properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
hot
וְיִֽחַרve.yi.char-
H2734
to glow or grow warm · conjunction + verb, qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
consume
וַאֲכַלֵּ֑םva.'a.kha.Lem
H3615
to end · conjunction + verb, piel, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
make
וְאֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥הve.'e.'e.Seh
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular
great
גָּדֽוֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
nation
לְג֥וֹיle.Goy
H1471
a foreign nation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 9:14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than…
Numbers 14:12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
Deuteronomy 9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me a…
Exodus 22:24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
Numbers 16:45-48 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
Numbers 14:19-20 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from E…
Numbers 16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the…
Exodus 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 32:7-14
Here, I. God acquaints Moses with what was doing in the camp while he was absent, Exo 32:7, Exo 32:8. He could have told him sooner, as soon as the first step was taken towards it, and have hastened him down to prevent it; but he suffered it to come to this height, for wise and holy ends, and then sent him down to punish it. Note, It is no reproach to the holiness of God that he suffers sin to be committed, since he knows, not only how to restrain it when he pleases, but how to make it serviceable to the designs of his own glory. Observe what God here says to Moses concerning this sin. 1. That they had corrupted themselves. Sin is the corruption or depravation of the sinner, and it is a self…
make of thee a great nation--Care must be taken not to suppose this language as betokening any change or vacillation in the divine purpose. The covenant made with the patriarchs had been ratified in the most solemn manner; it could not and never was intended that it should be broken. But the manner in which God spoke to Moses served two important purposes--it tended to develop the faith and intercessory patriotism of the Hebrew leader, and to excite the serious alarm of the people, that God would reject them and deprive them of the privileges they had fondly fancied were so secure.
Adam Clarke on Exodus 32:10
Now therefore let me alone - Moses had already begun to plead with God in the behalf of this rebellious and ungrateful people; and so powerful was his intercession that even the Omnipotent represents himself as incapable of doing any thing in the way of judgment, unless his creature desisted from praying for mercy! See an instance of the prevalence of fervent intercession in the case of Abraham, Gen 18:23-33, from the model of which the intercession of Moses seems to have been formed.
John Gill on Exodus 32:10
Now, therefore, let me alone,.... And not solicit him with prayers and supplications in favour of these people, but leave him to take his own way with them, without troubling him with any suit on their behalf; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"and now leave off thy prayer, and do not cry for them before me;''as the Prophet Jeremiah was often bid not to pray for this people in his time, which was a token of God's great displeasure with them, as well as shows the prevalence of prayer with him; that he knows not how, as it were, humanly speaking, to deny the requests of his children; and even though made not on their own account, but on the account of a sinful and disobedient people:
that my wrat…
The Church Fathers
On another occasion God said to Moses, "Let me alone … that I may consume this people," showing by the words "let me alone" that he can be withheld from doing what he threatens. The prayers of his servant hindered his power. Who, think you, is there now under heaven able to stay God's wrath, to face the flame of his judgment and to say with the apostle, "I could wish that I myself were accursed for my brethren"?
When he wished that [the fig tree] be uprooted, the event was similar to that earlier one, when the Father said to Moses, "Permit me to destroy the people." He [thus] gave him a reason to intercede with him. Here too he showed the vinedresser that he wished to uproot it. The vinedresser made known his plea, and the merciful one showed his pity, that if, in a further year, [the fig tree] did not yield fruit, it would be uprooted.
Moses resisted God and prevented him from destroying his people when God said to him: "Let me alone, that I may strike this people." Just see the power of Moses! What does God say to him? Let me alone; you are compelling me, your prayers, as it were, restrain me; your prayers hold back my hand. I shoot an arrow; I hurl a javelin; and your prayers are the shield of the people. Let me alone that I might strike down this people. Along with this, consider the compassionate kindness of God. When he says, "Let me alone," he shows that if Moses will continue to importune him, he will not strike. If you, too, will not let me alone, I shall not strike; let me alone, and I shall strike. In other words, what does he say? Do not cease your persistent entreaty, and I shall not strike.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Levite — A descendant of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 6:25; Lev. 25:32; Num. 35:2; Josh. 21:3, 41). This name is, however, generally used as the title of that portion of the tribe which was set apart for the…
Levites — (descendants of Levi). Sometimes the name extends to the whole tribe, the priests included, (Exodus 6:25; Leviticus 25:32; Numbers 35:2; Joshua 21:3,41) etc; sometimes only to those members of the…
Pentateuch — The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions…
Calf Of Gold · Making of: Excited wrath against Israel — Making of: Excited wrath against Israel
Instability · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Intercession · OF MAN WITH GOD — OF MAN WITH GOD
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
I have seen this people, and behold. This was, indeed, the sharpest and sorest trial of the faith of Moses; when God seemed to contradict Himself and to depart from His covenant. If ever, after having been long oppressed by excessive calamities, we are not only wearied by the delay, but also agitated with various doubts, which at length tempt us to despair, as if God had disappointed us by deceptive promises, the contest is severe and terrible; but when God seems at first sight to throw discredit upon His own words, we have need of unusual fortitude and firmness to sustain this assault. For, since faith is founded on the Word, when that Word appears to be at issue with itself, how in such co…
Before Moses left the mountain, God told him of the apostasy of the people (Exo 32:7, Exo 32:8). "Thy people, which thou hast brought out of Egypt:" God says this not in the sense of an "obliqua exprobratio," or "Mosen quodammodo vocare in partem criminis quo examinetur ejus tolerantia et plus etiam maeroris ex rei indignitate concipiat" (Calvin), or even because the Israelites, who had broken the covenant, were no longer the people of Jehovah; but the transgression of the people concerned Moses as the mediator of the covenant.
Exo 32:8
"They have turned aside quickly (lit., hurriedly):" this had increased their guilt, and made their ingratitude to Jehovah, their Redeemer, all the more glari…
Now leave me alone: This apparent command was in fact an invitation to Moses to intercede for his people. Although the people deserved destruction, God was willing not to destroy them if Moses continued to stand before him as an intercessor. • I will make you, Moses, into a great nation: If Moses were willing, God would start over again, abandoning the rest of the children of Abraham and beginning now with the children of Moses. This was apparently a test of Moses’ understanding of God.
Rashi on Exodus 32:10
הניחה לי LET ME ALONE — So far we have not heard that Moses had prayed on their behalf and yet He says “let Me alone!” which implies a refusal to his entreaty! But by saying this He opened the door to him (offered him a suggestion) intimating to him that if he prayed for them He would not destroy them (Shemot Rabbah 42:9; cf. also Berakhot 32a).
