DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2014 January 1
Image 1: Adoration of the Golden Calf (1634)
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
French Baroque Style
National Gallery, London, England, United kingdom
Image Source: Christ Images
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Image 2: Moses and the Golden Calf (1536-1537)
Domenico Beccafumi (1486-1551)
Renaissance Style; With Mannerist Techniques
Duomo, Pisa, Italy
Image Source: Web Gallery of Art
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Image 3: The Worship of the Golden Calf (c. 1560)
Tintoretto (1518-1594)
Late Renaissance Style; With Mannerist and Venetian School Techniques
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
Image Source: Wikipedia
Explanation: The three paintings above depict the main events of chapter 32. The first shows the idolatrous worship which was going on as the LORD was concluding his instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai. The second shows Moses in the act of smashing the tablets engraved by the finger of God. The third shows the stream upon which Moses was about to cast the ashes of the idol which he destroyed, which he forced the idolaters to drink.
Exodus 32 records the sin with the golden calf. While Moses was on the mountain receiving further details about God's ordinances (Exodus 20:21, and chapters 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31), the people demanded that Aaron make gods for them which would go before them (1). So Aaron responded by telling them to bring him the gold earrings they were wearing; and he made it into a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" This was against the commandment prohibiting idols (Exodus 20:4-6,23). Aaron then built an altar and made a proclamation that the next day would be a feast day to the LORD. And the next day they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, had their feast, and then rose up to play -- which may have included sexual sin (as implied by the word "nakedness" in the KJV translation of verse 25). However the Hebrew word ("para") may be better translated as something of a more general nature such as "let loose," "break loose," or "dismiss". So the general idea is that they were unrestrained (2-6). The LORD then told Moses to go down quickly to the camp because the people had turned against his commands. And the LORD offered to kill them and make a great nation of Moses (7-10). But Moses implored the LORD not to give the nations occasion to accuse the LORD of having evil intent toward his people by bringing them into the wilderness to kill them. He asked him to consider Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to whom he had promised to make their offspring like the stars and to give them the land of Canaan. So the LORD relented (11-14). Moses then went down to the camp carrying the stone tables engraved by God's finger front and back with the ten commandments. On his way down he met Joshua who thought that the noise coming from the camp was the sound of war. But Moses said that it was not the sound of war but the sound of singing. When he arrived at the camp he saw the calf and the dancing and threw down the tablets, breaking them. He then burned the idol with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the people drink it (15-20). He then asked Aaron why he had done such a thing to bring such a great sin upon them. Aaron tried to excuse it on the basis that the people were determined to do evil. He also said that when he threw the gold which the people gave him into the fire "out came this calf." This is an absurd statement, unless Aaron was speaking of some sort of magical divination by reading a splatter pattern or a flow pattern which could have been performed when the molten gold came out of the fire by letting it assume some sort of shape on its own. This is called tasseography and is practiced in various ways in modern times with various substances such as tea leaves or coffee grounds (21-24). Whatever the case, when Moses saw how the people were behaving, he went to the gate of the camp and called for anyone who was on the LORD's side to come to him. The Levites responded; and Moses sent them out to kill their brothers and neighbors. They killed about three thousand. And from that point on Moses appointed them to the service of the LORD (25-29). the next day Moses told the people that he was going to go and try to make an atonement for them. When he appeared before the LORD he pleaded with the LORD to forgive them, but if not to let him be their substitute by having the LORD blot him out of his book. But the LORD said he would blot out those who sinned against him. He then promised to send his angel before them into the promised land; but he warned that he was going to visit the sin of the people upon them (30-34). The LORD then sent a plague upon them (35).
Exodus 32
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."
2 So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."
3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."
6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"
9 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."
11 But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
14 And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.
16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."
18 But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."
19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?"
22 And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
23 For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'
24 So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."
25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies),
26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.
27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"
28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.
29 And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day."
30 The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
31 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold.
32 But now, if you will forgive their sin-but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written."
33 But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.
34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them."
35 Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
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