John Calvin Commentary Exodus 32:1

"And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, 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 know not what is become of him." — Exodus 32:1 (ASV)

And when the people saw that Moses. In this narrative we perceive the detestable impiety of the people, their worse than base ingratitude, and their monstrous madness, mixed with stupidity. For their sakes Moses had been carried up above the state of terrestrial life, that he might receive the injunctions of his mission, and that his authority might be beyond the reach of controversy.

They perversely declare that they do not know what has become of him; indeed, they speak contemptuously of him as if he were a person unknown to them. It is for this that Stephen severely blames them: ³²⁴ This is that Moses (he says) whom your fathers rejected, though he was the minister of their salvation (Acts 7:35). They confess that he had been their deliverer, yet they cannot tolerate his absence for a short time, nor do they feel any reverence for him, unless they have him before their eyes.

Moreover, ³²⁵ although God offered Himself as if present with them by day and by night in the pillar of fire and in the cloud, they still despised so illustrious and vivid an image of His glory and power, and desired to have Him represented to them in the shape of a dead idol. For what could they mean by saying, “make us gods which shall go before us?” Could they not see the pillar of fire and the cloud? Was not God’s paternal care abundantly evident every day in the manna? Was He not near them in innumerable ways?

Yet, considering as nothing all these true, sure, and clear signs of God’s presence, they desired to have a figure that might satisfy their vanity. This was the original source of idolatry: that people supposed they could only possess God by subjecting Him to their own imagination.

Nothing, however, can be more preposterous; for since the minds of people and all their senses fall far short of the loftiness of God, when they try to bring Him down to the measure of their own weak capacity, they distort Him. In a word, whatever human reason conceives of Him is mere falsehood. Nevertheless, this depraved longing can hardly be repressed, so fiercely does it burst out.

They are also influenced by pride and presumption, when they do not hesitate to drag down His glory, as it were, from heaven, and to subject it to earthly elements. We now understand what motive chiefly impelled the Israelites to this madness in demanding that a figure of God should be set before them: namely, because they measured Him by their own senses.

Astonishing indeed was their stupidity, to desire that a God should be made by mortal men—as if he could be a god, or could deserve to be considered one who obtains his divinity at the caprice of men! Still, it is not probable that they were so absurd as to desire a new god to be created for them. Instead, they call “gods” by metonymy those outward images, by looking at which the superstitious imagine that God is near them.

This is evident from the fact that not only the noun but also the verb is in the plural number; for although they were satisfied with one God, still they, in a way, cut Him to pieces by their various representations of Him. Nevertheless, however they may deceive themselves under this or that pretext, they still desire to be creators of God.

Those who suppose that confusion is implied by the word “delayed,” are, in my opinion, mistaken; for, although the word בשש, boshesh, with its third radical doubled, is derived from בוש, bush, which means to be ashamed, still it is clear from Judges 5:28, that it is used simply for to delay, where it is said, in the address of the mother of Sisera, “Why ³²⁶ does his chariot delay (or defer) to come?”

Thus we can understand that hypocrites fear God in such a way that religion vanishes from their hearts, unless there is some taskmaster (exactor) standing by them to keep them in the path of duty. They properly obeyed Moses and reverenced his person; but, because they were only influenced by his presence, as soon as they were deprived of it they ceased to fear God. Thus, while Joshua was alive, and the other holy Judges, they seemed to be faithful in the practice of piety, but when they were dead, they immediately relapsed into disobedience.

³²⁴ It will be seen that C. does not give the actual words, but the sense of Stephen.. does not give the actual words, but the sense of Stephen.

³²⁵ “Mais qui pis est;” but what is worse. — Fr..

³²⁶ “Why is his chariot so long in coming?” — A..V..