Exodus 32:1 - Meaning and Application

While Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s law, the people had time to think about what they had already heard and prepare for what was still to come. Forty days was enough time for that work. Instead, some among them were busy planning how to break the laws they had already received and to rush ahead of the laws they expected to hear.

On the thirty-ninth day of those forty days, rebellion against the Lord broke out. The people came in a noisy crowd to Aaron, who had been put in charge while Moses was away, and said, “Up, make us gods who will go before us” (Exodus 32:1). This shows the bad effect of Moses’ absence. If Moses had not been called by God both to go and to stay, he would not have been entirely free from blame. Those who have charge over others, such as rulers, ministers, and heads of families, should not leave their post without good reason, or Satan may take advantage of it.

This also shows how fierce a crowd can become when it is led by people who deceive others. It likely started with only a few who wanted this evil thing. Many others would never have thought of it on their own, but once it was put into their minds, they followed along in their harmful ways. Soon the crowd was so large that the few who hated the idea did not even dare to protest. A little fire can set off a great blaze.

What was wrong with this restless crowd? First, they were tired of waiting for the promised land. They thought they had stayed too long at Mount Sinai. Yet there they were safe, well fed, and being taught well. Still, they grew impatient to move on. They already had a God who stayed with them and showed his presence in the cloud, but that was not enough for them. They wanted a god to go before them. They were eager to reach the land flowing with milk and honey, but they did not want to wait to take their religion with them. Those who try to move ahead of God’s plans are usually rash in their own plans too. We must wait for God’s law before we seize on his promises. The one who believes does not rush ahead without wisdom.

Second, they were tired of waiting for Moses to return. When he went up the mountain, he had not told them how long he would be gone, because God had not told him. So when he stayed longer than they expected, some wicked people began spreading rumors: “As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” Notice how lightly they spoke of him, calling him “this Moses.” They were ungrateful to the man who had cared so tenderly for them, and they were speaking against God as well. While God was honoring Moses, they were insulting him, and they did it in front of Aaron, his brother and now the leader in his place. The greatest merits cannot protect a man from the worst insults in an ungrateful world.

Notice also how suspiciously they spoke of his delay. They acted as if he had been destroyed by fire or had starved to death, as though the God who was keeping them alive would not also take care of Moses. Some may have tried to think well of him, suggesting that he had been taken to heaven like Enoch. Others, with worse intentions, implied that he had quit the mission and gone back to Jethro, his father-in-law, to tend sheep again. Every one of these guesses was groundless and foolish. They knew very well what had happened to him. They had seen him go into the cloud, and the cloud was still there on the mountain. They had every reason to believe he was safe. If the Lord had meant to kill him, he would not have shown him such favor. If Moses was staying longer, it was because God had more to say to him for their good. He was there as their representative before God, and he would surely return when his work was done.

When people are set on thinking badly, they often pretend they simply do not know what to think. Misunderstanding the delay of our Redeemer, our Savior, leads to much evil. The Lord Jesus has gone up into glory, where he appears before God for us, though we cannot see him. Heaven must keep him hidden from our sight so that we may live by faith. He has been there a long time, and he is still there. Because of that, unbelievers say they do not know what has become of him, and ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). As if his not yet coming meant he would never come. A wicked servant grows bolder in sin with this thought: “My master is delaying.”

Third, they were tired of waiting for the time when God would establish his worship among them. They had been told they must serve God on that mountain, and they were eager enough for the outward display and ceremony of it. But since it was not arranged as quickly as they wanted, they decided to use their own ideas to invent signs of God’s presence. They wanted a worship of their own making, likely something like what they had seen in Egypt. Stephen says that when they said to Aaron, “Make us gods,” they were, in their hearts, turning back to Egypt (Acts 7:39-40).

This was an astonishing request: “Up, make us gods.” If they truly thought Moses was gone, they should at least have set aside a time of mourning for him. But see how quickly so great a benefactor was forgotten. If they had said, “Moses is lost, make us a leader,” that would have been bad enough, with much ingratitude toward Moses and contempt for Aaron and Hur, who had been left in charge. But to say, “Moses is lost, make us a god,” was the height of foolishness.

Was Moses their god? Had he ever claimed to be? Even if Moses had gone away, was it not plain that God was still with them? And had they any reason to doubt that God was leading their camp, when he fed them so well every day? Could any other god provide for them as he had done, and still did? Yet they said, “Make us gods, who will go before us!” Gods, many gods, as if one were not enough. What good would gods of their own making do them? They wanted gods that could go before them, even though such gods could not move unless someone carried them. That is how blind idolaters are, they are mad about their idols (Jeremiah 50:38).

Here we see Aaron’s response when they asked for idols, “Bring me your gold earrings” (Exodus 32:2). We do not read that he said a single word to stop them. He did not rebuke their pride or warn them about the sin and folly of it. Instead, he seemed to go along with the plan. Perhaps he first meant to make a joke of it, to set up a ridiculous image and show them how foolish the idea was. But sin is nothing to play with. It is dangerous for a careless person to fly around a candle. Some people kindly think Aaron hoped to stop the plan by asking for their earrings. He may have thought their greed would let them give gold for an idol, as in (Isaiah 46:6), but their pride would not let them give up their jewelry. Still, it is not safe to test how far sinful desires will go in a sinful path.

