Exodus 32:8, commentary and pictures

They have turned aside quickly means Israel corrupted themselves by making a molten calf, worshiping it, sacrificing to it, and declaring it the gods that brought them up out of Egypt. It took place while Moses remained on the mount receiving the tables of stone, during his forty-day absence when the people were left in Aaron's charge in sight of God's revealed glory. The act broke the covenant they had just pledged to keep, denying loyalty to Jehovah at the very foot of Sinai in direct violation of the first and second commandments recently proclaimed. It was treason, apostasy and rebellion that forfeited God's favor and provoked His anger to consume them, yet Moses valued God's people above a great name for himself and pleaded until pardon was granted. The history stands as a perpetual testimony to the guilt and punishment of idolatry and to God's justice and long-suffering mercy, exposing the foolishness of departing from God for idols cherished in families and churches today.

The Sin at Sinai

They had turned aside quickly out of the commanded way by making a molten calf, worshiping it, sacrificing to it, and declaring that these were the gods that had brought them up out of Egypt. This was idolatry and a grave dishonor to God after witnessing His deliverance and glory, a corruption showing they were stiff-necked, would not respect His law or submit to His rule, and a breaking of the covenant they had just pledged to obey. It happened while Moses remained on the mount receiving the sacred oracles and the tables of stone written with the finger of God, during his forty-day absence, when the people were left in Aaron's charge in sight of the mount where God's glory and the cloud of His presence were revealed. It was committed at the very foot of Sinai soon after they had heard the Ten Commandments, in sight of the wonderful display of God's power, while the cloud still rested before them.

While waiting they became discontented at Moses' delay, could not bear the test, and revealed unbelief, impatience, and loss of faith. They wanted a visible image to represent God and to go before them in the place of Moses, and demanded gods to lead them. The calf was made in imitation of the Egyptian ox or calf worshiped as a symbol of deity and of Egyptian sun-worship, at the suggestion and influence of those in the mixed multitude who had practiced that idolatry in Egypt and who led the murmuring, impatience, and apostasy. Although the people professed to worship Jehovah, the sun-god was the real object of adoration, which God could not accept through an idol.

That desire for a visible manifestation was cherished even though God had given no similitude of Himself and had prohibited any material representation for that purpose. The mighty 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, and the desire for a visible manifestation had already been granted in the pillar of cloud and of fire and in the revealing of His glory upon Sinai. In making the calf they turned back in heart to the idolatry of Egypt and represented the glory of the invisible God by the similitude of an ox. Their worship was excited shouting, singing, dancing, reveling, and irreverence copied from idolatrous Egyptian feasts, utterly unlike reverent worship of God. It was accompanied by the licentious practices of heathen worship and displayed dreadful degradation.

To have turned aside quickly means they corrupted themselves, drawn aside by their own desires and lusts. Aaron, entrusted with guarding the people through the crisis, failed as an unfaithful leader. Fearing their displeasure, desiring to please them and seeking their approval, he yielded to their demand for gods to lead them, united with their plans, made the image and an altar, proclaimed a day of worship, and called the image the gods that led Israel out of Egypt. His desire to please weakened his authority, and the reveling and irreverence he allowed opened the way for idolatry. His compliance and the calm assurance with which he carried out their plans emboldened the people to go to greater lengths in sin than had before entered their minds, in a course that could not be stopped until stern, decisive measures were taken.

Rebellion, Judgment and Mercy

The making of the calf broke the covenant Israel had just pledged to obey and keep, denying loyalty to Jehovah at the very foot of Sinai in open defiance of the law they had promised to observe. It directly violated the first and second commandments recently proclaimed from Sinai, which expressly forbade such worship. Though the people had heard God speak the Ten Commandments and had pledged themselves to His directions, they quickly abandoned His commanded way for idolatry. Their revelry and worship before the work of their own hands showed the covenant was broken.

The act was corruption, treason, apostasy, rebellion, and the lowest form of idolatry. It showed the people were stiff-necked, would not respect God's law nor submit to His rule, and were continually disposed to rebel and by their works provoke Him to destroy them, especially under the influence of the mixed multitude. It was a return to heathen worship committed despite His special favors.

It was a grave insult, dishonor, ingratitude and blasphemy toward God after witnessing His deliverance from Egypt, His power and care, and His glory. They falsely credited the calf they had made with bringing them up out of Egypt, ascribing to their own hands the deliverance God had wrought. Aaron, left in charge, feared to stand firm against the demand for gods to lead them back to Egypt.

The sin forfeited His favor, provoked His anger, and brought justice's claim and His threatened purpose to consume and destroy them. God knew beforehand what was taking place and that Aaron could not be depended upon, yet for wise and holy purposes permitted the evil to develop until it came to its height and the leading men had done all in their power, so that the designs hidden in human hearts could work out. He allowed the rebellion to reach this point to teach a lesson through its punishment, and at times permits evils to prevent still greater evils that would otherwise appear. This corruption, accompanied by the licentious practices of heathen worship in professed worship of Jehovah through an idol God could not accept, explains His anger and desire to consume them.

