Exo 32:15-29 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Exod 32:15-29: 32:15-29 When Moses actually saw what was going on, he was much less calm than he had been on the mountain. He smashed the tablets (32:15-19 ), destroyed the calf (32:20 ), confronted Aaron (32:21-25 ), and had the ringleaders killed (32:26-29 ).

Summary for Exod 32:15-29: 32:15-29 ^a When Moses actually saw what was going on, he was much less calm than he had been on the mountain. He smashed the tablets (32:15-19 ^b), destroyed the calf (32:20 ^c), confronted Aaron (32:21-25 ^d), and had the ringleaders killed (32:26-29 ^e).
32:16 ^f These tablets were God’s work: The covenant was not merely a human agreement.
32:19 ^g While the act of smashing the tablets might simply have been a reaction of fury, it might also have been Moses’ way of saying that the covenant with God was now irrevocably broken. God later reminded Moses rather pointedly that Moses was the one who had smashed the tablets (see 34:1 ^h).
32:20 ⁱ Passing the gold powder of the image through the bodies of the people effectively rendered it unclean.
Summary for Exod 32:21-25: 32:21-25 ^j Aaron denied responsibility even though he himself had made the molds and poured the gold (32:4 ^k). Aaron wanted Moses to believe that it all “just happened” (32:24 ^l) and that he had no choice because the people were so evil (32:22 ^m). Moses was not misled. He knew that Aaron could have led the people but had let them get completely out of control (32:25 ⁿ).
32:25 ^o much to the amusement of their enemies: After the Israelites’ great show of worshiping the Lord as a different kind of God, their actions proclaimed that he was merely another of the idols that their enemies had been worshiping all along (see Ezek 36:19-20 ^p).
Summary for Exod 32:26-29: 32:26-29 ^q Moses had asked God to spare the people, but now he called on those who followed the Lord to kill those who had sinned. The Levites (32:26 ^r) were willing to confront the sin that Aaron had let loose. Although Moses commanded them to kill everyone (32:27 ^s), the number 3,000 (32:28 ^t) makes it clear that the word everyone had a restricted meaning. The reference to your own sons and brothers suggests that as Aaron had led in the idolatry, many of the Levites had led in the worship of the idol, and they were the ones that the rest of the Levites killed. Aaron may have escaped because God had already designated him as high priest (28:1 ^u).