Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 32:32
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
32. The sin of the Golden Calf, vv. 1 6; Jehovah, having told Moses that it is His intention to destroy the people in consequence, is diverted from His purpose by Moses’ intercession, vv. 7 14; Moses, coming down from the mount, and seeing the calf and the dancing, breaks the tables of stone, and then makes the people drink the powder of the calf, vv. 15 20; Aaron’s excuses, vv. 21 24; the insubordination of the people punished by the sons of Levi, who are rewarded for their zeal by the priesthood, vv. 25 29; Moses intercedes with Jehovah, and obtains from Him the promise that he may lead the people on to Canaan, though without His own personal presence, vv. 30 34; the people plagued for their sin, v. 35.
The account of some of the events narrated in this ch., given in the retrospect of Deu 9:8-29, deserves to be compared: the reader who will be at the pains to underline in his text of Dt. the passages in vv. 12 17, 21, 26 29 taken verbatim from Exo 32:7-10; Exo 32:15; Exo 32:19-20; Exo 32:11; Exo 32:13; Exo 32:12; Exo 32:11, will find remarkable resemblances, and also some remarkable differences: in particular ( vv. 26 29), words taken from Exo 32:11-13 (and also from Num 14:16), but referred to a different occasion (comp. the writer’s Deut. pp. 10, 112 ff.).
Why, it may be asked, was the figure of a bull chosen to represent Jehovah? The same figure, it will be remembered, was chosen also by Jeroboam I, when he set up the two ‘calves’ in Bethel and Dan (1Ki 12:28 f., cf. 32), in order to divert the people from going up on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and told the Israelites that they were the gods who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt: and the worship of these calves continued till the fall of the N. kingdom in b.c. 722 (2Ki 10:29, Hos 8:5-6; Hos 10:5; Hos 13:2, 2Ki 17:16). From the time of Philo on wards it has commonly been supposed that the symbolism was derived from Egypt, where the bull Apis was revered in the temple at Heliopolis as the incarnation of Osiris, and the bull Mnevis in the temple of Ptah at Memphis, as the incarnation of the sun-god (Erman, Eg. Relig. 1907, p. 22; cf. Wilk.-Birch, iii. 86 95, 306 f.). There are however objections to this view. (1) The Egyptians worshipped only the living animals, not images of them; (2) it is unlikely that an image reflecting an Egyptian deity would have been chosen as the symbol of the national God, Jehovah, or have been represented as the deity who had delivered Israel from Egypt; (3) it is equally unlikely that Jeroboam should have sought to secure his throne by inviting his people to adopt the symbolism of a foreign cult. For these reasons most recent writers (including Di.) prefer to seek the origin of the bull-symbolism in the native beliefs either of the Israelites themselves, or of the Semitic nations allied to them. In Israel itself traces of bull-symbolism, other than that in question, are few and uncertain: not much can be built upon either the use of the term ’abbr, ‘mighty one,’ both of bulls (Psa 50:13 al.), and (in the form ’br, const. ’br) of the ‘Mighty one of Jacob’ (Gen 49:24), or upon the oxen which supported Solomon’s molten sea, or which ornamented the panels of the bases of the lavers in the Temple (1Ki 7:25; 1Ki 7:29). But many representations have been found of Hadad, the Syrian storm-god, with lightnings in his hand, standing upon a bull; and a bull seems often also to have been regarded as a symbol of the Phoenician Baal (see particulars in Baudissin’s art. Kalb, goldenes, in PRE.3 [217] ix. (1901), 708 710): in Assyria, also, though nothing is known of the bull as the material image of a deity, the bull in the Zodiac symbolized Marduk; and the huge winged bull-colossi, with human heads, which guarded the gates of Assyrian temples, are an indication that some mythological significance was attached to the animal. Among an agricultural people, also, a young bull would be a very natural symbol of strength and vital energy (cf. Deu 33:17). These facts make it not improbable that in the popular religion of Israel the bull may have been regarded as an emblem of divine might, and even perhaps used to represent Jehovah; and that this popular belief may have supplied the antecedents for the bull-worship which is actually mentioned in the OT., and which prevailed in the N. kingdom from the time of Jeroboam to its close in b.c. 722. The popular belief itself may have been derived from Israel’s nearest neighbours, the Canaanites, or (p. 416 f.) brought by the N. tribes directly from the East.
