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| 1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Get up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. |
When the people – Having an "evil heart of unbelief." (Heb. 3:12). R3046:3
As our Lord came to his own and thev received him not, so at his second coming professed spiritual Israel did not receive him. R3047:5
They were unable to trust God whom they could not see after his representative, Moses, was out of sight. R5298:1
That Moses delayed – Similarly our Lord's absence was longer than had been expected and many claim that he will not come again. R3048:1
As for this Moses – At this very time, when the people were thus speaking lightly of him, Moses was importuning the Lord for them. R3046:5
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| 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. |
And Aaron – The weakness of Aaron is very markedly shown in this incident. R3046:6
The golden earrings – Possibly a subterfuge, hoping that by making this demand they would draw back and decline to part with their ornaments. R4022:4, R3046:6
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| 3 And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. |
And brought them – How many, in their worshiping of a sect or denomination, will strip themselves of their most valuable possessions. R4022:5
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| 4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. |
A molten calf – Symbolizing Churchianity, as well as Mammon, the god of wealth, of money. R4022:6, R3047:3
Shall we, like Israel of old, turn to gods we formerly worshipped-gods of wealth or of pleasure. R5548:3
The Israelites probably recognized the golden calf as merely a symbol of Jehovah, just as the heathen use idols and some Christians use the crucifix as a representation of Christ. R5298:1, R4022:2, R3047:1
It is improbable that the jewelry would have been enough. Perhaps the calf was made of clay or wood and covered over with gold. R5298:2
Pictures the worship of self and the works of self, especially evidenced in Higher Criticism. R5267:3*
The sin of covetousness, the worship of Mammon, the idolatry of money, is the great sin of Christendom, the antitype of fleshly Israel. R1836:1
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| 5 And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah. |
An altar before it – It is but natural that we should sacrifice to whatever we set up in our hearts as an idol. If we know the things to which one sacrifices his best thoughts, time and influence, we can tell his idol. R4023:2
To the LORD – To Jehovah; showing that the idolatry here was not different from the kind practiced today in some Christian churches where images, pictures, crucifixes, etc. are worshipped. R3047:1, R5298:1, R4022:2
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| 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. |
Rose up to play – Dances and supposedly lewd conduct, after the manner of heathen. R3047:2
Idolatry is not the blind adoration of superior dignity, but it is wilful and sinful devotion to degrading self-gratification. R1835:6
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| 7 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Go, get thee down; for thy people that thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: |
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| 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. |
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| 9 And Jehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: |
Unto Moses – Moses was the Mediator of the Law covenant. Christ became the heir of its promises of life and the Mediator of the New covenant. R1725:4
Who acted representatively in bringing the Law covenant upon the Israelites, as Christ acted representatively in removing it. R1725:4, R5046:6
A stiffnecked people – Like an ox, difficult to turn about. R5387:3
Their stubborness will eventually show the mercy of God through his dealing with them. OV120:4
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| 10 now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. |
I will make of thee – Showing how thoroughly Moses was the representative of the nation of Israel. R5046:5
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| 11 And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, that thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? |
Besought the LORD – He thus showed himself a worthy type of the great Mediator. R3046:5
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| 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. |
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| 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. |
Remember Abraham – The Jews were not selected because they were holier or better than others, but for their fathers' sakes God chose them. R5917:3
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| 14 And Jehovah repented of the evil which he said he would do unto his people. |
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| 15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. |
And went down – His return to the people from Mt. Sinai corresponded to the second coming of Christ. R1836:4
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| 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. |
And the tables – Representing the perfection of our race as originally created. R2196:4
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| 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. |
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| 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 of them that sing do I hear. |
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| 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. |
Anger waxed hot – As the Mediator between God and Israel--the representative of both--he had a right to be angry, realizing what a serious crime had taken place. R5298:2, R5547:2
Cast the tables – Type of the Law covenant. D631
And brake them – Representing the failure of the Law covenant by reason of the "weakness of the flesh." D631
Indicating that the covenant was broken. R5298:2
The first tables, prepared by the Lord himself, represents how Adam was created perfect, needing no other law than that which was in himself. But this law was broken and the original tables are shattered and have grown illegible. R5298:6
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| 20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. |
in the fire – Symbolizes the destruction of hoarded wealth in the great time of trouble. R1836:4
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| 21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought a great sin upon them? |
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| 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on evil. |
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| 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. |
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| 24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off: so they gave it me; and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. |
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| 25 And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies), |
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| 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoso is on Jehovah's side, let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. |
Then Moses – Our Lord is even now standing at the gate calling, as did Moses in the type, "Who is on the Lord's side?" R3048:2
All the sons of Levi – Typical of the "Israelites indeed" at both the first and second advents. R3047:5
Typical of the "household of faith" of the Gospel age. R3047:3
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| 27 And he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. |
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| 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. |
About 3000 men – The leaders of the people. R3047:3
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| 29 And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Jehovah, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. |
Consecrate yourselves – Consecrate anew today, not invalidating the consecration made once for all, but re-affirming and emphasizing that covenant. R1281:3
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| 30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto Jehovah; peradventure I shall make atonement for your sin. |
Sinned a great sin – In their trial of faith and obedience they failed utterly. The covenant was broken. R5297:3
God was greatly displeased with their symbolic representation of himself. R5298:1
I will go up – As Moses went up to make reconciliation for their sins, so Christ, as the High Priest, ascended to make atonement for the sins of the people. R3047:5
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| 31 And Moses returned unto Jehovah, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. |
And Moses – As God's representative on the one hand, and Israel's on the other, Moses could be the Mediator of the Law covenant between God and that nation. R1725:4, R5046:6
Type of Christ. D630; A79, B255
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| 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. |
Forgive their sin – After punishing them, God renewed the covenant with them. R5297:3
Blot me, I pray thee, out – As Moses here staked his own eternal existence for the benefit of the people, so the life of Christ was staked for the benefit of the race he died to redeem. R4023:5
Moses was a patriot of the highest order: loyal, as Israel's representative, and at the same time loyal to God, whom he also represented. R5298:3, R3048:4
There was not a particle of selfishness on his own part; a very noble character, worthy to be compared to our Lord Jesus Christ, who risked the blotting out of his own life on our behalf. Q537:3
This finds two parallels in Scripture: David weeping for Absalom, "Would God I had died for thee" (2 Sam. 18:33); and St. Paul's words, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren according to the flesh." (Rom. 9:3) R4278:2
Of thy book – The book of God's remembrance, the book of life. Q537:3
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| 33 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. |
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| 34 And now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. |
Lead the people – Typifying our Mediator, who has actually given his life for us in order to bring whosoever wills back into full accord with God. R3048:5
Unto the place – The Edenic conditions, the land of promise. R3048:5
Their sin upon them – So it will be during the Millennial age. Men will receive stripes or chastisements in proportion as they participated willingly or knowingly in a course of sin. R3048:5
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| 35 And Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. |
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