, connecting, and worshipping only One God.
With everything they had witnessed so far in the 50 days journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai, there was enough reason to learn to trust, love, be faithful to this new Master, this God whose self-revealed Name is YHWH.
Easy for us to say at a distance and from hindsight, but is a paradigm shift really that easy to make?
- How long does it take to be convicted?
- What does it take to be convicted?
The answer could only be given individually;
- have you shifted allegiance from your former belief to YHWH?
- How long did it take for you,
- and what ultimately persuaded you to do so?
For the mixed multitude, for sure, rabble-rousers, mob psychology and majority decision played a big part in swaying the people to misbehave.
And by the way, of all God-created creatures, why a calf . . . to worship, that is? How could people really worship—not even a real cow—but an image of a cow?
Aaron should have argued with the people of the idiocy of thinking that God would even look like a cow? It is said that in India where people are practically starving, sacred cows are allowed to roam around free to this day; ‘Holy Cow’ indeed!
2. Aaron — To be the brother and spokesman for Moses, Aaron appears all-too-willing to accede to the clamor to make an idol; he did not even argue for the wisdom of waiting for Moses, or saying out flat NO to violating the 2nd commandment!
Hearing is different from obeying; mentally agreeing has yet to be lived out in behavior. Later when all those who participated were slain, Aaron was spared from the same fatal punishment. Why? Did Aaron simply fear for his life?
The rabbis try to put the blame of the Golden Calf incident on the non-Israelites among the mixed multitude:
- AST: What began as an error of fact mushroomed into a grievous misunderstanding of Israel’s relationship with God. Thinking that Moses was dead (v.1), the people felt that they needed a tangible presence to take his place as intermediary between themselves and God. This was not a denial of God. Aaron acquiesced to them because he felt that it would be best for him to appear to yield until he could wean them from their error.
- P&H: The Rabbis explain that the people expected Moses to return on the 40th day, inclusive of the day of his ascent; but he remained 40 clear days on Mount Sinai. When he did not appear on the day they expected him, the people concluded that he was dead, and a feeling of utter helplessness possessed them. They demanded a visible god. . . . Aaron’s’ intention may have been to cool their ardour, thinking they would hesitate to sacrifice their ornaments. To Aaron’s astonishment, the people at once complied with his request. ‘What a fickle people!’ say the Rabbis: ‘one day they give their silver and gold for the Sanctuary of God; and on the morrow, they do the same for a golden calf.
3. Moses — Temper, temper, it’s one thing to be indignant and another to be angry so as to lose self-control. Imagine smashing the tablets made by YHWH Himself instead of handling these with extreme care! That is not a sign of a mature leader (wasn’t he 80+ old by this time?). . . but to his credit, he pleads for mercy for his people, reminding YHWH “what would the Egyptians think?”
4. YHWH — Does God “repent”? Or was His threat just an act, to test Moses as a leader, how Moses would react? Then He goes ahead and surgically removes the idolaters. Surely the first 3 commandments are personal to Him and idolaters as well as non-participating watchers on the sideline must learn that lesson the hard way; no second chances . . . but why spare Aaron, the idol-maker himself?
Keep these questions in mind as you read through this chapter. Start noticing as well the strange interchanging reference to Israelites in the plural (they, their) as well as the singular (he, it) within a sentence. If readers keep this in mind, then the “suffering servant” of Isaiah 53 is easier to understand in the same context as referring to Israel.
NSB@S6K
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Exodus/Shemoth 32
1 Now when the people saw that Moshe was shamefully-late in coming down from the mountain,
the people assembled against Aharon
and said to him:
Arise, make us a god who will go before us,
for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him!
2 Aharon said to them:
Break off the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters,
and bring (them) to me.
3 All the people broke off the gold rings that were in their ears,
and brought (them) to Aharon.
4 He took (them) from their hand,
fashioned it with a graving-tool,
and made it into a molten calf.
Then they said:
This is your God, O Israel,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt!
5 When Aharon saw (this), he built a slaughter-site before it,
and Aharon called out and said:
Tomorrow is a festival to YHVH!
6 They (started) early on the morrow,
offered offerings-up
and brought shalom-offerings;
the people sat down to eat and drink
and proceeded to revel.
7 YHVH said to Moshe:
Go, down!
for your people
whom you brought up from the land of Egypt
has wrought ruin!
8 They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them,
they have made themselves a molten calf,
they have bowed to it, they have slaughtered-offerings to it, and they have said: This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!
9 And YHVH said to Moshe:
I see this people-
and here, it is a hard-necked people!
