Important notice: Always check out what you hear and see for yourself, as it is up to you as a Christian to do your own studying. Never take anyone's word alone, including this website here, without first always checking it out for yourself. As 2 Timothy 2:15 says "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
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 (i.e. know) not what is become of him.
Remember, Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights while GOD gave him the instructions on what to tell the Israelites, and the people are wondering what has happened and why he has been gone for so long.
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.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
This word "play" in the Hebrew is tsâchaq and it means to laugh, mock, and make fun of.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And how sad this is considering everything our HEAVENLY FATHER had already brought them through and performed in front of them; e.g. HE brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 12), HE parted the red sea for them (Exodus 14), HE provided manna for them (Exodus 16), HE split the rock and brought forth water for them (Exodus 17), HE protected them from the attack of the Edomites (Amalek's army [Exodus 17]), etc.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked (i.e. churlish) people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
It would appear that GOD was going to destroy these people, and instead make a great nation through Moses. Never forget GOD doesn't need you as HE can always use someone else, as HE could have easily done here with the Israelites and Moses, but HE does want you as HIS love and patience for you is greater than what anyone else can ever give you. GOD without man is still GOD, but man without GOD is nothing.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil (i.e. punishment) against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil (i.e. punishment) which he thought to do unto his people.
GOD doesn't need any influence, but it is never a bad thing to remind HIM of HIS promises, although HE never forgets. Even if HE had of wiped out the Israelites here for their idolatry, HIS promise would still have been fulfilled one way or another, as HE could have easily made a great nation out of Moses.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables (i.e. tablets) of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
If you remember from chapter 24 of this book, Joshua had also rose up unto Mount Sinai, although he didn't go into the mount of GOD as Moses did, he wasn't around the people to see what was truly going on back at the camp, and all he could hear was a bunch of noise from the Israelites like the sound of war.
18 And he (= Moses) said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery (i.e. victory), neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome (i.e. defeated): but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables (i.e. tablets) out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, 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.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
Compare to Genesis 3.
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.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Referring to anyone who refused to take the LORD's side.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Remember, capital punishment was the law given (Exodus 22:20) for the wickedness that these people had committed, and here they had another chance to decide who they would choose to serve, and yet some still chose to stand against our HEAVENLY FATHER. And so it was. It is better to have three thousand wicked people destroyed and cut off from the group than for those wicked people to eventually corrupt and cause everyone else to be destroyed by GOD.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate (i.e. commit and purify) yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Many people wonder why they're not blessed or why they don't receive many blessings, and if they would only examine themselves and get into GOD's WORD (chapter by chapter and verse by verse), instead of being aligned with the ways and traditions of this world, then would they start to see GOD's blessings poured out upon them more and would understand why they haven't been receiving them previously. GOD does not bless what HIS WORD forbids or that which has no part of HIS WORD. And so it is, if you truly want GOD's blessings, keep HIS commandments and align your life with HIS WORD; for when you do that and make HIS day, HE most certainly is going to make yours. Notice that it is those who consecrate (commit) and stand for the LORD that will receive HIS blessings, and when you think about these end times that we're now living in, how sad it is that many are spiritually left naked because they don't have the whole gospel armour (GOD's WORD [Truth]) own to stand against the false messiah (antichrist/satan), who will appear first in these end times (2 Thessalonians 2, Revelation 13, etc), before the return of our TRUE CHRIST at the last trumpet; and sadly many believe they are just going to fly away (run away) from the deception that is coming instead of preparing and arming themselves with the TRUTH of GOD's WORD, whereby they can stand up for our HEAVENLY FATHER and be a useful soldier/witness unto HIM, when the majority of the world is deceived by satan. his fallen ones, and his one world beast system. Some may say "well I've never heard that before because my pastor told me otherwise". "Because my pastor told me so" will not be a valid excuse when you stand before the very MAKER of your soul on judgment day. Many will die spiritually, including many "Christians", in these end times because they refused to do their own homework of studying GOD's WORD for themselves, to be prepared, and instead were deceived by the "many false teachers and prophets" that CHRIST warned us about (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21); those people will die spiritually because they rejected GOD's very WORD that warns us and shows us how not to be deceived in order to receive the ultimate eternal victory, in place for false doctrines. That's all part of the famine of these end times (Amos 8:11) but thankfully the LORD's day (the Millennium) will correct and teach the many ones who are deceived out of ignorance in these end times. And just as we have seen people in this chapter who were aware of what they did, and still refused to choose the LORD, so will there be people at the end of the Millennium who will be aware of what they did (worshiped & followed the antichrist [satan]) and sadly will still not choose our LORD, and it is those people that will go into the lake of fire and will be blotted out of existence, consumed like smoke from within, knowing they stand before the very MAKER of their soul as a failure. Surely you don't want to be one of them. Choose life (JESUS). Remain faithful and chaste (spiritually speaking) unto HIS coming at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Revelation 11:15-19). See also: "A Warning Against The Rapture", "The Return of JESUS CHRIST", "The Mark of The beast", "What Is Hell?".
