What is Exodus chapter 32 about?

Answer 1

While Moses and Joshua were on Mount Sinai receiving the tablets of the Ten Commandments, the Israelites persuaded the high priest Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses and Joshua returned and saw this, Aaron made excuses for himself, because this was what all the people wanted. Moses called all the tribe of Levite to enter the camp and kill the Israelites they found. They killed three thousand men just for worshipping a different god.

Read literally, this story may seem strange. The God of Moses had just delivered them from enslavement in Egypt and demonstrated his power by providing water out of a rock and manna out of heaven. The Book describes God as so powerful and so perceptible that no rational person could even want to worship another god. Yet, as soon as Moses and Joshua were absent, they immediately set about doing just that.

First of all, the golden calf should be explained. In the ancient Near East, the moon god was frequently identified with a golden calf. So, the Israelites were worshipping the moon god, not just a representation of a farm animal. Secondly, there is good evidence in Exodus and elsewhere in The Bible that Joshua was once the sun god, before evolving in Hebrew belief into a mortal hero. We find similar instances in Greek mythology of gods evolving over the centuries into mortal heroes and vice versa.

Once we see that Exodus 32 seems to have been originally about the moon god and the sun god, the story become rational and explicable. While the sun god is absent, the people worship the moon god. By the time Exodus was actually committed to writing, the people probably no longer understood the origin of this story.