Exodus 32:5

5 Then Aaron built an altar in front of the gold bull-calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to honor the Lord."

Exodus 32:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:5

And when Aaron saw it
In what form it was, and what a figure it made, and how acceptable it was to the Israelites. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it,

``and Aaron saw Hur slain before him;''

for reproving them for their idolatry, as the Midrash ^F5, quoted by Jarchi, says: and Aaron fearing they would take away his life if he opposed them,

he built an altar before it;
that sacrifice might be offered on it to it:

and Aaron made proclamation, and said, tomorrow [is] a feast to the
Lord;
that is, he gave orders to have it published throughout the camp, there would be solemn sacrifices offered up to the Lord, as represented by this calf, and a feast thereon, which was a public invitation of them to the solemnity: though some think this was a protracting time, and putting the people off till the morrow, who would have been for offering sacrifice immediately, hoping that Moses would come down from the mount before that time, and prevent their idolatry.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 So Pirke Eliezer, c. 45.

Exodus 32:5 In-Context

3 So all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

4 He took the earrings, melted them, poured the gold into a mold, and made a gold bull-calf. The people said, "Israel, this is our god, who led us out of Egypt!"

5 Then Aaron built an altar in front of the gold bull-calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to honor the Lord."

6 Early the next morning they brought some animals to burn as sacrifices and others to eat as fellowship offerings. The people sat down to a feast, which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex.

7 The Lord said to Moses, "Hurry and go back down, because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have sinned and rejected me.