[217] Realencyklopdie fr Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, ed. 3, edited by A. Hauck, 1896 1909.
The narrative represents Aaron as the first to suggest the worship of Jehovah under the form of a bull. This was the popular worship of the N. kingdom: it is not explicitly condemned by Amos; but Hosea inveighs against it strongly, on account of its unspirituality, and the ease with which Jehovah’s distinctive character might in consequence become obliterated, and His rites assimilated to those of Baal. The writers whose narratives stand combined in Exodus 32 stand on the side of the image-less worship of the Temple at Jerusalem: their standpoint was in principle the same as that of the Second Commandment and Hosea. In recording the condemnation of Aaron, they condemned at the same time the recognized worship of the N. kingdom. It is possible that although Jeroboam himself appointed non-Levitical priests (1Ki 12:31) there may have been among the priests of the calves some who traced their ancestry to Aaron, and claimed him as the founder of the calf-worship in Israel. If this were the case, it would make Aaron’s condemnation the more pointed. But, however that may be, the chapter remains an emphatic protest against any attempt to represent Jehovah under a material form. See further Ew. Hist. ii. 182 185; Kennedy, art. Calf, Golden Calf in DB. i.; and Baudissin as cited above.
1 6 The people, disheartened by the length of Moses’ absence on the mount, induce Aaron to make them a god, who may act as their visible leader. The invisible, spiritual leadership of Jehovah is an idea to which evidently they have not risen. Cf. Act 7:40-41.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
32. Moses’ love for his people finds here noble and pathetic expression.
if thou wilt forgive their sin ] For the aposiopesis, comp. Gen 30:27; Gen 38:17, Dan 3:15, Luk 13:9. LXX., Sam., Ps.-Jon. supply ‘forgive.’
and if not, blot me, &c.] i.e. let me die (cf. Num 11:15): Moses would rather not live than that his people should remain unforgiven. The ‘book’ which God has written is the ‘book of life,’ or ‘of the living’ (Psa 69:28; cf. Isa 4:3), i.e. the book in which the names of the living are said metaphorically to be inscribed. The figure is borrowed from the custom of keeping registers of citizens (Jer 22:30, Eze Exo 13:9). The ‘book’ is not to be understood in the NT. sense of the expression ‘book of life’ (Php 4:3, Rev 3:5; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:12; Rev 20:15; Rev 21:27), i.e. the register of the saints ordained to eternal life. Cf. Kirkpatrick’s note on Psa 69:28 (in the Camb. Bible).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 32. Forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me— out of thy book] It is probable that one part of Moses’ work during the forty days of his residence on the mount with God, was his regulating the muster-roll of all the tribes and families of Israel, in reference to the parts they were respectively to act in the different transactions in the wilderness, promised land, c. and this, being done under the immediate direction of God, is termed God’s book which he had written, (such muster-rolls, or registers, called also genealogies, the Jews have had from the remotest period of their history;) and it is probable that God had told him, that those who should break the covenant which he had then made with them should be blotted out of that list, and never enter into the promised land. All this Moses appears to have particularly in view, and, without entering into any detail, immediately comes to the point which he knew was fixed when this list or muster-roll was made, namely, that those who should break the covenant should be blotted out, and never have any inheritance in the promised land: therefore he says, This people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold; thus they had broken the covenant, (see the first and second commandments,) and by this had forfeited their right to Canaan. Yet now, he adds, if thou wilt forgive their sin, that they may yet attain the promised inheritance—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written – if thou wilt blot out their names from this register, and never suffer them to enter Canaan, blot me out also; for I cannot bear the thought of enjoying that blessedness, while my people and their posterity shall be for ever excluded. And God, in kindness to Moses, spared him the mortification of going into Canaan without taking the people with him. They had forfeited their lives, and were sentenced to die in the wilderness; and Moses’ prayer was answered in mercy to him, while the people suffered under the hand of justice. But the promise of God did not fail; for, although those who sinned were blotted out of the book, yet their posterity enjoyed the inheritance.
