Exodus 32:25-29

FAITHFULNESS OF THE LEVITES

"And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoso is on Jehovah's side, let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Jehovah, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day."

There is very much about this incident that we cannot know. How is it that the sons of Levi encountered no resistance? Since only 3,000 men were slain out of all the host of Israel, how was the selection made? Did they cast lots to find the guilty? Were those slain actually slain in the sinful act of violating the Law? None of this are we able to answer. Yet the hand of God was clearly in this episode, else it could never have been resolved at all. Even if those slain were selected at random and by chance, we must agree with Keil that, "Even the so-called chance would have been under the direction of God."[18]

"For a derision among their enemies ..." As Dummelow said, "The lapse of professedly religious people is not only sinful, but brings religion itself into disrepute."[19]

"Aaron had let them loose ..." The KJV has "Aaron had made them naked" in this place, and there can be no question of that's being a preferable rendition to the toned down statement here. The people were not tied, and so Aaron could not have "let them loose." What is said here is that the people were still naked, stripped of their garments, still carrying on the customary orgy that characterized pagan worship. Here is probably the recognition of how the sons of Levi knew whom to slay, those being very likely the ones still engaged in the orgy. Rawlinson's words here appear to us as absolutely correct:

"The primary sense of [~pharua`] (Editor's note: "running wild") here is naked, stripped; and of the licentious orgies of the East, stripping or uncovering the person was a feature; thus there is no reason for changing the expression used in the King James Version. Moses saw that most (or many) of the people were still without their garments which they had laid aside when they began to dance."[20]

Of course, it is said here that Aaron made the people naked. How is this true? "Aaron is said to have done that to which his actions led. He made the calf and proclaimed the pagan festival. The nakedness had naturally followed."[21]

One other problem should be noted here. It was expressed thus by Clements: "It hardly needs to be said that such wholesale killing, in whatever cause, is wholly repugnant to the modern religious mind."[22] What Clements says is surely true, but the judgment of the "modern religious mind" falls far short of all merit. God, in these stern examples, was giving a glimpse of what ALWAYS happens when people disobey their Creator. True, today God does not physically destroy the disobedient, but their eternal destruction, which is a far worse thing, is the certain and irrevocable penalty of any human's rebellion against his God. Note that this entire scene is related to Pentecost and the coming of the Gospel of Christ. Here three thousand men PERISHED on the very first day that the Law of God became effective. Whereas, on the other hand, three thousand souls WERE SAVED on Pentecost (Acts 2:38ff).