Exodus 32:1-35

Exodus 32:1 E, Exodus 32:7 Rje, Exodus 32:15 E, Exodus 32:25 J, Exodus 32:30 E s, Exodus 32:35 E. The Golden Calf.

Exodus 32:32 stand between the instructions for the Tent and their fulfilment. Their religious value is high and clear. But their literary growth has been too complex to trace here (see Driver, CB 346ff.). It is possible (note these, Exodus 32:4; Exodus 32:8) that they are a reflection of prophetic criticism on Jeroboam's two calves (1 Kings 12:28; 2 Kings 10:29, cf. Hosea 8:4 and RV references). In Exodus 32:1 the withdrawal of the inspired and inspiring leader leaves the people at the mercy of heathenish suggestion. They cry to Aaron for an image to represent Yahweh, and supply him with their gold earrings as covering for the wooden figure of a young bull which he makes. An altar is next made and a feast proclaimed; songs and dances follow. Though the priests of 1 Kings 12:31 were non-Levitical, from this passage it would appear that an Aaronic priesthood had at some time been concerned with image-worship, the idea of which came, not from Egypt, but probably from the Hittites or Sumerians, both agricultural peoples. In Exodus 32:7, interrupting the story, is a solemn expression of God's abhorrence of idolatry, and a moving description of Moses's effectual intercession. The dramatic account of Moses's discovery and destruction of the image (Exodus 32:15) follows best on Exodus 32:6. In Exodus 32:18 the noise heard by Joshua (Exodus 32:17) is recognised as song, not the cries of victors or vanquished. Perhaps the breaking of the tables (Exodus 32:19) reflects a consciousness that they had been lost. The writing on both sides (Exodus 32:15 b) may be an archaic feature, the words of the testimony being a gloss by Rp. The weak apologies of Aaron (Exodus 32:21) complete the picture of a leader who cannot lead. The patriotic zeal of the Levites (Exodus 32:25 J) probably refers to a different occasion or another view of Aaron's sin (cf. Deuteronomy 9:20) as rebellion, and Exodus 32:29 (see mg.) may have begun J's account of the origin of the priesthood (cf. Exodus 29:24 *), cut short by R in view of Leviticus 8. A second and more moving account of Moses as intercessor follows in Exodus 32:30 : he offers, not to suffer eternal death, but, like Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), to die and be blotted out of the roll of living citizens. The closing verse is obscure and isolated.