Exodus 32:15-24

Exodus 32:15-24

[15] And Moses  turned,  and went down  from the mount,  and the two  tables  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  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.  [18] And he said,  It is not the voice  of them that shout  for mastery,  neither is it the voice  of them that cry  for being overcome:  but the noise  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  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  [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,  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. 

What does Exodus 32:15-24 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Moses broke the tablets of the law ( Exodus 32:19) symbolizing the fact that Israel had broken its covenant with Yahweh. He then proceeded to destroy the golden calf, the symbol of the illicit covenant into which they had entered (cf. 2 Kings 23:15). By treating the calf image as he did ( Exodus 32:20) Moses was dishonoring as well as destroying it.
". . . the biblical description of the destruction of the Golden Calf constitutes an Israelite development of an early literary pattern that was employed in Canaan to describe the total annihilation of a detested enemy." [1]
Moses probably ordered the people to drink the polluted water for the following reason.
". . . to set forth in a visible manner both the sin and its consequences. The sin was poured as it were into their bowels along with the water, as a symbolical sign that they would have to bear it and atone for it, just as a woman who was suspected of adultery was obliged to drink the curse-water ( Numbers 5:24)." [2]
"In this manner the thing they had worshiped would become a product of their own waste, the very epitome of worthlessness and impurity." [3]
Some writers have suggested that this water with the gold dust suspended in it would have been red and is a type of the blood of Christ. [4] This view lacks support in the text. The writer said nothing about Moses offering it to the Lord to make atonement for the sins of the Israelites. The people drank it; they did not offer it to God ( Exodus 32:20).
Exodus 32:24 suggests Aaron may have formed the calf by casting it in a mold, but Exodus 32:4 gives the impression that he carved it out of a shapeless mass. [5] The best solution seems to be that Aaron made this calf like similar Egyptian idols. He probably built a wooden frame and then overlaid it with gold that he shaped (cf. Isaiah 30:22).
Aaron tried to shift the blame for his actions to the people (cf. Genesis 3:12-13).
"A woman of society and fashion will say, "I admit that I am not what I might be, but then look at my set; it is the furnace that did it." A man will doubt God, question the Bible and truth, and excuse himself by saying, "It is not I, it is the drift of modern tendency; it is the furnace that did it." "There came out this calf."" [6]