Exodus 32:21 - Meaning and Application

Moses had already shown his righteous anger against Israel’s sin by breaking the tablets and burning the calf. Now he moves on to deal with the sinners and call them to account. In doing this, he acts as God’s representative, because God is not only holy and hates sin, but also just and determined to punish it (Isaiah 59:18).

He begins with Aaron, just as God began with Adam, because Aaron was the main person involved, even if he was not the first to sin. Moses gives Aaron a fair rebuke in Exodus 32:21. He does not command him to be cut off, as he later does with the chief offenders (Exodus 32:27). There is a real difference between people who rush into sin with boldness and those who are caught in it through weakness, between those who run after sin and those who are overtaken by it (Galatians 6:1).

Aaron still deserved to be cut off for this sin, and would have been, if Moses had not especially pleaded for him (Deuteronomy 9:20). But since Moses had already obtained mercy for him from God, he now speaks to him so that he might repent. He asks Aaron to think about what he had done to the people: “You have brought so great a sin upon them.” Idolatry is a very great sin, so great that its evil can hardly be fully described. The people, as the first movers, could be said to have brought the sin on Aaron, but Aaron was a leader who should have stopped it. Instead, he helped it along, hardened their hearts, and strengthened their hands in it.

It is a terrible thing when leaders please people in their sins and give support to what they should oppose. In general, those who bring sin on others, whether by drawing them into it or encouraging them in it, do more harm than they realize. We really hate those whom we either lead into sin or let sin follow from us (Leviticus 19:17). People who join in sin help to ruin one another.

Moses then asks what had moved Aaron to do such a thing: “What did this people do to you?” He assumes that something unusual must have influenced Aaron, and in this way he almost offers him an excuse, because he knew Aaron’s heart was upright. Did they speak smoothly and talk him into it? Did he dare offend God just to please the crowd? Did they wear him down by constant pressure, and did he have so little strength left that he gave in to public noise? Did they threaten to stone him, and could he not have answered their threats with God’s threats and frightened them more than they frightened him? We must never let anything people say or do draw us into sin. It will not excuse us to say that we were led into it. People can only tempt us; they cannot force us. They can only threaten us; if we refuse, they cannot truly harm us.

Aaron’s own excuse is weak and empty. We can hope that he later showed repentance better than he does here, because what he says now does not sound much like a penitent man. If a righteous man falls, he will rise again, though perhaps not right away. First, he speaks only of Moses’ anger, though he should have cared most about God’s anger: “Do not let my lord’s anger burn hot” (Exodus 32:22). Second, he puts all the blame on the people: “They are set on evil, and they said, Make us gods.” It is natural for us to try to shift blame. Adam and Eve did the same. Sin is like a child no one wants to claim. Aaron was now chief leader and had authority over the people, yet he says the people overpowered him. He had power to restrain them, but not enough resolve to stand against them.

It is also possible that Aaron was casting blame back on Moses by repeating the people’s bitter words, “As for this Moses, we do not know what has become of him” (Exodus 32:23). He also hides his own part in the sin. He makes it sound as if he only told them to break off their gold, as though he had simply meant to test the metal for a quick use of what was close at hand. Then he childishly suggests that when he threw the gold into the fire, it came out this way on its own, either by accident or by magic, as some Jewish writers fancifully claimed. But he says nothing about his own carving and shaping of the calf (Exodus 32:24). Moses, however, tells the truth to later generations about what Aaron did (Exodus 32:4), even though Aaron would not admit it here.

The lesson is clear: whoever hides his sin will not prosper, because sooner or later it will come out. This was all Aaron had to say for himself, and he would have been better off saying nothing. His defense only made his fault look worse. And yet he was not only spared, but later honored, because where sin increased, grace increased even more.

Next, the people themselves must be judged for this sin. Moses’ arrival quickly destroyed their celebration and turned their dancing into fear. Those who had pushed Aaron into joining them in sin now dared not even face Moses, much less resist the severity he chose to use against both the idol and the idol worshipers. It is possible to make even bold sins look contemptible when the proud people who committed them are left ashamed and silent. The king who sits in judgment scatters evil away with his eyes.

The first thing to notice is how their sin exposed them to shame. The people were naked (Exodus 32:25), not mainly because some of them had lost their earrings, which was a small matter, but because they had lost their honor and integrity. They stood under the shame of ingratitude toward their greatest benefactor, and of a treacherous rebellion against their rightful Lord. It was a lasting disgrace that they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox. Other nations boasted that they stayed loyal to their false gods. How much more should Israel be ashamed of being false to the true God.

