This chapter gives an account of the idolatry of the Israelites making and worshipping a golden calf, Ex. 32:1–6 the information of it God gave to Moses, bidding him at the same time not to make any suit in their favour, that he might consume them, and make a large nation out Moses’s family, Ex.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount The time, according to the Targum of Jonathan, being elapsed, which he had fixed for his descent, and through a misreckoning, as Jarchi suggests; they taking the day of his going up to be one of the forty days, at the end of…

And Aaron said unto them Perceiving that they were not to be dissuaded from their evil counsel, and diverted from their purpose, but were determined at all events to have an image made to represent God unto them in a visible manner: break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,…

And all the people brake off the golden earrings, which were in their ears The men took off their earrings, and persuaded their wives and children, or obliged them to part with theirs; though the Targum of Jonathan says the women refused to give their ornaments to their husbands, therefore all the…

And he received them at their hand For the use they delivered them to him: and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf; that is, after he had melted the gold, and cast it into a mould, which gave it the figure of a calf, and with his tool wrought it into a more…

And when Aaron saw it In what form it was, and what a figure it made, and how acceptable it was to the Israelites. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it, “and Aaron saw Hur slain before him;” for reproving them for their idolatry, as the Midrash [[4]], quoted by Jarchi, says: and…

And they rose up early in the morning Being eager of, and intent upon their idol worship: and offered burnt offerings; upon the altar Aaron had made, where they were wholly consumed: and brought peace offerings: which were to make a feast to the Lord, and of which they partook: and the people sat…

And the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down In it is added, “quickly”, and so the Septuagint version here: this was said after the Lord had finished his discourse with him, and had given him the two tables of stone, and he was about to depart, but the above affair happening he hastens his…

They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them The Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of explanation, “on Sinai, saying, ye shall not make to yourselves an image, or figure, or any similitude.” This was the command God had given to them; this the way he had directed them to walk…

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people He had observed their ways and works, their carriage and behaviour; he had seen them before this time; he knew from all eternity what they would be, that their neck would be as an iron sinew, and their brow brass; but now he saw that in fact…

Now, therefore, let me alone And not solicit him with prayers and supplications in favour of these people, but leave him to take his own way with them, without troubling him with any suit on their behalf; and so the Targum of Jonathan, “and now leave off thy prayer, and do not cry for them before…

And Moses besought the Lord his God As the Lord was the God of Moses, his covenant God, and he had an interest in him, he made use of it in favour of the people of Israel: and said, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people? so as to think or speak of consuming them utterly; otherwise he knew…

Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say Those that remained, as the Targum of Jonathan, who were not drowned in the Red sea: a good man will be concerned for the honour and glory of God among the enemies of his people, that their mouths may not be opened to blaspheme the Lord and speak ill of…

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants The covenant he made with them, the promise he had made unto them, with an oath annexed to it: to whom thou swarest by thine own self; which he did, because he could swear by no greater; and for the confirmation of his covenant and promise, see and…

And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. ] He did not do what he threatened to do, and seemed to have in his thoughts and designs, but did what Moses desired he would, not that any of God’s thoughts or the determinations of his mind are alterable; for the thoughts…

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount He turned himself from God, with whom he had been conversing forty days; his back was to the ascent of the mount, and he turned himself in order to go down; or “he looked” [[6]], as a man considers what is to be done, as Aben Ezra observes, and he saw…

And the tables were the work of God And not of angels or men; the stones were made and formed by God into the shape they were: and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables; the letters in which the law was written were of his framing, devising, and engraving; and this was to show…

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted Dancing about the calf: when Moses went up into the mount, Joshua went with him, and tarried in a lower part of the mount all the forty days until he returned, see though not so low as the bottom of the mount where the people were, nor…

And he said Not Joshua, as Saadiah Gaon thinks, but Moses, in answer to what Joshua had said: it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery; that have got the better of it, and have obtained the victory, and shout on that account; or, “not the voice of a cry of strength”, or “of a strong cry”…

And it came to pass, as soon, as he came nigh unto the camp To the bottom of the mountain, and pretty near where the people were encamped: that he saw the calf, and the dancing; the golden image of the calf, and the people dancing about it, in honour of it, and as glad they had got a symbol and…

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; but how this was done is not easy to say, whether by beating the mass of gold into thin plates, and…

And Moses said unto Aaron Having destroyed the calf, and thereby expressed his abhorrence of their idolatry, he examines the principal persons concerned, and inquires into the cause and reason of it, how it came about; and begins with Aaron, though his own brother, with whom along with Hur he had…

And Aaron said, let not the anger of my lord wax hot He addresses him in a very respectful manner, though his younger brother, being in a superior office, the chief ruler of the people, king in Jeshurun; and he perceived a violent emotion rising in him, great indignation in his countenance, and an…

For they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before us Which was true, but then he should have told them, that gods were not to be made; that what were made with hands were no gods, and could not go before them; that the making of any image, similitude, or representation of God, was…

And I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off That is, any ear rings of gold, let them loose or take them off their ears: so they gave it me; of their own accord, as if unasked by him, though he had bid them bring it to him, : then I cast it into the fire; to melt it, but…

And when Moses saw that the people were naked Not in their bodies, being stripped of their ear rings; for parting with them was not sufficient to denominate them naked in a corporeal sense; nor as being without their armour, which was laid aside while they were eating, and drinking, and dancing…

Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp In one of the gates of it; for it doubtless had more than one to go in and out of, as is clear from it being probably entrenched all around; here Moses set himself, it being the usual place, as in cities, where the people were summoned together on important…

And he said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, &c.] The following orders are given by Moses, not of himself the chief magistrate, and as the effect of heat and passion, but there were from the Lord, who was Israel’s God and King; he had them expressly from him, or by an impulse on his…

And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses They girded their swords by their sides, went through the camp, and slew their brethren, companions and neighbours, who were keeping holy day in honour of the idol: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men; the…

For Moses had said To the Levites, when he first gave them their orders: consecrate yourselves today to the Lord; devote yourselves to his service, by obeying his orders, slaying those, or the heads of them, who have cast so much contempt upon him as to worship the golden calf in his room; and…

And it came to pass on the morrow The eighteenth day of Tammuz it was, the same writers say, that Moses implored the mercy of God for Israel. Jarchi on says it was on the seventeenth day the tables were broke, on the eighteenth the calf was burnt, and on the nineteenth that Moses went up to…

And Moses returned unto the Lord On the mount where he was in the cloud: and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin; which to following words explain; he confesses the same to God he had charged the people with in : and have made them gods of gold; the golden calf, which they themselves…

Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin Of thy free grace, good will, and pleasure; it will redound to thy glory, men will praise thy name on account of it; these people will have great reason to be thankful, and will lie under great obligations to thee, to fear, serve, and glorify thee; and in…

And the Lord said unto Moses In answer to his request: whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book; not that anyone that is really in the book of life is ever blotted out, or that anyone predestinated or ordained to eternal life ever perish: but some persons may think…

Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee That is, to the land of Canaan, which he had promised to their fathers and to them, and had directed Moses to bring them to: behold, mine angel shall go before thee: and not I, as Jarchi interprets it; not the Angel…

And the Lord plagued the people That is, continued so to do at certain times, with the pestilence, or other calamities; for this seems not to refer, as some think, to the slaughter of the 3000 men: the reason follows, because they made the calf which Aaron made; that is, they provided him with…