Exodus 32:2

2 And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me."

Exodus 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Exodus 32:2 In-Context

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, "Arise, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him."
2 And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me."
3 And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool after he had made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!"
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD."
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.