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The Blue Letter Bible
Study :: Bible Study Notes :: ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Exodus 32

ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Exodus 32

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Click here to view listing below for Exo 32:14

32:1–34:35 Covenant Breach, Intercession, and Renewal. This section illustrates Israel’s need for sanctification from the Lord.

Ex. 32:1 make us gods who shall go before us. Speaking of this event, Stephen says that Israel “thrust [Moses] aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt” (Acts 7:39).

Ex. 32:4 These are your gods, O Israel. The plurals “these” and “gods” may mean that the people considered the calf to be another god equal to the Lord. Whatever they may have thought, their words and actions clearly violate both the first and second commandments (20:3–6).

Ex. 32:6 The people offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the calf. These were the same offerings they had made to the Lord at Mount Sinai just before promising to keep his covenant (see 24:5).

Ex. 32:11 In his intercession, Moses uses the Lord’s own words when he refers to Israel as “your people” (see v. 7).

Ex. 32:16 the writing was the writing of God. See 31:18.

Ex. 32:19 When Moses saw the golden calf, his anger burned hot. The same words describe the Lord’s response (v. 10), and Aaron uses the same term in v. 22, pleading that the Lord would not let his anger “burn hot.” When Moses throws down the tablets and breaks them, it is a picture of what the people have done in worshiping the calf.

Ex. 32:20 The text does not explain why the people had to drink the water containing the powdered remains of the calf. It may represent (1) a further step in the destruction and desecration of the idol, (2) a step in shaming the Israelites for their folly, or (3) a type of test, like the test for adultery in Num. 5:16–22, exposing degrees of guilt.

Ex. 32:24 Amid these serious circumstances, there is pathetic humor in Aaron’s feeble attempt to claim that he merely threw the metal into the fire and out came this calf (see v. 4).

Ex. 32:27 each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor. The Levites were to kill anyone guilty of violating God’s laws. In light of “whoever has sinned against me” (v. 33), it seems unlikely that the killing was random.

Ex. 32:33–34 The Lord determines whose names will be in his book. Compare “the book of the living” (Ps. 69:28), “the book” (Dan. 12:1), “names . . . written in heaven” (Luke 10:20), “the book of life” (Phil. 4:3).

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