This seems to be the simple and pure light in which this place should be viewed; and in this sense St. Paul is to be understood, Ro 9:3, where he says: For I could wish that myself were ACCURSED from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are ISRAELITES, to whom pertaineth the ADOPTION, and the GLORY, and the COVENANTS. Moses could not survive the destruction of his people by the neighbouring nations, nor their exclusion from the promised land; and St. Paul, seeing the Jews about to be cut off by the Roman sword for their rejection of the Gospel, was willing to be deprived of every earthly blessing, and even to become a sacrifice for them, if this might contribute to the preservation and salvation of the Jewish state. Both those eminent men, engaged in the same work, influenced by a spirit of unparalleled patriotism, were willing to forfeit every blessing of a secular kind, even die for the welfare of the people. But certainly, neither of them could wish to go to eternal perdition, to save their countrymen from being cut off, the one by the sword of the Philistines, the other by that of the Romans. Even the supposition is monstrous.
On this mode of interpretation we may at once see what is implied in the book of life, and being written in or blotted out of such a book. In the public registers, all that were born of a particular tribe were entered in the list of their respective families under that tribe. This was the book of life; but when any of those died, his name might be considered as blotted out from this list. Our baptismal registers, which record the births of all the inhabitants of a particular parish or district, and which are properly our books of life; and our bills of mortality, which are properly our books of death, or the lists of those who are thus blotted out from our baptismal registers or books of life; are very significant and illustrative remains of the ancient registers, or books of life and death among the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and most ancient nations. It is worthy of remark, that in China the names of the persons who have been tried on criminal processes are written in two distinct books, which are called the book of life and the book of death: those who have been acquitted, or who have not been capitally convicted, are written in the former; those who have been found guilty, in the latter. These two books are presented to the emperor by his ministers, who, as sovereign, has a right to erase any name from either: to place the living among the dead, that he may die; or the dead, that is, the person condemned to death, among the living, that he may be preserved. Thus he blots out of the book of life or the book of death according to his sovereign pleasure, on the representation of his ministers, or the intercession of friends, &c. An ancient and extremely rich picture, in my own possession, representing this circumstance, painted in China, was thus interpreted to me by a native Chinese.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If thou wilt forgive their sin; understand here,
forgive it, or, or it is well, or, I and others shall praise thy name. His great passion for his people stops his words, and makes his speech imperfect.
Out of thy book, i.e. out of the book of life, as appears by comparing this with other places, as Psa 69:28; Dan 12:1; Luk 10:20; Phi 4:3; Rev 3:5; 13:8; 20:12; or, out of the catalogue or number of those that shall be saved. I suppose Moses doth not in this case wish his eternal damnation, because that state implies both wickedness in himself, and the dishonour of God, but his annihilation, or the utter loss of this life, and of that to come, and of all the happiness of both of them. Nor doth Moses simply desire this, but only comparatively expresseth his singular zeal for Gods glory, and charity to his people; signifying, that the very thoughts of the destruction of Gods people, and of the reproach and blasphemy which would be cast upon God by means thereof, were so grievous and intolerable to him, that he rather wisheth, if it were possible, that God would accept of him as a sacrifice in their stead, and by his utter destruction prevent so great a mischief. And it is to be considered that Moses speaks this, as also many other things, as the mediator between God and Israel, and as the type of the true Mediator, Jesus Christ, who was in effect to suffer this which Moses was content to suffer.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. blot me . . . out of thy bookanallusion to the registering of the living, and erasing the names ofthose who die. What warmth of affection did he evince for hisbrethren! How fully was he animated with the true spirit of apatriot, when he professed his willingness to die for them.But Christ actually died for His people (Ro5:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin,…. Of thy free grace, good will, and pleasure; it will redound to thy glory, men will praise thy name on account of it; these people will have great reason to be thankful, and will lie under great obligations to thee, to fear, serve, and glorify thee; and in particular it will be regarded by me as the highest favour that can be asked or granted:
and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written; not the book of the law, as Jarchi, written with the finger of God, the name of Moses was not written there; nor the book of the just, as the Targum of Jonathan, the list and catalogue of good men, that belonged to the visible church, called in after time “the writing of the house of Israel”, Eze 13:9 but rather the book of life, either of this temporal life, and then it means no more than that he wished to die, even immediately by the hand of God, which seems to be countenanced by Nu 11:15 or else of eternal life, and is no other than the book of life of the Lamb, or God’s predestination or choice of men in Christ to everlasting life, which is particular, personal, sure, and certain; and Moses asks for this, not as a thing either desirable or possible, but to express his great affection for this people, and his great concern for the glory of God; and rather than either should suffer, he chose, if it was possible, to be deprived of that eternal happiness he hoped for, and should enjoy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(32) If thou wilt forgive their sin.Supply after the word sin, well and good, I am content, or some such phrase. Similar instances of aposiopesis will be found in Dan. 3:15; Luk. 13:9; Luk. 19:42; Joh. 6:62; Rom. 9:22. The usage is common among Orientals.
Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book.Comp. Rom. 9:1-3. Moses seems to have risen to the same height of self-abnegation as St. Paul, and to have willed to be accursed from God for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh. As his sacrifice could not have redeemed them (Psa. 49:7), God did not accept it in the literal sense; but the offer may have availed much towards the pardon of the people, and towards lightening the chastisement which they received (Exo. 32:34-35).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 32:32. If not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book In Num 11:15. Moses makes use of an expression plainer than this, but both, no doubt, of the same import: If thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand. It can not be imagined that Moses desired to be blotted out of the book of eternal life: this desire would not only have been highly impious in itself, but utterly inconsistent with that desire of self-happiness, which is the first law of nature. Besides, such a wish was not pertinent to the point in hand. Moses was interceding with God to pardon the rebellious Israelites, and to take them again into his covenant and favour: his request respected this life and the things of it only; and therefore his petition was very natural, that, if God thought not fit to grant his request, he would blot out his name from the book which he had written; that is, take away the life which he had given him, and thus seclude him also from all the blessings of that temporal covenant which he had made with Israel; and the benefits of which God had offered (Exo 32:10.) to transfer to himself. See 1Ki 19:4.
God first declared to Moses, that he would utterly destroy the whole race of Israel, who had thus rebelled against him, Exo 32:9-10. Moses intercedes, and gets this terrible purpose changed; especially by reminding the Lord of his covenant and promise to Abraham, &c. Exo 32:13-14. Descending from the mount, Moses by the Lord’s command makes a fearful example of some of the most grievous offenders; after which he returns to the mount, and renews his intercession for the preservation of the whole remaining people, and for their inheritance of God’s promise; requesting that, if the Almighty determined to destroy them, he would destroy him also: upon which the Almighty declares, that they who had sinned should certainly be destroyed, though he would fulfil his promise, and lead their posterity to the promised land.
Thy book which thou hast written, is a phrase referring to God, (after a human manner, which is usual in the Mosaic writings,) as keeping a book, and therein entering the names of all his creatures; and to this many passages in Scripture refer; see Psa 56:8; Psa 69:28; Psa 87:6; Psa 139:16. Isa 4:3. Eze 13:9 which last passage fully explains the present; neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, says the prophet. So Deu 25:6 it is said, that his name be not put out of Israel, out of that roll or register of Israel, which was supposed to be before God.As the ideas in the Revelation, and in many other parts of the New Testament, are taken from the Old, and from the Jewish mode of thinking; so, a book of eternal life is there spoken of, no doubt, in allusion to this book of temporal life, and of the Jewish covenant to which Moses alludes. See Rev 3:5. Php 4:3. An ancient bishop (Paulinus) remarks well upon this intercession of Moses, that there is a great deal of pious art and policy in the petition or proposal, as we may call it, which this great favourite and confident of God offers to him. He does not make it at all adventures, as one less acquainted with the Divine mind might do; nor does he make it out of a slight contempt of life, as one whose circumstances had brought him into despair, might do. He knew God’s goodness was infinite, as well as his justice; so that, in this alternative, either be thou pleased to slay me and them together, or to spare them and me together, he was sensible he should engage God’s mercy to pardon the criminals; while on their behalf he devoted himself at the same time to that justice, which cannot be supposed capable of hurting the innocent.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How striking is the type here; only, indeed, with this difference, that Moses did but offer to die, whereas the Lord Jesus did actually die, the just for the unjust, to bring sinners to God. See those sweet scriptures, Dan 9:26 ; Isa 53:8 ; Joh 10:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 32:32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin – ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Ver. 32. Blot me, I pray thee. ] God never revealed his love to Moses more than when he thus earnestly prayed for God’s people. Joab never pleased David better than when he made intercession for Absalom.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sin = Figure of speech Aposiopesis (App-6), to emphasise the unspeakableness of the sin.
