Exodus 32 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 32:1-6

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’

2 Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.’ 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.’ 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterwards they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

A. Find Out:

1. Why was Moses a cause of concern to the people? v.1a,c
2. What did they ask of Aaron? v.1b
3. What did Aaron ask them to do? v.2
4. What did he then do? v.4
5. What did he do in response to the people? v.5
6. What did the people do? v.6

B. Think:

1. What do we learn about the people in this passage?
2. What do we learn about Aaron?
3. What SHOULD Aaron have done?

C. Comment:

      Moses has been up on the mountain for nearly forty days and the people wonder if they’ll ever see him again. In fact they begin to doubt all that has gone before and so they go to Aaron as the second in command and demand, “Make us a god” (see v.1 and note). They want something visible to worship, they want a visible focus for their worship and, perhaps, something that isn’t too awesome. Aaron’s courage at this point fails him and perhaps he thinks, “Well it won’t do any harm to represent the LORD” so he gets them to collect gold and make a calf or young bull and then he declares, “This is your God” (see v.4 and note). To make it more respectable and perhaps get them to come nearer to the revelation they have received, he suggests they sacrifice and have a celebration the next day. Sacrifice will satisfy their spiritual need and celebration their carnal need.

      We have here a graphic picture of what so many have done down through the ages, made their own religion instead of responding to the revelation of the Almighty I AM. The need for a visible expression of religion, token religious ritual with carnal pleasure so often create a man-made religion that is far from the response to revelation that is real Christianity.

D. Application?

     How often do we rely upon “visible religion” (buildings, special clothes etc.) to bolster our weak faith?

Passage: Exodus 32:7-14

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

9 ‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’

11 But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance for ever.”’ 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

A. Find Out:    

1. What did the Lord say the people had become? v.7
2. What had they done? v.8a
3. How did He further describe them? v.9
4. What 2 things did He say He would do? v.10
5. What arguments did Moses use against this? v.11-13
6. With what result? v.14

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise the Lord’s assessment of the people?
2. What temptation was there for Moses?
3. How would you summarise his appeal to the Lord?

C. Comment:

      The Lord says the people are corrupt, wayward, idol worshippers and stiff necked. They are all of these things, but they are also the people He chose, and He knew what they would be like! Nevertheless, they DO deserve punishment, so the Lord declares His judgement. He also says He will take Moses and make him into the chosen nation. What a temptation for Moses, to be rid of the grumbling Israelites AND to be the centre of God’s blessing, but that would not be fulfilling what God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses the man of God catches God’s heart! Destroying the people is what they deserve but NOT what God wants to do. It is almost as if Moses has been given a test by God and he passes!

      So Moses presents the truth to the Lord (which the Lord knows!): why go to the trouble of the exodus, why let the Egyptians deride God’s name, why go back on your word to Abraham??? Suddenly it’s as if Moses gets insight into why God CAN’T do this, He is stuck with this people! So the Lord “relents”, but this conversation has been more for Moses’ benefit than the Lord’s! Yes Moses has come to realise some wonderful things about the grace of God in all this.

D. Application?

1. Would we pass such a test?
2. Would we understand the Lord’s heart?
3. Would we refuse the possibility of OUR being blessed at the expense of others? 

Passage: Exodus 32:15-24

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, ‘There is the sound of war in the camp.’

18 Moses replied:

‘It is not the sound of victory,
    it is not the sound of defeat;
    it is the sound of singing that I hear.’

19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

21 He said to Aaron, ‘What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?’

22 ‘Do not be angry, my lord,’ Aaron answered. ‘You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, “Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” 24 So I told them, “Whoever has any gold jewellery, take it off.” Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!’

A. Find Out:

1. What did Moses have with him? v.15
2. Who did he have with him? v.17
3. What did he think he heard? v.17
4. What did Moses first do when he saw the calf? v.19
5. What did he then proceed to do? v.20
6. What was Aaron’s explanation for the calf? v.24

B. Think:

1. Why were the tablets of stone special?
2. Why do you think Moses smashed them?
3. What sort of leader does Aaron show himself to be?

C. Comment:

      First, let’s note a couple of things about Moses time on the mountain. The Lord wanted Moses to remember exactly what he had said so He, the Lord, wrote it down. Next, we observe that Moses had not been alone up on the mountain. Joshua had been with him. The Lord had said priests could be with him and Joshua might have been taken along as Moses assistant.

      Second, let’s see what happens when Moses returns from the mountain. He should know what to expect for the Lord told him. So noisy is the revelry that Joshua thinks it’s a battle when he first hears it. However, when Moses first actually sees the calf, he cannot contain himself. This man who is described in the Bible as the meekest man in all the earth, burns with holy righteous anger at the shear unadulterated folly of the people. In his anger he smashes the tablets of stone to pieces. Whatever is the point of the Lord instructing these people when they have become so quickly a bunch of idolatrous pagans! He deals with the calf promptly and in such a way that will revolt the Israelites.

      Third, let’s consider Aaron’s position briefly. His feeble excuse reveals that he is NO leader, just a follower of public opinion. Not only that, he was unable to say, “I was wrong!” as he pathetically tried to justify what happened by half truths.

D. Application?

1. Righteous anger means we have to be righteous!
2. Do we make excuses for our failures, or own up?

Passage: Exodus 32:25-35

25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughing-stock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, ‘Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.’ And all the Levites rallied to him.

27 Then he said to them, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbour.”’ 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, ‘You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.’

30 The next day Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.’

31 So Moses went back to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.’

33 The Lord replied to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.’

35 And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

A. Find Out:

1. What was the state of the people? v.25
2. Who responded to Moses? v.26
3. How many did they kill? v.27,28
4. What happened to the Levites that day? v.29
5. What did Moses ask of the Lord? v.32
6. What did the Lord do? v.35

B. Think:

1. What does this passage teach us about the Levites?
2. What does it teach us about the Lord?
3. What does it teach us about Moses?

C. Comment:

      There are probably none of us who, reading this passage today, do not find it horrific, but that is probably because we have such a low view of the holiness of God. Moses had stood in the camp entrance and called for all who were for God to come to him. Everyone COULD have come, but only the Levites did come. The judgement they brought, we should note, was a) only on a very small proportion of the people, which may mean that only 3000 had been at this orgy before the calf, and b) although no criteria for killing was given, there must have been clear reasons why they picked out only 3000 people i.e. it must have been those obviously involved in the revelry and who probably were unrepentant. Because of their loyalty to the Lord, the Levites are now special, and they will soon become the priesthood.

      In this passage we also see Moses’ willingness to lay down his life for the people as he comes before the Lord and intercedes for them. The Lord indicates that He will not destroy ALL the people, but He will destroy those who sinned against Him. This He does by plague, presumably taking those who had been involved in the calf worship but missed by the Levites. Interestingly Aaron is not taken!

D. Application?

1. God IS holy. He COULD destroy EVERY SINGLE PERSON who sins, but instead He provides a way out for all who will receive it.
2. Jesus’ blood was shed for….. me!