Then comes the making of the golden calf (Exodus 32:3, Exodus 32:4). The people brought their earrings to Aaron, and his request, instead of discouraging them, may have made them feel more sure of their idea. They may even have thought that gold from their ears would be the best material for a god. Their willingness to give up their rings for an idol should shame our own stinginess in serving the true God. Did they not hold back from the cost of idolatry? Then should we grudge the cost of true religion, or neglect such a good cause?

Aaron melted down their rings. Then, with a mold ready, he poured in the gold and shaped it like a calf or ox, finishing it with an engraving tool. Some think Aaron chose this form as a sign of God’s power, since an ox’s head and horns seemed like a good symbol. He may also have hoped the people would not be foolish enough to worship such a common thing. But it is more likely that they had learned this image from the Egyptians, who used it for their gods. Scripture says they did not give up the idols of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:8), and they carried the customs of Egypt with them (Exodus 23:8). So they turned their glory into the likeness of an ox (Psalm 106:20), showing a folly greater than other idolaters, who at least worshiped the stars and heavens.

After making the calf in Horeb, they bowed down to the carved image (Psalm 106:19). Aaron saw that the people liked their calf, so he went further and built an altar before it. He also announced a feast in its honor (Exodus 32:5), a dedication feast. Yet he called it a feast to the LORD. Brutal and foolish as they were, they did not think the image itself was a god. They meant it as a picture of the true God, whom they wanted to worship through the image. But that did not excuse them from gross idolatry. It does not excuse those who say they do not worship the image, only God through the image. That is the same error as the worshipers of the golden calf. The feast was openly called a feast to the LORD so that no one, even the simplest person, could misunderstand it.

The people were quick to celebrate the feast (Exodus 32:6). They rose early the next morning to show how pleased they were with the celebration. Following old worship customs, they offered sacrifices to this new god, then ate the sacrifice in a feast. So, after paying for their god with their earrings, they tried to make this god favorable by offering animals. If they had offered these sacrifices directly to the LORD, without an image in between, they might have been accepted (Exodus 20:24). But they put up an image as a sign of God’s presence and so turned the truth of God into a lie. These sacrifices became hateful to God.

The New Testament points to this same story when it speaks of their idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:7): “They sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play.” That means they turned to foolishness and sexual sin. The worship fit the god they had made. They would not have made a calf their god if they had not already made their belly their god. Once the god was a joke, the worship became a joke too. Their empty thinking made their worship empty.

It is amazing that any of them, let alone so many, would do such a thing. Had they not just heard the voice of the LORD speaking from the fire, saying, “You shall not make for yourself an idol”? Had they not heard the thunder, seen the lightning, and felt the earthquake when that law was given? Had they not been warned not to make gold into gods (Exodus 20:23)? And had they not already promised in covenant with God that they would do all he said, and be obedient (Exodus 24:7)? Yet before they left the place where that covenant had just been sealed, and before the cloud had even moved from Sinai, they broke a clear command and did it in the face of a clear threat that this sin would visit their children too. What are we to make of that? It shows that the law could expose sin, but it could not heal it. It could not make people holy, and it could not make them right with God. That is why the emphasis falls on the place of the sin: “They made a calf in Horeb” (Psalm 106:19), right where the law had been given. It was different with those who received the gospel, for they turned from idols at once (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

It was very surprising that Aaron became so deeply involved in this sin, making the calf and even announcing the feast. Is this Aaron, the Lord’s holy servant, the brother of Moses, God’s prophet, who could speak so well (Exodus 4:14), and yet says not one word against this idolatry? Is this the man who had not only seen the plagues of Egypt, but had been used in bringing them on, along with God’s judgments against the gods of Egypt? And yet here he is, copying the same cruel idol worship of Egypt. How could they say, “These are your gods that brought you out of Egypt,” when they were bringing Egypt’s worst sin with them?

Is this Aaron, who had been with Moses on the mountain (Exodus 19:24; Exodus 24:9), and knew that no likeness of God had been shown there, so no image should be made? Is this Aaron, who had been trusted with the people while Moses was away, helping in this rebellion against the Lord? It is hard to see how he could have done such a sinful thing. Perhaps he was caught off guard and did it while hardly thinking, or perhaps he was pressured into it by the violence of the crowd.

The Jews have a tradition that his companion Hur, by resisting the people, was attacked and stoned to death, and that this frightened Aaron into giving way. God allowed Aaron to be left to himself, first, to teach us what even the best people are like when God lets them stand on their own. This should make us stop relying on man, and remind anyone who thinks he stands to be careful lest he fall.

Second, Aaron was already chosen by God for the high office of priesthood, though he did not yet know it, and Moses knew it while on the mountain. So, to keep Aaron from becoming proud because of the great honor that would later be given to him, God allowed a messenger of Satan, that is, a severe temptation or evil influence, to gain the upper hand for a time. The memory of this sin would keep him humble for the rest of his life.

The man who had once brought shame on himself by building an altar to a golden calf had to admit that he was wholly unworthy of serving at God’s altar, and that he owed that honor only to free grace, God’s undeserved favor. In this way, pride and boasting were silenced forever, and good was brought out of a bad cause. This also showed that the law appointed priests who had weakness and who first had to offer sacrifices for their own sins.