Exo 31:18-32:13

EXO 31

18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Nedarim 38a:16

And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Initially, Moses would study the law and forget it, until it was given to him as a gift, as it is stated: “And he gave it to Moses when he concluded speaking with him” (Exo 31:18). Once the law was given him as a gift, it became his and he was able to remember it.

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. MAT 12:28

But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. LUK 11:20

3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 2CO 3:3, 7-8

EXO 32

The Golden Calf

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Menachot 53b:4

Rabbi Ezra stated yet another homily structured in a similar manner. Let this one come and receive this from this One for this people. He explained: Let this one come; this is referring to Moses, as it is written about him: “As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt” (Exo 32:1). And receive this; this is referring to the law, as it is written: “This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel” (Deu 4:44). From this One; this is referring to the Holy One, blessed be he, as it is written: “This is my God, and I will praise him” (Exo 15:2). For this people; these people are the Jews, as it is stated about them: “This people whom you have purchased” (Exo 15:16).

Shabbat 89a:6

And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “When the people saw that Moses delayed [boshesh] to come down from the mountain (Exo 32:1)? Do not read the word in the verse as boshesh; rather, read it as ba’u shesh, six hours have arrived. When Moses ascended on high, he told the Jewish people: In forty days, at the beginning of six hours, I will come. After forty days, Satan came and brought confusion to the world by means of a storm, and it was impossible to ascertain the time. Satan said to the Jews: Where is your teacher Moses? They said to him: He ascended on high. He said to them: Six hours have arrived and he has not yet come. Surely he won’t. And they paid him no attention. Satan said to them: Moses died. And they paid him no attention. Ultimately, he showed them an image of his death bed and an image of Moses’ corpse in a cloud. And that is what the Jewish people said to Aaron: “For this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Exo 32:1).

43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, “My master is delayed,” MAT 24:43, 48

saying to Aaron, “Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ACT 7:40

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ACT 17:29

And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. ACT 19:26

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 2PE 3:4

4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Avodah Zarah 53b:10

The Gemara challenges: But perhaps it is only with regard to the golden calf that the Jewish people were amenable to worshiping it, but not with regard to any other type of idol worship. The Gemara counters: The verse states with regard to the golden calf: “And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel’ ” (Exo 32:4), in the plural. This teaches that they desired many gods, and they did not desire to worship only the golden calf.

And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ACT 7:41

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ROM 1:21-23

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”

Sanhedrin 7a:3

And the various Sages who offered interpretations of the verse: “And the one greedy for gain despises the Lord” (Psa 10:3), disagree with the explanation of Rabbi Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai. As Rabbi Tanḥum bar Ḥanilai says: This verse was stated only with regard to the incident of the golden calf, as it is stated: “And Aaron saw this, and he built [vayyiven] an altar [mizbe’aḥ] before it . . . and said, ‘Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord’ ” (Exo 32:5). What did Aaron see? Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefet says that Rabbi Elazar says: He saw Hur, who had been appointed together with Aaron by Moses to lead the people during Moses’ absence (see Exo 24:14), slaughtered before him, as he had protested the plan to fashion a calf and had been murdered by the people as a result. The verse is therefore interpreted not as: Aaron built an altar before the calf, but rather: He understood [vayyaven] from the slaughter [mizavuaḥ] before his own eyes; and he then called for a feast.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1CO 5:8

6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Rashi’s Commentary

They rose up early—Satan made them zealous in order that they might sin.

To play—In this term there is also a connotation of sexual immorality, as we find the word used in (Gen 39:17), “to mock (לְצַחֶק) me,” and bloodshed, as it is said (2Sa 2:14), “Let the young men arise and compete (וִישַׂחִקוּ) before us”—here, too, Hur was assassinated (Midrash Tanchuma 3:9:20).

Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 1CO 10:7

and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. REV 11:10

7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, descend, for your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”

Rashi’s Commentary

And . . . said—Heb. וַיְדַבֵּר. This is an expression of harshness, like (Gen 42:7) “and spoke (וַיְדַבֵּר) roughly to them.”

Go, descend—Descend from your high position; I have given you distinction only for their sake (Berakhot 32a). At that moment Moses was excommunicated by a decree of the heavenly court (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 22).

Your people . . . have corrupted themselves—It does not say, “The people have corrupted themselves,” but “your people”—the mixed multitude whom you received of your own accord and accepted as proselytes without consulting me. You thought it a good thing that proselytes should be attached to the glory—now they have corrupted themselves and have corrupted others (Shemot Rabbah 42:6).

Berakhot 32a:14

The Gemara elaborates upon additional aspects of the sin of the golden calf. t is stated: “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go and descend, for your people whom you have lifted out of the land of Egypt have been corrupted” (Exo 32:7). What is the meaning of “go and descend”? Rabbi Elazar said: The Holy One, Blessed be he, said to Moses: Moses, descend from your greatness. Isn’t it only for the sake of Israel, so that you may serve as a messenger, that I granted you prominence; and now that Israel has sinned, why do I need you? There is no need for a messenger. Immediately, Moses’ strength waned and he was powerless to speak in defense of Israel. And once God said to Moses: “Leave me be, that I may destroy them” (Deu 9:14), Moses said to himself: If God is telling me to let him be, it must be because this matter is dependent upon me. Immediately Moses stood and was strengthened in prayer, and asked that God have mercy on the nation of Israel and forgive them for their transgression.

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Sanhedrin 63a:14

Therefore, Rav teaches us that he is obligated to bring an offering, as the law compares the acceptance of an idol as a god to a case of active idol worship; as it is written: “They have made for themselves a golden calf and have bowed to it, and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt’ ” (Exo 32:8).

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.”

Berakhot 32a:24

As Moses continues his prayer, he says: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore in your name” (Exo 32:13). What is the meaning of in your name? Rabbi Elazar said: Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be he: Master of the universe, had you sworn to them by the heavens and the earth, I would say: Just as the heavens and the earth will ultimately be no more, so too your oath will be null and void. Now that you swore to them by your great name, just as your name lives and stands for all eternity, so too does your oath live and stand for all eternity.