Exodus 32:6

“And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”
King James Version (KJV)

Other Translations of Exodus 32:6

And they rose vp early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings: and the people sate downe to eate and to drinke, and rose vp to play.
- King James Version (1611) - Compare to scan of original Exodus chapter 32

So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
- New American Standard Version (1995)

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
- American Standard Version (1901)

So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.
- Basic English Bible

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered up burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to sport.
- Darby Bible

And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play.
- Douay Rheims Bible

And they rose early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings: and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
- Webster's Bible

They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
- World English Bible

and they rise early on the morrow, and cause burnt-offerings to ascend, and bring nigh peace-offerings; and the people sit down to eat and to drink, and rise up to play.
- Youngs Literal Bible

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to make merry.
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

GiGi again's comment on 2022-09-04 18:32:32:

Exodus 32 continued...

It is noteworthy to consider why the Israelites had gold earrings in their ears. Were these earrings that were punched through their ears so as to not be removable or were they earrings that could be taken on and off easily? Were they earrings that were given to them by Egyptians as they were leaving Egypt or were they worn by them in Egypt as a custom of Egypt or from Canaan? Or, perhaps, were put in their ears by their Egyptian masters as a sign that they were slaves to the Pharaoh?

Aaron tells them to "break them off" in the KJV. Other versions say that Aaron says to "take they off." If these earrings were a sign of slavery, Aaron may have been indicating to the Israelites that they were to take off what represented enslavement to Egypt and their idolatry and instead worship YHWH-though an image of Him-to show their freedom won for them by YHWH.

If the earrings were worn as an Egyptian custom, Aaron may have wanted the Israelites to remove what was of Egypt to worship YHWH without defilement by Egyptian things. If the earrings were a custom of the middle east and not Egypt, then perhaps Aaron was asking them to take them off to exchange this custom for the worship of this YHWH who delivered them in such mighty ways. Everything they knew of God in the past was now changed. So. perhaps Aaron was thinking along those lines. We cannot know that Aaron's intent was to bring the people into idolatry or to have the people divest themselves of past worship symbols (which the earrings may have represented) and now have this new symbol of YHWH, their Deliverer.

Whatever Aaron intended when the people came to him asking for him to make a sacred image for them, it is peculiar that he made an image of a created thing. He could have made a pedestal of some sort to offer incense, or some altar for a sacrifice, but not a depiction of YHWH or any other god.

Maybe Aaron thought that the people would not want to give up their valuable gold jewelry.

GiGi's comment on 2022-09-04 18:18:47:

Exodus Chapter 32.

This is such a sad chapter. Just before Moses went up to the mountain again, the Israelites had covenanted with YHWH that they would not worship any other gods but him. They promised to obey all that He commanded.

But now, Moses was up on the mountain within the cloud of glory with its thundering and lightnings. They Israelites spoke to each other about this, and it did not take too long for them to decide that Moses must have been consumed on the mountain by YHWH. They looked to Moses as their deliverer, not YHWH. They feared YHWH. He was a God that they shrunk back from, being fearsome and definitely exercising authority and power to reach right down into their very hearts. So now what will they do?

How or who decided on the plan to make an image of "YHWH". Although I do not think they really wanted this image to represent how they had experienced YHWH-rather, they wanted a much 'tamer" god to worship-like the ones of they knew in Egypt. In Egypt there were several cattle gods. The bull image was considered a reference to the Supreme sun God, thus being depicted with a sun between his horns. The cow image was a representation of a female deity, Hathor, who gave birth to the sun god. She was the representation of all that was good about femaleness-motherhood and fertility. There was a calf-bull god in the surrounding areas named Hadid who was the storm god.

I think it is difficult to really know what was intended by Aaron making a calf as an image of worship. Was it intended to be like Hadid, the storm god, since YHWH's appearance on the mountain was accompanied with storm-like manifestations? Was it intended to represent YHWH or was it an exchange of YHWH for a familiar god from Egypt, Hathor or the Apis bull?

I guess I will have to research more on this.

Whatever Aaron was thinking, the people had asked him to make a god for them to worship. He chose to make a calf. It would seem that Aaron of all people would have put a stop to it!

Mary Denso's comment on 2015-01-08 04:55:16:

Just as stated, they offered sacrifice and rose up to do things that wasn 't pleasing to God.

Diriba Bulgu's comment on 2014-04-01 21:33:54:

What is meaning of rose up to play?

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