Thy book. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia (App-6). Compare Psa 69:28. Isa 4:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
if thou: Num 14:19, Dan 9:18, Dan 9:19, Amo 7:2, Luk 23:34
blot me: Allusion may be made to the registry of births, in which those born of a particular tribe were entered in the list of their respective families under that tribe. This was the book of life; and when any died, his name might be considered as blotted out of this list. But as Moses addressed the Lord, he undoubtedly referred, by faith, to the book of God’s remembrance. Exo 32:10, Deu 9:14, Deu 25:19, Deu 29:20, Psa 56:8, Psa 69:28, Psa 139:16, Eze 13:9, Dan 12:1, Rom 9:3, Phi 4:3, Rev 3:5, Rev 17:8, Rev 21:27, Rev 22:19
Reciprocal: Gen 7:4 – destroy Gen 44:33 – I pray thee Exo 32:30 – an atonement Num 11:2 – prayed Deu 9:27 – look not 1Sa 8:6 – prayed 2Ki 14:27 – blot out 1Ch 21:17 – let thine Neh 9:18 – General Psa 106:23 – he said Isa 4:3 – written Jer 14:11 – General Dan 3:15 – well Dan 4:19 – My Lord Luk 10:20 – your Heb 12:23 – which 2Pe 3:9 – not willing 1Jo 5:16 – he shall ask Rev 13:8 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 32:32. If thou wilt forgive their sin if not If the decree be gone forth, and there is no remedy but they must be ruined; blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written Termed the book of the living, Psa 69:28; and alluded to Isa 4:3, where the prophet speaks of being written among the living in Jerusalem. He evidently means, Let me die rather than live to see the evils that are coming upon them, if thou shalt think fit to punish them as they deserve: if they must perish, let me perish with them. God, it must be observed, is here represented after the manner of men, as having all the names of the living enrolled in a book, to signify his particular care and inspection of the sons of men, see Psa 56:8. So, to blot out of the book of life, or of the living, is to cut one off from the land of the living, equivalent to Mosess expression, (Num 11:15,) If thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand. And thus it is understood by the Hebrew doctors. Compare Deu 25:6; Psa 87:6; and Eze 13:9. In pursuance of the same allusion, God is represented as enrolling the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, or the members of his true church, in a book by themselves, Dan 12:1; Php 4:3; and Rev 3:5. Mosess words may be further illustrated by those of St. Paul, (Rom 9:3,) I could wish myself to be an anathema from Christ, or rather, as the words may properly be rendered, after Christ, that is, after his example to be consigned to temporal death, and made a curse for my brethrens sake. In short, Moses here expresses his vehement zeal for Gods glory, and love to his people, signifying that the very thought of their destruction, and the dishonour that would thereby come upon God, was so intolerable to him, that he rather wished, if it were possible, that God would accept of him as a sacrifice in their stead, and by his destruction prevent so great a mischief. Those who understand Mosess words as if he wished to be excluded from eternal life for the sake of his brethren, make him talk a language quite unnatural, and inconsistent with that desire of self-happiness which is the first law of nature. Besides, it should be remembered, that to be excluded from eternal life, implies not only the loss of heaven and final misery, but also final and desperate enmity against God; and that any man should think a willingness to be eternally wicked, and a desperate hater of God, can spring from love, and be a proper expression of zeal for his glory, is wonderful indeed!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
32:32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, {n} out of thy book which thou hast written.
(n) He esteemed the glory of God so much, that he preferred it even to his own salvation.