Exod. xxxii. 26. Who is on the Lord's side? let him come
unto me.
THESE are the words of Moses: and they were spoken on a very particular occasion. Whilst he had tarried on the top of Mount Sinai for the space of forty days, Aaron and the people of Israel, despairing of his return, had made a golden calf to represent Jehovah, and had worshipped that as their God. Moses, on his return, found them in the very act of performing their idolatrous rites ; and, rilled with indignation against them, he broke the two tables of the Law which he had received from Jehovah, in token that the covenant which God had made with them was altogether dissolved: and he reduced the golden calf to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the people to drink of it ; that so they might have within themselves a testimony of their folly, and be assured that a cup of merited affliction should one day be put into their hands. And it is remarkable, that the Jews in general conceive that, in all their afflictions, there are, as it were, some grains of this golden calf even to this very day. For Aaron, Moses interceded, and obtained forgiveness a. And on behalf of the people, too, he so far prevailed, that only the ringleaders in this rebellion should be punished in the first instance; though, at a future period, this sin should surely be visited upon them all. To punish those who were most bold and daring in this impiety, and were walking abroad as not ashamed of it, Moses called to him those who were zealous for God's honour, and ordered them to go through the camp and indiscriminately slay all they met with, without regarding even their nearest and dearest relatives. This was doubtless a most painful service to all who were engaged in it : but they executed it with fidelity, and brought thereby a blessing on their own souls.
a Deut. ix. 20.