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure (i.e. perhaps) I shall make an atonement for your sin.
And again, we see how Moses was a type of our Christ and a foreshadowing of the TRUE ONE that would eventually come, as he was willing to offer his own life for the sins of these people, just as CHRIST (GOD in the flesh) HIMself eventually gave HIS own life for our sins, so that we could live eternally to those who follow and choose HIM. See also: 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 2:1-2.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray (i.e. ask) thee, out of thy book which thou hast written (i.e. the BOOK of LIFE).
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
GOD is always fair and when you're truly pleasing to HIM and obedient to HIM, striving in all your ways to be free from sin, instead of striving to sin freely, HE's not going to blot you out, HE's going to bless you and welcome you into HIS eternal kingdom. Never be ashamed, and never be afraid to profess and proclaim HIM. HE loves you but do you love HIM? Hopefully so. See also: Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19, 2 Peter 3:9, Proverbs 28:13, Luke 9:26-27.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel (i.e. the Angel of the LORD [the presence of GOD HIMself]) shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
Remember, Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights while GOD gave him the instructions on what to tell the Israelites, and the people are wondering what has happened and why he has been gone for so long.
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.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
This word "play" in the Hebrew is tsâchaq and it means to laugh, mock, and make fun of.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And how sad this is considering everything our HEAVENLY FATHER had already brought them through and performed in front of them; e.g. HE brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 12), HE parted the red sea for them (Exodus 14), HE provided manna for them (Exodus 16), HE split the rock and brought forth water for them (Exodus 17), HE protected them from the attack of the Edomites (Amalek's army [Exodus 17]), etc.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked (i.e. churlish) people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
It would appear that GOD was going to destroy these people, and instead make a great nation through Moses. Never forget GOD doesn't need you as HE can always use someone else, as HE could have easily done here with the Israelites and Moses, but HE does want you as HIS love and patience for you is greater than what anyone else can ever give you. GOD without man is still GOD, but man without GOD is nothing.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil (i.e. punishment) against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil (i.e. punishment) which he thought to do unto his people.
GOD doesn't need any influence, but it is never a bad thing to remind HIM of HIS promises, although HE never forgets. Even if HE had of wiped out the Israelites here for their idolatry, HIS promise would still have been fulfilled one way or another, as HE could have easily made a great nation out of Moses.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables (i.e. tablets) of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
If you remember from chapter 24 of this book, Joshua had also rose up unto Mount Sinai, although he didn't go into the mount of GOD as Moses did, he wasn't around the people to see what was truly going on back at the camp, and all he could hear was a bunch of noise from the Israelites like the sound of war.
18 And he (= Moses) said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery (i.e. victory), neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome (i.e. defeated): but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables (i.e. tablets) out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, 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.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
Compare to Genesis 3.
