The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Corrupted” it comes from the Hebrew Word “shachath” which means “to corrupt, to ruin, to destroy.”
While Moses is still on the mountain, the people below make a disastrous decision. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Exodus 32.
When Moses delays coming down the mountain, the people grow restless and demand that Aaron make them gods to go before them, since they do not know what has become of Moses. Aaron collects their golden earrings, melts them down, and fashions a golden calf, and the people declare, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Aaron builds an altar before it and proclaims a feast, and the people rise up to eat, drink, and engage in wild revelry.
God tells Moses on the mountain that the people “have corrupted themselves,” using the Hebrew word “shachath,” meaning to ruin or destroy, and threatens to consume them entirely and start over through Moses alone. Moses intercedes passionately, reminding God of His own promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and of what the Egyptians would think if God destroyed the very people He had just delivered. “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Coming down the mountain carrying the tablets written by God’s own finger, Moses sees the calf and the dancing, and in righteous fury shatters the tablets at the foot of the mountain. He burns the calf, grinds it to powder, scatters it on water, and makes the people drink it. Confronting Aaron, Moses receives only a feeble excuse. The Levites rally to Moses’ side, and severe judgment follows against the ringleaders of the rebellion. Moses returns to the mountain to intercede once more, even offering to have his own name blotted out of God’s book if it would spare the people, and God sends a plague upon the people for what they had done.
This chapter shows both the depth of Israel’s failure and the depth of Moses’ intercession on their behalf. Even after such a serious betrayal, Moses stood in the gap, willing to sacrifice his own standing for the sake of the people. It foreshadows an even greater intercessor still to come.
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