Year of the Bible
Exodus 32
Access your family's weekly resource for the Year of the Bible HERE
Commentary on the Book of Exodus, Chapter 32:
The previous seven chapters have taken place while Moses was with God on the top of Mt. Sinai. Now we circle back to what has been happening with the rest of the community encamped at the base of the mountain. God’s people do not know what has become of Moses, so they give up on him. Despite their commitment to follow God’s words (19:8; 24:3, 7), they give Aaron their gold and ask him to make an idol for worship. The people treat the resulting golden calf like a god, offering sacrifices and eating a celebratory meal before it (see 24:5-11). The Lord responds to His people’s breaking the covenant by rejecting them. He describes them as “Moses’ people” and suggests that He destroy them all and start over with Moses. Moses repeatedly intercedes for the people, even offering himself up in place of them. God relents but there are consequences for the false worship: Moses forces the people to consume the gold which they used to make the idol, and God brings death and a plague to the camp.
The Book of Exodus, Chapter 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.” 2 And Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a molten calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” 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.
7 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, whom 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 for themselves a molten 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!’ ” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; 10 now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation.”
11 But Moses begged the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face 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 descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.’ ” 14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mountain with the two tables of the covenant in his hands, tables that were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘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.’ 24 And I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and there came out this calf.”
25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to their shame among their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the LORD’S side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put every man his sword on his side, and go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, that he may bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—and if not, blot me, I beg you, out of your book which you have written.” 33 But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 34 But 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 visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
35 And the LORD sent a plague upon the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
Lord, are their any idols I'm clinging to more than you? Help me not to make excuses or point the blame at others, as Aaron did. Give the me the humility and courage of Moses to plead for your mercy and forgiveness. Lord, give me deeper repentance, knowing that your love is everlasting.
Biblical Commentary provided by the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. Join a Catholic Biblical School of Michigan class this September at Holy Family in Grand Blanc or online.
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this.
If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further.
El pueblo, viendo que Moisés tardaba
en bajar del monte, se congregó
en torno a Aarón y le dijeron:
–Anda, haznos un dios que vaya delante
de nosotros, pues de ese Moisés
que nos sacó del país de Egipto no sabemos
qué ha sido de él.
2 Aarón les respondió:
–Quitad los pendientes de oro de las
orejas de vuestras mujeres, de vuestros
hijos y de vuestras hijas, y traédmelos.
3 Todo el pueblo se quitó los pendientes
de oro de sus orejas y los entregaron
a Aarón. 4 Él los recibió de sus
manos, los moldeó con un cincel y, fundiéndolos,
hizo un becerro. Ellos exclamaron:
–Éste es tu dios, Israel, el que te ha
sacado del país de Egipto.
5 Aarón, al verlo, edificó un altar ante
él y proclamó:
–Mañana habrá fiesta en honor del
Señor.
6 Al día siguiente se levantaron temprano,
ofrecieron holocaustos y presentaron
sacrificios de comunión. Después
el pueblo se sentó a comer y a beber, y
luego se levantaron para divertirse.
7 Entonces el Señor dijo a Moisés:
–Anda, baja porque se ha pervertido
tu pueblo, el que sacaste del país de
Egipto. 8 Pronto se han apartado del camino
que les había ordenado. Se han
hecho un becerro fundido y se han pos
trado ante él; le han ofrecido sacrificios
y han exclamado: «Éste es tu dios, Israel,
el que te ha sacado del país de Egipto».
9 Y dijo el Señor a Moisés:
–Ya veo que este pueblo es un pueblo
de dura cerviz. 10 Ahora, deja que
se inflame mi cólera contra ellos hasta
consumirlos; de ti, en cambio, haré un
gran pueblo.