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.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Referring to anyone who refused to take the LORD's side.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Remember, capital punishment was the law given (Exodus 22:20) for the wickedness that these people had committed, and here they had another chance to decide who they would choose to serve, and yet some still chose to stand against our HEAVENLY FATHER. And so it was. It is better to have three thousand wicked people destroyed and cut off from the group than for those wicked people to eventually corrupt and cause everyone else to be destroyed by GOD.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate (i.e. commit and purify) yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Many people wonder why they're not blessed or why they don't receive many blessings, and if they would only examine themselves and get into GOD's WORD (chapter by chapter and verse by verse), instead of being aligned with the ways and traditions of this world, then would they start to see GOD's blessings poured out upon them more and would understand why they haven't been receiving them previously. GOD does not bless what HIS WORD forbids or that which has no part of HIS WORD. And so it is, if you truly want GOD's blessings, keep HIS commandments and align your life with HIS WORD; for when you do that and make HIS day, HE most certainly is going to make yours. Notice that it is those who consecrate (commit) and stand for the LORD that will receive HIS blessings, and when you think about these end times that we're now living in, how sad it is that many are spiritually left naked because they don't have the whole gospel armour (GOD's WORD [Truth]) own to stand against the false messiah (antichrist/satan), who will appear first in these end times (2 Thessalonians 2, Revelation 13, etc), before the return of our TRUE CHRIST at the last trumpet; and sadly many believe they are just going to fly away (run away) from the deception that is coming instead of preparing and arming themselves with the TRUTH of GOD's WORD, whereby they can stand up for our HEAVENLY FATHER and be a useful soldier/witness unto HIM, when the majority of the world is deceived by satan. his fallen ones, and his one world beast system. Some may say "well I've never heard that before because my pastor told me otherwise". "Because my pastor told me so" will not be a valid excuse when you stand before the very MAKER of your soul on judgment day. Many will die spiritually, including many "Christians", in these end times because they refused to do their own homework of studying GOD's WORD for themselves, to be prepared, and instead were deceived by the "many false teachers and prophets" that CHRIST warned us about (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21); those people will die spiritually because they rejected GOD's very WORD that warns us and shows us how not to be deceived in order to receive the ultimate eternal victory, in place for false doctrines. That's all part of the famine of these end times (Amos 8:11) but thankfully the LORD's day (the Millennium) will correct and teach the many ones who are deceived out of ignorance in these end times. And just as we have seen people in this chapter who were aware of what they did, and still refused to choose the LORD, so will there be people at the end of the Millennium who will be aware of what they did (worshiped & followed the antichrist [satan]) and sadly will still not choose our LORD, and it is those people that will go into the lake of fire and will be blotted out of existence, consumed like smoke from within, knowing they stand before the very MAKER of their soul as a failure. Surely you don't want to be one of them. Choose life (JESUS). Remain faithful and chaste (spiritually speaking) unto HIS coming at the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Revelation 11:15-19). See also: "A Warning Against The Rapture", "The Return of JESUS CHRIST", "The Mark of The beast", "What Is Hell?".
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure (i.e. perhaps) I shall make an atonement for your sin.
And again, we see how Moses was a type of our Christ and a foreshadowing of the TRUE ONE that would eventually come, as he was willing to offer his own life for the sins of these people, just as CHRIST (GOD in the flesh) HIMself eventually gave HIS own life for our sins, so that we could live eternally to those who follow and choose HIM. See also: 1 Peter 2:24, 1 John 2:1-2.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray (i.e. ask) thee, out of thy book which thou hast written (i.e. the BOOK of LIFE).
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
GOD is always fair and when you're truly pleasing to HIM and obedient to HIM, striving in all your ways to be free from sin, instead of striving to sin freely, HE's not going to blot you out, HE's going to bless you and welcome you into HIS eternal kingdom. Never be ashamed, and never be afraid to profess and proclaim HIM. HE loves you but do you love HIM? Hopefully so. See also: Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19, 2 Peter 3:9, Proverbs 28:13, Luke 9:26-27.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel (i.e. the Angel of the LORD [the presence of GOD HIMself]) shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.