Exodus 32:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 32:4
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
hand
מִיָּדָ֗םmi.ya.Dam
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
fashioned
וַיָּ֤צַרvai.Ya.tzar
H6696
to cramp · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
tool
בַּחֶ֔רֶטba.Che.ret
H2747
a chisel or graver · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
made
וַֽיַּעֲשֵׂ֖הוּvai.ya.'a.Se.hu
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
molten
מַסֵּכָ֑הma.se.Khah
H4541
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
calf
עֵ֣גֶל'E.gel
H5695
a (male) calf (as frisking round) · noun, common masculine singular construct
said
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּvai.Yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
gods
אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙'e.lo.Hei.kha
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
brought
הֶעֱל֖וּךָhe.'e.Lu.kha
H5927
to ascend · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
land
מֵאֶ֥רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָֽיִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
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
Nehemiah 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
Deuteronomy 9:16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the w…
1 Kings 12:28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy g…
Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Exodus 32:8 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 sa…
Isaiah 44:9-10 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they s…
2 Kings 10:29 Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves tha…
Hosea 8:4-5 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 32:1-6
While Moses was in the mount, receiving the law from God, the people had time to meditate upon what had been delivered, and prepare themselves for what was further to be revealed, and forty days was little enough for that work; but, instead of that, there were those among them that were contriving how to break the laws they had already received, and to anticipate those which they were in expectation of. On the thirty-ninth day of the forty, the plot broke out of rebellion against the Lord. Here is,
I. A tumultuous address which the people made to Aaron, who was entrusted with the government in the absence of Moses: Up, make us gods, which shall go before us, Exo 32:1.
1. See the ill effect o…
fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf--The words are transposed, and the rendering should be, "he framed with a graving tool the image to be made, and having poured the liquid gold into the mould, he made it a molten calf." It is not said whether it was of life size, whether it was of solid gold or merely a wooden frame covered with plates of gold. This idol seems to have been the god Apis, the chief deity of the Egyptians, worshipped at Memphis under the form of a live ox, three years old. It was distinguished by a triangular white spot on its forehead and other peculiar marks. Images of it in the form of a whole ox, or of a calf's head on the end of a pole, w…
Fashioned it with a graving tool - There has been much controversy about the meaning of the word חרט cheret in the text: some make it a mould, others a garment, cloth, or apron; some a purse or bag, and others a graver. It is likely that some mould was made on this occasion, that the gold when fused was cast into it, and that afterwards it was brought into form and symmetry by the action of the chisel and graver.
These be thy gods, O Israel - The whole of this is a most strange and unaccountable transaction. Was it possible that the people could have so soon lost sight of the wonderful manifestations of God upon the mount? Was it possible that Aaron could have imagined that he could make any…
The Church Fathers
Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. It destroyed the people in the wilderness by penalties of all kinds; from the table of lust they rose up and worshipped a dead calf. Incited thereby they were ungrateful for all the acts of grace which had been shewn unto them.
