Exodus 32:18, commentary and pictures

Coming down from the mount with the tables of the testimony, Joshua the soldier mistook the shouting in the camp for war, but Moses corrected him that the sound was neither the shout of victory nor the cry of defeat in battle, but the noise of singing. That singing was the excited revelry, dancing and celebration of the people around the golden calf in breach of the covenant, a heathen riot in imitation of the idolatrous feasts of Egypt and wholly unlike solemn worship of God. The apostasy broke out while Moses was absent on the mountain receiving the law, when the discontented people lost faith, grew lawless under the murmuring mixed multitude, and demanded a visible image to represent God and go before them in Moses's place despite the prohibition of any material likeness and the manifestations already granted them in Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the pillar of cloud and fire, and in the glory on Sinai. Aaron, left as guardian, betrayed his trust by yielding to their pressure and making the calf, when courage to stand for the right, maintain allegiance to God, and remind them of the perils of Sinai and their solemn covenant could have prevented the apostasy, and his compliance emboldened them to greater sin; Moses, though warned that the people had corrupted themselves, was still unprepared for the degradation, and in hot anger broke the tables beneath the mount to signify that as Israel had broken their covenant, so God had broken His covenant with them. In this God tested Moses and gave the people opportunity to return rather than destroying them arbitrarily, so that those who stubbornly sided with rebellion were cut off while the humbled and repentant were pardoned, leaving the episode as a warning against apostasy and repeated rebellion.

The Noise Explained

The sound from the camp was neither the shout of those crying out in mastery and victory nor the cry of those overcome and defeated in battle, but the noise of singing. Moses spoke these words to correct Joshua as the two came down from the mount bearing the tables of the testimony, when the uproar was first heard. Joshua, as a soldier, first judged the shouting to mean war and an attack by enemies upon the camp, but Moses judged truly that it was not combat.

As they drew nearer the sound proved to be revelry and singing, the excited shouting, dancing, and celebration of the people around the golden calf in idolatrous worship. Their singing was part of their sinful celebration and breach of the covenant, the idolatrous revelry of Israel's apostasy at Sinai. That shouting and dancing was a heathen riot in imitation of the idolatrous feasts and idol worship of Egypt. It was wholly unlike the solemn and reverent worship of God.

Israel's Rebellion at Sinai

Exodus 32:18 belongs to Israel's golden-calf idolatry, apostasy and rebellion at Sinai while Moses was absent on the mountain in the cloud of darkness and divine glory receiving the law. During that waiting Israel had time to meditate upon the law they had heard and to prepare for further revelation, but the episode shows their defiance of the law and their broken pledge of loyalty. It serves as a warning about apostasy and repeated rebellion.

When the people saw that Moses did not come down they became discontented, lost faith, and their unbelief appeared in a marked manner. They became careless, inattentive and lawless, led by the impatient and murmuring mixed multitude who wanted to go forward to Canaan or back to Egypt without waiting for Moses. Feeling helpless without their leader, the people desired and demanded a visible image to represent God and to go before them in Moses's place. At the suggestion of those practiced in Egyptian worship they made and worshiped a calf after the ox or calf regarded by Egyptians as a symbol of deity, demanding gods of gold and worshiping an image while God was giving Moses the law.

This was done although God had given no similitude of himself and had prohibited any material representation. The miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea were designed to establish faith in him as the invisible, all-powerful Helper and only true God. Desire for visible manifestation had been granted in the pillar of cloud and fire, in the revealing of his glory on Sinai, and in the cloud of the Presence still before them. Aaron, left in charge as guardian of the people, yielded to their pressure, betrayed his trust, and by compliance with their idolatrous plans made the calf. He allowed the first departure from God's commands, which opened the way for idolatry and a course of wrongdoing that could not be stopped without decisive action, and he was spared only through Moses' intercession.

Aaron could have prevented the apostasy if he had had courage to stand for the right irrespective of consequences, if he had unswervingly maintained his own allegiance to God, if he had cited the people to the perils of Sinai, and if he had reminded them of their solemn covenant to obey the law. Instead his compliance with their desires and the calm assurance with which he carried out their plans emboldened them to go to greater lengths in sin than had before entered their minds. Moses had been warned that the people had corrupted themselves, made an idol, and sacrificed to it, and had just come from the presence of God's glory, yet he was still unprepared for the degradation he witnessed. Overwhelmed in utter discouragement with his anger hot because of Israel's great sin, he threw down the tables of stone and broke them beneath the mount in sight of all to signify that as Israel had broken their covenant with God, so God had broken his covenant with them.

In this account God tested Moses and gave the people an opportunity to return to him rather than arbitrarily destroying them. Judgment followed because the people persisted in rebellion. Those who stubbornly sided with rebellion were cut off, while the humbled and repentant were pardoned. The people should have remembered God's displeasure and learned from their failure, but they did not.