Behind the apostasy was Satan's plan to begin on earth the overthrow of God's law, carrying forward the same work of exciting doubt, apostasy and rebellion he had begun in heaven. By this degradation and breach of their solemn and repeated pledges he planned to cause the Lord to divorce Israel and devote them to destruction, thus securing the extinction of the seed of Abraham, the seed of promise that was to preserve the knowledge of the living God and through whom He was to come, the true Seed that was to conquer Satan and fulfill God's purposes.

That plan was defeated, for sinful Israel was not destroyed. Though warned on the mount that Israel had corrupted themselves by making an idol and sacrificing to it, Moses was overwhelmed when he saw the excited shouting, singing and dancing copied from idolatrous Egyptian feasts, utterly unlike reverent worship and displaying dreadful degradation, fresh from God's glory. In utter discouragement and wrath at their great sin he cast down and broke the tables of stone, which signified that God had broken the covenant with them after they had broken it while he was receiving the law. God's declaration that He would consume Israel and make a great nation of Moses was a proving of Moses, testing his perseverance, faithfulness and love for the laborious and soul-trying work of leading such an erring and ungrateful people through to the promised land.

Moses would not consent to Israel's destruction, valuing the prosperity of God's chosen people more highly than a great name for himself or being made father of a greater nation. He pleaded until God granted pardon and restrained His anger, giving Israel another opportunity to repent and return to God, and he was sent down to rebuke and punish the transgressors. Aaron himself, who in seeking approval and fearing displeasure had united with their plans, made the image and altar, proclaimed the day of worship and called the image the gods that led Israel out of Egypt, incurred guilt deserving death and certainly would have been slain had not Moses interceded in his behalf.

God allowed freedom of choice and opportunity to repent, and the swift punishment upheld His law as an act of mercy as well as justice. It prevented further corruption, protected Israel from ruin and its enemies, and cut short the sinners' evil course. Only those who stubbornly persisted in rebellion and ranged themselves on Satan's side were cut off, while the humbled and repentant were mercifully pardoned.

The history stands as a perpetual testimony to the guilt and punishment of idolatry and to the justice and long-suffering mercy of God. Its lesson should have remained with Israel, whose repeated offenses against the Angel who led them brought God's displeasure, seen in their broken ranks and missing numbers.

Warning for Later Generations

The turning aside could have been checked at the start if Aaron had stood unswervingly for the right irrespective of consequences, maintained his own allegiance to God, warned the people of the perils of Sinai, reminded them of their solemn covenant to obey the law, and rebuked the first departure from what God required. Instead his desire to please the people weakened his authority, 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, and the reveling and irreverence he allowed opened the way for idolatry. The course he set in motion could not be stopped until stern, decisive measures were taken. The history is a warning to those responsible for guiding others and guarding the youth that in a crisis of severe temptation they must heed God's authority, trust Him, walk in trembling fear of offending Him, learn wisdom to act rightly in an emergency, guide the people through temptation, and remain faithful instead of joining their plans.

Aaron had been left in charge while Moses was called to the mount to receive the tables of stone written with the finger of God, and by uniting with the people in making and worshiping the molten calf and crediting it with deliverance from Egypt he proved an unfaithful leader and incurred guilt deserving death, from which only Moses' intercession saved him from being slain. The verse applies also to leaders who, like Aaron, encourage people to trust human beings and follow false worship instead of depending on the living God, for such leaders draw people into apostasy and confusion. The quick turning in sight of the mount where God's glory was revealed, where a proclamation should have confirmed faith, was inability to bear the test, unbelief, and foolish excuse-making in worshiping the calf instead of serving the living God. It was Satan's devising to lead God's people into idolatry, and the same devising is used today to introduce the same evils with the same results that laid so many Israelites in their graves.

It exposes the foolishness of departing from God, shows that no dependence can be placed on any person whatever his experience unless his experience harmonizes with the Word of the living God, and presses the choice between the two parties in the world, those serving apostasy and those serving God and keeping distinct from apostasy. Turning from God to an idol is a grave offense, and the same influence is at work in idols cherished in families and churches today, which exert the same influence and separate people from God. That modern idolatry is in small as well as in large matters, especially pride budding and blossoming in apparel, fashions of dress, speech, deportment, worship of self, and spending for self-gratification. These things steal away love and trust and confidence in God, mar religious experience, and develop a selfishness God cannot look upon.

The verse therefore calls for self-searching to see cherished idols, for shame and repentance rather than shame without repentance, for being a distinct and separate people, and for being doers of the Word with zeal according to knowledge. Outward appearance in modest apparel is to testify to the inward working of the heart and transformation of mind and character. Worship of self is to be turned from to economy, self-denial, relieving suffering humanity, and good works.