So they were made naked, stripped of their ornaments and exposed to contempt. They were stripped of their weapons too, and left open to attack. In the same way, when our first parents sinned, they became naked and ashamed. Those who dishonor God bring the greatest dishonor on themselves. That was true of Israel here, and Moses was troubled to see it, even if they were not. He saw that they were naked.

Moses then takes a course to remove this disgrace, not by hiding the sin or making it look better than it was, but by punishing it and openly showing his dislike for it. Whenever anyone later reproached them for making a calf in Horeb, they could answer that it was true, but justice had been carried out on those who did it.

The civil authority had condemned the sin and did not let the sinners go unpunished. They did it, but they paid dearly for it. So God said, "You must remove the evil from among you" (Deuteronomy 13:5). Here we see that vengeance was carried out by the Levites, the men from Levi’s tribe, not by God’s immediate hand, as with Nadab and Abihu, but by the sword of man. This teaches that idolatry is a crime that the judge must punish, because it is a denial of the God above (Job 31:28; Deuteronomy 13:9).

It was done by the sword of their own brothers, so the punishment would bring more honor to the nation. And if they had to fall now into human hands, that was better than fleeing before their enemies. Innocent men were chosen to carry out justice against the guilty, so the act would warn them all the more not to do the same later. Being forced into such an unpleasant task, killing their own neighbors, was also a punishment for not stepping forward sooner to stop the sin and resist it.

The Levites were used in this work in particular, because it seems more of them than of any other tribe had kept themselves free from the idol’s poison. That is even more worthy of praise, since Aaron, the head of their tribe, was so deeply involved in the sin. Moses stood at the camp gate, the place where judgment was given. There he raised a banner, as it were, for the truth, and called for soldiers for God. He cried out, "Who is on the Lord’s side?" The idolaters had set up the golden calf as their standard, and now Moses set up God’s standard against it.

Moses did not ask, as Jehu did, "Who is on my side?" to defend his own honor (2 Kings 9:32). He asked, "Who is on the Lord’s side?" because he was standing up for God’s cause against evil people (Psalm 94:16). There are two great interests in the world, and every person is siding with one of them. The interest of sin and wickedness is the devil’s side, and all wicked people belong to it. The interest of truth and holiness is God’s side, and all godly people belong to it. There is no real middle ground.

This should lead each of us to ask whether we are on the Lord’s side. Those who are on his side are few, and sometimes they seem even fewer than they really are. God does sometimes call those who are on his side to step forward for him, as witnesses, soldiers, and people who pray for others.

The Levites were then given their charge (Exodus 32:27). They were to kill every man his brother, meaning all those they knew had been active in making and worshiping the golden calf, even if they were close relatives or dear friends. The sin had been public, so the Levites could recognize who among their acquaintances had taken part in it. They were likely to find the guilty ones mostly in the open streets of the camp, because those who had gone back into their tents might already have felt shame and be repenting. Those who keep on in sin and are not ashamed of their evil acts are marked for ruin (Jeremiah 8:12).

It may seem strange that the Levites would dare face such a large crowd, especially since the calf had been destroyed and the people were likely angry. But this is easy to explain. A sense of guilt made the offenders weak, and God’s command gave courage to the men carrying it out. Moses also told them, "Set yourselves apart today for the Lord, so that he may give you a blessing." In that way he showed them that they now had a chance to be honored. If they would show themselves faithful in this moment, it would count as setting themselves apart for God and his service, and it would bring lasting honor on their tribe.

Those who set themselves apart for the Lord, he sets apart for himself. Those who do the duty will receive the honor. If we do bold service for God, he will give us special blessings. A blessing was planned for the tribe of Levi, and Moses was telling them to prepare themselves for it. The Levites were later to help offer sacrifice to God, and now they had to begin by offering these men to the honor of divine justice. Those who serve in holy things must be sincere, serious, warm in spirit, and brave for God and godliness.

So all Christians, and especially ministers, must love Christ’s service more than father, mother, and their closest family. If we love our relatives more than Christ, we are not worthy of him. The zeal of the Levites is praised in Deuteronomy 33:9.

On that day about 3,000 people fell (Exodus 32:28). In comparison with the many who were guilty, that may have been a small number. But these were likely the leaders of the rebellion, so they were singled out as examples to warn everyone else. Those who had been shouting and dancing in the morning were dying in their own blood by night. That is how quickly God’s judgments can change secure and cheerful sinners, as they did with Belshazzar when the handwriting appeared on the wall.

This was written as a warning for us, that we should not become idolaters, as some of them were (1 Corinthians 10:7).