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, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”

The people see Moses as bringing them out of Egypt, not God.

The people have come from slavery in Egypt. But Egypt still remains inside them. Rather than depend on what they knew about God to give them hope, the Israelites thought about what the Egyptians would do. They want to make idols like the ones in Egypt. The Egyptians had hundreds of statues of creatures that they worshipped like gods. So the people asked Aaron to make them a "god".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”

They see Aaron as their new religious leader and they are telling him what to do. How many times have the leaders in our churches been lead by the people and not the Spirit of God? They had forgotten what they had promised God they would obey in just six weeks.

3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 

4 He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

Now the people are saying the gods of the idol brought them out of Egypt. The Isrealites didn't understand that the God who brought them out of bondage in Egypt was spirit, he was everywhere  and could not be contained in an idol. 

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

 

6 They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

 The Israelites began imitating the way the Egyptians worshipped, with parties, and drinking and feasting .

7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up 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 themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

9 Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 

10 Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

God told Moses the people were sinning. He wanted to destroy them and start all over with just Moses. But Moses didn't want God's reputation among the nations to suffer. He pleaded with God to forgive the people. And God changed His mind.

11 Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 

12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. 

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 the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

14 Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

15 Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. 

16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tables.

17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.”

18 He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory. It is not the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” 

19 As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain. 

When Moses went down to the people, with the law on two tablets of stone, he heard the singing and saw the carved calf they were honoring. He was so angry he broke the tablets.

20 He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you have brought a great sin on them?”

22 Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 

23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 

24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them take it off:’ so they gave it to me; and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25 When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies), 

DERISION, n.

1. The act of laughing at in contempt.

2. Contempt manifested by laughter; scorn.

3. An object of derision or contempt; a laughing-stock.

Aaron had let the people return to the old life of Egypt. Idol worship, drunkeness,turning away from God.Now they were in a place where their enemies would see them as fools. 

After accepting God as your true Lord, when you return to idol worship, seeking to live as you once lived you will find yourself seen as foolish to those that are enemies to your present life. 

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on Yahweh’s side, come to me!”

All the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 

27 He said to them, “Yahweh says, the God of Israel, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and every man kill his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” 

28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 

The people knew how God wanted them to worship Him.The people had promised they would obey God. The people just found out that breaking promises to God brings bitter results. It still brings bitter results, but today we live in a time of grace. God is giving us time to come to Him by faith and receive the salvation offered by our trust in Jesus.

“The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people”  

                                                                            Titus 2:1        

29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may give you a blessing today.”

30 On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin.”

31 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves gods of gold. 

32 Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

33 Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 

34 Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 

35 Yahweh struck the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.