11 Moisés entonces suplicó al Señor,
su Dios, diciendo:
–¿Por qué, Señor, ha de inflamarse
tu cólera contra tu pueblo, al que has sacado
del país de Egipto con gran poder
y mano fuerte? 12 ¿Por qué dar pie a que
digan los egipcios: «Por malicia los ha
sacado para matarlos entre las montañas
y exterminarlos de la faz de la tierra
»? Aplaca el furor de tu cólera y renuncia
al mal con que amenazas a tu
pueblo. 13 Acuérdate de Abrahán, de
Isaac y de Israel, tus siervos, a quienes
juraste por ti mismo diciendo: «Multiplicaré
vuestra descendencia como las
estrellas del cielo; y toda esta tierra que
os he prometido se la daré a vuestra descendencia,
para que la posean en herencia,
para siempre».
14 El Señor renunció al mal que había
anunciado hacer contra su pueblo.
15 Se volvió Moisés y bajó del monte
con las dos tablas del Testimonio en su
mano; tablas escritas por ambos lados,
escritas en una y otra cara. 16 Las tablas
eran obra de Dios y su escritura, escritura
de Dios, grabada en ellas. 17 Cuando
Josué oyó el intenso griterío del pueblo,
dijo a Moisés:
–Hay voces de guerra en el campamento.
18 Moisés respondió:
–No es clamor de quien grita: ¡victoria!
No es clamor de quien grita: ¡derrota!
Clamores de cantos rituales
es lo que percibo.
19 Cuando Moisés se acercó al campamento
y vio el becerro y las danzas, se
inflamó su cólera y arrojó las tablas de
su mano, destrozándolas al pie del monte.
20 Luego tomó el becerro que habían
hecho, lo puso al fuego y lo trituró hasta
reducirlo a polvo; después lo esparció
en agua y se la dio a beber a los hijos
de Israel.
21 Y dijo Moisés a Aarón:
–¿Qué te ha hecho este pueblo para
que le hayas acarreado tan grave pecado?
22 Respondió Aarón:
–No se inflame la cólera de mi señor;
tú conoces que este pueblo está
inclinado al mal. 23 Me dijeron: «Haznos
un dios que vaya delante de nosotros,
pues de ese Moisés que nos sacó
del país de Egipto, no sabemos qué ha
sido de él». 24 Yo les dije: «¿Quién tiene
oro?». Ellos se desprendieron de él
y me lo dieron; lo eché al fuego y salió
este becerro.
25 Al ver Moisés al pueblo descuidado,
ya que Aarón les había inducido al
abandono hasta llegar a ser objeto de
burla entre sus enemigos, 26 se plantó a
la puerta del campamento y exclamó:
–¡Quien esté de parte del Señor que
se una a mí!
Y se le unieron todos los hijos de
Leví.
27 Y añadió:
–Así dice el Señor Dios de Israel:
«Cíñase cada uno la espada al costado;
pasad una y otra vez por el campamento
de puerta en puerta, y que cada uno dé
muerte incluso a su hermano, a su amigo
o a su pariente».
28 Los hijos de Leví hicieron lo mandado
por Moisés; aquel día cayeron
unos tres mil hombres del pueblo.
29 Y Moisés dijo:
–Hoy habéis consagrado vuestras
manos en honor del Señor al enfren
tarse cada uno incluso contra su hijo o
contra su hermano; hoy el Señor os da
su bendición.
30 Al día siguiente Moisés dijo al pueblo:
–Habéis cometido un pecado gravísimo,
pero subiré hasta el Señor; quizá
obtenga el perdón de vuestro pecado.
31 Volvió, pues, Moisés hasta el Señor
y dijo:
–¡Ay! Este pueblo ha cometido un
pecado gravísimo, haciéndose un dios
de oro. 32 Ahora bien, si les perdonaras
su pecado… Si no, bórrame a mí del libro
que tú has escrito.
33 El Señor respondió:
–Al que ha pecado contra mí es al
que borraré de mi libro. 34 Ahora, ve y
conduce al pueblo adonde te he indicado;
he aquí que mi ángel irá delante de
ti; el día de mi visita les pediré cuentas
de su pecado.
35 Y el Señor castigó al pueblo por el
becerro de oro que había hecho Aarón.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
La Biblia de Navarra
Permiso para usar esta versión de la primera edición de la Biblia de Navarra
para el Año de la Biblia del Obispo
dado por Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A. (EUNSA).