Exodus 32:1

delayed Heb. caused shame(i.e. disappointment): the same idiom, Judges 5:28 (lit. -Why doth his chariot put to shamein coming?").

to Aaron who had been left below by Moses (Exodus 24:14).

Up, &c. Hitherto Moses has been Jehovah's representative: now that he seems to have deserted them, the people want a substitute; so they ask Aaron to make them an image, which, in the manner of antiquity, they may regard as their leader.

gods The Heb. "ĕlôhimmay have either a sing. or a plur. force; but the verb shall gois plur.: it seems, therefore, either that the plur. is a -plural of majesty" (Genesis 35:7; G.-K. § 145i), or, though the image represents Jehovah (v.5), that the people are represented as speaking polytheistically. So v.23.