Exodus 32:1 NIV

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Exodus 32:1-35

CHAPTER XXXII.THE GOLDEN CALF.Exodus 32:1-35While 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 leader, ("this Moses, the man that brought us up,") had demanded gods, or a god, at the hand of Aaron, and had so far carried him with them or coerced him that he thought it a stroke of policy to save them from breaking the first commandment by joining them in a breach of the second, and by infecting "a... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Exodus 32:1-35

4. Israel ‘s Sin and Rebellion CHAPTER 32 1. The people in rebellion (Exodus 32:1-6 ) 2. Jehovah threatens his wrath (Exodus 32:7-10 ) 3. Moses beseeches Jehovah (Exodus 32:11-14 ) 4. Moses descends and in the camp (Exodus 32:15-29 ) 5. Moses’ offer and failure (Exodus 32:30-35 ) This chapter records the breaking of the covenant by Israel ‘s sin, rebellion against Jehovah, and idolatry. Here we find man’s heart fully uncovered, that wicked heart of unbelief. What manifestations of... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Exodus 32:1

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,(a) make us gods, which shall go before us; for [as for] this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.(a) The root of Idolatry is when men think that God is not present, unless they see him physically. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 32:1-35

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 substitute for the leading of the God of Israel. They say they don't know what has become of Moses, and ask for "gods" that they may follow. How sadly lacking was faith in the living God! It has always been men's downfall to prefer some visible, material idol that they are willing to call "god." This too... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Exodus 32:1-35

THE BREACH MADE AND REPAIRED Moses for forty days has been absent in the mount, and to the people it seemed long. Had they forgotten the awe-inspired sights and sounds they had seen and heard? Had all the sublime and stirring events of the months since they departed from Egypt been obliterated from their memory? How can we explain the folly into which they now fell? If we cannot explain it, let us ask our own hearts if we know anything like it. THE MOLTEN CALF (Exodus 32:1-6 ) What... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Exodus 32:1-35

Aaron's Idolatry Exodus 32:0 Moses had been sent for to go up to the top of the mountain and speak to God. The man was sent for: he owed nothing to his own originality or invention. It is a mistake to suppose that Moses invented anything, originated or outlined anything of his own imagination. The Bible is of God, or it is not a word to be believed or received into the heart, or made the monitor of the troubled life. The minister does not make his own sermons: if he does, what wonder that they... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Exodus 32:1

CONTENTS This is a most interesting Chapter, but no less distressing to read. We have therein related to us, that God, by his divine foreknowledge, having seen, that in consequence of Moses being with him longer in the Mount than the people below in the camp expected, they fell away to idolatry: the Lord commands Moses to go down to the people: the Lord informs his servant what had taken place during his absence; Moses intercedes for the people: Moses descends from the Mount; arrives at the... read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Exodus 32:1

Delayed. They waited perhaps about a month, with some patience; and then, becoming seditious, assembled against Aaron, and extorted from him a compliance with their impious request. He was thus guilty of a grievous crime, though the violence might extenuate it in some degree. (Salien.) --- He was not yet ordained high priest, chap. xl. 12. (Haydock) --- Gods. Aaron gratified their request by the golden calf. They had the pillar to conduct them, but they wanted something new. The speak with... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 32:1-6

1-6 While Moses was in the mount, receiving the law from God, the people made a tumultuous address to Aaron. This giddy multitude were weary of waiting for the return of Moses. Weariness in waiting betrays to many temptations. The Lord must be waited for till he comes, and waited for though he tarry. Let their readiness to part with their ear-rings to make an idol, shame our niggardliness in the service of the true God. They did not draw back on account of the cost of their idolatry; and shall... read more

Frank Binford Hole

F. B. Hole's Old and New Testament Commentary - Exodus 32:1-11

Exo_32:1 Exo_33:11 . At the beginning of chapter 32, our thoughts are carried from the mount, where God communed with Moses, to the plain where the people were encamped during his absence. We can well imagine that as the forty days drew toward their close they became restive. They had seen him disappear into the cloud on the crest of Sinai and to them it seemed as though he was gone from them for ever. Tested as they were in this way, they showed very plainly that they walked by sight and not... read more