32:21 ¶ And Moses said unto
Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin
upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not
the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set
on mischief. 23 For they said unto me,
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.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath
any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast
it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 25 And when Moses saw that the people were
naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their
enemies:) 26 Then Moses stood in the
gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come
unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and
out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and
every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 28 And the children of Levi did according to the
word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves
to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he
may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Aaron acts like Adam did when confronted by God. He blames others.
Genesis 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou
gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Aaron’s lie is so outrageous, then
I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf, you wonder why he
was not struck dead at that moment. But, apparently, as David was not
terminated for his murder of Uriah by proxy, if God has a plan for someone to
carry out they will be allowed to live even if they have to drag the
consequences of their sin along with them like a piece of heavy concrete on a
chain.
Verse 25 shows us that the people are naked. Naked is a word we
have that means not having any clothing on.
1Samuel 19:24 And he stripped off his clothes also, and
prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day
and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is
Saul also among the prophets?
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the
LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
So, it is interesting how many preachers insist that in the
following verse it is not possible that Peter was working naked around a bunch
of other fishermen.
John 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved
saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that
it was the Lord, he girt his
fisher’s coat unto him, (for he
was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
Conservative Christians tend to read back 20th century
sensibilities into history. However, as has been said before, in this case in
Exodus there is another implication that is disturbing but in keeping with
ancient religion, revealed in verse 6 of this chapter.
In verse 26 Moses divides those who would remain faithful to the
God who created them and led them out of Egypt from those who would continue in
the heathen practices of ancient religion. Three thousand paid with their lives
for the pagan, carnal practices they enjoyed while Moses was away.
If you read 27, 28, & 29 in context it appears that Moses made
his call to the tribe from which the priests, the Levites who were to ensure
the worship of God, came and this call was made regardless of familial
relationship. Father went against son, and brother against brother, neighbor against
neighbor and friend against friend. This may have, based on this context, been
a way to cleanse the priesthood of idolaters. It also indicates that perhaps
not all of the children of Israel participated in the pagan worship and the
leadership was held accountable.
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