◄ Exodus 32:31 ►
So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves.
Study Bible
So Moses returned to the LORD and said,

Moses' return to the LORD signifies his role as an intercessor for the Israelites. This reflects the biblical theme of mediation, where a chosen leader stands between God and His people. Moses' actions here prefigure the ultimate mediation of Jesus Christ, who intercedes on behalf of humanity (Hebrews 7:25). The act of returning to the LORD also highlights the importance of seeking divine guidance and forgiveness after sin.

Psa 106:23 So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses…
Deu 9:18-20 Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days…
Num 14:13-19 But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it,…

“Oh, what a great sin these people have committed!

The phrase acknowledges the gravity of the Israelites' actions. The "great sin" refers to the idolatry committed by the people when they made and worshiped the golden calf (Exodus 32:4). This sin is significant because it violates the first two commandments given by God (Exodus 20:3-4). The acknowledgment of sin is a crucial step in the process of repentance and restoration, a theme that runs throughout Scripture (1 John 1:9).

Deu 9:16-18 And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God;…
Neh 9:16-18 But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked…
Dan 9:5-6 we have sinned and done wrong. We have acted wickedly.…

They have made gods of gold for themselves.

This phrase highlights the specific nature of the Israelites' sin: idolatry. The making of "gods of gold" is a direct affront to the monotheistic worship of Yahweh, who had delivered them from Egypt. The use of gold, a valuable material, underscores the misplaced priorities of the people, valuing material wealth over spiritual fidelity. This act of idolatry is a recurring issue in Israel's history, leading to various judgments and calls for repentance (1 Kings 12:28-30). It also serves as a warning against the dangers of materialism and the worship of created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

Psa 106:19-20 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.…
Isa 44:17 From the rest he makes a god, his graven image.…
Psa 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites, chosen by God to deliver His people from Egypt. In this passage, Moses acts as an intercessor between God and the Israelites.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The one true God, who delivered the Israelites from Egypt and gave them the Law. He is the recipient of Moses' intercession.

3. The Israelites
The people of God who have committed a grave sin by creating and worshiping a golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai.

4. Mount Sinai
The mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God. It is a place of divine revelation and covenant.

5. The Golden Calf
An idol made by the Israelites in Moses' absence, representing a significant act of rebellion and idolatry against God.
Teaching Points
The Gravity of Sin
The Israelites' creation of the golden calf was a direct violation of God's commandments, illustrating the seriousness of idolatry and rebellion against God.

The Role of Intercession
Moses' intercession for the Israelites demonstrates the power and importance of standing in the gap for others in prayer, seeking God's mercy and forgiveness.

God's Righteousness and Mercy
While God is just and righteous, He is also merciful. Moses' plea for the people shows that God is willing to forgive when we repent and turn back to Him.

The Danger of Impatience
The Israelites' impatience led them to sin. This teaches us the importance of waiting on God's timing and trusting in His plans.

The Need for Repentance
Recognizing and confessing our sins is crucial for restoration with God. Moses' acknowledgment of the people's sin is a model for true repentance.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does Moses' response to the Israelites' sin teach us about the role of a leader in times of crisis?

2. How can we apply the concept of intercession in our own prayer lives, especially when we see others straying from God's path?

3. In what ways do we create "golden calves" in our own lives, and how can we guard against idolatry today?

4. How does the account of the golden calf illustrate the consequences of impatience and lack of faith in God's promises?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's mercy after confessing a sin. How can this experience encourage you to seek repentance and restoration regularly?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 20:3-4
The commandment against idolatry, which the Israelites violated by making the golden calf.

Deuteronomy 9:18-20
Moses recounts his intercession for the Israelites, emphasizing the gravity of their sin and God's anger.

1 Corinthians 10:7
Paul warns the Corinthians against idolatry, using the example of the Israelites' sin with the golden calf.