[AST: I have seen this people, and behold! it is a stiff-necked people. Comment; Stiff-necked is the familiar simile for stubbornness, because a stiff-necked person never looks back once he has embarked on a course (Ibn Ezra).] 10 So now,
let me be, that my anger may flare against them
and I may destroy them-
but you I will make into a great nation!
11 Moshe soothed the face of YHVH his God,
he said:
For-what-reason,
O YHVH,
should your anger flare against your people
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with great power,
with a strong hand?
12 For-what-reason
should the Egyptians (be able to) say, yes, say:
With evil intent he brought them out,
to kill them in the mountains,
to destroy them from the face of the soil?
Turn away from your flaming anger,
be sorry for the evil (intended) against your people!
13 Recall Avraham, Yitzhak and Yisrael your servants,
to whom you swore by yourself
when you spoke to them:
I will make your seed many
as the stars of the heavens,
and all this land which I have promised,
I will give to your seed,
that they may inherit (it) for the ages!
14 And YHVH let himself be sorry concerning the evil
that he had spoken of doing to his people.
[AST: HaShem reconsidered regarding the evil that He declared He would do to His people.]
15 Now Moshe faced about to come down from the mountain,the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand,
tablets written on both their sides,
on this-one, on that-one they were written;
16 and the tablets were God’s making,
and the writing was God’s writing,
engraved upon the tablets.
[AST Comment: Moses smashed the incomparably sacred physical embodiment of the word of God in the sight of a people that had shown itself unworthy of receiving it. This spectacle shocked them into recognition of the enormity of their sin.]
17 Now when Yehoshua heard the sound of the people as it shouted, he said to Moshe:The sound of war is in the camp!
18 But he said:
Not the sound of the song of prevailing,
not the sound of the song of failing,
sound of choral-song is what I hear!
19 And it was,
when he neared the camp
and saw the calf and the dancing,
Moshe’s anger flared up,
he threw the tablets from his hands
and smashed them beneath the mountain.
20 He took the calf that they had made,
burned it with fire,
ground it up until it was thin-powder,
strewed it on the surface of the water
and made the Children of Israel drink it.
21 Then Moshe said to Aharon:
What did this people do to you
that you have brought upon it (such) a great sin!
22 Aharon said:
Let not my lord’s anger flare up!
You yourself know this people, how set-on-evil it is.
23 They said to me: Make us a god who will go before us,
for this Moshe, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him!
24 So I said to them: Who has gold?
They broke it off and gave it to me,
I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.
25 Now when Moshe saw the people: that it had gotten-loose,
for Aharon had let-it-loose for whispering among their foes,
26 Moshe took-up-a-stand at the gate of the camp
and said:
Whoever is for YHVH-to me!
And there gathered to him all the Sons of Levi.
27 He said to them:
Thus says YHVH, the God of Israel:
Put every-man his sword on his thigh,
proceed and go back-and-forth from gate to gate in the camp,
and kill
every-man his brother, every-man his neighbor, every-man his relative!
28 The Sons of Levi did according to Moshe’s words.
And there fell of the people on that day some three thousand men.
29 Moshe said:
Be-mandated to YHVH today,
even though it be every-man at the cost of his son, at the cost of his brother,
to bestow blessing upon you today.
30 It was on the morrow,
Moshe said to the people:
You, you have sinned a great sin!
So now, I will go up to YHVH,
perhaps I may be able to purge away your sin.
[AST: “You have committed a grievous sin! And now I shall ascend to HaShem —perhaps I can win atonement in the face of your sin.”]
31 Moshe returned to YHVH and said:Ah now,
this people has sinned a great sin,
they have made themselves gods of gold!
32 So now,
if you would only bear their sin-!
But if not,
pray blot me out of the record that you have written!
[AST: “I implore! This people has committed a grievous sin and made themselves a god of gold. And now if You would but forgive their sin—but if not, erase me now from Your book that You have written.“]
33 YHVH said to Moshe: Whoever sins against me, I blot him (alone) out of my record.[AST: HaShem said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I shall erase him from My book.“]
34 So now, go, lead the people to where I have spoken to you. Here, my messenger will go before you, but on the day of my calling-to-account, I will call-them-to-account for their sin![AST: Behold! My angel shall go before you, and on the day that I make My account, I shall bring their sin to account against them.”]
35 And YHVH plagued the people because they made the calf that Aharon made.
. [AST: Then HaShem struck the people with a plague, because they had made the calf that Aaron had made.]
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