Exodus 32:4-5

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 32:1-7

The sin of the golden calf. Disastrous effects followed in the camp of Israel on the withdrawal of Moses' to the mount. Moved as by a common impulse, the people "gathered themselves together," and demanded of Aaron that he should make them "a god," i.e. an idol, that it might go—be carried in procession—before them (cf. Amos 5:26 ). It was a case of "hand joined in hand" to do iniquity ( Proverbs 11:21 ). Many, doubtless, looked on the movement with dismay and horror (cf. Exodus... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 32:4

And fashioned it with a graving tool. Rather, "and bound it (the gold) in a bag." Compare 2 Kings 5:23 , where the same two Hebrew words occur in the same sense. It is impossible to extract from the original the sense given in the Authorised Version, since the simple copula van cannot mean "after." When two verbs in the same tense are conjoined by van "and," the two actions must be simultaneous, or the latter follow the former. But the calf cannot have been graven first, and then molten.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 32:5

He built an altar before it . Aaron thus proceeded to "follow a multitude to evil" ( Exodus 23:2 ), and encouraged the idolatry which he felt himself powerless to restrain. Still, he did not intend that the people should drift away from the worship of Jehovah, or view the calf as anything but a symbol of him. He therefore made proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord (literally, "to Jehovah "). read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 32:1-6

In all probability these three chapters originally formed a distinct composition. The main incidents recorded in them follow in the order of time, and are therefore in their proper place as regards historical sequence.The golden calf - The people had, to a great extent, lost the patriarchal faith, and were but imperfectly instructed in the reality of a personal unseen God. Being disappointed at the long absence of Moses, they seem to have imagined that he had deluded them, and had probably been... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 32:4

Exodus 32:4. He made it a molten calf He melted it down, and, having a mould prepared, poured the melted gold into it, and then produced it in the shape of an ox or calf giving it some finishing strokes with a graving tool. “They made a calf,” says David, “in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image: they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” It is probable that the origin of this idolatry was from Egypt. The Scriptures inform us that the Israelites in Egypt... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 32:5

Exodus 32:5. Aaron built an altar Being borne down with the stream; and proclaimed a feast Namely, of dedication; yet he calls it a feast to Jehovah By which it is still more evident that the people did not intend to terminate their adoration in the image, but designed to worship the true God in and by this calf, which they meant to consider as only a visible token of God’s presence with them, and a medium by which to convey their worship to him. And yet this did not excuse them from... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Exodus 32:1-35

32:1-34:35 COVENANT BROKEN AND RENEWEDThe golden bull (32:1-35)Although they were God’s people and had been delivered by his mighty power from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were still very much Egyptian in their feelings, thinking and habits. They made an animal idol as a visible symbol of their unseen God, then developed a ritual to go with it, complete with priest, altar, sacrifices and feasting. And, as often happened with the pagan religions, drunkenness and immoral sex-play accompanied... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 32:4

calf . The chief Egyptian god, with which they were familiar in Egypt. These be thy gods . Expounded in Nehemiah 9:18 as meaning "This is thy god". Compare Psalms 106:19 . read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 32:5

a feast to the LORD . All done under cover of "religion". the LORD . Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Exodus 32:1-6

"And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings which are' in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden rings which... read more

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