Exodus 32:26

_THEN MOSES STOOD IN THE GATE OF THE CAMP, AND SAID, WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE? LET HIM COME UNTO ME. AND ALL THE SONS OF LEVI GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER UNTO HIM._ Moses stood in the gate. The camp is supposed to have been protected by a rampart after the attack of the Amalekites. WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE? - i:e., who will support the cause of God against idolatry and idolaters? UNTO ME - let him join me, and follow my directions. AND ALL THE SONS OF LEVI GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER UNTO HIM. The universal word all is here to be taken, as in many other passsges, with limitations, as denoting the majority, or a very large number, who were inflamed with a holy zeal; for some of them were involved in the guilt of the golden calf, and perished. Verse 27. SLAY EVERY MAN HIS BROTHER. "Every" is not to be taken literally, as if each individual of the 22,000 Levites was to kill a bro...

21-29 Never did any wise man make a more frivolous and foolish excuse than that of Aaron. We must never be drawn into sin by any thing man can say or do to us; for men can but tempt us to sin, they cannot force us. The approach of Moses turned the dancing into trembling. They were exposed to shame by their sin. The course Moses took to roll away this reproach, was, not by concealing the sin, or putting any false colour upon it, but by punishing it. The Levites were to slay the ringleaders in this wickedness; yet none were executed but those who openly stood forth. Those are marked for ruin who persist in sin: those who in the morning were shouting and dancing, before night were dying. Such sudden changes do the judgments of the Lord sometimes make with sinners that are secure and jovial in their sin....

Verse Exodus 32:26. _WHO_ IS _ON THE LORD'S SIDE?_] That is, Who among you is free from this transgression? _AND ALL THE SONS OF LEVI, C._] It seems they had no part in this idolatrous business....

The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge; whether he would prefer that he should himself become the founder of a “great nation,” or that the Lord’s promise should be fulfilled in the whole people of Israel. This may have been especially needful for Moses, in consequence of his natural disposition. See Numbers 12:3; and compare Exodus 3:11. With this trial of Moses repeated in a very similar manner Numbers 14:11, may be compared the trial of Abraham Genes

EXPOSITION MOSES PUNISHES THE RINGLEADERS. The presence of Moses in the camp—his impressive act in breaking the tables—even his seizure of the idol and consignment of it to destruction—did not arrest the licentious orgy in which the people had engaged before his coming. The "play" that had followed on the feasting still continued; though we may suppose that many had been impressed and had desisted. Moses felt that an example must be made, and a stop put to conduct which was more and more provoking the Almighty, and might at any moment bring down the judgment of complete destruction upon the whole people. He therefore took his station at the main gate of the camp (Exodus 32:26), and shouted the words "Who is on Jehovah's side? Here, to me!" The sound of the words could not, of course, have reached very far—but

THEN MOSES STOOD IN THE GATE OF THE CAMP,.... In one of the gates of it; for it doubtless had more than one to go in and out of, as is clear from Exodus 32:27 it being probably entrenched all around; here Moses set himself, it being the usual place, as in cities, where the people were summoned together on important occasions, and justice and judgment were administered: AND SAID, WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE? [LET HIM COME] UNTO ME; who is for the worship of the true God, and him only, and against the worship of a gold calf, or any other idol, and is zealous for the glory of God, and the honour of his name; AND ALL THE SONS OF LEVI GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER UNTO HIM; that is, all those that had not given in to the idolatry of the calf; all is put for many. Jarchi infers from hence, that this tribe was wholly free from that sin; but the contrary is most e

Exodus 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, 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._ What a terrible speech to be made by the people whom God had chosen to be his own! «Make us gods. Make our Creator.» How could that be? Exodus 32:2. _And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me._ Poor Aaron! He never had the backbone of his brother Moses. He was a better speaker; but oh, the poverty of his heart! He yields to the will of these idolatrous peo

4. ISRAEL ‘S SIN AND REBELLION CHAPTER 32 _ 1. The people in rebellion (Exodus 32:1)_ 2. Jehovah threatens his wrath (Exodus 32:7) 3. Moses beseeches Jehovah (Exodus 32:11) 4. Moses descends and in the camp (Exodus 32:15) 5. Moses' offer and failure (Exodus 32:30) 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 God's power they had seen! Their eye

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 po

WHO... ? &c. Figure of speech _Erotesis_ (App-6). ALL. Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Genus), App-6, i.e. all who had not joined in the idolatry. Compare Deuteronomy 33:9....