Psalm 106:19-23
A reflection on the Israelites' idolatry and Moses' intercession, highlighting God's mercy.
Sermons
Judgment and MercyJ. Urquhart Exodus 32:15-35
The Second IntercessionJ. Orr Exodus 32:30-35
An Example of IntercessionExodus 32:31-32
Blot Me, I Pray Thee, Out of Thy BookJ. Vaughan, M. A.Exodus 32:31-32
Effective IntercessionExodus 32:31-32
Intercession for OthersJ. Vaughan, M. A.Exodus 32:31-32
Moses Intercedes for IsraelC. Simeon, M. A.Exodus 32:31-32
Moses Interceding for the PeopleJ. Vaughan, M. A.Exodus 32:31-32
Pardoned, Yet PunishedS. S. TimesExodus 32:31-32
Self-Sacrificing DevotionExodus 32:31-32
The Broken SentenceF. B. Meyer, B. A.Exodus 32:31-32
The Confession and Intercession of MosesD. Young Exodus 32:31, 32
The Forlorn HopeH. Grey, D. D.Exodus 32:31-32
The Godliness of MosesE. L. Hull, B. A.Exodus 32:31-32
The Prayer of MosesN. Emmons, D. D.Exodus 32:31-32
The Training of the Missionary SpiritA. Mackennal, D. D.Exodus 32:31-32
People
Aaron, Egyptians, Isaac, Israelites, Joshua, Levi, Levites, Moses
Places
Egypt, Sinai
Topics
Alas, Committed, Gods, Gold, Making, Oh, Returned, Sin, Sinned, Themselves, Turneth
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 32:31

     4333   gold

Exodus 32:21-35

     4269   Sinai, Mount

Exodus 32:30-32

     5714   men
     6655   forgiveness, application

Exodus 32:30-35

     6615   atonement, necessity

Exodus 32:31-32

     8298   love, for one another
     8356   unselfishness
     8613   prayer, persistence

Exodus 32:31-33

     9420   book of life

Library
The Golden Calf
'And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 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 wot not what is become of him. 2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3. And all the people brake off the golden …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Swift Decay of Love
'And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their 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. 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. 18. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

Threefold Repentance
'And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall he overthrown. 5. So the people of Ninoveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood
"That My covenant might be with Levi. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."--MAL. ii. 4-6. ISRAEL was meant by God to be a nation of priests. In the first making of the Covenant this was distinctly stipulated. "If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

How those who Use Food Intemperately and those who Use it Sparingly are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 20.) Differently to be admonished are the gluttonous and the abstinent. For superfluity of speech, levity of conduct, and lechery accompany the former; but the latter often the sin of impatience, and often that of pride. For were it not the case that immoderate loquacity carries away the gluttonous, that rich man who is said to have fared sumptuously every day would not burn more sorely than elsewhere in his tongue, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Seasons of Covenanting.
The duty is never unsuitable. Men have frequently, improperly esteemed the exercise as one that should be had recourse to, only on some great emergency. But as it is sinful to defer religious exercises till affliction, presenting the prospect of death, constrain to attempt them, so it is wrong to imagine, that the pressure of calamity principally should constrain to make solemn vows. The exercise of personal Covenanting should be practised habitually. The patriot is a patriot still; and the covenanter …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Letter xxii (Circa A. D. 1129) to Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas
To Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas Bernard consoles him under the persecution of which he is the object. The most pious endeavours do not always have the desired success. What line of conduct ought to be followed towards his inferiors by a prelate who is desirous of stricter discipline. 1. I have learned with much pain by your letter the persecution that you are enduring for the sake of righteousness, and although the consolation given you by Christ in the promise of His kingdom may suffice amply for …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Instruction for the Ignorant:
BEING A SALVE TO CURE THAT GREAT WANT OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SO MUCH REIGNS BOTH IN YOUNG AND OLD. PREPARED AND PRESENTED TO THEM IN A PLAIN AND EASY DIALOGUE, FITTED TO THE CAPACITY OF THE WEAKEST. 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'--Hosea 4:6 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This little catechism is upon a plan perfectly new and unique. It was first published as a pocket volume in 1675, and has been republished in every collection of the author's works; and recently in a separate tract. …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Purity and Peace in the Present Lord
PHILIPPIANS iv. 1-9 Euodia and Syntyche--Conditions to unanimity--Great uses of small occasions--Connexion to the paragraphs--The fortress and the sentinel--A golden chain of truths--Joy in the Lord--Yieldingness--Prayer in everything--Activities of a heart at rest Ver. 1. +So, my brethren beloved and longed for+, missed indeed, at this long distance from you, +my joy and crown+ of victory (stephanos), +thus+, as having such certainties and such aims, with such a Saviour, and looking for such …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 23.) Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. v. 22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Moses the Type of Christ.
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
or, Gospel Light Fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let us More Easily into the Glory of New Testament Truths. 'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;--shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'--Ezekiel 43:10, 11 London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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