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
Aaron — The eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, a daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20). Some explain the name as meaning mountaineer, others mountain of strength, illuminator. He was born in Egypt three years before…
Bullock — (1.) The translation of a word which is a generic name for horned cattle (Isa. 65:25). It is also rendered “cow” (Ezek. 4:15), “ox” (Gen. 12:16). (2.) The translation of a word always meaning an…
Calf — Calves were commonly made use of in sacrifices, and are therefore frequently mentioned in Scripture. The “fatted calf” was regarded as the choicest of animal food; it was frequently also offered as a…
Golden calf — (Ex. 32:4, 8; Deut. 9:16; Neh. 9:18). This was a molten image of a calf which the idolatrous Israelites formed at Sinai. This symbol was borrowed from the custom of the Egyptians. It was destroyed at…
Graving — (1.) Heb. hatsabh. Job 19:24, rendered “graven,” but generally means hewn stone or wood, in quarry or forest. (2.) Heb. harush. Jer. 17:1, rendered “graven,” and indicates generally artistic work in…
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…
Writing — The art of writing must have been known in the time of the early Pharaohs. Moses is commanded “to write for a memorial in a book” (Ex. 17:14) a record of the attack of Amalek. Frequent mention is…
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · Formed a part of idolatrous worship — Formed a part of idolatrous worship
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · Formed a part of idolatrous worship
And he received them at their hand,.... For the use they delivered them to him:
and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf; that is, after he had melted the gold, and cast it into a mould, which gave it the figure of a calf, and with his tool wrought it into a more agreeable form, he took off the roughness of it, and polished it; or if it was in imitation of the Egyptian Apis or Osiris, he might with his graving tool engrave such marks and figures as were upon that; to cause the greater resemblance, so Selden (y) thinks; see Gill on Jeremiah 46:20 or else the sense may be, that he drew the figure of a calf with his tool, or made it in "a mould" (z), into which…
And he received them at their hand. He briefly narrates this base and shameful deed; yet sufficiently shows, that whilst Aaron yielded to their madness, he still desired to cure it, though, at the same time, he was weak and frightened, so as to pretend to give his assent, because he feared the consequences of the tumult as regarded himself. For why does he not command the ear-rings to be thrown into some chest, lest he should pollute himself by the contagion of the sacrilege? Since, therefore, he received them into his own hands, it was a sign of a servile and effeminate mind; and thus he is said to have been the founder, or sculptor of the calf, when it is nevertheless probable that workmen…
The long stay that Moses made upon the mountain rendered the people so impatient, that they desired another leader, and asked Aaron, to whom Moses had directed the people to go in all their difficulties during his absence (Exo 24:14), to make them a god to go before them. The protecting and helping presence of God had vanished with Moses, of whom they said, "We know not what has become of him," and whom they probably supposed to have perished on the mountain in the fire that was burning there. They came to Aaron, therefore, and asked him, not for a leader, but for a god to go before them; no doubt with the intention of trusting the man as their leader who was able to make them a god. They we…
the shape of a calf: The idol might actually have been an image of a bull, like the images of the Egyptian god Amon-Re that the people had known in Egypt. The bull represented power, domination, and fertility. The writer would then be using the term calf as a way of expressing contempt for the idol. Alternatively, Aaron might have made a calf, feeling that this sin was not as serious as if the idol were a full-sized bull. • these are the gods who brought you out: The people attributed to the idol what they had just said that Moses had done (32:1). Idolatry expresses the belief that the divine realm and the visible world are continuous with one another. This worldview sees it as possible to l…
ויצר אתו בחרט — One can translate this in two ways. The one is: to take ויצר in the sense of “tying up” (Hiphil of צרר) and בחרט in the sense of “a garment”, similar to (Isaiah 3:22) “and the mantles and the scarfs (והחריטים)”; (2 Kings 5:23) “and bound (ויצר) two talents of silver in two cloths (חריטים)”. The other way is: to take ויצר in the sense of “forming figures” (Hiphil of צור) and חרט as denoting goldsmiths’ tool with which they engrave and cut figures into gold, like a writer’s stylus that incises letters on boards and tablets, as we find it in, (Isaiah 8:1) ‘‘[Take a great roll] and write on it with a man’s pen (חרט)”. This (the second explanation) is what Onkelos means when he r…
Calf Of Gold · Was made: To represent God — Was made: To represent God
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Golden calf made — Golden calf made
Egypt · Idolatry of, followed by Israel — Idolatry of, followed by Israel
Engraving · In making idols — In making idols
Gold · Described as: Fusible — Described as: Fusible
Idol · Ma — Ma
Idolatry · Consists in: Worshipping the true God by an image, & c — Consists in: Worshipping the true God by an image, & c
Molding · Of images — Of images
Offence · Exemplified: Aaron — Exemplified: Aaron
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).
