18 © And he gave unto Moſes, when he had made * an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, * two tables of teſtimony r, tables of ſtone 5, with the finger of God te.
r (i: e.) The Tables of the Law, which was the witneſs of God's Will and Iſaei's Duty. See Exod 16: 34. 5s W hereby was ſignt- fied both the durable and perpetual Obligotion of the Moral Law, whereas the Ceremonial Law was to end wirh the Jewiſh Polity at Chriſt's coming, and the ftonineſs of Mens Hearts by Nature, in which the Law of God could not be writren, butby a Divine and Omnipotent Hand # (7. e. ) With the Fow:r or Spirit »f God, by comparing Mazth: 12: 18: not by any Art of Man, but imme« diately by a Divine Hand.
CH AP. XXXII.
The people commit idolatry by worſhipping the molten image which Aaron made, 1---- 6, God makes it known to Moſes, and threatens their de= . ftruftion. 7----10. Moſes prayes for them, 11. God repents of the evil, ** * 14. Moſes comes down from the mount with two tables, 15. being Godly” own writing, 16, Moſes hearing and ſeeing their idolatry, 17, 18. breaks the two tables, 19. and turns the calf into powder, 20. Aaron's exciſe, 2 [==--==2 4. Moſes ſeeing ther nakeaneſs, 25. Commanals them to be /lain, 26---=28. He bids them conſecrate themſelyes, 2 g. Miſe charging them with ſin, 30. Prayeth for them, 31---33. God ſpareth them, 34. But afterward plagueth them, 35.
Yd D when the people ſaw that Moſes delayed to come down out of the mount a, the people b ga- thered themſelves together unto Aaron c, and ſaid unto him, * Up, make. us gods 4 which ſhall go before us | e: for as fer this Moſes f, the man that brought us up * A&s 7: out of the land of Egypc, we wor not what is become 4 of him g.
a Where he had row been for near fourty days. 4 ( 7. e. ) Moſt, or ſome of the people, as it is expretied, 1 Cor» 10: 5: c Asthe chief perſon in Moſes his abſence. & ( 7: e. ) Images or repreſenta- tions of God, whom, after the manner of Idolaters, they call by God's name. For ir is rediculous to think that the Body of the Iſraelites, who were now lately inftiutted by the Mouth,and Words, and Miraculous Works of the erernal God,thou!d be fo ſenſeleſs as to think that was the true God which themielves made, and that our Y of their own, Ear-rings ; much more, that that was the God that brought them our of Egypr, as they ſay, verſe 4. e To guide us through rhis vaſt Wilderneſs to the land of promiſe, where they longed to be ; For, as tor rhe a which hitherto had guided.
thcas
written , Chape3h | 16. Deut: - 10,
2Cor: 3.3:
| Chap
* 1 Kings x2: 28: Pal: 106; I 9»
* x Cor: IO: 7:
* Deut: 9: | +
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at ſeemed now ; ek ther and Moſes had deſerted them. The Jewiſb Dottors note, that he doth not ſay, Make us gods whom we may worſhip, but which ſby/l go before us, which, as they truly ſay, ſhews that they wanted not'a God, whom they knew by infallible evidences they , had, but a viſible guide, who might ſupply the want of Moſes, as | the next words ſhew. f An expreſſion of contempt towards their ; great deliverer. g Whether he be not conſumed by the Fire in the Cloud, or taken up to Heaven, or conveyed away by God to ſome other place. . | 2 And Aaron ſaid unto them, Break off the golden ear-ringsh which are in the cars of your waves z, of your ſons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. h Which were of good value and common ute among the Eaitern people, which ſeem to have uſed them ſuperſtitiouſly, Ger: 35. - Judg: 8: 24+ and therefore Aaron demands theſe, partly that he might take away one Vice, or occaſion of Vice, whiJeſt the people were intent upon another ; and partly that the propoſed loſs of their recious Ear-rings might cool their Idolatrous delires. #5 Whom he thought moſt fond of their Jewels, and moſt unlike]y to part with them. |
2 And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings & which were in their ears /, and brought them unto
Aaron. | : | k Whereby they ſhew both their madneſs upon their Idols, and their baſe ingratitude totheir God, who had transferred theſc Jewels from the Egyptians to them, Exod: 12: 35, 36+ which therefore God upbraids them with, Ezek: 16: 11, Oc. / (7. e. ) The mens ears, for the affix is of the Maſculine Gender ; whereby it ſeems the men were more ſet upon Idolatry than the women, arting with their Ear-rings for it, which the women would not do. *X And he received them at their hand, and fa-
ſkioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molren calf mz, and they ſaid, Theſe be thy gods », O