Shemot 32:2

2 And Aharon said unto them, Take off the rings of zahav in the ears of your nashim, of your banim, and of your banot, and bring them unto me.

Shemot 32:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 32:2

And Aaron said unto them
Perceiving that they were not to be dissuaded from their evil counsel, and diverted from their purpose, but were determined at all events to have an image made to represent God unto them in a visible manner:

break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters;
these were some of the jewels in gold they had borrowed of the Egyptians; and it seems that, in those times and countries, men, as well as women, used to wear earrings, and so Pliny ^F23 says, in the eastern countries men used to wear gold in their ears; and this may be confirmed from the instance of the Ishmaelites and Midianites, ( Judges 8:24 ) . Aaron did not ask the men for theirs, but for those of their wives and children; it may be, because he might suppose they were more fond of them, and would not so easily part with them, hoping by this means to have put them off of their design:

and bring [them] unto me;
to make a god of, as they desired, that is, the representation of one.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37.

Shemot 32:2 In-Context

1 2 And when HaAm saw that Moshe delayed to come down from HaHar, HaAm gathered themselves together unto Aharon, and said unto him, Up, make us elohim (g-ds), which shall go before us; for as for this Moshe, the ish that brought us up out of Eretz Mitzrayim, we know not what is become of him.

2 And Aharon said unto them, Take off the rings of zahav in the ears of your nashim, of your banim, and of your banot, and bring them unto me.

3 And kol HaAm removed the rings of zahav which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aharon.

4 And he received them at their yad, and fashioned it with a cheret, after he had made it an Egel Masekhah (Molten Calf); and they said, These be thy elohim, O Yisroel, which brought thee up out of Eretz Mitzrayim.

5 And when Aharon saw it, he built a Mizbe’ach before it; and Aharon made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a chag (feast) to Hashem.